Check out Ed Sieger's Express Times article on the ongoing progress of Easton youth's quest for a new skate park--Here's an excerpt:
"About 135 skateboarders of varying ages and skill levels spent more than 10 hours Monday leaping over and sliding across makeshift obstacles at what they hope will become the city's skate park.
"The people who ask, 'Why do we need a skateboard park?' should be here today," Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said.
The Boys & Girls Club of Easton marked National Go Skateboarding Day with a competition at Lower Hackett Park that officially launched fundraising efforts to raise the estimated $100,000 necessary to build a permanent skate park."
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I repeat: 135 kids.
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7 comments:
with so many households being single parent/absent parent, kids need to be occupied w/ good stuff, so this is a good idea. but still, kids have been riding skateboards for decades, sometimes w/ parks, sometimes w/o; I never had one, we got creative, made our own places, etc. the bike riders around here, they have trails cut in the woods all over the place. modern way of thinking, I guess, someone always needs something 'given' to them. kids expect too much, inflated sense of entitlement.
Don't be a hater Anon. I grew up watching the kids on sesame street play in abandone lots... jumping off neatly stacked wood block in contruction sites (during their cut scenes between muppet adventures). Cause that's what kids had to play with in the city. Does it make it right? Does it make it safe?
Adults (in this era) are more concerned about the kids and want to make them a priority to provide safe areas for them to chill and have fun. That has nothing to do with a sense of entitlement... especially when they are working their asses off to raise the money for their own park. Get over yourself.
settle down Nikki, don't get your panties all bunched up now. just remember what happened to the last easton skatepark- tore up, abused, neglected, etc.
I hope this thing works for them really I do, but 'officially santctioned' things tend to lose the 'cool factor'. kids will still be drawn towards the loading docks and illegal places to ride; why are abandoned mines still cool to sneak into to swim in when there are community pools? because it's 'cool'.
parents obviously want a 'safe' place for the kids, but safe isn't hardly ever cool. I can bet that even after the park is open, the hooligans will still be doing drop ins and rollbacks at the lightpost at bushkill and 2nd st, because riding backwards into traffic is uber-cool.
I ain't a hater, just a realist. I am SO over myself, trust me.
Panties aren't in a bunch.. am a little bloated though ;)
My point is..just because you have some kids who like "the thrill of the chase" doesn't mean you shouldn't have a safe place for the kids who WOULD skate but don't want to risk their lives doing so.
People have different personalities (that includes kids) and that means you can't expect EVERYONE to take part, enjoy or respect certain things.
The positive part of this is that you have 135 kids who have a vested interest in keeping the park clean, safe and unabused. When a person has invested time and energy to build something from scratch they are more likely to keep up with it.
Same as the difference between a gift a child gets for christmas and a item they saved and worked hard to obtain. My daughter bought herself a $300 phone and believe me she treats that phone like her baby.
So my point is we shouldn't think so negatively about what COULD happen. The fact that the kids are working hard and believing in this thing should be applauded..
you guys crack me up. good exchange. i would add this point--these kids are not acting out of a sense of entitlement, they are actually being very entrepreneurial and coming up with all kinds of suggestions as to how the club can make its own money and fundraise to support the park. they are an extremely industrious and creative group of young teens.
they can save all kinds of money and let kids skate in the parking garage :)
open up the tunnels under downtown while they are at it, gotta be fun places to skate down there!
Anon 11:41 -- funny you should say that--I only learned recently that there are public restrooms under the circle and that there used to be two sets of stairs that led down there.
Speaking of the circle--tomorrow on Heritage Day, the Easton Stay of the Streets Club will be hosting an open skate downtown:
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf?/base/news-2/127864834030730.xml&coll=3
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