Word from Portland Parks is that the official opening day for Gabriel skatepark is July 11, 2008 – a short 16 days from now but in fact it may open for skating sooner than that. Stay tuned for more details.
update: No word on early opening. They still need to do some hydroseeding. There is a Portland Tribune article that talks about the budget woes. Enjoy the complaining about the city spending money on anything and a particularly uniformed shot at the new mayor, even though Parks is Saltzman’s bailiwick, in the comments.
There was some confusion about the involvement of a non-profit as well. Skaters for Portland Skateparks is a non-profit with a volunteer staff of three. We got the ball rolling at Pier Park and showed the commissioners what a vital thing a skatepark could be. Dan Salzman was so impressed he proposed budgeting a million dollars to build skateparks 4 (Gabriel) and 5 (Ed Benedict). Apart from that and our putting time into the public meetings process, that is the extent of our involvement in Gabriel Park.
4 comments
Casey M.
Is there a specific time they’re taking the fences down or can I show up at sunrise?
Welsh Pete
Hey, if it doesn’t open until July 11th why is that guy riding it? he he…
houseofneil
I can only sit in Chicago and look on in awe. Seriously, how much concrete do you guys out there need? A park for every skater?
Kilwag, how many concrete parks are within an hour drive from your house?
yo momma
you know that PARK, looks ALRIGHT!!!!