I don’t know what the heck they are building out in Hood River, but the more I see the better it gets. Carl Warren sent these pics of some expansion work. They are labeled “Mouse Trap” which calls to mind Pier Park, but the images don’t make it obvious. Whatever it is, I can’t wait till it’s done.

Imagine the surprise the first time an unsuspecting tennis player showed up here. I’ve seen pictures of concrete tranny on asphalt surfaces before. Although generally a bad idea, It’s not entirely unheard of unfortunately, and especially in New England. Sprague, Connecticut has a skateboard facility that was built on top of a disused tennis court, which has a surface that should be better than most asphalt parking lots. Concrete Disciple user BillyBonebrake posted a bunch of shots and some background information on the project. I guess we might need a field office in Connecticut if the last few days are going to be typical. I wonder if Billy Bonebrake is related to D.J. Bonebrake?

– Thanks to Mac for the tip.

The Portland Tribune has an article about The Steel Bridge skatepark project. Not really noteworthy, but there are some funny comments left by the “community” of readers, starting off with a bang from a NIMBY complaining of rampant drug use, violence and assorted crimes. Some of them are actually valid, but most are just gross exaggerations of behavior that isn’t limited or necessarily promoted by skateparks. Some are downright fabricated, as they claim illegal activities at a park that isn’t even open yet! Let’s be honest, skateparks attract kids. Not all of those kids actually skate. If anything, it ought to make it easier for police to prevent crimes, if all the criminals will allegedly be drawn to skateparks like moths to flame. Actually, let’s make that more like pointed metal objects are drawn to an unsuspecting cartoon character with a large magnet unknowingly stuck in his pants.

UPDATE: Another article in Daily Journal of Commerce where the words landscape architecture loom large.

I missed posting this in time, but apparently Rockwell Park in Bristol, Connecticut opened on Sunday. It’s an 18,000 SF street plaza and bowl built by California Skateparks. It’s open 24-7, no fee to skate and bike-free as well. ESPN was supposed to throw a party.

– Thanks to Bill Helene for sending in these pre-bash photos.

The new Grindline park in Yakima Washington looks good. Lots of pool coping on the bowls a large size street area that looks like a departure from your typical Northwest-style street area. Check out the picks on the Grindline site.

[Source: Earth Patrol Media]

As part of Portland’s 19 skatepark master plan, the Steel Bridge site was chosen for the main Regional Facility, or essentially, the destination park. The official Parks & Rec definition:

Regional Skatepark: A regional facility will be a single large facility (>40,000 square feet) that will accommodate many users at once. It could be lighted and possibly serve as a venue for competitions. This type of facility will not be located in residential areas.

Steel Bridge is supposed to be our Louisville, in terms of square footage and drawing power. Our landmark skatepark, not that anything could replace Burnside in the skateboarding public’s eyes. The City of Portland has started accepting proposals – the RFP is posted. You need to be a registered vendor to view the related documents. The list of registered vendors (as far as skatepark building companies is concerned) appears to only contain Dreamland, New Line and surprisingly, Wally Hollyday Design. (UPDATE: Found another – Artifex.) The rest of you need to get your paperwork in order because the bid closes on january 9th of 2009. Also confusing, there’s an item marked Estimate:$50,000.00, which isn’t going to buy much. Perhaps Mr. Miller will enlighten us. Flame on!

– Thanks to Matt Redhead for the tip. [Bridge Photo: Wikipedia]

P.S. Where is the money going to come from?

As part of the ongoing beautification of the waterfront and adjacent areas of Portland, the Burnside project is getting more real estate. Eventually it will butt up against some new parks facility and thus scenes like this mom chatting on her cell phone while she drops the kids off at Burnside wil lbecome more and more of a reality. I don’t know if Burnside will get any cold hard cash, but the land grab has already started. There’s a panorama of some recent tranny work after the jump.

Let me introduce my friend Eric. The reason I call him my friend is because when I asked him if he would like to be sponsored, he replied “I have skateboard. How about we just be friends?” My reply was “Cheap and easy. Lets get married.” Every time I go to Newberg, Eric is skating doing some weird ass trick I wish I could do. If my hard drive didn’t crash this video would be 3x longer and 6x better. Who the hell knew the hard drive needs a back up? Who backs up the back up?

Pose off 
Grover 

The ongoing concrete work in Hood River, Oregon is looking really interesting, at least from afar. This is a shot of what looks like a bridge over a creek that has one side with a steep tranny wall, almost like a modified Jersey barrier. I assume this is connected to the rest of the new skate trail that’s being built. Actually, I should stop making assumptions and make the drive out there to check it out. Carl Warren has the picture, and you can click to enlarge.

Went by Ed Benedict to see the progress. They finished the quarters opposing the shots Kilwag got earlier. They seemed to be finishing up a lot of smaller sections of the park. It seems like it might be a while before it opens. Enjoy these awful cellphone shots..