I had some fun here even though the inept builders of this skatepark in Champaign Illinois applied the Jersey Barrier theory of transition to these bumps in the street course. Could have been awesome, but once you get over your initial reaction to wretch, you can actually have some fun on these bumps. I almost broke my arm being a smart-ass by trying to hit all the bumps one after another. More after the jump.

For the five people that Read SnA but don’t read Antigravity Press, MC has a couple of posts on Portland’s Pier Park progress and the new Woodland Washington bowl that is about 24 miles north of Portland. OK, I’ll just cop to not having time to write my own posts right now. I’m pissed he scooped me on the Woodland pics. I’ve been following the progress but failed to post on it. Duh.

Now this is what we need. More contributors like Matt Sefton. Originally intended as one of our scene reports It was just too long and too well done. So I made it a feature. Long time readers already know we have a U.K. connection in ex-pat House of Neil, so we’re glad to continue the tradition. Read the Newcastle feature.

UPDATE: 2006 – Finally ported the static HTML, fixed the link.

I’d be stoked too If I lived in a city with a good skate park. Oh wait, I do. Anyway, The City of Stoke On Trent (True!) in England is coming up on the first anniversary of their skate park called, what else, but Stoke Plaza? It looks pretty damn good (from the Internet at least.) I’m not much for today’s street parks, but this one has plenty of banks and an interesting layout that looks fun. Topping it off is an outlying system of skate paths, an interesting concept that appears to be gathering momentum among builders and advocates. These pictures are from the UK Sketchy Skateboarding website.

OK. Finally it looks like things might be picking up over there. I’ve posted some more progress pictures. Looks like the permit problems have been resolved and the only thing holding them back is a work crew that is scattered to four corners of the Northwest. Opening date is supposed to be Oct 14. Check out the progress, or compare to last time.

Getting ready to go to Chicago next weekend for the 25th anniverary of Touch And Go Records, mostly to see the legendary Didjits reunion with all original members!(!!!) This is an excuse to bump that ugly graphic from the West Linn Tidings. So here’s a shot of a suburban Chicago skatepark in Burbank from 2002. At the time it was one of the better tranny parks in the Chicago area. Small, but with nice transitions and the smoothest finish to date. It was kind of a ghetto scene out in the middle of nowhere. Maybe it’s changed. I hope I get time to hit some Chicago cement, but it’ll be rough with family and other reunions. There’s another pic after the jump. Holy @!$#! Street skating on Skate and Annoy!

A sensible reply to an irrational argument.

Parks & Recreation, the official magazine of the National Recreation and Park Association, an organization whose goal is to advance parks, recreation and environmental conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life for all people. The target audience is park professionals, urban planners, and concerned citizens. Kent Dahlgren, Executive Director of Skaters for Public Skateparks and long time Portland OR scenester wrote an article for the magazine titled “Taking It To the Street.” The article is not available on the NRP web site, but we have some highlights, complete with the requisite grunge typeface. How extreme.

According to (the complaining resident), the out-of-towners look “rough-and-ready.” They’re not wearing khakis and polos…

Oh god. Here we go again. This joker is pissed cause he bought an overpriced house that sits on top of his neighbors and overlooks the West Linn skate park. His neighborhood association says they don’t like it. Well that means it’s time to move. The park sits in the midst of a pretty uptight neighborhood, that’s for sure. It’s time to get the folks over at Skaters For Public Skateparks to trot out the noise level studies again. Will they try to get it torn down? Seems implausible, but there’s a lot of collective wealth in those subdivisions. This guy has a lot of nerve posing for a picture in the skate park and giving his name, which is William Relyea. What a tool. Check out the story in the Aug 23, 2006 issue of the West Linn Tidings or read more commentary here.

MC has an update on Pier Park progress. Check out those beautiful tiles! We hear that the opening date is being pushed back to November. More pics on his site.

Antigravity Press