Sensitive subject. Wow. I don’t mind the skaters much anymore, my only paranoid concern is the skating that goes on in front of the skate shop on Mill St. All it takes is one of many possible “what if’s” and a kid is then on the hood of my car or underneath it. Wish there was a better way to provide separation so to eliminate as many “what ifs” as possible.
I know I might not help at all but in my mind it kind of makes sense for kids to be skating in front of the skate shop.. All specialty type stores attract groupies, especially the young and impressionable.
I seem to remember a time when we had a few lil ramps down on the basketball courts in camelot courts (a friend that lived down there had a small 1/2 pipe we skate in his backyard as well. AND I MEAN SMALL). Ahhh the good ole days, I miss going around to the different 1/2 pipes around the area back then…
yea, me tooo… i had a half pipe in my bakkyard alll thru 1989-1994. 4ft. high X 12ft wide with a 2ft extension on one half of one side.
rode it practicallly everyday, and frequented other’s ramps in the area.
at the end of last summmer i built my own funbox for getttin some exercise on for this year. i’m breakin it in sooon!!
i actuallly never knew about Mr. Bob’s!! what’s the adddresss? i should loook into it!
T-Sister ::
a ZORLAC design?!?! NIIIICE!!! Pushead was one of my fave artists bakk when those boards were out. sweeet!! i definitely neeed to meeet you guys!
I believe there is a HARP meeting tonight at 7:00 at the Stewartstown Borough building. Has anyone been to their meetings - do you know how long they usually last?
I love the direction this is NOW moving in! Thanks to everyone for their ideas and concerns! It is all really well received. I completely understand both the pro’s and cons of this situation. This has been a great experience. Sort of a “mock trial” situation. You have all given me lots to think about before speaking up at the HARP meeting. I’m going to go to the Borough meeting April 21st, but after the input on this thread, it sounds like the HARP meeting is probably the better place to go since maybe putting in a couple of ramps at the community center is the better thing to ask for. I, obviously, missed that meeting last night, but sounds like it will happen again May 13th, so I’ll plan to attend that. Thanks again!
On a side note: Rat Dog was INCREDIBLE last night! Rams Head Live is a fantastic venue. If a band comes there that you enjoy, I highly recommend going! Was a wonderful experience.
Oh, and Mr. Bob’s Skate Park is called “Our Place” and it’s located on the trail just past the Amish Market on the right hand side if you are going from Shrewsbury. You can’t miss it.
I had no idea there were so many heads posting on this forum
Bobby was not a skate-rat; he was into mountain biking back in the day (perhaps he still is?) - and from what I remember, he did some advertising for a high-end mountain bike manufactor (based out of CA) back in the day…
Happy to hear the show was incredible last night - we weren’t there but did see them at Penn State last November and the year before at the Strand Theater in York...he was hanging outside his bus and was shopping at that head shop a few blocks down…
Anyway, if any of you are seeing Umphrey’s at the Rams Head next Saturday, we’ll see you there!
I had no idea there were so many heads posting on this forum
Bobby was not a skate-rat; he was into mountain biking back in the day (perhaps he still is?) - and from what I remember, he did some advertising for a high-end mountain bike manufactor (based out of CA) back in the day…
Happy to hear the show was incredible last night - we weren’t there but did see them at Penn State last November and the year before at the Strand Theater in York...he was hanging outside his bus and was shopping at that head shop a few blocks down…
Anyway, if any of you are seeing Umphrey’s at the Rams Head next Saturday, we’ll see you there!
Oh, and Munck Music has the Beacon run up and for sale
Dear RatDog fan,
The live downloads from last week’s RatDog shows, including the 3-night run at the Beacon Theatre in New York City are ready! And what a run it was…
In addition to the intense energy that the ol’ Beacon seems to generate among band and audience alike, the band also brought up a long list of guest artists.
Thursday, April 3 they invited Bobby’s ex-Dead band mates Jimmy Herring and Warren Haynes on stage for a series of tunes. And at the end of the second set, vocalist Dana Fuchs (who appeared in the movie “Across The Universe") and keyboardist Steve Molitz (from Particle and Phil Lesh & Friends) joined in on Turn On Your Lovelight.
Friday, April 4, Dana Fuchs appeared on stage again, as well as two saxophonists George Garzone and Doug Yates during Eyes Of The World, plus Dred Scott on keys. And, later in the second set Chris Burger and Zachariah Mose came out to lead a hip hop/reggae jam during The River Song.
For the last Beacon show on Saturday, April 5, the band reserved the stage, and an intense Dark Star, for themselves.
Downloads of all 2008 RatDog shows, as well as CDs and downloads from ‘03-’07 archives are all available at: RatDogDownloads.com
Enjoy the music !
[ Edited: 09 April 2008 01:39 PM by Chris_McGraw ]
With school taxes through the roof, gas at $3.30 + per gallon, groceries & everything else up in price, please don’t look for the community to eat this one too. Enough is enough.
I have no problem with the kids having a designated area to skate. I do have a problem with paying for it. The options of local business monetary involvement, grants, etc. is the way to go, along with if the parents of skaters wish to chip in, go for it.
Just don’t ask me for anymore, the well is dry.
You’re right. Let’s not spend that money on the kids. I don’t expect the community to pay for it. I don’t expect anything from this community. Besides now learning these silly rules we have, I learned that too. This community is not open to change. Can’t wait to move!
Spend all the money you want on whatever you want. Just don’t tell me what I should have to do with my money. I think all fmr-wht-tgr is saying is that the government isn’t there to provide every convenience every group of people want. The sole criteria for what your local government should spend their money on is not simply “would this be nice for the children”. The government is not your nanny or your kids’ nanny. The town should be looking to control costs, not continue to spend on new programs. I think they have plenty to take care of with the park, and that’s a nice place for people of all ages to go already. If they want to consider adding a skate park that’s fine, but it doesn’t make sense to say that just because you would like it to happen means taxpayers should have to foot the bill without careful consideration for the budget.
Spend all the money you want on whatever you want. Just don’t tell me what I should have to do with my money. I think all fmr-wht-tgr is saying is that the government isn’t there to provide every convenience every group of people want. The sole criteria for what your local government should spend their money on is not simply “would this be nice for the children”. The government is not your nanny or your kids’ nanny. The town should be looking to control costs, not continue to spend on new programs. I think they have plenty to take care of with the park, and that’s a nice place for people of all ages to go already. If they want to consider adding a skate park that’s fine, but it doesn’t make sense to say that just because you would like it to happen means taxpayers should have to foot the bill without careful consideration for the budget.
I agree with that. I don’t mean that I think they should pay for it. I don’t think it should come out of taxpayers pockets at all. The only thing that I would like is possibly a small part of either the back of the basketball court or may a little piece of the back lower parking lot to place the ramps and whatever other gear that we would be happy to supply. That’s all. I don’t own a space large enough to put this stuff, so I would just be asking the community for the space, but no money. The ramps would all be moveable too, so they could be slid over to the grass and out of the way when ample parking is needed (like baseball and other sporting events). Do you think the community would be open to that? It isn’t anything to maintain. That’s what I was going to suggest at the meeting. What do you think?
I agree with that. I don’t mean that I think they should pay for it. I don’t think it should come out of taxpayers pockets at all. The only thing that I would like is possibly a small part of either the back of the basketball court or may a little piece of the back lower parking lot to place the ramps and whatever other gear that we would be happy to supply. That’s all. I don’t own a space large enough to put this stuff, so I would just be asking the community for the space, but no money. The ramps would all be moveable too, so they could be slid over to the grass and out of the way when ample parking is needed (like baseball and other sporting events). Do you think the community would be open to that? It isn’t anything to maintain. That’s what I was going to suggest at the meeting. What do you think?
I think it’s an idea some in the community would be open too and some would not, when approaching it that is something you have to remember, it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. And seeing as some people are stretched to their limit financially, and mention of tax money being used for it will bring concerns, I can understand that.
When you talk about usage of spaces already dedicated to another use like the basketball court I don’t think would be a valid solution. First, you have the b-ball players and the skaters using the same plot of pavement. Sounds like a bad idea from the start if you ask me. In addition, that basketball court is heavily used for it’s main use, basketball. I know this, since I heard them jamming their boombox and loudly cursing until probably nearing 10:30 lastnight now that it’s warmed up some :(
Now when you talk about the back lower parking lot, I’m not sure what you are talking about, so please elaborate.
Which brings up my next point. Supervision. You say there would be nothing to maintain, yet if the Borough/HARP or whoever is as you say “giving you this space” then they have authorized the use of that space for skateboarding. When Johnny down the street cracks his head wide open on the metal coping and his mother who is not nearly as level headed as you are immediately wants to sue someone who’s going to be at the table representing the “skateboard space” when the lawsuit is filed?
I’m not just pulling out what if’s, these are things you need to understand, things you need to discuss and research ahead of time, and things that the Borough/HARP will HAVE to discuss when thinking about any options for a skating area or park. Insurance, liability, supervision, etc., these are things you should be prepared to discuss long before you come to a meeting.
I guess my point is, it’s more than just marking out some existing concrete and slapping ramps down.......much more.
The reality of life is this: The taxpayer picks up the tab for many special use projects all over the country that you or I might never use (or want to use). Take a look at http://www.cagw.org (LINK FIXED!!) to find a list of some of these “pork” projects.
One could argue that since we provide baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, indoor gym, walking trails, playground, etc, we should also provide a skate park. Of course, if that is the case, one could argue we should provide a pool hall, badmitton court, horseshoe pits, water park, lacrosse fields, football fields, bike trails, dirt bike tracks, public chess boards, arcades, etc.
After all, we can’t discriminate can we?
Of course, I know we can’t provide all of this. So what do we provide? How do we determine who gets the freebies while others have to pay for their recreation? These are questions that we have fought over for many years and will continue to do so for many years to come.
I agree with that. I don’t mean that I think they should pay for it. I don’t think it should come out of taxpayers pockets at all. The only thing that I would like is possibly a small part of either the back of the basketball court or may a little piece of the back lower parking lot to place the ramps and whatever other gear that we would be happy to supply. That’s all. I don’t own a space large enough to put this stuff, so I would just be asking the community for the space, but no money. The ramps would all be moveable too, so they could be slid over to the grass and out of the way when ample parking is needed (like baseball and other sporting events). Do you think the community would be open to that? It isn’t anything to maintain. That’s what I was going to suggest at the meeting. What do you think?
I think it’s an idea some in the community would be open too and some would not, when approaching it that is something you have to remember, it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. And seeing as some people are stretched to their limit financially, and mention of tax money being used for it will bring concerns, I can understand that.
When you talk about usage of spaces already dedicated to another use like the basketball court I don’t think would be a valid solution. First, you have the b-ball players and the skaters using the same plot of pavement. Sounds like a bad idea from the start if you ask me. In addition, that basketball court is heavily used for it’s main use, basketball. I know this, since I heard them jamming their boombox and loudly cursing until probably nearing 10:30 lastnight now that it’s warmed up some :(
Now when you talk about the back lower parking lot, I’m not sure what you are talking about, so please elaborate.
Which brings up my next point. Supervision. You say there would be nothing to maintain, yet if the Borough/HARP or whoever is as you say “giving you this space” then they have authorized the use of that space for skateboarding. When Johnny down the street cracks his head wide open on the metal coping and his mother who is not nearly as level headed as you are immediately wants to sue someone who’s going to be at the table representing the “skateboard space” when the lawsuit is filed?
I’m not just pulling out what if’s, these are things you need to understand, things you need to discuss and research ahead of time, and things that the Borough/HARP will HAVE to discuss when thinking about any options for a skating area or park. Insurance, liability, supervision, etc., these are things you should be prepared to discuss long before you come to a meeting.
I guess my point is, it’s more than just marking out some existing concrete and slapping ramps down.......much more.
i agreee with almost everything here… but just like Alex pointed out—you can’t be discriminating as to who’s gonnna get hurt where. yes, very agreeed; a ramp is MUCH more dangerous than an arcade, but not moreso than a swimmming poool. there are tons of public style poools [that charge a feee, but that’s not the problem]. poools claim and damage more lives than ramps do*, but for some reason the “rules and regulations” just asssume the heirarchy.
that’s my main problem for parks NOT poppping up EVERYwhere. poools have set liabilities, place them on the skaters by having mandatory helmets/pads. have them sign-up, causes rules. run them by the commmunity or smalll group and charge a feee for your time and energy put forth… just like a person working at the local poool in the foood stand. just chilll and hang out… do work, yes, but it’s not alll that bad = get paid + makes tons of kids happpy with a place to skate and meeet some killler “rad” skaters.
[*eEL has not actuallly researched this in the past 5 years; but has prior]
