Now that the topic is skateboarding, I want to tell you something about the new skateboarding park in Madison, Wisconsin. It's taunting a man:
“I go out my door on my way to work and see this thing; I pass it every day,” says [Allen] Burger, a machinist who has been riding BMX bikes for 15 years. “If [the rules against biking in the skateboarding park don’t] change, I just want to move. It’s like having the love of your life dangled in front of you... This is so upsetting to have a park right there... I’ve totally lost motivation."Yes, he's a Burger and that other guy is a taco. That's just serendipitous.
“I do feel bad,” [says Patrick Hasburgh, one of the organizers behind the Madison Skatepark Fund]. “It’s a strange thing as a skateboarder to have to exclude someone after being excluded as a skateboarder. But really, the park isn’t designed for that.”According to the exclusionary Hasburgh — I can has burg — BMX riders put pegs in their hubs that can "take chunks out of" the granite ledges that the skateboarders would only wear away slowly.
Here's the "Equal Treatment for BMX riders in Madison Skatepark" petition.
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16 comments:
First world problems.
It seems that it has a no blacks rule too. But then I remembered that almost all Dane County blacks have been put in jail by their white overlords, or shot by cops.
Who do you think should win on that biking vs. skateboarding problem? What's the more persuasive argument of the skateboarders: 1. They raised money and worked to make that place a reality, or 2. The bikes may do a special sort of damages to the surfaces that the the skateboards would not do?
There's a question about mixed uses endangering each other, so what are the facts there. Do bikes tend to injure skateboarders more than skateboarders injure each other or do skateboarders injure bikers more than bikers injure each other... or is it all just about whether the individuals observe safety rules?
I'd want to know how many skateboarders there are out there. Is it an underused facility at all? Is it underused at certain times of day? I would think that lovers of skateboard parks would want a park that's used at all hours and isn't empty and that might give rise to an interest in inclusiveness. But if the bikers are taking chunks out of the granite, it's a different matter.
Good luck to all the wheeled Madisonians trying to work this out.
I'd say if the "chunks" problem can be addressed, the bikers should at least get some hours when they are permitted to use the park.
As we all know, many more men ride bicycles than women so there's a disparate impact issue, too. How do we get more women interested in BMX? Public BMX bikes?
"The Madison Skatepark Fund raised $885,000 to pay for the park, after an initial goal of $750,000."
Really?
The Goodman Foundation gave $250,000 for the skateboard park, second only to the $300,000 from the city. Another $200,000 came from a Dane County Partners for Recreation and Conservation grant. Other grants came from the Willy Street Co-op, Great Dane owners Eliot and Sara Butler, the Madison Community Foundation, the Tony Hawk Foundation, the Marquette Neighborhood Association and the Purple Moon Foundation, among others.
No rules!
I'm guessing that gay guys line dancing in the park, wearing roller skates and short-shorts, is kind of passé by now
Girls don't skate, peoples of colour don't skate, peoples of age don't skate. The $1M park is an exclusive white testosterone sanctuary. The war on white boys is won!
I think it's obnoxious for bikers to feel entitled to use something that skateboarders built. That their sport would tear up the concrete is even more reason that the skateboarders shouldn't be expected to open the course to them.
We have some of this kind of thing locally between mountain bikers and horseback riders. The mountain bikers have organized and done the hard work of raising funds, getting land permits, and building and maintaining trails, so no way would they allow horses....nor should they. For the most part I don't think the horseback riders have even asked, but it used to be a big conflict in the state parks before the bikers built lots of other trails.
What is the city doing for girls to compensate for a skateboard park provided for the boys?
I think in mountain biking, the bikers who've worked to develop the trails have made it their ethic to include other users, that they're trying actively to counteract the negative feelings against them that made people exclude them from hiking trails, perhaps in some hope that some day they'd be allowed to use all those great hiking trails.
That's my understanding. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Obviously, there's a big difference between mountain bikers and BMX bikers, but can't we all get along?
Hiking and biking can coexist but horse traffic destroys trails. If what they are saying about BMX is true then it's a similar problem.
Anyone seeking to use something built by others should acknowledge that they are only welcome if invited, and that they should not even ask for the invite if their presence will destroy what was built.
Funny, as i was wtiting that I realized its a metaphor for immigration.
And regarding bikers vs hikers, I think mostly bikers have made it their ethic to maintain trails, so they've earned their keep and earned respect.
Can't BMXers get/make their own park that isn't a skate park?
"A park I could be using for a different activity if only they'd let me" is a personal problem, not a policy problem.
A burger and a taco?
I think the South Park candidates for a new school mascot might be more exact a comparison.
Huge, serious first world problems like this are clearly intractable. I give up. Perhaps we should just put all this money and effort into bomb shelters. Cause it's clear wher this is goin'.
Do you like my new hairdo? I asked for a chunky look, but...
The $1M park is an exclusive white testosterone sanctuary. The war on white boys is won!
Would you prefer they skate in a skate park or on sidewalks and parking lots all over town?
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