Way back in the 2000’s Skaters for Portland Skateparks (SPS) started organizing to get a proper city-built public skatepark built in the city of Portland. At the time we had Burnside and funky, poorly designed and constructed Army Corp of Engineers Park in a part of town that was technically Portland, but was isolated on the outskirts of an industrial area that eventually leads to shipping terminals. I don’t know how it happened, but suddenly there was some money to rebuild Pier Park. SPS had an ally high up inside the Mayor’s office staff in skateboarder Tom Miller. He and SPS were pushing for a system of skateparks for Portland instead of just the one. I thought the plan was a little bit naive and was possibly going to blow the opportunity to get anything out of the city. Fortunately for the skateboarding community of Portland, Tom did not suffer from my lack of vision. We did end up getting several skateparks out of the proposed system of 20. This one near the Steel Bridge was always going to be the biggest of the lot, and the most complicated to get approved. It took a long time, and frankly most…

Burnside is still in the news. The Mercury has a cautious, but upbeat take on the future of Burnside.

More coverage of the history of Burnside, this time from local weekly paper the Willamette Week, includes about 13 minutes of video and oral history in Under the Bridge.

Burnside Benefit show at Dante’s in Portland on Friday, October 9th.

Check out this gallery of Burnside photos from 1990-1993. Amazing and rare shots of history being made. Donate to the fundraiser!

Changing times ahead for Burnside with new construction within spitting distance. It will interesting to see if the locals can make it work with their new neighbors, who are undoubtedly going to be used to a less Burnsidey atmosphere. The property taxes are definitely going to give the owners some clout with city hall. In the meantime, Burnside needs lights, and they’ve got quite a ways to go to reach their target, so consider donating.

Burnside is getting new neighbors who are reclaiming some of the territory in the north parking lot, but on the bright side, the developers have agreed to match donations up to $5000 for further park maintenance. The downside is that this post is horribly late, and the deadline for donations is on Halloween, which is tomorrow. Right now there is only a paltry $280 in the kitty. This is a golden opportunity to double your money and help fund Burnside.

From the Burnside Facebook page: Burnside Skatepark Aubre/AJ is approaching businesses in portland, “selling” advertising at the park, but he is keeping the money for his own use. the park does not sell advertising and he is committing fraud. he is ripping off businesses who think they are supporting the park, and making the park look bad in the process. UPDATE: Koin 6 has video.

Grover stopped by Burnside earlier today (Tuesday) and got some shots of Jay Meer and another preparing Burnside for it’s 22nd anniversary Halloween debut. I wonder if he’s down there painting via generators now. GPK after the jump. That’s Grover’s Picture Korner.