I’m in another town as I read the Reformer article about the skatepark being on the chopping block, again. This town I’m in, no less hilly, and more trafficked, offers something of a feeling of salvation to me as a longboarder with this as my primary way of getting around.
Here, people in cars yield. They seem to be in less of a hurry. Whether that’s true or not, the prevailing attitude, which is so firmly in place as to be the norm, is to fully allow ALL elements of the road- pedestrians, skateboarders, bicyclists, et. al. – to exist, and move at their own pace.
To spell this out. Drivers slow to a stop as they see me approaching an intersection. They don’t race to the stop sign, showing advantage and stomping me down with their vehicular mass. They don’t hurry me along, or nudge me into the dirty shoulder. As a result of the mindset as much as a policy, co-existence of skateboarding within the fabric of town is a non-issue. Imagine the relief, both in terms of safety and feeling accepted. It is possible.
Which brings me around to the boulder that keeps rolling down on the heads of skaters and skatepark advocates. (We’ll leave aside for now the issue of having to raise all the money privately for a public facility in a panic stricken and mismanaged economic environment.)
What message is sent when citizens again and again give time and energy to secure a place to play and practice, only to have powers-that-be quash and squash their efforts in words and actions? What some may perceive as being prudent and fiscally responsible, another view is that it’s rude, unnecesarrily reactive, and fairly hysterical.
And even though one zone is a dedicated park, and another is the world-at-large, I can’t can shake the comparison to rolling down the street and being allowed to take my place as part of the landscape. With respect palpable, so much of the conflict vanishes. It seems Brattleboro is hellbent on seeing dragons.
Ups and Downs
I wonder if all the hills around town make driving seem more like a roller coaster here than in other places? (Though I see that you are writing from someplace as hilly). It’s easy to go too fast if one doesn’t care to ride their brakes. It’s not an excuse, but an observation.
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. I’m not sure the public would support an end to the privately-funded skatepark project. We all made a deal – do a site selection process and we’ll support the location and the park. (If the Police and Fire facilities were privately funded, I’m sure we’d agree to their maintenance costs going forward in exchange for the benefit they’d bring to the town.)
The park also isn’t in the budget, as far as I know, other than perhaps some time from the Rec and Parks director. It’s hard to cut something that isn’t there.
The concern expressed by David Gartenstein seemed to relate to the long-term maintenance of a new town-owned facility. If we can’t afford upkeep on core services of police and fire, he reasoned, how can we justify supporting adding a less-necessary project to what the town must then pay to keep up?
The public should form a Friends of the Skatepark group to nip this concern in the bud. Maybe a local sponsor could cover maintenance, the way groups take care of flowers in certain parts of town.
Projects conceived in the 90’s are overdue, I think most can agree. How they get paid for is the issue for us all to figure out.
Would the formation of an
Would the formation of an organization – much like the Friends of Brooks Library- alleviate the potential concern about future maintenance? The library Friends hold fundraising events throughout the year with proceeds going to support library programs that are not covered in the library budget. It seems to work pretty well. And it seems that the skatepark has enough supporters that it would probably not be a herculean task to establish something like this.Just thinking that if one supporter who would “adopt” the maintenance couldn’t be found -having an group willing to create some events might work. It would be helpful to know what approximate maintenance costs might be once the park is built but perhaps those numbers aren’t known yet? I would hate to see this long awaited project be sacrificed without even considering all the options for caring for the skatepark.
Before & After the Skateboarding Ban?
I’m sorry I don’t know this, but I have wondered what year did the skateboarding ban take effect in Brattleboro?
Also, how many years did people of all ages skateboard freely here before the ban…?
Does this mean the Elm Street
Does this mean the Elm Street lot is presently out of the mix or can no longer be set aside in some respect designated for the future home of the skate park regardless of out town’s current financial situation, especially after the SSSC work is nearly completed? Should this be a scratch considering the Elm Street Lot will most likely come out on top as one of the best sites/choices in the town wide and extensive search? I don’t see why it could not be given a chance there w/deadlines in place to go forward and start raising the necessary funds for construction, even though it may take longer to raise additional funding for a maintenance allowance. Eventually some of this upkeep could be volunteered out, raised with a minor user fee/donation, special event fundraiser or both once the skate park can be used. It could be perfectly suited as a significant downtown attraction and all the more reason to have closer to our urban hub to generate this kind of income critical to keep it functionally safe.
How much would it cost to maintain a 65000 sq ft. skate park once completed on a yearly basis?
I”m hoping under the recent budget reconsiderations the town does not renege on potentially offering up this downtown location, especially if there are other realistic alternatives out there that could possibly relieve them of taking on any of the operational costs/burden. Build it, they will come, support will come, at this particular site anyway as it is the best site with the fewest negative impacts thus more successfully and widely accepted in my opinion.
Gardenstein said
“We can’t add a new skatepark facility until we can pay for necessary, core emergency services,”
What does that mean and doesn’t Brattleboro now provide “core emergency services”?
Headlines
It struck me, when reading the quoted words of David Gartenstein, that by using the skatepark as an immediate sacrificial lamb to launch into communications for what is certain to be a budget-cutting struggle, the intention may have been to get some headline attention and perhaps even bring into the equation that same heightened level of debate and controversy as the skate park boiled with at one time. Those quoted words, if verbatim, are at odds with any true understanding of what awaits the decision making process and in fact, seems to lack logic. Such an utterance, hip-shot as it seemed to me to be, is more a red herring than not or at the very least, an inside peek into either a more personal fear, or personal resentment, depending on whether or not David Gartenstein was ever a supporter of the skatepark from the onset. The town may have some time invested in it, but no money; or am I mistaken?
There are obvious and far bigger fish to fry in terms of the budget; or maybe it’s a case of one whale.
In any case, it felt to me as though it was an extremely premature offering, given that at the time it was made there had been little discussion.
The above described co-existence of boarders, bikers, pedestrians and traffic can be found in Montpelier, by the way. The closer one is to our state capital, the more sane life becomes. Last word I heard from Montpelier was that those of us down yonder are a bunch of nuts. I suspect the feeling is still true. If we can’t do a better job of self-management than what I’ve seen both up close and at a distance over the past several years, then it’s more than feeling and closer to fact.
I am just grateful that the budget is back on the drawing board. Next I’d like to see some longer term planning in terms of keeping our taxes from constant increase; that’s going to be the greater challenge I imagine, and next year will be here before we know it.
Why Not
Why not value the example or the strategy put to use by the Ski Jump Restoration fundraising where you could own virtually a steel step up dedicated in your name or someone you admire for a significant donation. People love to see their name out there for public viewing/showing support, which is a good thing when and if credit is due.
Just as ski slope trails are often named in honor of those who devoted time, extreme effort and their own money to make it happen, such as Pabst Peril at Bromley Ski Mountain or Harris Hill for that matter, why not name features of the skate park after those who donate sizable portions of funding or allow them to tag a name of their own whimsy adding a catchy creative twist to the design like Tidy’s Bowl.
The same could apply for the landscaping surrounding the new skate park, instead of cutting down or killing off established park shade trees leaving very large stumps w/ carved epitaph such as at another location once insisted upon, (that in fact won’t work without sacrificing age old park trees at a major cost), why not put a plaque acknowledging the contributions of certain big donors at the base of a freshly planted trees or shrubs of their choice, planted on the fringes of or integrated within the Elm Street Skate Park or even engraved on stylish, skateble cement benches.
Ask local artist Brosky (sp?)or other community oriented artists to paint a design and auction it off for the perimeter street side protective cement barrier if they could participate. There is ample room there to have an ultimate skate park with additional room for expansion. It’s a catch 22 though, like so many projects, you need it tangibly in place in order to begin generating future funding for up grades and maintenance. That is why it is key to locate the skate park as visible/accessible as possible downtown specifically at this location where noise is less of an issue and traffic is much slower and much less hazardous being off main arteries.