Greetings to all,
Just a note: I was in Portland over the weekend and stopped by a skate park that is in front of Madison High School on 82nd Ave. This park was designed and created by Dreamland. It was in full use at the time that we were there at about six pm on Friday evening.
The most interesting thing about this park was that although there were a lot of people there, no one was loud. People only hooped it up if someone did something really cool. They had two bowls for skaters, along with a wide shallow area for beginners and some nice features for learning to grind, ride stairs and jump. One bowl was very deep with very steep sides. My guess is about 11 feet deep. These kids and young adults were skating up and around this bowl like it was childs play, (pun intended). Even when they crashed they were quiet and shook it off. And others would generally be encouraging and not negative. The park was getting a lot of use and you could see who was good and those that were still learning. The best part was that these kids were so respectful of each other. Everyone took turns and shared the space. One rider would take off; then when it was clear another would start to skate.
Suz and I hung around for about an hour and no one was disrespectful. At one point I went up to a young man that was around twelve or thirteen I asked him how long he had been skating and he said six years. Imagine that, he was only six or seven when he started to skateboard. This kid was just getting into the large deep bowl and you could tell that it was a bit intimidating for him. He was a very nice individual and although a bit shy he loves skating and spending time at the park.
If this is a snapshot of what we could be providing to the kids of Eugene it will be one of the best things that we could do for our youth. I was very impressed with the quality of the park and the whole “scene” (if that term is still used). We got to Suz’s sisters house and told them where we had been and they knew all about the skate park and its history. It has been there for about two years now and it was started in controversy. Parents were very upset and thought that this would be a bad thing for the school grounds and the adjoining park. After it was finished and opened up to the public, many mothers would work shifts watching over the park to ensure that nothing bad would start happening. Well they had worried for no reason. The result was as I described above. The mothers don’t even bother to monitor anymore.
My wife’s sister works for the library at the school and is there every day during the school year and said that there have not been any “bad incidents” at the park or the playground or school since it has been open.
That is a great testimony! Lets build this park!
- Bill Cole, Wheelworks
