Northside Community Council: May Report

Tonight I shared with the council that we've made progress:
One grant-hunter
Two PR Gurus
two good leads on grants, with people ready to try writing them...

We already had:
a site
community council support in a written resolution

Our Goals:
this month
--to set up a financial "container" for fundraising through the Northside Community Council
--to get one or two more committed grant hunters
--to begin applying for grants in earnest.

Next Directions:
Corporate Sponsorships
Broaching the subject with the City Council for their support

I can't say enough about the pleasure it is to work with the Northside Community Council. I have the feeling that a movement to build neighborhood skateparks will develop out of this, affecting OTR and West End, Corryville, and Clifton, South Cumminsville and many other neighborhoods. Heck, Sedamsville has a proposed park!

We're looking at great possibilities for the youth and young adults and young-at-heart-adults of Cincinnati to have equal opportunity, without regard to economic status, to use skateboarding facilities! As it is now, you have to own a car or live in a nice neighborhood to use a park. Skateparks are for everyone!

until next post...

This is DELHI, people. DELHI!!! Please send me grant-hunters!!!

DELHI OH. Delhi has had a park for a YEAR now. 600 people at the opening. at least 20 per day during the WINTER!!! 100 per day easily.
Cincinnati governing people: listen up! Skateparks are GOOD FOR COMMUNITIES!!! Grumpy old Delhi has one and the stores around it can tell you about how many drinks they're selling, how much gas gets guzzled... the cops can tell you that skaters aren't half as rowdy as the basketball ganstas. Seriously, get me a team of grantsters and let's get funding that can get CRC adn the Gov't to HELP US share the wealth!!!!

Grant Hunters!

We got our first Grant Hunter this month! Melody Wolf! Nobody hunts as well as a wolf, you know...

maybe a lion. but i think wolves are really better. Keener sense of smell. it's a toss up, really.

Here's a community that's doing it, just like us...

Crossville, Tennessee (click it)

Why Concrete?

I won't belabor this issue. Concrete is the ONLY medium for the construction of a municpal skatepard. It retains a "due care" state, without the kind of maintenance that is necessary with other media. Your skatepark will WORK at acceptable safety levels for YEARS.

Look at Columbus' 20+ year-old concrete park. This is the ONLY way to create a park. Not to mention sculptability, durability, and the undeniable popularity of the medium. A quality, concrete skateboarding medium in our neighborhood will ensure a constant flow of people to our business and idea-pool.

A quality concrete skatepark in several neighborhoods on the bus routes will slingshot Cincinnati into a brighter future. There is no doubt that a city that creates media for this culture is going to be in the travel plans of people from many states and countries.

Research is solid: Skateboarding is Safe! (relatively)

I've been holding off on posting on the issue of the relative safety of skateboarding because I have no background in statistics or medicine. In my own 22 years of skateboarding I have seen several broken bones--wrists and ankles--and innumerable bruises and scrapes... I have never seen a head-injury happen, outside lacerating my own forehead in a backyard pool in the 22nd year of my own skateboarding carreer. what a dope.

anyway, I want to share with you this research. Just click the word "this" in the previous sentence. It is significant, reliable, and typical of all the other results I've viewed.

The bottom line is, skateboarding in concrete parks is not as dangerous as basketball.

Another consideration I'd like to share is the strong possibility that skateboarding youth are less prone to repetitive stress injuries, since there are usually no parents or coaches pressuring them.

I worked with high school youth for years and it was sickening to watch adults pressure them into horriffic injuries. I saw a sixteen year old with his knee unzipped twice to repair destroyed ligaments--all for touchdowns. This kind of injury is quite rare in skateboarding; especially at that age.

Some thoughts.

A taste of possibility: some very rudimentary drawings of Northside's site plan...

Northside Community Council Meeting January 2008

We did a quick presentation this month. We'll be presenting a drawing and kicking off our major political push this next meeting, Feb. 25.

Thanks to Tim Jeckering at Jeckering Architecture for the site plan drawings. We've already formed up a few initial drawings.

Thanks to the World Famous Matt Dyck, of Byrneside Skatepark fame, who has graciously offered to give us design advice and drawings for presentations. Matt is, as I said, world famous for his skateboarding and concrete park design. Any park he does is a work of art.

Our park is forming up around an artistic aesthetic. There will be trees and lighting that create a "Park-like" feel. No Post-soviet era monolithic skateparks for Northside. This'll be a park for everyone and their kids and dogs and probably even their bikes on the periphery.

Looking forward.

Sign the Petition

Click Here to sign a petition, eh?

Northside Community Council: December Meeting

Lew attended and presented for a minute, fielding questions from the floor. Northside remains the most supportive and energized neighborhood in all of Cincinnati. We are now working to form a base of local skaters to design and push for the park, while scanning for local businesspeople and neighbors who can vocally/politically push for the park.

Thanks for the overwhelming support. We look forward to presenting our design in either the February or March meetings. Hopefully we'll be deep in fundraising and final tweaks on design, with full support of the CRC, by April.

Overarching Goal

development of quality skateboarding parks that lie within easy access of Metro routes.