Charlie Hales want’s to be the next mayor of Portland, but he’s getting no love from some residents of southwest Portland’s Arlington Heights hills neighborhood, who seem to be looking for a scapegoat. Why? They live on a hill that has become a popular downhill run, and Hales led the charge to make skateboarding legal on Portland streets. Trouble has been brewing for a while, and it seems unavoidable that heads would butt. On the one side you have wealthy, freaked out landowners who are are worried about hitting people and of course, property damage… On the other side you have a contingent of mostly responsible skaters as well as some others who may be not so conscious of the precariousness of the entire situation. The sheer number of people hitting the hills and the laws of probability dictate there will be incidents. The Oregonian briefly touch on both sides of the issue. The most level headed quote so far is from Hales himself actually:

“It is not OK for people to bomb down residential streets at high speeds on any conveyance — car, skateboard, whatever,” he said. “We need to address that while still making it legal for people to use skateboards.”

Billy Meiners seems to be somewhat in agreement:

“I’m trying to convince the skaters we need to be responsible,” Meiners said. “But making it illegal isn’t going to change anything. Skaters are used to being outlaws.”

Comments on the article on the Oregonian range from thoughtful to predicable and lame. And as the “voice of reason” on S&A, I’d like to encourage our readers to be smart about how they respond instead of taking the bait. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.

Reported on PDX Downhill, Eric Nagle, a Federal attorney in Portland Oregon made a presentation tonight advocating making skateboarding illegal in the Arlington Heights neighborhood of Portland, a wealthy area in the hills where the Zoobomb happens. If you’re not a local, Zoobomb is a essentially a free for all weekly-ish downhill event that is mainly a bicycle driven, but has a fair amount of skateboarders too. (At this point in the post I need to mention that I’ve never actually been to one.) I’ve always been surprised that the neighbors didn’t organize against it, and now at long last it appears the honeymoon is over:

He (Nagle) repeatedly referred to the recent bans on skating in Laguna Beach CA, Malibu CA, and Newport Oregon as examples of the type of laws that Portland needs to enact and constantly referred to the fact that the current hard-won skating law in Portland was only passed by a 3-2 vote.

Part of what makes Zoobomb a success is the fact that public transportation via light rail operates like a ski lift. Not content to just ban skateboarding, Nagle allegedly wants to shut down the Zoo Max (train) station in evenings and pepper the surrounding terrain with speed bumps, cobblestone and perpendicular grooves. I’m not sure why Nagle has such a hard-on for skateboarders specifically, and doesn’t appear to be concerned with bikes. Next on Nagle’s agenda is a presentation to Portland’s Mayor Sam Adams, who has traditionally been in the corner of the Portland skateboarder. However, Sam’s had a rocky first term not without scandal, so there’s no telling how he’ll respond to this.

– Thanks to James Hedman for the tip.

DIY spots are abundant, and everyone knows when you start one that the odds are stacked against you. Still, the amount of DIY spots that are granted amnesty have increased, so you have to like those odds better than playing the lottery. Even when you celebrate, you know there’s a chance that the rug can be pulled out from under you. Hell, technically, even Burnside still exists only on double secret probation. Industrious skaters in Glacier, Washington built a spot called the Coal Pad on somewhat abandoned mining property that later was purchased in auction. When the new landowner Joe King found out about the spot when the county threatened him with fines unless the the park was removed or sanctioned with the proper permits. Incredibly, King agreed to let the park stay, provided the skating community took care of certain obligations agreed to be… adults. That’s a heartwarming stoke, until you get to the part where the company that previously had a mining lease on the property claims they weren’t properly informed of the sale, and are taking legal action to have the sale voided. First order of business? Tear down the skatepark and start strip mining. Greed concurs all? If the sale is voided, Joe King gets his money back, but as he was quoted in the Bellingham Herald:

“I don’t want my money back, and I don’t want that skate park torn out,” King said. “I’ve got too much time and energy and emotions invested in that.”

The plot thickens as the concrete sets. Tune to Glacier Skate Park Association for the latest.

– Thanks to John Aguilar for the tip.

It could have been titled “Swiss Skate Pranks” but I thought the Google translation of this news article written in German was much more intriguing. Some pranksters in Hitzkirch, Lucerne (Switzerland) filled a skatepark bowl with water and some fish. This is skate harassment I can get behind.

– Thanks to Greg for the tip.

Skatepark of Baltimore is celebrating six years of working towards a public concrete skatepark in Baltimore by means of a benefit concert with skate-rock bands March 26th 2011, 8pm till 11:30pm at Ruintown 2980 Falls Rd. 21211, 8$ cover, 18 and up, BYOB. Mini-ramp Jam, Bands: McRad, Pfisters, the Trowels, Seasons, Shred Crust and the Tics. What else is going in Baltimore? Well, the good news is that infamous Baltimore bully/police officer Joey Williams is still fired after losing an appeal. More SOB in the news after the jump

Hey, we’re famous! Or at least we got mentioned in the Miami Dade Herald. Family members of relatives buried in the Miami City Cemetery are upset about the skatepark slated to be built next door, and it’s at this point that you can insert a noise violation joke about waking the dead. The article mentions Seth Levy’s post about the proposed park being under attack by local NIMBYs. The Miami Dade Herald article is not so subtly slanted against the skatepark. The photos all show mourning relatives in the cemetery and how historic it is, what with all the veterans (both sides) of the Civil War buried there. They feature quotes from people feel having a skatepark next door is somehow an affront to the people buried there. They make a point of how it’s easy to find (via the internet) incidents of trouble at skateparks around the country, including recent closures. Skate and Annoy is almost the positive voice in the article, and I have to say I’m suspicious that they only included it because of the negative connotations of the name. Read the article, but please remember you represent skateboarders. If you choose to comment on that site, think about whether your comments will help or hurt the cause of Miami skaters. Another bummer: The park will apparently have monitors and therefore restricted hours. I don’t know how we skate unsupervised in the rest of the world.

– Thanks to Chad Balcom for the tip.

Not enough to put a raised ridge in the middle of the bank, they had to put a fence up too. Tennis courts next to Grant High School in Portland. The TMR crew wuz there.

Seeing this made me wish I could afford to take the rest of the week off and fly back to be a part of this. Josh Ellis has a bunch of photos up on Wiskate.com that are going to give you a warm fuzzy. So it’s the Shot of the Week here on Skate and Annoy, but all the action is in Wisconsin. Beer City has another installment too.

Not much interesting about most no skateboarding signs, except in the case of this one from New Zealand, someone used some vert ramp clip art and turned the image upside down so the skateboard would be on the ground. The giveaway is the negative space where the coping should be. By the looks of the relative brightness of the red stripe, someone keeps adding these signs to their private collection.

– Thanks to Kiwi reader Campbell for the pics.

Do New Zealanders get annoyed being called Kiwi’s? I don’t mind being called a Yank, but it mostly just makes me feel pity for the person calling me that, since I don’t think anyone really uses that term actively. “That poor, out of touch dweeb” is what might come to mind. I suppose that might be happening to me every time I mention Flight of the Concords.

Somewhere in middle America a security guard accosts a skateboarder. Pittsburgh, according to the video. I don’t know where the law stands on security guards confiscating personal property. I predict nothing will come of this though. A reprimand possibly. That’s it. I actually didn’t watch it with the sound on, so I’ll let the peanut gallery weigh in. It’s important to note that we didn’t get to se what happened beforehand, not that it’s that important in all likelihood. Instead, lets talks about KENNY POWERS!!!!!!!!!!! I’m stoked that Eastbound and Down got picked up for a second season. I just found out about it last night before the True Blood kick off. Danny McBride is a funny mofo, Kenny Powers may well be the thing he is remembered for. This segment called Learning to Skateboard looks kind of old and isn’t his best work, but it has it’s moments and a little bit of an embryonic Kenny Powers. Don’t forget to be outraged by the security guard. There’s a pretty funny segment in Observe and Report where the security guards go off on skateboarders. Again, i wanted to be outraged, but I’d rather laugh.

– Thanks to John and Sarib for the tips.