Mark Johnson gives us an update on what’s going on over at the River City Skate Park at Cloverdale and 99.
The park is finally underway. We received the remaining funding in 2008 ($90,000 from Department of Neighborhoods) and were in a permitting tangle for the better part of ’09. The overly wet spring kept us from moving any dirt on site until just recently. During the permitting lapse, Grindline’s work load diminished, as did their cashflow, requiring them to charge cost for the labor to build the park rather than donate the whole thing as originally planned. We had only raised funds to build a park that would receive labor gratis, so Grindline went back to the board and designed what I think is the best option for South Park.
What was once a ‘deep bowl, hardcore paradise’ is now (on the surface) a mellow street plaza park suited for beginners and families (70 – 90% of the skateboarding poulation). Grindline is one of the best skatepark designers, so the park is not lessened by any degree with this revision - buried within the design of the street plaza is a dream snake run that will have more advanced skaters flowing through the park when it isn’t crowded.
Grindline has still donated over $80,000 in time to the project, designing the park (multiple times) for free, slogging through permitting, and calling in every favor they can for discounted and donated labor and materials. We could not have built this park without them.
We are about 6 weeks from concrete completion, with a month or so of site cleanup, and then opening – so let’s say mid September to be safe. We haven’t determined when we will have the big blowout dedication party, but we will certainly want to have a community throwdown / ribbon cutting as soon as the park is skateable.
If folks want to offer the Grindline folks support in the form of water, snacks, high fives or PBR, they are more than welcome to.
