viva Avenue Skate.
We used to skate the andled walls surrounding the parking lot @ trackmasters. It was real urban grinding/sliding shit. Here's to those who remember the mini-park!!
How about the old 'ghetto park' across the thruway from lasalle park, you had to have some real balls to head over there for a session.
Shit - we are the West Side. Being in the 'hood never bothered me. I don't remember that park, though. We used to skate mini-park, trackmaters, Perry Projects had a few angled walls and Raymour & Flannigan on the Blvd had some nice walls in their loading dock. The bottom line - with 5-10 bro's and something to catch a buzz on, it was all the same. It was about commorodery/brotherood. Ahhh - the times... I still have an old Alva Fred Smith, a Hosoi Hammerhead and a mini-Caberlerro.
Scooter, are you talking about 'cancer park'? The concrete park inside the hollowed out industrial building.
No....it was a concrete park with a big clock tower and high concrete walls. Might have been an old town meeting place.....corner of caz and seneca. they built senior living on it about 10 years ago.
Once a skate rat... always a skate rat! Do you remember that time when you got that new banana board for christmas but you couldn't balance on it so you sat on it and tried to keep up? You looked like a leper begging for change, man that was the coolest!
Finding a way to encourage skating in specific parts of the city is a good idea. Like mentioned, for the most part they are not troublemalers, so they will just bring life and eyes to the city, adding a safer feel. I'll take it.
I encourage skateboarding and public urination. Both are 'harmless' and fun to watch.
man, there are so many great old skate spots! i was responsible for organizing the contests at the caz & seneca clock tower park, good times. those west side pyramids were tough. as was the 'cancer house' down on indian church road. (i actually remember the day that complex burned down, a bunch of us rode our bmx bikes, following the huge cloud of smoke)
i'm almost 35, but still manage to go skate a few times during the summer.
"They were trying to find an ideal place to skate in the city where they would not be bothered by security forces."
I wonder if those "security forces" bother skaters because, at times, skaters bother other people who happen to be at some of those paved open spaces. I have been on some plazas (Some in Europe immediately come to mind.) where the number of skaters was actually quite intimidating because they would happily knock you down if you got into their paths. And that's probably not good for a business--discouraging people from entering your building by allowing people who can sometimes be intimidating to hang out on the plaza. Before anyone takes offense, by the way, I am not saying that ALL skaters are rude and create a dangerous situation. But some do. Also, I am not sure what kind of liability a business has if one of those harmless skaters happens to have a nasty fall while skating a rail on private property. And what kind of liability do taxpayers have if it happens on the city's property? We live in a litigation obsessed culture, and no one wants to get sued for "encouraging" a potentially dangerous activity on their property. Could someone call Jeffrey Freedman, Kenneth Hiller and/or Cellino and Barnes and see how much money they could get for this type of personal injury case?
Dionysus, I am pretty sure falling is apart of skating. It happens, and most skaters realize this. Quit being such a wiener.
Dionysus: What did you not have coordinaion or the ability to see people on 7 ply maple coming at you? Your faults and misery are basically because you suck in general, not the skaters. You can't calssify skaters as rude or nice. That's equivalent to stating that crossing guards or basketball players are one or the other. There's evrery kind in every class you distinguishable moron. Now go get my coffee and pick me up a copy of Thrasher Magazine. Now!!
Yeah I never have had any problems with people skating.. here in Europe anywhere. They are just kids looking for something to do.. damn i wish more kids did that instead of getting into gangs, sitting around yelling obscenities at passerbys or doing drugs. These people are doing something fun and constructive.
I know a lot for jerk off football players than skaters. Maybe we should remove all the places for people to play football from the city instead.
How "ionic"! Dionysus "intimidated" and afraid of 'Dionysian-type' activity. What a "Greek tragedy' of a post. Oh, and the first installment of your structured personal injury settlement just came in: $12.34. Use it to start an anti-skating think tank....this much dough surely fills your think tank.
Dionysus, when you get your next check in seven years, think about buying some elbow pads and a helmet for walks down Elmwood. Maybe Bass Pro will carry such items.
They should create one in the waterfront when all is said and done, since that'll be the place to be in the next few years. Surround a small area with a basketball ball court, pinic tables, fountains, playground, and a skate park! Maybe next to the purposed mini marble stone park.
http://www.skateplaza.com/
Click on the 'about', and 'Foundation info' buttons. Lot's of great info.
An area such as this, with it's ability to bring a youthful element into downtown will be a great investment for Buffalo. This is the type of quality of life attraction that makes cities attractive and even enviable. It's more in line with the kind of culture that keeps college graduates around. Skateparks/plazas, bike paths, and other such amenities will bring people to live here more than some shit jobs at a BassPro.
Are there any updates on the the one discussed here some time back?
Build it now!!!
I am amazed that you are are piling on Dionysus about that comment. He is right. You all know damn well that if some @#$% head falls on city property doing something deemed "OK" that there will be a lawsuit. Why shoudl it be OK for skateboards to do their thing wherever they want? I think I want to play street hockey on the 290 at 8:00AM tomorrow...anyone want to join me? After that we can grab our skateboards, chain our wallets to our huge jeans, grab some punk rocker CD's and head on down to Fountain Plaza and do some mad cool tricks while people with @#$%ing jobs try to avoid us! On lunch we can smoke a fatty then go back to your mom's basement and play guitar hero all night long. Bring some money so we can order pizza and get some doritos because you know we will have the munchies.
SleepL8, thats quite the broad stereotype there. At least you have contributed something constructive and intelligent to this conversation, Congrats! Now please get back to your miserable self loathing existance.
Yeah, maybe Sleepl8 and Dionysus are right. We should shutter all the swing sets and playgrounds. For the kids sake. You know, they could fall and get hurt. While we're at it, someone could trip on a curb, so get rid of those. I could fall from a tree in Delaware park, so better cut those down pronto. Sometimes kids get hurt playing baseball, basketball, football, and soccer. Better drop those from the school programs like yesterday. Too many people are getting hurt going over Niagara Falls. Can we turn them off already. Or at least build a big wall around it. It's within a State Park, someone might sue. Oh gee, some frost heaving caused a sidewalk in front of my house to rise two inches. I could trip on that. I better just stay home watch TV, and get fat. Or better yet, complaining on BuffaloRising is a good past-time. Then again, someone might hurt my feelings. Can we shut down this site already, I smell lawsuits coming.
More people will die this very week from engaging in a sedentary lifestyle than a combined 100 years worth of skateboarding ever will.
NorPark - constructive and intelligent wasn't exactly what I was going for. Public skateboarding is a juvenile attempt to get attention. Private skate parks are fine. Public skateboarding is only irritating to those of us on foot. As for my "miserable self-loathing existance"...I am not miserable at all and the only thing that I am loathing today is attention starved suburban skateboard punks and their juvenile need to be rebelious by rolling around in places where they are unwelcomed.
Hoss...You are right, technically people can get hurt doing anything anywhere and can sue if the so desire. My bad. Go ahead and let them skateboard on benches that with Cellino and Barnes advertising on them.
Sorry SLEEPL8, but I think your perception of 'public skateboarding' is a bit inaccurate. Never had a scary situation like you apparently seem to encounter every day with a wild pack of evil skaters rolling up a sidewalk full of people and bowling anything over in their path.If you know these locations that people have stated on here that they have skated in the past, you would know they arent exactly areas that are intrusive to hordes of 'normal' people who arent 'seeking attention'. Sure they may be in 'public'.
From www.personal-injury-info.net: "Skateboard injuries are on the rise. For those who live around the city, we've all seen skateboarders zip around us, seemingly coming out of nowhere, and vanishing just the same. Some ride their skateboards with the utmost of caution, others with reckless abandon. No matter which style the youngster adheres to, injuries are always a likely possibility. An estimated 50,000 skateboard injuries are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year. "
http://www.personal-injury-info.net/skateboard-injuries.htm
Dionysus and all of you whining, girly, {edit- filth}, GET OVER YOURSELVES! You are complaning and only angering yourselves. Seriously, with all sincerity, I'd like a piece of each of you! I will be the 35 year old 6'3" 235 lb Italian guy at the Old Pink Monday night with a skateboard tee-shirt on. Find me. Tell me to my face what you really think. Then, I will drag you up and down the curb by your eye-sockets and level with you that there are many things you can do to get hurt and in turn sue the city.
Oh yeah - find some previous suits against the city from skatebarding injury. It goes back to the '60s! If you find some, let me know and we'll assemble a legal team to perfrom preventative maintenance. Morons!!
I love the idea and welcome the skate parks, dog parks, and I would love to see a free public boat launch somewhere along the river. I would also like to see a public driving range somewhere in the city limits, and maybe even some better baseball, rugby and soccer fields.
chik - I put an indoor golf range accross the street form city hall in '98. It has a bar and all of the ammenities. I took about a $300k bath on that one. We could use a great dog park - where do you propose?
From the Journal of Trauma...
Sport Injuries per 1,000 partcipants
Basketball 21.2 Football 20.7 Bicycling 11.5 Snowboarding 11.2 Skateboarding 8.9 In-line skating 0.9
We have plenty of hoops courts around town. Why not at least one Skate Plaza?
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/skateb.html
Sorry I spelled participant wrong. I also didn't format correctly.
Sports injuries per 1,000 participants-
Basketball 21.2
Football 20.7
Bicycling 11.5
Snowboarding 11.2
Skateboarding 8.9
In-line skating 0.9
So playing b-ball is more than twice as dangerous as skateboarding. Hmmm???
Nice Hoss!! Die-on-us is just a wussy that was always picked last. He doesnt understand the rush of skating with friends and playing in bands. He was secluded by his parents and made to study every night. Wouldn't you force your kid to study all night if he was non-athletic and had no personality? I'm going to Prime 490 for bracciolle now. If anyone wants to continue this, I'll be with the big guys eating and drinking vino at the bar. Good night players!!
Betterthandetroit...I would rather not fight you over this. You win...skateboarding is cool. Please spare my eyesockets. Where is The Old Pink anyway...I have heard good things about it? And No I wont be showing up Monday for the brawl.
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