Jack Smith of the Skateboarder’s Journal and Cuppa Stoke is running for Morro Bay, California City Council. He’s not accepting direct contributions, but you can purchase a skateboard themed campaign t-shirt for $15, which includes delivery in San Luis Obispo county, otherwise it’s another $5. All you need to do is send him a payment via paypal (jack@theskateboardersjournal.com) or mail a check to: Jack Smith 415 Acacia Morro Bay, CA 93442. Check out his campaign web site, Facebook page and Twitter account. I need to check out this Twitter thing, as soon as I figure out hot to get the Lycos running. Time to update my Geopages account.

Be a good neighbor and come help out for a couple of hours at the Pier Park Pickup SOLV event tomorrow from 9am – 1 pm. We’ll be doing trash pickup and graffiti coverup at the skatepark. Breakfast treats from Tulip Pastry Shop and hot coffee from Starbucks.

A local skatepark benefactor sent this in: They loved this at the emergency room. Sixty-one year old guy riding an Advil skateboard breaks his arm at the skatepark. If it didn’t hurt so much it would be funny. Check out the sweet $25,000 hardware he picked up. Fortunately, his insurance took care of it.

There’s a thing called the Pepsi Refresh Project that is advertising disguised as public service, still, a great idea nonetheless. At least this form of advertisement does someone else some good too. Ideas are presented, and people vote on the project that deserves to get the cash, in this case, 250k. Homebase skate shop is spearheading an effort to get the rest of the Bethlehem skate plaza funded. Right now they are in about 11th place. All you have to do is go to this Pepsi Refresh page and cast a vote tied to your Facebook login or an optional Pepsi login, which to me suggests you can both, as long as you have two email accounts. So Skate and Annoy readers, let’s add another drop in to the bucket of support already given. We may not have the draw of the Berrics, but we can still help out. It won’t cost you anything but 20 seconds of you time. Do it now, or at least befre the end of the month.

BCSA ART & MUSIC 2010 at the Vue, 517 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR on March 13. All proceeds from the silent auctions go towards the Eric Scott McKinley Skatepark improvements. Contact the BCSA for more information (bcskateboardingalliance@gmail.com). My lame ass will be in the Seattle burbs this weekend. On top of that, I didn’t get my art done in time. However, I did take five minutes out of my busy life to make this post, so I care… a little. (Next year for sure!) I believe MC is going to make good though.

Yeah I know the A scale doesn’t really go up that high. Technically, it doesn’t even goo up to 101, but that never stopped wheel companies from marketing them as such. These old Kryptos are made out of cement, and so is the deck. It’s a piece called Irony that was in the PUSH benefit auction for the Division Street Skatepark Project in Bend, Oregon. At least I think it was, because it’s not in any of the photos of the work. It’s kind of hard to tell what’s going on with the project. There’s a blog that was last updated in 2008, and there are pictures of DIY concrete action happening somewhere, but key areas of the site have missing images, and it’s unclear whether or not construction has actually begun. And seriously, guys, I would have loved to promote this auction, give us a heads up next time. I’m getting off track here. Drew West of the talented Real Concrete Design, cast these. There are more pictures available are on Facebook. Those wheels fit bearings, don’t ya know? – Thanks to Kevin Porterfield for the tip.

Late notice as usual. This will be the forum for input about the plans for development around the Burnside skatepark neighborhood. Skaters need to show up or they’ll think we’re not interested. 524 E Burnside, 7th floor of Bside6 doors open at 5pm. Be cool, but be there. Why? Because the area around the park is being redeveloped, and nothing is set in stone. I mean, there was even talk of adding a BMX track. Wednesday, January 27 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. 524 E Burnside, 7th floor

The Benton County Skateboard Alliance is announcing a call for art for their 3rd Annual Art and Music Benefit: The Benton County Skateboarding Alliance (BCSA) is hosting the 3rd annual Art & Music Show to raise money to improve the Eric Scott McKinley Skate Park in Corvallis, OR. Improvements include a new pro-style bowl, advanced street obstacles, lights, BBQ pits, and benches. We need $75,000 to $90,000 for the first phase (the bowl). This is a community art show, and all art media and styles are accepted. All art in the show will be up for silent auction. We ask that a minimum of 51% of art sold go to the skate park fund. The show is planned for March 13th, 2010. Art submission deadline is February 15th, 2010. If you are interested in submitting art for this show, please contact the BCSA: bcskateboardingalliance@gmail.com. The BCSA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; donations are tax deductable. For more BCSA info, see their website: bcskateboardingalliance.org Word is that the new venue is a bit of an upgrade from previous years. We’re going to try and send a party from Skate and Annoy down this year. I’m going to see if I can…

From Control Manufacturing in Canada: St-Nicolas, Qc January 18th 2010 –In an attempt to come to the aid of the people who are suffering in Haiti in the aftermath of a violent earthquake that brought death and destruction to the country last week we have decided to release a special edition skateboard. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of these boards will go to the people of Haiti via the Canadian Red Cross – Quebec division, c/o Fabienne Laisné, 6, Place du Commerce, Verdun (Quebec) H3E 1P4. This board will go on sale across Canada within the next 2 weeks. This board is made out of 100% hardrock Canadian maple at the Control Manufacture in St-Nicolas Qc Canada. The project however is from our sales team. We will use all the contacts we have built over the last 15 years to reach out to all shops, brands and skaters accross Europe, Canada, USA and South America that currently buy boards from us. Not a penny will be kept of the proceeds, everything we make is going to Haiti. When I saw the desperation in Haiti I didn’t know what to do to help… finally I decided to help the…

Beaverton, Oregon voters apparently passed a $100 millilon parks bond recently and Schiffler Park redevelopment is a project that’s coming up. There’s an open house coming up and Chad from Skaters for Public Skateparks points out that the THPRD staff seems more interested in putting in a skatespot than the public does. That can’t be right. Skaters should show up to the Open House and set the record straight. Public Meeting: Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at Fir Grove Elementary School in the library from 6-8 p.m.