Skaters Vs. Art
A sensationally spun article by reporter Sanjay Bhatt in today’s Seattle Times pits skateboarders against art lovers over the proposed Seattle Center SeaSk8 replacement site.
According to the Seattle Times, working hard, participating in the process, and going to meetings for two years in an effort to reach consensus on a new site amongst the many stakeholders at the Seattle Center has become:
“Skateboarders are urging the Seattle City Council to remove the “Fountain of Creation,” also known as the DuPen Fountain, and install a skate park in its place.”
This really damaging and poorly researched piece has the potential to negatively influence public opinion against skateboarders at a time when we were finally starting to make positive strides in the court of public opinion.
The news media’s job is to objectively and fairly research the story and report NEWS. This piece contains very little comment from skaters, and makes it sound like we’re completely insensitive to the art displacement issue. In reality, we’ve been “strongly encouraged” to take this site (or face a “long and painful battle”) by the Seattle Center and the Council, and now apparently we’re taking the heat.
As a result, Sanjay Bhatt and the Seattle Times get the first ever Seattleskateparks dot com Rusty Bearing Award.
