Homeless folks inhabiting Miyashita Park in Tokyo are understandably upset about the fact that their local government has sold the park out from under them. Apparently there were no public hearings or notices before the sale to NIke became final. NIke has plans to turn it into a well-landscaped skate plaza. The park has a sizable indigenous homeless population that will likely be displaced, and they’ve gained some support worldwide, but it seems to me that everyone is pissed off at the wrong people. Don’t get pissed at the people who bought your home for a bargain, get pissed at the bank that foreclosed on you. According to a short video about the situation, Nike refuses to respond publicly to anyone concerning the park. Not the greatest public relations plan, but maybe it’s geared towards some sort of Japanese culture hook that I’m not hip to. Watch the vid after the jump.

– Thanks to 100% Talkboarder for the tip. [Source: The Smoking Section]

And it stands for “Who Would Jesus Scam?” I was trying to track down rumor that American Ramp Company (AKA ARC) registered the names of famous skatepark building companies with alternate domains and had them forwarded to americanrampcompany.com. Think grindline.net, dreamlandskateparks.net, newlineskateparks.net, spohnranch.net, californiaskateparks.net and sitedesigngroup.info. I tried these myself and they ended up parked at Goddady.com and their anonymous registration service, save for Californiaskateparks.net that forwards to something called Hardcore Skateparks, which turns out to be wholly owned by… ARC. I had a post planned on ARC a while back. The used to have an unintentionally funny video introducing their staff and making them look like… a playground equipment company. Why did I bring up Jesus? Well because ARC did. They gave him his own area on the ARC site. I’ve heard rumors that ARC has taken to lawsuits and litigious threats of over lost bids. Maybe it should be Who Would Jesus Sue? Hey, has anyone tried skating in the rain on one of their metal ramps? ARC says it’s a go.

If they’re going to make all our skateboards, they might as well learn how to ride them. There’s a new Camp Woodward opening up in Beijing China. Woodward Beijing celebrates a grand opening on May 15th. Among other facilities, they’ve got a street plaza built by California Skateparks.

Doling them out to you a little bit at a time. Thanks again to Danimal for the pics.

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.

Just don’t have time to get to it right this minute. Thanks to Danimal.

The City of Poway has temporarily closed the skatepark due to “turnstyle construction” which is a weasel’s way of getting around the fact that they are installing biometric fingerprint ID scans as way restrict park usage for certain age groups during select times and of course “cut down on vandalism.” The scanner has a price tag of $5,700, but who knows what it will cost in red tape and overhead in the future. And what is the human cost? WON’T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN. Oh my god, I think I’m going to be sick. We’ll sink with California, when it falls into the sea. See SIgn On San Diego for the full, sad tale.

– Thanks to Tito for the tip.

Maloof just unveiled the plans for the street course at the NYC leg of the Maloof Money Cup on June 5-6, 2010. The big news? The REALLY big news? The “course” is a permanent facility that will be donated to the city Instead of building a temporary course and dismantling it like they did last time. BRAVO!!!!! Lets hope the X-Games and the rest of the would-be contenders fall in step behind these plans if they know what’s good for them, the skateboarding public and the ecology. Details of the as yet unbuilt skate spot that replicates some NYC hot spots after jump.

– Thanks to Danimal for the tip.

I don’t think California’s Epic Indoor Park lasted a year. This one is in Marseille, France. It’s huuuuuuuuuge. The halfpipe alone is looks formidable. Check out the Palais de la Glisse on the Constructo blog of skatepark architecture. They have some public official looking types at the ribbon cutting ceremony, this might even be a public skatepark. The building looks beautiful, and not just some dusty old warehouse. Actually, it’s truly confusing now. If you scroll through this set of photos, it appears to be built on the site of a hockey rink. Could this in fact be a temporary installation?

– Thanks to Doc Murdock for the tip.

This has been making the rounds in the past few days. The city of Sarasota Springs, New York filled in the bowl at their local skatepark, essentially because the coping was damaged and the bowl was covered in graffiti, and they couldn’t afford the upkeep, what with having to pay people to make sure the helmets were strapped. It’s just one big long list of lame excuses. Must not be much of a big scene there, if the locals let that happen. Read all about it in the Saratogian. Kevin Cann pointed me to some video of the bowl, he regularly made the journey there from the Great White North. Looks like it would have been fun.