February 19, 2008

Only seven years late, a skatepark should be done by October

The skatepark slated for completion at Rockwell Park by October will be one of the best in the state, officials claim.
“Bristol will have a class one skatepark upon completion,” said David Dixon, a consultant from the Cheshire-based Milone & MacBroom. “My hope is that this becomes the envy of every other town in Connecticut.”
The skatepark will consist of a smooth, concrete plaza with a small bowl, Dixon said, and will include multiple layers with obstacles that skaters will be able to use freely.
The idea is to incorporate some of the urban terrain elements – ledges, rails, benches and the like – that have long drawn hordes of skateboarding fans downtown illegally.
The city is currently soliciting help from contractors who know what they’re doing when it comes to making topnotch skateparks.
“Concrete workers who know how to do sidewalks don’t necessarily know how to construct to the same type of standards that you have to do in order to make this skate-able,” Dixon said. “We’re going nationwide” to find a good contractor that knows what to do, Dixon said.
The 16,000-square-foot skatepark will be put on the former site of the basketball court, near the parking lot and pool. But it will be bigger than the court was.
After the design is finished, officials said, they’ll put out another bid solicitation to see how much it’s going to cost. “We’re constantly watching the costs,” Dixon said.
To help, Park Director Ed Swicklas is seeking a $25,000 grant from the Tony Hawk Foundation. Tony Hawk, perhaps the most famous skateboarder in the world, told The Tattoo teen newspaper in 2001 that Bristol should have a skatepark, which helped spur interest in creating it.
Dixon said that he construction to begin after July 1 and take about three months to finish. He said it should be done by October.
Michael Suchapar, a member of the Park Revitalization Committee, said he assumes there will be a requirement that kids wear safety equipment.
But Swicklas said the city plans to treat the skatepark the same as it does other park property.
“If they don’t wear” safety equipment, Swicklas said, “there’s not going to be a penalty for not having them.”
He said there will be signs warning boarders to wear proper safety equipment.
At least initially, Swicklas said, there are no plans to fence in the skatepark in or charge a fee top use it.
He said that skateboarders will likely keep a pretty good eye on each other to make sure that vandalism and damage is kept to a minimum.
“These kids and users are very unique in terms of skateboarding,” Swicklas said. “They police themselves” and have a great passion for it.
“We’re hoping they follow the rules,” he added
Building a skatepark has been on the city’s agenda since 2001 when city leaders promised to put one somewhere after ESPN’s X Trials at Lake Compounce drew attention to the sport.
But the plan ran into a major hurdle when officials could not find a place to build it that didn’t meet with opposition. A plan to put it at Page Park fell through when neighbors rallied to block it.
There has been relatively little opposition to putting it at Rockwell Park.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

“These kids and users are very unique in terms of skateboarding,” Swicklas said. “They police themselves” and have a great passion for it.

-This is my main concern. Frankly, I don't buy it.

-Also by stating it's "7 years late", you assume we all wanted it in the first place. Personally I just as soon have seen a city wide ban and strict fines to parenst who allow their kids to engage in this stuff around town.

Steve Collins said...

The 'seven years late" merely refers to the passage of time since city leaders first promised to build a skatepark.
That means that kids who were just learning to skateboard when the promise was made are in college or the working world now. That's a pretty sad commentary on the speed with which government moves.

Anonymous said...

So we are building a concrete bowl, ramps, chutes and other structures that the kids can fly off of in the general direction of other concrete, wood and iron appendages; probably defying gravity and traveling at very high rates of speed. “That's a pretty sad commentary on the forethought that government uses.

They can wear safety equipment, if they want to. They will be self-supervised. They will police themselves. They will protect the skate park from vandalism. This is nothing short of scary.

I remember when the ski slope at Page Park was removed for insurance reasons. Then they removed some of the slides from the playgrounds for insurance reasons. Now we are going to build a concrete jungle where these kids can fly around, self policing and sans safety equipment and propel themselves into objects or each other?

Anybody run this by the Corporation Counsel or the City’s insurance carrier yet? Anyone wonder why other towns are not doing this? Could it be that the creation of an unfenced attractive nuisance that can cause grave, crippling or fatal injuries might not be a good idea?

Why are we building this? Because the kids want it. And because business leaders want these ”boarders” to be out of sight, out of mind, not flipping off of everything concrete that is downtown or a part of shopping centers. Of course the Police actually enforcing the laws downtown or elsewhere is completely out of the question.

Kids want a lot, that don’t make it a good idea.

Better add another full time attorney in the Corporation Counsels office and beef up the claims adjustment office because when these reckless, unsupervised dare devils break an arm, a leg or worse, Mommy & Daddy will go for the city’s financial jugular, completely disregarding the fact that their idiot kid was one of the ones that “wanted it.”

Anonymous said...

Was it swicklas or leone that is soon leaving Bristol ???

Why can't it be BOTH ?!?!?!

Anonymous said...

Anon: 10:15-
Perfect take away their skateboards. Next with the bikes. Lets just pass law after law after law untill all Bristol's kids can do is sit on their bums watching tv or playing video games and snacking on junk food. We will not rest until everybody is fat, stupid and lazy!!!

Anonymous said...

Strange, but information I found during a quick online search indicates that baseball has worse safety statistics.

AnonymousWestconnStudent said...

Reading some of these comments make me think I am watching a bad B movie that tells us why we should all be good teenagers.

For the record Bristol has had a private skateboard park for decades at CT Bike Exchange.

Teenagers have been skateboarding for years. Have gotten injured for years and not once have I ever heard of a case where the result was a lawsuit. If someone can find otherwise then you have me beat.

The problem isn't the sport or the students. The problem is older generations who have such a false, sterotypical, negative impression of youth because of look, clothes, and music tastes.

And then turns those stereotypes into public policy.

Because of course were all slackers.

We all have no interest in civic issues. Or even our community

We all smoke pot

Anyone who wears an ear ring, dies their hair, or wears their pants low are degenerates that are going to rob you.

And everything in the world is so dangerous that we must be regulated, punished, or have the whole world made reality proof.

Oh well...I'm gonna go watch Refer Madness.

For the rest of you here's an example of ignorance gone wild.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBeB81PPlng

Anonymous said...

February 19, 2008 2:46 PM: I don't care for this particular culture/sport. It has nothing to with ball sports or bicycling.

Collins: Right, again you're assuming people reading the artcle considers it "late". I say better never than late.

Anonymous said...

All we want to do is dance!

Everybody cut loose, footloose.....

Anonymous said...

THERE GOES ROCKWELL PARK IT'S GOING TO BE TAKEN OVER BY THE CITY KIDS AND ALL THE DOGS THAT DO THEIR BUSINESS ON THE LAWN(owners it is not hard to pick up after your dog)page park is nicer for the young kids

Anonymous said...

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS

Skateboard and Scooter Injuries
Committee on Injury and Poison Prevention


ABSTRACT

Skateboard-related injuries account for an estimated 50 000 emergency department visits and 1500 hospitalizations among children and adolescents in the United States each year. Nonpowered scooter-related injuries accounted for an estimated 9400 emergency department visits between January and August 2000, and 90% of these patients were children younger than 15 years. Many such injuries can be avoided if children and youth do not ride in traffic, if proper protective gear is worn, and if, in the absence of close adult supervision, skateboards and scooters are not used by children younger than 10 and 8 years, respectively.


Abbreviations: CPSC, US Consumer Product Safety Commission

Anonymous said...

Give me a break. Playing football is dangerous too. Basketball results in many knee injuries perhaps we should close all the courts.

It all reminds me of the Berger Meister who outlawed toys in Sombertown.

Accept it or not, if you're not a traditional sports-oriented child there is not a lot to do in Bristol. Just look at how many sixth graders piled into the Family Center on dance night last week. Obviously there is a need for other things for kids to do in Bristol outside of school.

Anonymous said...

To the whiner talking about page park. You are right when you say it was removed because of the insurance issue yet nobody picks on the insurance company. Why ? Maybe you and your friends sell it ?

Aaron said...

Well, it certainly can't hurt the condition of Rockwell Park, undoubtedly the jewel of the Bristol parks system.

Anonymous said...

I believe that everyone who doesnt want that skateparkare only fooling themselves. skateboarding is here to stay i lived in bristol for 21 years now and i think its about time we actually get. skateboarding is a great sport and its alot safer then all of these silly baseball fields and soccer fields that are going up everywhere. just look into the statistics they will clearly show what i am talking about. and a concrete jungle? the world is a concrete jungle. it will be amazing if it ever gets done and i will go out of my way to make sure the skatepark stays clean and free of vandals.

Anonymous said...

I grew up in Bristol and skateboarded for most of my time there. I can't tell you how much money my friends and I blew through going to expensive indoor skateparks around the state. I think it's time Bristol got a skatepark. Bristol is a dangerous town to skate in; there's cars everywhere, and the only time you can safely skate is at night when there's no traffic, but there's also little light and drunk drivers. I think the "loud music" and "party atmosphere" that us as skaters supposedly bring is not a bad compromise to a bunch of kids getting run over on city streets. Providing bristol's youth with a safe and controlled enviornment is not only good for the kids, but it makes the town safer for everyone. I now go to college (yes some skateboarders can even get college degrees!) and live in Vermont where surprisingly there's skateparks everywhere. It's about time that the elected officials get off their asses and do something that benefits more than the crotchedy old people behind page park.

Anonymous said...

My name's Bob Goulet. I have skateboarded in Bristol since 1983. I have picketed for the indoor skatepark twice. Help built many backyard ramps and have been supporting the indoor park since it opened. I moved away in 2001 to open my own auto body shop in Dayton, Ohio and am happy to hear Bristol is getting their outdoor skatepark finally. I now live less than three miles of no less than eight skateparks and it's time for Ct. to get up to date. Also as for the sad to be spending money on this project comments...the fact that you have a computer and are on this blog shows you have some money and probably don't support any youth programs. Most skateboarders in Bristol can't afford computers, so they can't argue with you and your anonymous name. As for me, look me up!

Anonymous said...

Bob! Ha! You most certainyl will NOT remember me, but i met you once in Bristol....it was the year after you graduated, a friend and i saw you and a few other kids skating down in the Strawberries Plaza, and somehow i endd up at your house....which i think was somewhere near the library, main street??? I sat on your bed looking through skate magz....interesting......and years later, there you are in Dayton going who the heck is this girl? lol