Skatepark Advocacy Burnout

 Skatepark Advocacy Burnout

Skatepark Advocacy is hard. I'd say it's hard work, but few are payed to do it. Skatepark Advocacy is a hard task. It's mostly volunteer with a lot of obstacles in your path. If it was easy, there would be no need for resources like the Public Skatepark Development Guide and The Skatepark Project (formerly The Tony Hawk Foundation). 

There seems to be no end to the council meetings, NIMBY's (not in my back yard), delays, design disputes and more. It is really easy to feel burnt out when you put work into a skatepark project and see little or slow returns. Thankfully, I've always had supportive family, neighbours & friends. When I was feeling the most burnt out, Alec Beck of The Skatepark Project, reached out with much needed supportive words.

Here are some of the issues I've encountered. 

Camel Parks

An old saying goes 'a camel is a horse designed by a committee'. I went to a skatepark design meeting, meeting 2 of 3, where the various skatepark users could not come to a consensus as to what the park should include. At the first meeting, users had been asked for their preferences and 80% had favored a snakerun(this is one of the issues with the sticker method). At meeting 2, a snakerun based concept was presented as was another skatepark concept. The snakerun concept was universally hated by the group.  In addition to this park, the town was planning a second park. I suggested this would be a great opportunity to create two very different parks utilizing the 400k budgets (ie a 400k plaza and a 400k transition park). Not being local I didn't push my idea beyond the suggestion. Consultation continued and the park "HAD" to have a deep bowl and "HAD" to have long ledges. The end result is a park with a deep bowl that most don't ride and a lot of the basic features (flat rail, flat ledge, manny pad) are high or are difficult to learn on. 

An Airing of Grievances  

I often see comments on social media that have minimal or no relevance to the posted content.  The city will post something about a skatepark and people comment complaining about the condition of the soccer field, the need for more pickleball and negative skatepark comments like wasted tax dollars, 'we don't need a skatepark' etc. When I make a post on social media about local skatepark related things, there's a local person who uses it to complain about other issues with the city. 

Credit Stealing

I reached out to a local guy about a long closed indoor park. It was around before I lived in the area so I wanted to know more. I contacted him from an account specifically for skatepark advocacy in our town (think 'Gotham skatepark advocacy' with a ton of pictures of 'Gotham skatepark'). His reply told me nothing I didn't already know. The indoor had shut down, and the local park is bad. He then messaged me "And we're trying to get a new park built".  Who's We? This guy has not once showed up to a council meeting, design meeting or reached out in any way. I'm sure I'll hear how much the new park sucks because it doesn't have the features he likes.  

Update - After a skate spot opened, Mr Wizard here started posting 'Lights' like that would help. When I told him yelling 'Pizza' from your front step doesn't make a pizza magically appear. If you want change, you actually have to show up and be involved. He told me he's 'a grown up man with a full time job'. Weird flex bro.  

I showed up to this skatepark open house, while working. What's your excuse?

He let me know he & others have made videos and signed petitions to try to get new/updated parks.  Straight Talk - Online Petitions don't work. Councils don't take them seriously. Real petitions with pen on paper, signed by the people in the neighbourhood matter.  Secondly, I know of one video, produced by people who show up to council meetings. Mr Wizard, I agree that council meetings are poorly scheduled, but they are what matter. (Mr Wizard and I are chill now)

Re-steering Committee

An advocacy groups steering committee prioritizes and directs the path of the group towards the goal of a skatepark/skateparks.  A re-steerer is someone/s who join/s late in the process with a new and/or different set of priorities.  Without major details I'll just state I've been working on my town for over 6 years to get outdoor (free) parks and in the last year I've had two separate individuals who want the city to steer toward indoor parks.  Thankfully, my town has opted to purchase ramps and create an indoor/outdoor, portable skatepark. 

More recently I was speaking with another advocate. We were discussing what we liked in a park. I mentioned a park and their security which results in no tags on the park and it was like a flip switched. He's pro-graffiti and basically said that if that was the way I felt he might as well be my enemy. I talked him down but was left quite surprised.  Update - This guy has gone full kook, telling me 'You don't even skate'.  Oh I'll 'Stick to My (your) Lane' as you so politely stated. We could have addressed the chunky paint before the artist did his thing but now I'll fix the ledge after the art goes down. This is what you wanted dickhole.

I don't even Know how to Respond

I posted a picture of little skate spot in another town. The park is well designed with playgrounds, a splash pad, zipline and the whole thing is laid out like a giant lizard when viewed from above. 

Tail on the left. Gecko head on the right.

The lizards tail is a gentle, descending quarter pipe, not perfect but better than nothing and very well used when I visited. After posting it on social media, a friend tells me it's a piece of garbage and that (reputable Skatepark firm) should be ashamed of themselves.  I did my digging and couldn't find anything that attached the firm to the project. When I asked he if he knew something I didn't he commented 'well, it's a piece of garbage anyways' (It's not the first time he's attempted to bad mouth this company as he used to work for them).  I didn't know how to respond so I sent him this.

Negative Nancy's

I'm not new to dealing with city officials and the general public when it comes to skateparks. I've educated myself by absorbing almost every skatepark advocate guide, study and website. I've been involved in the designs of a few parks and build obstacles. I've skated over 400 different skateparks and even took measurements of some of the more interesting features.  I've posted my dealings with city officials on this blog ( see HERE & HERE)  As my local city government created a skatepark strategy, they also had a design created and took public feed back. I posted my thoughts and suggestions on my blog and received this response. (see the post HERE)

True to form, this guy didn't respond or show up. 

A skatepark will please 100% of skaters 0% of the time.

Just recently, I posted a concept that the city created based on my design (a design included in the skatepark strategy) on my social media. It would be a small skate spot and the first new skatable concrete in the city in over 20 years. I'd carefully worked out the dimensions of the park to make sure it's actually feasible. With the amount of space available there is room for a park ~25ft wide by ~200ft long. There are spots with similar dimensions in the area.

Leitchcroft Skate Spot, Markham. 15ft wide.

The response was overwhelmingly negative with my peers stating it's too small & why can't we build into the parking lot. I have an idea...Fuck You. This was never going to be the City Wide park (that is in the works with a 750K budget), this is a neighbourhood skate spot. Don't come if you don't like it. Don't rain on my parade. I've given hundreds of hours of unpaid work to get skateparks built for other people to use. I'm dedicated and may I add...

Update - I had lurked a Neighbourhood Facebook group through the development of a small skate spot. Around the time the spot opened, the Group became private and I had to join to view it. I made a post about the spot being open. A few comments later and I was reminded why I had avoided joining the group in the first place.  

Don't Shoot the Messenger!

There is a new skate spot coming to Oakville(Now open and very well used - LINK). The local paper ran one of my photos (with permission) but I found out the park was being planned as a pre-fab spot. A local skater and myself contacted Council with our concerns and the park structure was changed to PIP concrete.  This project has had a lot of set-backs but at some point the city quietly put out a design option survey.  I say quietly because in the 2 weeks the survey ran, only 45 people responded ( 14days / 45 ppl = ~3ppl/day).  I posted the preferred design (32ppl) and that a company had been hired to build. Locals took out their dislike of the design on me. 1. Get involved or Shut the Fuck Up! 2. I didn't like the design either. Three ppl chose neither & I'm with them. 3. Thanks to social media, I was able to lurk their profiles and they're all old enough to drive. Drive your ass to whatever park you want. 4. There's another park coming to Oakville. Get involved or Get Bent.

MORE

A friend gave me this one. He volunteers with a few other people to get an unofficial seasonal skatepark up and running for the summer months. One day, the person in charge yelled at him and another person. Rule #1 - don't yell at volunteers and expect them to stick around.

City Staff turnover. Just when you find someone who is willing to work with the skatepark users, they leave and you have to get acquainted with a new person in that position. 

The Pickering Skate Comp '24 was handed over to a staff member on 6 days notice. She has been my 7th contact in the last 4 years. 

Lately (late spring 2023) I've been discovering skatepark projects that have been going on under my radar. Even when I find out about them, there's very little information online and in some cases. none at all.  The city staff has been less than helpful with some emailed responses giving me the feeling I'm being brushed off.  Projects in Wellesley, Innisfil and Oakville( the other park from above) seem to have complete designs and in some cases, partial construction, with no user input or feedback on the design. I'm not satisfied with blow-off answers so I asked a buddy if I should pick a fight, go over their head or just let it go. I thought he'd tell me 'dude, you've done enough and you don't live there' but instead he said 'You are the expert, pick a fight'. lol

Recently, someone made a comment on my Arthur Skatepark post. They provided me with some great updates about the park, which I always appreciate.  You can check out what the comments actually were but their last line rubbed me the wrong way and since I was feeling sassy thanks to a couple adult beverages, I replied...sassily.  Or so I thought. The next day I found my 'sassy' reply to actually be very fair while not insulting Anonymous 2.

Anti-vocates. Asshats with their head up their ass. Someone who never shows up but suddenly says your advocacy has all been for personal glory and to make yourself feel good & you pushed out other local advocates.  Ok, first, eat a sack of dicks. Second, even if that's true, there's nothing illegal about it and you can kindly F off and advocate for yourself. Third, walking my dog past the spot I got built (and assisted the crew in building) does make me feel good, so thanks loser. I have a car, a basement ramp and a spot down the street. I have everything I need. So ask yourself, why do I need to keep this up & why do I advocate in places I don't live? 

Well, you can make 100% of people happy 0% of the time.

Different Points of View - There are many ways to be a skatepark advocate. I won't say there are 'wrong' ways but some methods are more effective than others. Like when you plan a punk show at the spot without permits and the police inform you the show will be shut down, since you have no permits. Don't be surprised and butt-hurt when you get shut down.

This is the end of my vent session. It'll be updated from time to time. If you think I'm talking about you, I probably am. The fact I didn't call you out means I respect you. 

Except you Anonymous. Show Up or Shut Up.