Join Portland Parks in the celebration of Portland’s new skate plaza at Ed Benedict Park, Saturday, May 30, 1:00-3:30 p.m. Event Schedule 1:15 PM Ceremony: Commissioner Saltzman, Commissioner Fish, PP&R Director Zari Santner 1:30 PM Adidas/Tribute Skateboards Skate Jam 2:00 PM Best Trick Competition 2:30 PM PP&R Skate Jam Invitational (grades K-8 and 9-12)

I get a lot of emails running this site, mostly guys in Taiwan and China wanting to sell me skateboards, bearings, trucks or wind sails, people wanting me to tell them if how much their skateboard is worth, occasionally somebody wants skateboard vacation advice… Here’s the most lax and yet demanding RFP I’ve ever seen: Hello, I would like to know if you can create for us a skatepark as we attached in this mail…If yes, please let me have all the tehnical information(all the materials applied and used during the processes, sizes..etc) and the prices.Please let me have them tomorrow..Of course also we need to know the guantee conditions.. Yours, Alev AKUZUM Bucharest/Romania The only other info was the two pictures embedded in an Excel file, for some reason. So if you can help out Romania and can answer instantly…

There are a bunch of renderings of the Newline street plaza project found over at Deluxe. I don’t know if it’s the low contrast color palette or what, but I’m having a hard time getting a feel for this park. The

Here’s a couple photos from the camera phone of Jason Schomaker. It’s a 100% naturally occurring, totally organic skate stopper, and it’s not what you think. Find out what it is after the jump.

We love to help out our less fortunate neighbors in such skateboard repressive states as, uh, California? From the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC): As many of you know, IASC has been working tirelessly for many years to change the laws affecting California’s public skateparks.  We were previously able to extend the bill which protects public skateparks, but in doing so, had to make some concessions in the bill. Recently IASC has been working to remove the outdated clause under which skateparks must require elbow and knee pads to be worn while skating in public skateparks. That’s right, according to state law, you must wear elbow and knee pads at public skateparks. I know thi law isn’t enforced everywhere, but it still needs to go. Apparently the repeal has passed the State Assembly 76-0, which is stellar news, but it still has to pass through the senate. If you live in California and want to find out how how to help the effort, visit the IASC site for details. However, If you want some super stylish kneepads, check out these licensed Speed Racer knee pads with clear caps that double as Speed’s visor. Pretty cool actually, especially in combination…

According to The World, Mingus Park skate park in Coos Bay will have it’s official ribbon cutting ceremony on May 22. Until then it’s going to remain fenced off. I don’t know why, but this sentence cracks me up: After consulting with its insurance company, the city’s decided that it’s OK for people to use roller blades and skates, though bikes and scooters are still banned. As if they were going to build it and then decide that nobody could use it. Pictures courtesy of Concrete Warefare on MySpace. There are some construction pictures here on SnA and some more recent photos on EPM. – Thanks to Tristen Reasor for the tip.

Word is that the lease is up on the tenant that currently resides in the building that houses Milwaukee’s famed Turf Skatepark. I erroneously reported that the concrete had been demoed, but I guess the truth lies closer to some missing coping and a lot of landfill. I here to report on the rumor that there people in Wisconsin working on trying to get a third lease on life for the Turf Skatepark. If there’s no truth to that rumor, then I’m here to start it, in hopes that someone who still lives in the area will get stoked. The Turf still lives in more than memories and photos, a crew of BMXers has the old miniramp from the Turf. At the risk of becoming very unpopular, I was watching some video of that park and it made me think that perhaps the fond memories have more to do with nostalgia than the quality of the terrain, especially compared to the modern crop of skateparks. Still, I’d be all for digging it up and slapping some new coping on. I hope it happens. Photos – Clockwise: Old exterior shot from Thrasher Magazine, as found on the Facebook page for Pete…

Kevin Porterfield from Dokument Skate Shop sent in some shot from a session at the Harrisburg, Oregon skatepark. Check them out after the jump.

Here’s a detail from a shot I took circa 1989 in Rockford, Illinois at a roller skating rink turned skatepark called Rotation Station. I guess at this late of a date it might have been an Alva demo and not Zorlac. Full frame shot after the jump.

This week’s Shot of the Week is from Jim Gray, pictured at Skate City in Whittier, CA. This shot was used for his first advert ever, which was in Action Now magazine, circa 1980 or so. He can’t remember who took it, and I can’t seem to find it in the couple of Action Now’s that I have access to. So maybe our readers can help. I’m working on putting together an interview with Jim, so if anyone has any questions they’d like me to consider, go ahead and email them to me. Check out the Shot of the Week.