A can of worms: UPDATED
…In which Skate and Annoy takes a momentary time out from snarky comments to put on the serious hat of a legitimate editorial news outlet.
UPDATE: A Spohn spokesperson has pointed out that Spohn is not a plaintiff in any lawsuit against California Skateparks or ARC ramps:
FYI we never filed a lawsuit against ARC (we were a whistleblower in that one) and are definitely not filing one against CA Skateparks.
We simply protested their bid rigging practices with the City of LA. No one is suing anyone.
…We made a complaint under the LA Contractor Responsibility Ordinance based on allegations that CA failed to disclose Ciaglia’s interests in his various entities including Site Design Group and Street League, failure to disclose lawsuits against California (Skateparks), failure to disclose his relationship with Dyrdek as part of the multiple millions in sole sourced contracts, attempting to bid rig a previous bid, etc.
The City of LA requires disclosure of all of those things as part of its very restrictive pre-qualification process. Right now, the City is investigating. But there is no lawsuit from Spohn against CA Sk8 or Joe.
All we are trying to get is a fair shot at the projects in the City where we live and pay taxes
On behalf of Skate and Annoy, I sincerely regret misrepresenting facts. Original post below:
At first glance the headline is shocking, Rob Dyrdek and a business associate accused of fraud, collusion, bid-rigging and perjury. Then you have to consider the source, another lawsuit filed by Spohn Ranch. (Correction:Spohn has not filed suit against ARC or California Skateparks. See above. ) And it would be easy to dismiss the investigation as sour grapes, but there’s some meat to it after all. The business of so-called donations of park designs contingent on the contract being awarded to specific construction companies certainly has the appearance of impropriety. If you’re going to make a donation, make it without strings attached, for the benefit of the community and not your buddy/partner’s construction company. Especially when it’s a donation that most design/build firms are happy to make when regulations allow. If you read through all the complaints you’ll be left with the impression that their operational practices are misleading if not outright shady. According to Celebsleaze (UPDATE: Appears to be a website set up explicitly for the purpose of providing links to documentation on the investigation. The rest of the site allegedly contains wholesale plagiarism.) both Dyrdek and California Skateparks make cash contributions back to L.A. City Council members who pushed deals through with the city. Yeah, I know, there goes my credibility, but it’s documented. Still, nobody ever sued their way into a profitable business, tech industry notwithstanding. Spohn Ranch might do better to let their skateparks speak for them instead of the lawyers. But then again, it must be nice for a skatepark builder to have the wheels greased by a major celebrity skateboarder who “donates” designs.
[ Source Celeb Sleaze via Commonwealth Skateboarding on Facebook. ] – Photo: Construction Currents, a construction industry website that also has coverage.
I disagree.
I want to know my donations are spent wisely. Accepting the lowest bid, as is often required of cities, is not always what’s best for the community, especially if the community doesn’t know what makes a good park. “But little Tommy wants a ten stair!” Frigate Tommy! Let Tommy skate the city and find a ten stair that’s free and already made. The worst use of money (and energy and time) is duplicating terrain already existing in abundance. “But Little Tommy is scared of those big walls.” Frigate Tommy! Let Tommy grow a pair. “Tommy likes the purple ramps. Me too because they’re made of plastic and not so hard.” Frigate you! Please no more plastic ramps from California companies with exciting presentations and statistics and … garbage.
I don’t know if Rob’s parks are any good. I don’t know if Spohn Ranch makes good parks either. But as kilwag wrote, let the parks speak for themselves. Be informed and pay the best.
The best is defined by people who have been skating decades. And aren’t Californians.
That rant may not be too coherent, but it’s a reaction to seeing too many bids accepted for the wrong reason. Skateparks don’t have the regulation and rules (thank frigate!) other industries have (medical, architectural, etc) so communities are prone to ignorance and lust when choosing bids.
Design/build by skateboard veterans is the healthy choice. Or janky and local. Just not that cookie cutter, boring ass flat garbage.
You call that a skatepark? It looks like a frigating parking lot with a few curbs for gods sake! The city paid $300k for a fancy parking lot? Frigate no! That’s murder.
I am really confused about this. It appears that the blog Celebsleaze is a fake blog according to Beatles Skateparks. But perhaps the fake blog post contains legitimate information? And what’s a fake blog post anyway? Kilwag– can you figure this out?
http://seattleskateparks.org/aaron-spohn-discovers-wordpress/
Crap! Meant to type Seattle Skateparks, not Beatles Skateparks– damn auto correct!
what happened to skateboarding? I guess its always been a business. Sure glad my job has nothing to do with it.
While many of the issues on those bogus blogs may be legitimate, the record should be set straight. Spohn hasn’t sued California for fraud or anything else. We protested California’s low bid on a project in LA. Those documents generated in the process became public records and someone has seized upon them and has distorted and exaggerated some of the facts. We are committed to honesty and transparency in the skatepark industry and that is the reason for the protest in Los Angeles. But there is no lawsuit against California Skateparks, Ciaglia, or Dyrdek. We believe attack blogging is irresponsible and childish.
Mr. Spahn, nobody believes you. This has your finger prints all over it. No one would stoop to that level and post this $hit…no one but you. You’ve done it in the past and looks like you will continue to do it and lie about it.. There is no one shadier. Pathetic!
Typical California shit.. keep your parks out of Oregon Sphon and all you Californians stay there.. Oregon sucks anyways it rains alot…
Why the anti Spohn? I skate Hansen Dam (Spohn I think) regularly and I like it. Nice… small, but nice.
CA sk8, spohn n Ramirez built this with some help from Stoners.
This is all making me so gassy.
Spohn Ranch skateparks are horrible!! These assclowns are taking skatepark construction back 20 years. There boring, flat, full of dead ends, and over priced. Spohn Ranch sucks!! Dear Aron Spohn, keep your shit designs out of Oregon, we have a standard here that you and your money grubbing buddies obviously can’t comprehend.
I worked for both companies, neither has sued one another! Albeit complex, strange and inordinarily related, their all having inexplicable relationships. Signed nikoliar!