SeaSnakes vs. the SkateHolders – part 1

I try really hard not to be the paranoid product of one-too-many transparent lies and games played by the City of Seattle. I am not going to go into it all here because you need not look further than Google, or this very site, to find multiple examples of the transparent lying, manipulation, and blatant wasting of volunteer personal time that Seattle’s skateboarders have been subjected to in their quest to find a safe and accessible public space for riding skateboards. One of the benefits of being subjected to all of this chicanery is that you start to get really good at reading the situation and recognizing when you’re being played.

I think Seattle skaters are about to get played by Seattle Center like Jimi Hendrix played that strat that Paul Allen’s got locked up in the EMP (cost of admission $15 please).

Seattle Center always been an awkward jumble of commercial interests and space for free public use. The Century 21 committee who has been tasked with the re-design of the Center has received a lot of feedback for more “open space”, but there hasn’t been a lot of talk about the balance between stuff that’s free and stuff that costs money. If you really think about it, the only free public attractions on the Center campus are the two fountains. Everything else either costs money, or is empty most of the year until one of the festivals use it.

Ask yourself: where do you see SeaSk8 fitting into this equation?

Understanding that if they could charge for it they would, Skatepark advocates have been adamant about SeaSk8 being free and open to the public 365 days a year. There was considerable effort put into finding a site on the perimeter of the campus so that skaters would not have to pay to get into the park during festivals and events where the Center campus is entirely fenced off and admission controlled. When the 2nd and Thomas site was finally decided on, the perimeter location was one of the few positives the skaters could latch on to as we settled for what was clearly not an ideal choice.

Discussions with One Reel and Bite of Seattle organizer Alan Silverman, about taking advantage of the free and popular skatepark during festivals, began last year outside City Council chambers the day that the Council moved unanimously to put SeaSk8 on the Seattle Center campus. Both groups said they were interested in programming something cool in the skatepark to add value to their events. But 51 days during the dry season is a long time to be locked out of the skatepark , so we just kept fighting for something that would always be open and free no matter what was going on at the Center.

Then this happened…which leads me to believe that the Seattle Center staff and probably the Mayor’s office, are still scheming to further delay this process, in hopes of increasing the chance that they can get this skatepark off of their campus for good. Why they think that people can’t put 2 and 2 together on this is beyond comprehension.

Continued tomorrow…