It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as John Henry, but the song that was the Peach Orchard met it’s demise courtesy of the Norfolk Southern railway, the property owners. It was railway adjacent, and essentially nothing to them, but they tore it down because the lawyers said they should. Nola.com has the scoop. What did the New Orleans locals get for their trouble? Some leftover ramps from a Red Bull demo and a D.I.Y. hangover. Faster than you can say “hair of the dog,” a new spot is born. Pleasureside is it’s name, and unless I’m mistaken, it’s essentially right next door to the old spot. Even John Henry’s balls weren’t that big!

– Thanks to Joey O’Mahoney for the tip.

I didn’t read the article because I was so annoyed with the image. You got your classic “guy in the sky” shot on the second page too. Slightly altered NYTimes online image above. Original screenshot after the turn.

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.

Skreech in the New York Times? Why not? He’s already the subject of one (possibly two?) documentary film. So the The New York Times is right on top of the (latest) recession-as-silver-lining for pool skaters story, so my condolences to everyone in California because it must be officially over now. (You are a child of Summer and Winter is coming…) Salba quote? Check. How does he do it? Must be a state law. Reporters have to declare it at customs. I see you’re doing a story on pool skating, can I see your Salba Documents? Watch the trailer for Dragonslayer after the jump.

[Photo – Billy Runaway]

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports:

CAPITOLA – A 17-year-old boy riding a skateboard downhill Tuesday hit an 83-year-old woman crossing the street. The Capitola woman later died in a San Jose hospital, authorities said.

Apparently the kid saw the lady at the last minute and tried to avoid her, but that’s not good enough is it? No charges filed as of yet.

[source: LA Weekly] – Thanks to… everyone for the tip.

The San Francisco Chronicle has a very short piece on 76 year old downhill enthusiast Lloyd Kahn who’s only been skating for about 11 years.

– Thanks to Eric Cherry for the tip.

A two-fer in the sunday funnies yesterday. 1st up is Mother Goose and Grimm (You missed that one Marek!) and a little deeper in is Luann.

There’s an article about the Brooklyn Street Skate Spot in the Portland Mercury. The picture is old, because phase one is done, right down to the pool coping! Disturbing news though, according to the article, Portland’s light rail is set to impinge on the spot’s footprint as early as 2014. However, I’m not sure if the author did her research, that might just be a reference to the fact that the pedestrian bridge is scheduled to be demolished. The MAX would have to pull eminent domain on all the adjacent buildings and homes too. We’ll see…. There’s also an appearance from the neighborhood sourpuss who again reiterates his displeasure that the whole thing didn’t go through the proper channels.

[Photo: David Lansdown]

Here’s two marginally skateboard themed comics fromthe Sunday funnies. Baby Blues is a week old and Cul-De Sac was from two days ago.

The Telegraph (UK) “reports” that the new Maverick Meerkats calendar is available. I hate it when web sites try to protect their scans (of other people’s images) with a bunch of overlayed divs designed to keep you from downloading the image. Come back here in a year and I’ll probably be doing the same thing. Isn’t there a there a Cure album called Meerkats? I like that little raccoon/weasel doing the rock and roll. He reminds me of Bone Man.

– Thanks to Anders Knudsen for the tip.