New skate park opens near stadium
Various media are reporting on a new skate park out by the Olympic stadium. I’m of two minds about this. Three, maybe. It’s branded – the Vans Pro Skatepark – and it’s just more concrete. But I always feel the point about real skateboarding is to tackle the cityscape as it is, not have commercial interests pouring concrete just for you. But maybe that’s a 20th-century point of view.
Uatu 09:38 on 2019-07-13 Permalink
It’s a place where pro/semi-pro skate boarders can practice their tricks for the pro tour that Vans sponsors. Good publicity for Vans and it means that kids don’t have to practice in empty pools like my buddy did when we were kids and he got busted by the cops
Faiz Imam 11:32 on 2019-07-13 Permalink
Skateboarding hasn’t been counter-culture for years. Heck it’s gonna be an Olympic sport soon.
I’m a huge fan of municipal skateparks, they are really active dynamic spaces that are full of kids and tend to be replace parking lots and other marginal spaces. I’ve heard the one in Rosemont is very popular.
I’m a huge fan of this new park, it’s a beautiful place and is built on the espanade which is a concrete wasteland with zero value. This will bring a LOT of people to a dead zone, perhaps bridge the “wall” between the park and HOMA.
Also should be pointed out that the bowl is a pretty high skill area, but that a series of smaller more beginner ramps will be built in the coming months. So the area should be open to all skill levels.
Thr vans branding is questionable, more corporstization of public space is never ideal. But this is probably one of the best uses that can be made of the espanade, which has a lot of constraints due to the parking lots underneath and the water drainage systems.
Tim F 11:44 on 2019-07-13 Permalink
If we were paving paradise to put up a skate park (apologies to Joni) I would be against it. As it is, it’s a concrete mess. On the other hand I do agree that skaters should be allowed to use our urban landscape as long as it’s safe for them and other passers-by.
You can have velodromes and city bike paths and mountain bike trails, so I don’t see why you can’t have both skate parks and street skateboarding.
Blork 12:31 on 2019-07-13 Permalink
As others have pointed out, skateparks aren’t about riding your skateboard around for transportation, it’s about doing tricks and jumps and all that. It’s comparable to Freestyle BMX bikes; yes you could ride a BMX bike to work or school, but the point of Freestyle BMX is to do crazy stunts and tricks.
Same with skate parks. Stunt skating started in the 1970s when kids in LA would sneak into people’s back yards during the day (when the residents were at work) and do stunts in the empty swimming pools (the pools were empty because of a draught). It became a sport in its own right and can be spectacular to watch. The Venice skate park in LA (Venice beach) is huge and has a very vibrant community around it.
Blork 12:32 on 2019-07-13 Permalink
…and it would be totally dangerous and destructive to do that kind of stuff outside of a skatepark.
Mr.Chinaski 18:29 on 2019-07-13 Permalink
Kate, the demand was to have a rink that would be specified to the Olympic Standards, therefore being able to hold things like Canadian Championship. This is the reason why it’s concrete, the “pool shaped” concrete will be one of the actual events in Tokyo 2020.
Kate 20:02 on 2019-07-13 Permalink
Thanks for the clarifications, Mr. Chinaski.