Pete Whitley, SPS rocker and author of the Public Skatepark Development Guide, was comissioned to create a rules sign for SeaSk8.  The simple messaging makes a ton of sense, especially after Parks created those “tin tomes” at Lower Woodland that no one bothers to read.  I mean, who has the time?

I also designed some signs for Lower Woodland that are being made now, which will hopefully at least give you something to point to when you have just survived a sprocket-blow to your cranium.  As the mock-ups below will show, the language is simple, they are conceptually shallow, and the font is finely tuned to appeal to the audience:

While video gear continues to get cheaper, and your grandma is whiling away her free time editing HD video of her parakeet on her iMac, amateur skate videos have gone pro.  Skaters can now apply such high levels of polish to their DIY videos, that they can rival the stuff that comes off the shelf in the skate shop.

It had to happen sometime, but I’m pissed I didn’t think of it first.  The first annual Skateboarding Film Festival is happening this August 14-15 at Seattle Center’s SIFF Cinema.

The guy behind the whole deal, Eric Burgess, tells me that there will be films covering the full spectrum of skateboarding.  If the submissions that he’s posted so far on the festival website are any indication, this event may just establish skateboarders as the bleeding edge of DIY film making.  I mean…all that CKY stuff was shot on XL-1’s and edited on a pre-intel PowerMac.  That dude made millions.  Now it’s your turn, and Eric is bringing skateboarding film to a first-class, high profile Seattle venue for the first time.

Show up, grab some popcorn, and get ready for some amazing skatefilm.

A Grindline soldier caps a rail at the new SeaSk8.

Grindline says it’s going to be close, but barring any major catastrophes, the new SeaSk8 will be open to the public on July 9th.

There are still a lot of loose ends to be tied up, and the last pour is happening this week.

Seattle Center staff has made it pretty clear that they intend to kick people out before the park is officially open, and even more importantly is that Grindline is responsible for securing the site.  So if someone screws up, they could be held liable.

Keep it clean out there people, and we’ll see you on the 9th!

Seattle artist Perri Lynch was pretty stoked to be chosen as the artist to work on SeaSk8’s art component.  She’s probably ecstatic now that her art has been installed, but we don’t know that for sure because she’s somewhere in India.  Who knows…maybe she’s looking at these pictures to see how things went.

I can report that, yes, the art is installed.  I can also confirm that it is definitely awesome.  Can you guess what the images are that are imposed on the glass?  (The Space Needle is a reflection)

The park is still closed, as there is more pouring and finishing to do.  (note: someone has already posted evidence of a poaching mission).  However, Shaggy and SPAC friend Justin tested out the glass wall and gave it the thumbs-up:  “It’s like skating a dusty masonite ramp.  It’s slippery, but it’s doable.”

Both dudes got about half-way up the glass wall, but were getting another 3-4 feet higher on the concrete vert wall to the North of the glass.  They were both kicking from the SW corner of the park, which is pretty much the farthest you can get away from the glass.  It seemed like Shaggy was getting more speed by coming off the steeper banked side and cutting over, but like I said they both reached about the same altitude.  There was a little barking coming from the wheels against the glass, but for the most part it was silent.  Justin said “it was like skating on ice”.

Go forth young lunatics.  Reach for the skies.  But please wait until the park is open, because if not you will be kicked out, and possibly arrested.

When we were losing the Ballard Bowl (V1), a bunch of us went and volunteered at the Ballard community clean-up day.  We grabbed hedge sheers, rakes, paint brushes, and got to work.  This immediately earned us respect from the non-skating members of the neighborhood who wanted to support us but were a little unsure.  It allowed people to see skaters as simply another part of their community, instead of this insular self-serving special interest group.  But most importantly, it allowed me to take my sheers over to where the Mayor was pruning, and really put him on the spot about what was going on with the skatepark situation.  I think he took me more seriously when I had a giant sharp implement in my hand!

Well here is a very similar opportunity for skaters to show the neighborhood that’s been so supportive and welcoming to them, that they are interested in contributing.  Volunteers are needed to help build the  playground at the Delridge Community Center. Funding depends on the  neighborhood being able to commit a certain number of people.

You should send an email by July 2nd to helpdelridgeplay@gmail.com if  you can help.

Friday, July 17th
6:30 am to 2:00 pm

No special skills are needed, except for an  ability to wake up early and take the day off work, possibly.

There will be edible gardening preparation,  painting, and other fun activities other than strictly building. Come bond  with your neighbors and help improve the area.

There will also be an art wall that they are hoping people will want to help paint.

Please show up and let Delridge know you’re down for more than just yourself.

According to advocates on the ground, Seattle Parks recently received a public disclosure request from someone in the community along with other NIMBY-type complaints, including the classic “older skaters have hijacked this process in order to build what they want at the expense of what the children need” and “the skatepark footprint encroaches on the surrounding park space”.  At this time, Parks staff have not given the SPAC any inkling of how they intend to respond, but we’ve been here before and it was ugly.

There will be a meeting on Wed July 1st 6:30-7:30 at Dahl Playfield to share the final design of the skatespot that will begin construction this summer.  My guess is that these last-minute opponents will be trying to hijack the meeting with their pointless arguments.

Let’s not forget that this kind of thing stalled Lower Woodland for a year, drained $80K from the park’s budget, and eventually got the park pushed back against the hill where we told them not to put it for various good reasons.  We can’t let this happen again.

Show up to this meeting and help Seattle Parks help you.

The hater in me wants to be all… “every day is go skateboarding day, man”, and “don’t try to turn this aspect of my lifestyle into a Hallmark holiday you evil corporate skateboard/lifestyle brand managers”, but I am really trying to be more positive these days.  I ventured out.

I figured the most anti-corporate place to celebrate GSD was Marginal, and it’s the closest thing to my house.  I expected to see a lit barbecue, people everywhere, and to hear Slayer riffs echoing off the walls.  Instead I found an empty spot except for this guy, and captured an image of what I believe the essence of GSD to be:

Go skateboarding for yourself, and no one else.

Marginal was probably empty because the SnoCon guys were hosting an awesome event down the street, and I’m sure it fired up later in the afternoon.  Josh Becker captured some awesome photos of the downhill bomb, which you can see here.  But having Marginal to yourself on GSD seemed like an oddly beautiful way to spend the day.

Tonight Grindline unveiled the most recent design concepts for the Delridge skatepark, and it’s distinguishing feature may just be an actual living tree.  Yes that’s right…a tree.  One skatepark opponent at the Myrtle Reservoir meeting said, “I’m here to speak for the Earth, and we should preserve the green space in this park by not adding any more concrete.”  Well it seems that the Earth and skateboarding can co-exist, as evidenced by these images courtesy of Grindline.

Skate Like A Girl is setting up to become the Vera Project equivalent for skaters in Seattle.  They have been given an office at the Seattle Center, just a kingpin’s throw from the new park, and they are already starting to program some cool events.

The first one will be during the Bite of Seattle, which is interesting because the Bite’s management were the first to come out against the SC campus location for the park.

I guess this just shows that when people come together, good things can and will happen. This is really great news, because for a while there was talk of shutting down the entire park during events like the Bite and Bumbershoot.  It’s still not known what will be happening during the latter.

So when you’re down at the Bite this year, bring your board, and contribute to this event.  Make it positive.  That way we can set the right foot forward and ensure that the skatepark will always be open for skaters during the 30+ days a year that there are events programmed at the Seattle Center.

Bite This! and go SLAG!

Photo courtesy of the West Seattle Blog

Make sure to get over to the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center tonight at 6:30pm, to see the Grindline vision for the park, and provide your input for the final design.

The design has not officially been unveiled, although Micah was showing it at Delridge Day, and you can kind of see it here in this photo.

Personally, I would like to see more intermediate features integrated into a flow area that fills the hole in the middle. This park is going to be heavily used, and everyone who wants to skate transition is going to crowd the bowl without something else.

Regardless, please show up and contribute to the next Seattle skatepark.