For years I’ve questioned the promise of 15 and 20 year warranties offered by some companies and, I have to say, they are too good to be true. Seriously, can anyone really expect any product built from concrete or steel to last 15 or 20 years, let alone have a realistic expectation that same product will have a warranty that long? Police cars, fire trucks, computers, electric generators, water lines or even the very building in which you are probably sitting right now… are any of them covered for 20 years? 15? Maybe 10? How about 5? In short, no they’re not… and neither is your skatepark.

Can customers really believe this promise? These prefab steel parks have a history of 3-5 year effective lifespans after which time they are typically either removed, replaced or refurbished. So what, you say? After performing the necessary maintenance to keep one of these items viable and safe- or moving the ramp within the same park or to another location- the warranty is VOID…. period, done like dinner, it’s all on you now. It’s hard to imagine that moving a ramp across the lot (remember all the promises of being able to reconfigure the park to keep it interesting?) can some how be responsible for the steel walls rusting but it must be true, otherwise why would they write it?

Below is a copy of the warranty from a prefab steel and precast concrete ramp manufacturer. When a promise of a 15 or 20 year warranty is qualified by saying “installation of replacement parts… not covered under this warranty and freight is to be PREPAID by purchaser” I think the “purchaser” should be scared. Can you imagine not only paying twice for an item but prepaying for shipping on 10,000 pounds of prefab concrete? Then, once the item arrives at your site you have to remove the old ramp with a crane and dispose of it, install the new one with a crane and perform the necessary repairs to the surrounding site. Do we see a problem here?

Here’s how I read this warranty-
* warranty is at the discretion of manufacturer
* warranty does not cover normal wear and tear (it is a skatepark, remember)
* warranty does not cover acts of God (such as freeze and thaw cycles?)
* if a purchaser does not follow the daily, weekly and monthly maintenance recommendations the warranty is void

In my opinion, these promises are misleading and intended to offer nothing more than an empty one-up to the competition in a selfish game of sales wars. And as long as “purchasers” hang their hats on the number of years the product is (supposedly) covered our industry will remain stagnant and the skaters will lose.

Seriously, isn’t using a warranty written by the vendor like asking the fox to guard the hen house? WRITE YOUR OWN WARRANTY!!!

Companies like Who Skates do not hide behind caveats but rather clearly and honestly spell out what we will and will not cover and for how long. Cities and Towns should write the warranties as Exhibits to the contract and remove all of the wiggling and fine print… force builders to make the commitment to no-fine-print warranties covering EVERYTHING in their contract, give them little or no wiggle room and go for the jugular if they leave you hanging… in a test of only the strong (or experienced) survive you will be doing a service to the taxpayers and the skaters.

Text and Image Courtesy Who Skates

On Sunday, January 17th, the youth of Long Beach, California got a brand new facility where they can exercise their passions and distract themselves from the hardships of living in what 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia called “one of the most dense and poor communities in Long Beach.” The new skatepark, which replaced existing equipment and expanded upon the site’s footprint, is a 8,000 sq. ft. hybrid style skatepark, consisting of TrueRide ramps and pre-cast Spohncrete features.

I am a long beach local myself so I went downtown today and to my surprise I found a skatepark that was actually rideable and it had a mini ramp. I don’t remember what was there before cause i just drove through and had no desire to hit the few ramps they had. Now there is a fun mini ramp, a street course behind it that the young and the old (like myself) can have fun on. There are some concrete features built throughout the park that are mixed in with the above ground park and it was a nice use of space. There is also a kids section that is completely seperate which keeps them out of harms way.

After skating the mini ramp for about an hour or so I decided to roll through the street course with about 15 other guys. To my amazement I had no accidents and didn’t even have any close calls. The flow in this park is excellent in my opinion. Now I don’t have to go Houghton Skatepark or the El Dorado Skatepark if I want to ride transition in Long Beach. Here is the address. 1390 Pacific Ave, Long Beach, CA, United States

Here is what the kiddy course looks like.

Here is a shot of the street course.

Another view of the street course. This was shot from the mini ramp.

The mini ramp is about 5 foot tall and really fun

Random Skateboarding At the Downtown Long Beach Skatepark

Rolling Through The New Long Beach Skatepark

Downtown Long Beach Skatepark Kids Section

The New Downtown Long Beach Skatepark Tour From The Outside Of The Skatepark

Skateboarder Smashes The Windshield Of A Cop Car

A LONE police officer had her patrol car windscreen smashed by an angry 12-year-old boy wielding a skateboard at Caroline Bay on Saturday.

The constable was at the skatepark on Caroline Bay responding to complaints from the public about a group of young boys, aged about 12, who were causing problems in the area on Saturday afternoon.

She took one of the boys home because of his behaviour, and then returned to the skatepark to ensure that the rest of the group were behaving.

Acting sergeant Greg Sutherland said one 12-year-old in the group gave the constable the fingers and was using offensive language to her, so while sitting in the patrol car, she beckoned him to come to her.

“He walked toward the patrol car, got to the passenger side, and used his skateboard to smash the windscreen on the passenger side three times.”

Mr Sutherland said the boy was arrested and would be dealt with by Youth Aid on charges of wilful damage and disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence.

When asked why he had smashed the windscreen, the boy said he thought the constable had taken his cousin into custody, so he was upset.

Muskogee Oklahoma is building a new indoor skatepark and the finishing touches are being put on it as I write this blog post. The skatepark is set to open on Feb. 13 at 212 N Main St. Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401.
The park is in an old three-story building that used to house an office supply store. The picture below is just a snapshot of how this skatepark is shaping up. Looking good so far can’t wait to see the rest of the pictures.

Muskogee Oklahoma Indoor Skatepark

There’s hardly a child on the planet that hasn’t played with these multi-colored, Danish-made hunks of plastic. Lego-bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct such objects as skateparks, skateboards and skateable objects like the photos you see below. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects. There are skateboard related kits available which contain all necessary pieces for any of the projects in the photographs below. Here is a look at 10 different possible lego configurations with regard to skateboarding.

Dublin City’s first public skatepark was opened in 2006 in Bushy Park. It consists of a concrete bowl surrounded with typical street elements. The park is open to skateboarders, in-line skaters and B.M.X. bikes. That is why it is called Bushy Skatepark.

Part of an extensive open space network along the Dodder, Bushy Park extends to 20.5 hectares. The park originated in 1700 when Arthur Bushe of Dangan, Co. Kilkenny, Secretary to the Revenue Commissioners, built the house known as “Bushes House” on a site of 4 hectares. A John Hobson became owner in 1772 and changed the name to Bushy Park, possibly after the park in London of that name. Purchased by Abraham Wilkinson in 1791 who added almost 40 hectares to the estate, he gave it as a dowry to his daughter Maria when she married Robert Shaw in 1796. George Bernard Shaw was a distant relative, his grandfather being a nephew of Sir Robert Shaw (1st Bart). The Shaws were connected with Bushy Park for the next 155 years until 1951 when they sold the estate to Dublin Corporation.

In 1953, the Corporation sold 8 hectares to the Sisters of Religious of Christian Education but later re-acquired 2 acres of woodland in 1993. The park is noted for its woodland walks, ornamental ponds and beautiful Dodder Walk as well as catering for football, tennis boules, and children’s play.

Protec Pool Party at Vans Skatepark is probably the best pool competition of the year it will be coming up this weekend on Saturday May 17, 2008. If you are around the Block in Orange, California this is one you don’t want to miss. Since it’s inception in 2005 The Protec Pool Party has brought the most rippingest of pool skaters together for one adrenaline-frenzied day of competition. This is going to be one amazing skateboarding event for sure!

Here is a video clip of Will Powers dropping in off the bleachers into the Round Bowl. Its hard enough to drop into a 13 foot deep pool but Will finally landed it and he must have been another 3 or 4 feet higher and had to leap out. Video courtesy So Cal Skateparks

Here is a picture of the tech deck skatepark. You can have fun for hours with these things if you have any kind of hand eye coordination. The whole Tech Deck Series came onto the set quite a few years ago and they quickly joined forces with almost all the major skateboard brands and everything else is history. This is a good way to bring skateboarding indoors you can set up the skatepark of your choice as there are many components available. There are items like stairs, rails, quarter pipes, pyramids, halfpipes and alot of other real skatepark options.

Some of the many things this park features are Four transition bowls, including a righthand kidney with real pool coping and tile. The place is super fun and flowy. It is a long drive, and I will probably wait til the crowds cool down a bit as there is quite a bit of anticipation. Here are some rules and usefull information you might want to know about

1. The park had their grand opening this weekend (12th & 13th) for the tribe only. The park is going to stay open only to the tribe for the first month.

2. The park will be open to the public and they will announce it with flyers and publication.

3. The non-locals will have to pay a fee to skate: apx~ $75 for a year membership = skate all you want on the days its open to the public. Or about $5 for a day pass.

4. The park is supervised. Must sign a waiver. Under 18 is full pads, 18 and over only helmet required.

5. Current hours of operation: M-F is 2pm till 5pm, Sa-Su is 11am till 5pm. The public will only be allowed in for 3 or 4 days a week (ex: couple of days during the week and one of the weekend days – still to be decided)

6. They may install lights in a few months.

7. No bikes or razors (and maybe no skates either – to be decided)
Here are more pictures of the pala skatepark

I was told yesterday at about 5PM that this morning would be the day. I called a couple people and told them, but very few, yet there was about 50 people in the gates by 9:30am. I was let in to be the first skater by Jana Ransom, the recreation manager for the City of Costa Mesa–thanks Jana!! I skated three times today and each time more and more people began to build up. At about 8pm there was at least 150 people in the park, and probably closer to 200. When the lights went out one at a time (starting about 8:40 which is way too early) there was still at least 100 people in the park. The park closed at 9:00pm and the sessions were awesome. Their hours are supposed to be 8am to 9pm, but the signs say 9am to 9pm. We’ll see what happens there, and we’ll definitely work to make sure the lights don’t start going out 20 minutes early–that sucked!! Hopefully, after having to ask 100 people to leave everynight at 9pm for weeks on end, maybe we can convince the city council to keep the lights on until at least 10pm, but we are going to need you guys all to be very mellow for that to happen. Don’t vibe the police or park rangers when they come to lock up. They didn’t make the rules, but if you piss them off, they’ll make it harder to change the rules. Keep that in mind!! All the skaters left the park quietly and peacefully tonight, so things started out smoothly.

On a really good note, there were people skating every single inch of the park. I guess Costa Mesa did need a park after all–hahahahhahahahaha(yeah–like three maybe)!!! Everybody seems to be happy as there is something for every one to ride, although the park is far too small for the number of skaters we have in this area, but we had to start somewhere. Now we need to start working on park #2. The concrete as smooth as butter thanks to the great work of California Skateparks. We were very lucky to have them work on our park, and hope we’ll get to ride more great parks poured by them in the future. Rancho Santa Margarita wasn’t so lucky. They opened their skatepark last week, and the concrete work sucks. You get what you pay for, and when you just take the lowest bid without confirming the contractor is actually qualified to do a good job, then you get what they got. I do hope they make the contractor who poured that park come back and fix it for the sake of the skaters out there. Thank you to the city of Costa Mesa for listening to the skaters and making sure the bids included pre qualifying contractors to make sure only qualified skatepark builders could pour our concrete—good job!!!!

Now comes the fun part–the pad dance. Yes, Costa Mesa requires Full Pads–Helmet, Elbow Pads, and Knee Pads, so you can expect to see Police officers and Park Rangers enforcing those rules. I am sick of answering this one, so hopefully a few people might read this and understand how and why they do this and stop talking smack about the city when it’s not their doing. Ok, just so you guys know the real truth, here’s how it works. The state passed a great law a couple years back, adding skateboarding to it’s list of known hazardous activities. What that did was acknowledge that skateboarders know they are doing something dangerous while skateboarding and therefore holding them accountable for knowing that the danger to get hurt exists and not holding the city liable for all of that danger. That allowed the cities to feel comfortable and protected in building a skatepark for skaters, and that’s why we see skateparks popping up in cities all over. But, the downside of that law is, that within the same law that helped us get skateparks built, the writers of the Bill said that the cities were protected provided that they posted warning signs stating that you are participating in a hazardous activity, you know it’s dangerous, etc, etc, etc…. blah, blah, blah. It also said within that Bill that created the law that the cities must post signs and enforce the wearing of Helmets, Elbow Pads, and Knee Pads. WHAT????????

Yes, the city must post signs and enforce the wearing of pads, or they may not be covered by the law, and you wouldn’t have a new free skatepark to ride. So, we are benefitting from this law getting us new parks built, and crying because the pad portion of the law is really, really, really, really, really LAME!!!!! OK, so I am not even going to argue the helmet portion cause I can tell you now that part will never ever be changed, and if someone builds me something awesome to skate that I can hit my head on, and lets me skate it for free, then asking me to wear a helmet is something I will just do, so don’t cry to me about that one. If they didn’t make me, then I might not wear it, but I am not even going to argue that point. OK–SHUT UP!! I can hear some of you who think you have the right to do anything you want anywear you want calling me a kook or whatever, but that’s my opinion and it’s least it’s based in reality, not fantasy. Everyone has a right to their own opinion, so if you’ve got one, then speak it, but don’t cry because you read one you don’t like. If you think you can change the law, the go for it. I don’t think it’s going to happen as far as helmets go, but I am definitely going to do my part to help do where I can when I can to get that law altered, and I hope you will do the same, and stop just standing around complaining about it.

Now, when it comes to knee and elbow pads, that’s a different story. I asked the Senator who wrote this bill why knee and elbow pads were on it, and for the most part that answer was something like “because we thought that’s why the general outfit was”(I guess they saw too many McDonalds commercials with kids riding down the sidewalk in full body armour). He also said we thought it would help us get the bill passed with less fighting from the Trial Lawyers Association. Yeah, those are the guys who want to make sure they can sue for things, so they never wanted skateboarding added to the list, so the pads were sort of tossed in there trying to give them less to argue. That’s how it happened for the most part. So, while I think we shouldn’t have to wear elbow pads and knee pads at the skatepark, especially if the tennis players at the tennis courts next door don’t have to wear googles, and the basketball players in the city gyms don’t have to wear ankle braces, mouth gaurds, etc….., it still doesn’t mean I can expect to skate without my pads without getting a ticket, and neither should you. I’d love to see them write a ticket to a guy on a basketball court for improper equipment just cause it would be funny to watch someone else get messed with for once, but let’s stay serious about that one.

I will be watching and doing whatever I can to change this law at sometime in the future, but hopefully this little education can help you focus your anger towards changing the law instead of bitching about how lame the city is for making pad laws. It’s a State law, and the city didn’t make it, so let’s work on changing it for the future. So put some effort into the right fight, and don’t be ignorant about what the law really is. I am sick of listening to it and so are the recreation people in the city. We’ve talked about it many times, and if we can change the State law, then I think you’ll stop being harrassed, and hopefully it will mellow out over time anyway, but anyone who’s ridden a Southern California Skatepark when it has recently opened should know the pad police cycle and should be used to dealing with it by now, so stop bitching about it. Consider yourself educated, and bring your pads if you don’t want to ticket. Maybe someday it won’t work that way, but for now, that is reality. Now, get out there and enjoy the skatepark, and if you don’t like it, go skate somewhere else!