Look how open it is. The action is around the perimeter
which eases congestion and makes lines more visible.
This lay out makes an inherently safer park and allows
challenge and speed to remain uncompromised.
.
.
The coping is large in diameter.
The wall in the foreground is 12'. The left side is pool
tile and the right round steel coping.
Note the ramp next to the stairs. And Brad Johnson's flip.
Stairs are unnecessary in skate parks.
If you are planning a skate park, do not put in stairs.
If you do, make sure there is a bank next to the stairs so you can
ride up.
Stairs are negative momentum, single direction structures catering to
the mentally inept.
The only reason kids want stairs is because they want a gap.
A bank functions
as a gap and a whole lot more. The stairs issue drives me crazy.
It is obscene to
have stairs in skate parks.
What's worse is companies like Purkiss Rose are still putting them
in parks.
Here is an article written by reporter Mike Stark for the Daily Astorian, May 25, 2000.
---
The temporary
skateboard park at Astoria's Tapiola Park was torn down Wednesday
over concerns that it was no longer safe.
The rain-
and moisture-soaked plywood structures have taken a pounding from
skateboards and bikes since it was built in 1998. Deterioration
eventually
raised too many worries about safety.
"The temporary
site actually lasted longer than we thought it would," said
Kevin Beck, director of the city's Parks and Community
Services Department.
Beck said
he didn't know of anyone that had been hurt on the equipment.
City officials
and skateboard enthusiasts might put up another temporary
skateboard structure at Tapiola.
"We're looking
at the possibility of trying to build some type of street
skating site in the wading pool there," Beck said.
Skateboard
park supporters and city officials will meet next month to talk
about a temporary facility and how it might be paid for.
A permanent
skate park is expected to be built at Tapiola Park in spring 2001.
Supporters
had hoped to have it built this year but the Oregon National Guard,
which may shoulder all of the labor costs and 75 percent
of the materials,
wasn't able to squeeze it into this year's schedule.
The $165,000
project could get under way next April.
---
Thanks Mike!