Spott Dreams of Skate Parks

Friday, 8 June 2018

Andrew McCandless Skate Spot

Brampton, ON
Bunch of modular in a strange layout and a poured stair set and low hubba with metal edge.
Stairs lead right into the back of the bank ramp.
Manny pads used for a looooong 2 set and one of the flat rails has been stolen, leaving the 8 bolts sticking out of the ground. fun.

Elbern Markell Dr & Banbridge Cres

The Bridge Youth Centre - Peterborough, ON

The youth centre hosts a mini-ramp as well as a ledge and rail.

Saturday, 19 May 2018

The Snake Pit

Toronto

JUNE 2025 - Work on the Bridge has resulted in removal of most of the features.

The Snake Pit DIY was built in support of the Build For Bokma movement in Toronto.
DIY's are fun but here's some of the groundrules.
Leave it clean and don't attract too much attention to the site.
If there's a build going on, go help out.
Here's the important one.
If you build it, you can invite people.
If you didn't have a hand in building, keep the location a secret.
No one told me where this DIY was. I had to sniffit out.

Friday, 18 May 2018

Greensborough Williamson Neighbourhood Park

Markham, ON

Williamson Rd & Swan Park Rd

A fun little transition based skate spot.

The capped ledge. After several emails back and forth with the city here's the explanation.

Basically, the ledge was not meant to be skated but after some feedback from myself, the city has agreed to consult with skaters in future projects.(3 years later, here's the story)

I emailed the city about the presence of the skate stoppers at the skatepark and posted to my social media. The builder contacted me and stated - the stoppers were a requirement from the city, we built the bowl and let the general park contractor deal with them.

I received a quick response from the city. It stated

"Thanks for contacting us about the skate park at Greensborough Williamson Park. There are skate stoppers along the seat wall behind the bowl of the skate park. Even though this is attached to the skate park it is not meant to be skated on. Due to its proximity to the pathway it is not safe for pedestrians or skaters to be that close to each other. And this way, this ledge can be used for seating opportunities for people watching or preparing to enter the skate park. We made sure to put rails in the skate park that are designed to be skated and slid on without wearing down. A concrete edge does not stand up as well to these uses. There are plenty of opportunities within the skate park to have that sliding experience. Hopefully that answers your question. If there is anything else I can help you with please let me know."

Well if you have read my blog you know I wouldn't just let that stand, cuz it's stupid and wrong but mostly because 'I know more that you'. I went out to the other Markham skate spots and took measurements and photos and repsonded.

"Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I always applaud Markham for its commitment to parks and recreation and the growing skatepark network. I’ve shared photos of the skate spot with other members of the skateboarding community and the city’s response and it has left them and myself baffled. I hope some sharing of information will help with future projects.

Firstly, not all skateboarding is the same. Transition skating is very different than ledge skating and while there is ‘sliding’ involved, they are separate disciplines. I know ledge skaters who will not go near a quarter pipe. There is a similar concrete ledge at the Berczy Park Skate Spot on The Bridal Walk that shows no sign of deterioration in the 5+ years that park has been in use.

The placement of the benches in Greensborough is perfect. They all face the park and are close enough for an unobstructed view (perfect for parents and other spectators) & far enough as to not interfere with users of the skate spot. Sitting on the ledge means turning your back to the action and increases the risk of someone being hit by a board, scooter or person.

The skatepark is easily identified as an action sports area. There is no need to cross the park along the ledge as the sidewalk is only 80feet away and the entrance to the sport courts are off a seperate walkway. Also, the path in front of the ledge is wider in Greensbourough than the path by the ledge at Berczy.

There is a saying amongst skatepark advocates; If the city doesn’t have a skatepark, it is a skatepark. Markham has a great network in place but without a ledge in the park, skaters will go to the next closest ledge at a school or community centre.

The best way to make a ledge un-skatable is to make the ground in front of it un-skatable with lawn or pebbled in-lays. Skate stoppers are removed by those committed to skating that item.

I hope this has been informative and not come off as rude. I would love to be involved with any skate park projects in the future. I know the skateboarding community would love to be involved as well."

I got a nice reply in return.

"Thanks for your response. I can honestly say I learnt a lot from your email. These are things I will definitely make note of when designing future skate spots. We currently do not have any skate parks in design but I think there are opportunities in the future to get more feedback surrounding purposed skate spots. I am going to talk to my supervisors about how we can adapt our current public input process to include specialized users, who may not be part of a formally recognized group. I will keep you informed on this process."

Unfortunately, this nice person no longer works for the city and I had to deal with 2 less helpful people the next time (check it HERE)

The rest of the park is nice too.

Wednesday, 7 February 2018

The Best of the Best in Skateparks: Part 2

The Best of the Best in Skateboarding
As a follow-up to the article The Best of the Best in Park Design, this article looks at some great things happening globally involving skateboarding and skateparks.
I was having a bit of trouble getting this article started so I'll let the videos speak for themselves.

The Ladies are Killing It!

As the father of a new baby girl I'm excited to know there is a whole community waiting for her. I can't wait to skate with my kids.

Underexposed: The documentary the started the Exposure movement. Exposure is now the largest all female skateboarding event in the world. Check them out @ http://exposureskate.org/

Babes Brigade Feature from NOW Magazine
Babes Brigade is connecting women skaters in the Toronto area.

100% Skate Club is a Calgary based All-girls Skateboarding Club.

For more on women in skateboarding and other action sports check the following links.
MAHFIA TV
Skate Like A Girl
GIRL Is Not A 4 Letter Word

Skateistan empowers children and youth through skateboarding and education in Afghanistan, Cambodia and South Africa.

Chicks in Bowls (now CIB) is a world wide movement of Quad Skaters (rollerskaters) taking to the park. While there have been Quads in parks since skateparks came into existance, there has never been such progression in the sport.

Skatepark Community
The first time I went to Campbellford, ON to skate I was approached by an older gentleman who asked me what I thought of the skatepark. I told him I though it was great. "Well the Missus and I think it's fantastic." He began, "We came from Madoc and the kids there love the skatepark and it gives them something to besides drugs."

The community that builds around a skatepark can be surprising to people who are not familiar with it.

The story of a guy stopping to help a young girl when viral when her mom posted a 'Dear Teenaged Boy at the Skatepark.' LINK

More shots of Churchill Skatepark where this interaction took place can be found HERE.

These four Calgary Skaters were honoured at the Cheif's Awards Gala for stopping a Sexual Assualt.

From Left to Right - Arnaud Nimenya, James Hielema, Starlyn Rivas-Perez and Carsyn Wright.
Story HERE.

The city of Calgary is also bridging the gap between the community and the skateparks by creating a mini magazine profiling the local skateboarding community and offering skateboarding lessons to the Calgary Police Service. Check out the video on the Calgary Association of Skatepark Enthusiasts(CASE) Website HERE and check out everything else CASE is doing for Calgary.

Toronto Skateboarding Committee promotes skateboarding in Toronto.

Camps and Outreach

I'm involved in a Youth Outreach called SkateLife and we do a week long road trip every year. We skate and meet up in different place and film for a video which we premier at the end of the week. Here's my teams video from 2017.

Other groups affecting young lives in Toronto are Impact Skate Club & Chill Foundation.

Switch Skate and Snow and SkateLoft both run summer camps and PA Day events. (Hook me up with some videos and I'll post them!:)

CJ's Skatepark also host events aimed at children with special needs (everything from ADHD to kids living with Cancer) in addition to Day and Summer Camps. (Note - CJ's is in the process of moving and re-building at their new location. The website is also being reworked so links may not work)

Another group reaching children facing developmental, physical and emotional challenges through skateboarding is Skate MD.

Skatepark Advocacy

The Tony Hawk Foundation provides grants for skateparks in low-income communities.

Skaters for Public Skateparks was a non-profit skatepark advocacy organization that existed from 2004 to 2017. SPS has transferred its domain name, skatepark.org, to Tony Hawk Foundation. All the information is still available.

Another Skater using his celebrity status to change lives for the better is Ryan Sheckler with

The Sheckler Foundation. In 2016 it donated Ten-Thousand dollars to Parisite DIY in New Orleans.

International Builds

Build a Skatepark, Change the World

Concrete Jungle Foundation is teaming up with Canada's New Line Skateparks to build Angola's first concrete outdoor skatepark. Their previous project was in Peru. Check the video below.

This gorgeous park in Taghazout, Morocco was build by Make Life Skate Life. Check them out HERE.

There are many other groups that are working on international builds to create a better world through skateboarding. There are also groups that collect old boards, hardware and other gear to provide skateboards to those who can not afford or access them, both domestically and abroad.

Donate for Skate is just one of them.

There are tons of great causes and events in the skateboarding world. If you know of one that should be added let me know. I'm going end with a rant and some praise.

The Rant. A rich and famous skateboard loving pop star signed a car. The car was auctioned off to raise funds for a skatepark in said singers home town. The hope was to raise $40000. Not much when you know the cost of a skatepark. The winning bidder went out of his way to double the amount to $80000. I feel the pop star could have done a lot more for his hometowns skatepark (granted he has raised funds for other causes) but the real hero here is Allan Komenda. Story HERE. The Skatepark opened late 2017.

The Praise

I'm not a big fan of Pearl Jam but I love Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament.

Over the past decade, Jeff has given funds both personally and through Pearl Jam's Vitalogy Foundation to build twelve skateparks throughout Montana and South Dakota.

Jeff Ament's Skatepark Projects

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

The Pickering Skateboard Park Strategy is Approved!

The Pickering Skateboard Park Strategy is Approved!

For more on how we got to this point click HERE.

At the last open house I gave 2 pages of suggested edits to Bill of New Line Skateparks. The latest draft of the Strategy took most of them into account.

On Jan 8th 2018, The Strategy & the Parks and Rec Master Plan went before Exectutive Committee. Both documents can be found HERE & HERE.

The Minuets of the meeting can be found HERE but here's my breakdown of the meeting.

First the committee had the consultant, Todd Brown of Monteith Brown, and the skatepark strategist, Travis Martin from van der Zalm & Associates, go first. This was to, perhaps, answer any questions people had and thus reduce the time needed for delegations(public speeches). It didn't. It was a bad move by committee because they were not allowed to address peoples concerns afterwards.

There were 3 delegates who had pre-registered. One group from the Racquetball/Handball club and a Speaker who runs the Pickleball (a low impact tennis ) Club.

I gave my brief delegation in support of the Strategy stating the skaters support the entrity of the document including the construction of the new park at the front of the Rec Complex in place of the roundabout.

Committee asked me several questions regarding noise, danger and unsavoury behaviour. I referred to The Urban Grind study regarding sound, Skaters for Public Skateparks for injury reports and recent posts on social media. One person had mentioned that the new location would not let him drink and smoke. Others told him to take that delinquent stuff elsewhere and comeback and skate. I was asked some questions and had to direct them to the strategy as the answer was there.

I was thanked and sat down.

That's when things got stupid.(or democracy in action, I donno)

The floor was opened to additional delegates (basically, anyone with a mouth and an opinion could get up and take the mic for up to 10 minuets.)

The first gentleman, Jack, explained that he was the original architect of the Rec Complex. He was upset he was not personally consulted on potential changes to the Rec Complex. The front, he stated, is a completely inappropriate place for this skate park. The location in the back is not 'out of the way', he continued and suggested the skatepark be rebuilt in the current location. HIS Rec Complex won an Award when it was constructed in 1983. It would have been nice if Travis got to say VDZ has won multiple awards in the last 5 years. He did suggest an indoor skatepark and with the closing of the local Sears there would be room at the mall to 'ride down the escilators' as he put it.

Another old guy rambled about the parking and the roundabout and skateparks and ended with something about marijuana.

An Aside - weather or not legalised marijuana in Canada is something you support, smoking or vaping of any kind will still not be allowed in a public park( which a skatepark is) by law.

Another lady asked if snow removal on the waterfront trail could be explored as walking trails are a part of the Parks Plan. Another lady spoke in support of racquetball.

Then Jack's wife got up and said she supported her husband(duh), and said she wrote his speech. Dude. Write your own speech.

Another person supporting tennis and opposed to the roundabout.
A person supporting Pickleball.
A person supporting lawn bowling.

In all this Mr Mike Temos and Mr Spencer Torok got up and spoke in support of the Strategy and skateboarding.

Council then discussed the proposals and it wasn't looking good. There was major concern over the idea of the skatepark in the roundabout location.

Councillor Butt. I have to ask, did you read the Skateboard Park Strategy? You asked the parks staff several questions where the answers were easily found in the Strategy and the recommendations. How was the amount of skatepark space determined? Try pages 6-10. How will the park be funded? That's on page 34 and on your page of recommendations.

There was a motion the refer everything back to staff which lost and a motion to split the 3 items which also lost.
Thankfully Councillor Cumming gave a great explanation of the words 'In Principal'. He suggested the Strategy was a guide and endorsing it didn't mean any thing was set in stone without further debate, particularly the skatepark in the roundabout. This swayed a few other councillors and they then voted to endorse the Parks Master Plan and Skateboard Park Strategy.

This all took two and a half hours.
The remaining 9 items on the agenda took half an hour.

Endorsement meant it moves onto city council.

City Council met last Jan 15, 2018 and I'm happy to say the Strategy was approved and is now the official city document regarding skateboarding in the City of Pickering. My work is featured on page 3 & 11!

Hard to see but Councillors Ashe, Brenner, Pickles, Butt & Cumming voted in favor. Mayor Ryan took the vote (he voted in favor at the executive meeting on Jan 8) Councillor McLean was absent.

Update: Council has made some points of clarification on the approved documents. Here's what it says about the Skateboard Park Strategy.

The location of the new Skateboard Park, proposed to be in front of the main entrance to the Pickering Recreation Complex, is not supported by Council. As such, staff will investigate other locations within the Pickering City Centre for the new community skateboard park.)

There is still a lot of work to do, including finding a new site in the city's core and possibly creating a design to fit that space. Fortunately I have bunch of guys I can count on to support the projects. Thanks to Mike & Spencer for their delegation as well as Connor, Kevin & Carol for showing up and supporting the cause.

Thursday, 4 January 2018

Pickering Skateboard Park Strategy Vote

Wednesday, 6 December 2017

Lit Ontario Parks

The Toronto Skateboarding Committee is working on getting lights installed at Ashbridges Bay Skatepark. This park is the largest in Toronto and 3rd Largest in Ontario (I think) and features a second phase bowl, multiple stair and rail sets, ledges and a replica of a downtown Toronto spot.
You can sign the petition HERE.