GLENDALE

Glendale's X-Court recently won the Outstanding Facility Award (Population 100,000+) by the Arizona Parks & Recreation Association. On average, 4-6 nominations are received for various categories and they were up against some pretty good competition from throughout the state.

I just wrote up a story about the X-Court's Grand Opening on October 6th. Gently peruse it in the ARTICLES section.

So tomorrow's the big day! It's the grand opening for Glendale's X-Court, and the park rides like a wet dream. I know this because Glendale had a little private session for the X-Court Advisory Committee members and their invitees last night. I think even the saltiest, bitchiest, whineyist, ugliest, gnar-gnarliest AZPX skater would have to agree that the bike riders did a pretty damn good job designing that son-of-a-bitch! Here's the schedule for tommorow:

If you haven’t heard by now, I’ll be more than happy to tell you that the city of Glendale, Arizona will be holding a grand opening for their new X-Court on Saturday, October 6th, 2007. It will be an unsupervised, free, concrete, public park that will allow bikes, skateboards, inline skates, and all other un-motorized wheeled use at all times. It’s sick as hell, too, seeing as it was designed by bike riders. Want to see how we got the job done? Trust me, it was hardly a coincidence, dumb luck, or a stroke of fate.

Out of all the cities and towns in Arizona, this whole movement here in Arizona to get free, legal places for bikes to ride began with Glendale first. Riders had attended skatepark meetings here and there, but in addition to being a very small group compared to the skaters and rollerbladers, there was no organization present to unite us. Things got kicked off when the owner of Build-A-Bike held a meeting at her Glendale bike shop in February of 2002. She had received a good response from her councilman Phil Lieberman before when she had a problem with the city, so she organized a get-together between bike riders who wanted a legal place to ride, Glendale City Councilman Phil Lieberman, and Mike Gregory, from Glendale Parks and Recreation. Glendale already had a concrete skatepark under construction at that point (Foothills Skatepark,) and the bike riders wanted to let parks and rec know that they didn’t want to be excluded from the park as Scottsdale, Mesa, Phoenix, Chandler, and other Valley cities had done with their respective skateparks up to that point.

That night we didn’t get far with Glendale parks and rec, but bike riders did put our voice on their map. The best thing to come out of the meeting was that Rex Golos, an avid skater, and myself, Jason Ryan, met for the first time. We talked extensively for two hours after the meeting was over, and formed the Concrete Bikepark Alliance that very night in Build-A-Bike’s parking lot.

We began talking to Phil Lieberman and Glendale Parks and Rec officials extensively, but we weren’t getting the response we wanted, so we went to speak to Glendale City Council on July 10th, 2003. About 30 riders and supporters showed up, and Andy Leeland, a Glendale resident, spoke to the council, as did Rex, myself, and a couple other riders. After the meeting, the mayor called us over and tried to chastise us for telling the city council that they would be turning good kids into criminals if they didn’t allow bikes in their new skatepark. Rex pretty much got in the mayor’s face and very firmly stood by our position. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but it netted us Glendale’s undivided attention. The city manager arranged to meet with us within the next couple of weeks. We knew this was big, because in Glendale, the city manager holds the highest-ranking unelected position in the city.

The Foothills skatepark still wasn’t open, and bikes still weren’t going to be allowed, but Glendale already had another skatepark planned, and that’s all we talked about when I and another Bike, Blade and Board Coalition member met with the Glendale city manager and high-level parks and rec officials (we had changed the name of our organization from the Concrete Bikepark Alliance to the Bike, Blade and Board Coalition earlier that year.) They decided to pass surveys out to Glendale bike shops to see how many riders there were and what kind of park they would like to have. Things were coming along slowly, but we at the 3BC decided it was important to keep pressure on Glendale, so we began planning a protest/rally at the grand opening of the Foothills skatepark.

A couple months later in August, 2003, we were notified that the first community input meeting for Glendale’s 2nd skatepark, the Glendale X-Court, had been scheduled. When I showed up to the meeting, I was confronted by Officer Mark Mabee, a gang resistance instructor for the city of Glendale’s police department, about our planned protest at the Foothills Skatepark. He had seen our bmx protest/rally plans on my website and thought he’d try to intimidate us into not standing up for our constitutional rights at the grand opening. I politely told him we were bmx riders, not a gang; we were going ahead with our protest/rally, and it would be peaceful and orderly, so he didn’t have anything to worry about.

That meeting went very well for us, as approximately 60 bike riders came out and only about 10 skaters showed up. Through the sheer number of bike riders willing to come to a meeting, Glendale got the message screamed at them that their next skatepark HAD TO ALLOW BIKES. We were really nervous, though, because Glendale had already hired Site Design Group to design the skatepark. The 3BC had been at odds with SDG since we started, because they had always told the cities that they shouldn’t allow bikes in their skateparks, and they wouldn’t warrantee any damage incurred to the facility if bikes were allowed.

A second community input meeting was held on the X-Court’s design, and even though there was the same ratio of bike riders to skaters attending the meeting as at the first meeting, Glendale officials still had not fully made the decision on whether or not to allow bikes in the X-Court. I specifically remember Rex and I going toe to toe with Glendale Parks and Rec Director Warren Smith, presenting him with all the facts and logical arguments as to why bikes needed to be allowed in the X-Court. Even after we had soundly shot down every single reason he had as to why bikes should be banned from the new park, he STILL wanted to meet us for lunch to talk about it more. Rex and I were done, though. We declined to meet with him again, because there was just nothing more to talk about. We had won the debate, he knew it, we knew he knew it, and the only thing to do was to leave him to make the right decision.

Meanwhile, SDG started designing the park around bike rider’s input, seeing as pretty much only bike riders came out to help design it. They took a lot of advice from Andy Leeland and I as to what should go in the park, including a concrete box jump, multiple hips, a sub box, and other more bike-oriented features not commonly found in skateparks. SDG, however, wasn’t the only business that started to change their rigid stance against bikes as a result of our efforts.

Cowtown Skateboards, a prominent Phoenix area skate shop, made their view known shortly after the second community input meeting that bikes should be allowed in the X-Court. The owner of Cowtown had pushed very hard to get Valley cities to build concrete skateparks starting many years back, but had always been against bike riders being allowed in them. At last, they recognized that skaters had plenty of concrete skateparks already, and bike riders needed a free, public place to ride as well.

The X-Court has endured many delays, most of them due to funding problems and the high cost of cement and skatepark construction. In 2006, though, construction finally began.

Some riders out here on the West side of Phoenix are afraid that what happened at Goodyear Skatepark will happen at Glendale’s X-Court. They think that bikes will be kicked out after being allowed for a few weeks or months. That is pretty much completely outside the realm of possibility at this point. Goodyear’s parks and rec director hated the idea of bikes being allowed inside “his” skatepark from the beginning, and he never took one crumb of advice we gave him, whereas Glendale officials actually asked for the input of bike riders, skateboarders and inline skaters.

In May of this year, Glendale parks and rec called a meeting about the X-Court and invited all citizens to participate in an X-Court advisory committee that would meet every 2 weeks until the park opened. A few Glendale citizens, Andy Leeland, his girlfriend Miranda, and I have met with parks and rec officials regularly since May, and they have listened closely to every bit of input we’ve given. Most of what we have recommended has become park policy. Bikes, skateboards, inline skates, and all non-motorized wheeled devices are allowed in the park at all times when open. Bikes will have no stipulations on their setup, except no knurled pegs are allowed. Smooth pegs are just fine.

If you would like more information as to how we got this concrete park opened to all non-motorized users, please visit http://www.psychicflyingmonkey.com/The3BCpage.htm and click on the Glendale link. We are working on some specific guides to getting public places for bmx bike riders to ride that we’ll post on the 3BC page; however, the most important part of the process is putting the work in. Another big part is having older riders or parents of riders lead the charge. Sadly, there is a bias in the bmx media against older riders because most of them wear too many pads, don’t do all the trendy tricks, and have gray balls. The reality is that older riders are vital to getting parks open to bikes. Most 15 year-olds just don’t have the maturity it takes to deal well with parks and rec officials, city councilmen, and newspaper reporters. Hell, most 23 year-olds don’t either. If you’re an older rider that wants places to ride, lead those kids! The younger riders will support you. If you’re a younger rider that wants parks, get those older riders and parents off their collective arses and get them to lead you guys. Go to the meetings, go to protests, go to the newspapers, and don’t stop until you have public places to ride! The system only works if you work the system. In December of last year, we had no legal places to ride in the Phoenix area. By the end of 2008 we’ll have 6 concrete parks that allow bikes here! I’ll hit you back with the story of the Tempe bmx/skatepark when that opens in April. Until then, monkey out!

The APA won't be monitoring the X-Court, but we will get all the benefits they have to offer, so I think it will be a real win-win for everyone. Since they will provide an adult presence, I don't think we'll see the kind of bullshit that has gone down at PV skatepark that has gotten it closed for months on end. Mark and his staff are all bike riders and skaters, so they understand the culture, and they're cool people to deal with. For example, Andy Leeland is managing the X-Court's pro shop. I'm looking forward to this new kind of way to run a public skatepark, and I think it will work out very well. A bmx contest is already being planned at the X-Court for the end of October, so what does that tell you?

The Glendale X-Court WILL NOT open tomorrow, September 29th. The latest I've heard is it might open next Wednesday, October 3rd, but that's not a definite. It will, however, definitely be open on Saturday, October 6th, which is the Grand Opening day. A bike contest and skate contest are planned for that day, so you kids better hop on the come up!

The date for the Glendale's X Court's soft opening has just changed. The park will open on Saturday, September 29th. It could possibly open a couple days earlier than that, but it all depends on how smoothly the finishing of the concession stand/pro shop goes. As you can see from this excellent bird's eye view photo, the shmoshibilites are shmimitless.

The date has finally been set for Glendale's X-Court opening! The park will open on Saturday, September 15th. Now this is just what they call a "soft opening." There won't be any bands or demos or free Kool-Aid that day. That stuff will all happen on Saturday, October 6th, the day of the Grand Opening.

Mike Gregory, Project Coordinator for Glendale Parks and Recreation, sent me these tasty bites of the Glendale X-Court from construction to near-completion:

Look again at the photo of the just-shot, just-smoothed wall. It's a shiny dark grey apple and I wanna sink my toofers into it. MMMmmmm! Tastes like sweet success!

Some bike riders (and a few scooter riders and possibly skaters) have foolishly been hopping the fence and riding the X-court while it's been under construction. A few weeks back some bike tire tracks were found in some fresh cement, and it was messed up so bad that the whole slab had to be pulled out and re-poured. It set the workers back about a week or two. I don't need to say how retarded this is that kids are riding this place early. I just want to say if you know of anybody who's doing this, you'd better get them to stop. They're delaying construction and doing us a lot of harm by their selfishness.

On that tip, the park is still scheduled to be completed this summer; that is, if there are no more delays from vandalism. The park is practically done, but the pro-shop/concession stand has to be finished before the park opens. Thanks to Mike Gregory for the great pics and all the good work he's doing in getting this park ready to operate the right way. Glendale Parks and Rec are not setting themselves up for failure like Goodyear Parks and Rec did. Glendale is doing it right, so everybody pay attention, aiight?

JANUARY 8th, 2007

Seth Mason tipped me off to this info and renderings of the new Glendale X Court, which will be allowing bikes, I'm proud to say. It is currently under construction. Site Design Group used a lot of input from bmx riders to design the park, and Andy Leeland and I helped them to dial it in. Start drooling.....................now.

Rex talked to Mike Gregory with Glendale Parks and Rec, who said that the bid for construction will go out within a month, and excavation should begin within 60 days. Glendale will be trying to build the whole park as planned at 28,000 square feet, so that's a big relief, because things were sketchy there for a while as far as the size and what would get built.

Hey look! More delays! Glendale still hasn't broken ground yet on the X Court, so, it'll be a few more months...

Now we're hearing the Glendale X Court will be opening in April or May. Archon does have the contract, and groundbreaking should begin any day now. The park isn't going to be as near as big as it was originally planned to be, and it's not looking like we're going to get the sick flow bowl the riders helped design. The cost of concrete and construction has shot up in the past few months, and the park had to be shrunk drastically. It might just be wedges and ledges, but we will get to ride it. As long as this is just phase one, that's all right. We'll definitely be pushing for a phase two with that rad flow bowl.

More delays, big surprise, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's looking like the Glendale X Court will open in January '06 now. Construction has not yet begun, but it is scheduled to start in a couple of months.

It's finally going to happen in the valley, and it's for sure. At least as sure as we can be without actually having rubber on concrete. According to Warren Smith, Glendale Parks and Rec Director, and RJ Cardin, Director of Glendale Parks and Rec. Central District, the Glendale X-Park at 83rd Ave. and Bethany Home road will be allowing bikes when it opens in a few months. Site prep is underway at this point, and we expect the park to open in September. It is still not known if bikes will have separate hours or days, but the park will have a pro shop, it will be monitored full-time, and it will absolutely allow bikes. This park is sick, too. It has a flow-bowl design, much like the Anthem skatepark in Henderson, Nevada.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. To all you naysayers who have been bitching that the 3BC isn't doing things right and I'm not making any progress with the cities as far as getting legal places for us to ride, I will be graciously receiving your humble apologies on grand opening day of the Glendale X-Park. I'll be the one posted up by the front gate, with the most stoked look on my mug you've ever seen. After 3 years of pushing and pushing, it will be soooo sweet to ride the 'crete without looking over my shoulder.

As I'm sure you've figured out by now, the building of the Glendale X Park at 83rd Ave. and Bethany Home Road is way behind schedule. In less than a week, though, the construction job should go out for bid. The good news is that I talked to RJ Cardin, Director of Glendale Parks and Rec Central District, and he said that Warren Smith, Glendale Parks and Rec Director, is fully planning to allow bikes in this park.

I talked to RJ Cardin, Glendale's Parks and Rec Director for the Central District a couple of weeks ago. He said that it was almost certain that the x-court would be built strong enough to handle bikes. He said that the issue of allowing bikes in the x-court was still under consideration.

We want to thank Cowtown for their support for a place that bmx riders can go. From their posting, though, it does seem that they fail to see the bigger picture. No bike riders at the meeting were against skateboard or inline use of this X court. We don't want a bike-exclusive park, we just want to be welcomed in. We don't want to see skaters and inliners being ticketed and arrested for skating this X court any more than we want to see bike riders ticketed and arrested for riding in the skateparks, as is happening now.

You know, it's funny. Bike riders have gone to Glendale City Council and been the overwhelming majority at the design input meetings for Glendale's new X court. Skaters support bike riders being in this X court. The media seems to support bmx bikes being allowed in this X Court. The ONLY ONES who are being shady on allowing bikes in the X-Court are Glendale Parks and Rec Staff.

The Glendale situation isn't looking so good anymore. At the beginning of the second "design input meeting" for the 83rd Ave. and Bethany Home X Park, Glendale Parks and Rec Director Warren Smith announced that Glendale wasn't sure if they were going to allow bikes in the park or not. He said they were "considering it". Pretty lame stuff, especially since everyone in both meetings was either a bike rider or parent of a bike rider, except for 2 or 3 skaters. Glendale also got 75 of those bmx surveys back from residents. There is nothing to consider. Obviously the skaters care not for the X Park, because they didn't show up to the input meetings. Glendale needs to meet the needs of BMX riders now. At the first input meeting, we came away with the understanding that bikes would be welcomed in the park. Either Glendale Parks and Rec straight lied to our faces, or they are suffering from a horrible lack of communication. When we went to that Glendale City Council Meeting a couple months ago, Councilman Manny Martinez told us that we should have been at the community input meetings for the Foothills Park, and that since we weren't, that's why we didn't end up being allowed in. Now we show up as the overwhelming majority at the input meetings for this new park, and they still don't want to allow us in. We've been dealing with Glendale for a year-and-a-half. We've gone through the process. And this is how we're treated....shamefully. All I can say at this point is e-mail the mayor and all the Glendale City Councilmembers about how you feel. Their addresses are below. Hope that the councilmembers are less schiesty than parks and rec.

Little did I know on Thursday night, that I was heading into a meeting which turned out to be the watershed event since Rex and I formed the Concrete Bikepark Alliance (now the Bike, Blade and Board Coalition).

Before the meeting started, I was approached by Officer Mark Mabee, a gang resistance instructor for the city of Glendale’s police department. Rex had told me that the officer wanted to talk with me before the meeting. Officer Mabee related to me that he had seen this site and saw where I wrote, “The Glendale City Council didn’t listen to us at the council meeting…maybe they’ll listen now.” when I was referring to the 3BC BMX rally we had planned for September 7^th. He said it sounded threatening. I explained to the officer that when I said, “maybe they’ll listen now”, what I meant was maybe they’ll listen now, when we’ve got television and newspaper coverage out there documenting the plight of kids that ride BMX bikes in Glendale and in Maricopa County. So I guess the Bike, Blade, and Board Coalition is a gang now. Yaaay! We’re gangsters now! YAAAAY! No matter. I’ll get back to this later. Check out how the meeting went:

The bike riders were embraced from the start. We had already figured before the meeting that things were looking good when Glendale re-named the skatepark an “X-park”. The whole feeling of the meeting was welcoming to the bike riders, which is good, because bike riders by far made up the majority of attendees. Site Design Group (SDG) is designing and building the park. I was very wary of them going into the meeting considering their past record of being, ahem, considerably unfriendly about bikes riding in THEIR parks. It appears that SDG has come over to the dark side, seeing as how they have designed a few bike-friendly parks in the not-so-distant past. It just so turns out that SDG recently finished a bike-friendly skatepark in Oklahoma City working in conjunction with none other that Mat Hoffman. They also just designed a bike-friendly skatepark for Escondido, CA working with a few top BMX pros. I am very happy to see that SDG has changed their tune, because I have very much enjoyed riding their parks. This 83^rd Ave. and Bethany Home park will definitely be bike-friendly, and, considering how many bike riders were giving good design input, it will most likely contain features that riders like to see but are not usually found in concrete skateparks, like wall rides, sub boxes, and street spines. We were stoked to find out that the park will be around 30,000 to 40,000 square feet in size, but everyone was flabbergasted when RJ Cardin, Parks and Rec Director for Glendale’s Central District, announced that this park was on a fast-track for completion and is supposed to be FINISHED AND OPEN IN THE SPRING!!! YES OF 2004!!! BELIEVES IT!!!

So Glendale really came through for us. It turns out that going to city council did do a lot of good. So good, in fact, that we don’t see any need to hold our BMX rally at the 57^th Ave. and Union Hills park anymore. You see, when Carl and I met with Glendale’s city manager Ed Beasley a couple of months ago, he said that he would not let bikes in the 57^th Ave. and Union Hills skatepark because the park was not designed with bikes in mind, and the risk manager was afraid it would potentially open the city up to lawsuits if a bike rider were to be injured in the park. We know the city manager would not change his mind on this, rally or no rally. What we really wanted to accomplish with the rally was to get Glendale to follow through with a temporary park, featuring wooden ramps, that we had been discussing with them for over a year-and-a-half. It would have provided a place for riders to go until a permanent bike-friendly concrete facility could built. At this point, even if Glendale decided to go ahead with a temporary wooden park, it would still be a few months before it was open. We are satisfied with the concrete park being on a fast track to open this spring, and we want to thank Glendale for being the second city in the valley to realize the needs of kids that ride BMX bikes in their community, and accommodating them.

Be sure to come to the next design input meeting for the 83rd Ave. and Bethany Home X park. It will be at the same place as the first one, at Coyote Ridge Elementary School in the cafeteria at 7677 W. Bethany Home Rd. at 6:30 PM on September 18th.

Glendale will be holding a community input meeting about the "X park" that is planned for 83rd Ave. and Bethany Home Road on September 4th at 6:30 PM. It is at Coyote Ridge Elementary School in the cafeteria at 7677 W. Bethany Home Road. An "X park" is the same thing as a grind park--a skatepark that allows all reasonable users. I want to thank Chris Steigerman of Independent Newspapers for tipping us off with this info. Carl Umfress and I had met with Shirley Meddler and RJ Cardin of Glendale Parks and Rec, and they had promised to let us know exactly when and where the community input meetings for this park and for the 67th and Northern park would take place. Well, here it is, only a week away from meeting time, and neither Carl nor I ever received a call or e-mail from Glendale. Why are they even doing these BMX surveys? They had told us that they would assemble a contact list from the completed surveys and let everyone who filled one out know when community input meetings came up. As far as I can tell, they have not kept their word on this, either. This is proof that there are parks and rec officials out there that like to look like they're doing something to help us, but in reality they are just blowing us off.

As you know, the Glendale Skatepark didn't open yet like I heard it would. No matter. It might open this upcoming weekend but I'm not sure. If we have to, we'll push the BMX rally date back. In the meanwhile, here are the e-mail addresses to the Glendale Mayor and City Council. E-mail all of them with the letter below or one you've composed yourself and let them know how you feel.

My name is _________ and I am a BMX bike rider and a resident of Glendale. I am also a registered voter and taxpayer. I am very concerned that there will be no BMX bikes allowed in the new skatepark at 59th Ave. and Union Hills. Bicycles should be allowed into this skatepark, as we need equitable treatment along with the skateboarders and inline skaters. You need to realize that bike riders will be riding this facility anyways, regardless of the rules, just like they do in the other cities. Glendale will have to spend extra money for police and park rangers to keep bike riders out of the skatepark, but it doesn't have to be like this. You can let bicycles into this skatepark, making it a grindpark that all reasonable users can enjoy. In this time of our city, when kids tend to get into trouble because they have nothing to do, and are setting records for obesity, we need to make every effort to provide them with facilities in which they can practice positive athletic activities.

Also, the 3BC has been working with Glendale concerning new parks, and Glendale came up with surveys to see how much interest there is in a bikepark/grindpark. Surveys can be obtained at any Glendale bike shop. Be sure to pick one up and fill it out, and make sure all your friends, parents, and any other supporters do the same. Glendale will be making a contact list from the completed surveys, and they will let you know of all upcoming bikepark/grindpark input meetings.

Here's some more big news--The Glendale Skatepark is opening tomorrow. We originally wanted to do a rally on the grand opening day, but it turns out Glendale is doing a soft opening, to avoid news coverage. They don't want to make a big deal of the park's opening to the community in the middle of their budget crunch. We will be holding a BMX rally at the Glendale Skatepark, in conjunction with the MB Jam series, on Sunday, September 7th starting at 9:00 AM. It looks like we'll be getting television and newspaper coverage for this. The Glendale City Council didn't listen to us at the council meeting.....maybe they'll listen now.

So much going on, so much. Well, I'm going to try to keep this short and to the point. We went to the city council meeting, and didn't get much out of doing so except for the mayor getting really pissed at us, a couple of empty promises from councilmembers, and a meeting with the city manager, the assistant city manager, and the deputy directors of Glendale Parks and Rec. from the North and Central districts. The only thing our meeting with the bigwigs turned up was that they will get surveys out to Glendale bike shops to see how many riders there are and what kind of park they would like to have. And by the way, you know the concrete bike park planned for the 63rd and Northern bike-centric park? There's no funding for it. It will be 6 to 7 years before funding will be available. But if bike riders show up to the community input meetings, we can get the bmx track planned for the park changed to a dirt jump track. Also, there is another skatepark planned for a new park at 83rd Ave. and Bethany Home Rd. If enough riders show up to the community input meetings for that park, then they will build the park so it can accommodate bikes (i.e.-they'll hire a bike-friendly designer) and we will be allowed. The community input meetings for both of these parks will be coming up in September-October, so I'll keep you updated. Citizens of any city are welcome to attend, so every rider needs to come to these and represent, just like the skaters have done.

Also, the Foothills park (the Glendale Skatepark) is almost done. Should be open at the end of next week (around July 19th). We are definitely going ahead with our bmx rally on grand opening day to send a message to the city council that it is unfair to ignore us, and to discriminate against bikes in their new park. I will let you know the exact date, and we'll need you to come out and make your voice heard. Now I'm not going to tell you to ride the park, but I'm not going to tell you to not ride the park either. The 3BC is not in the business of helping to enforce unconstitutional laws and policies. We plan on getting news coverage out there, so bring signs and be ready to be quoted in the paper and on television. Make sure to tell all your friends and spread the word, because not everyone has the internet or knows about this site.

As most of you know, Glendale is building their first public, concrete skatepark at 59th Ave. and Union Hills, and they are not planning to allow bikes. The 3BC talked to Glendale Parks and Rec almost a year ago, and they agreed to include a large concrete bike park as an added feature to the new bike-centric park at 63rd Ave. and Northern they are starting in 2005 along with a velodrome, a bmx track, and a bicycle safety city for kids. The problem is that a good chunk of the money that will be used to build this park is supposed to come from Arizona State Heritage Funds. The Heritage Funds are in jeopardy of being sucked into other areas of the state government at this point, because of the huge budget crunch going on in Arizona government. We also just found out that Glendale will be building another skatepark that won't let bikes in before they ever build the bike park. Glendale looked good at first, but they are fully blowing us off now.

At this point, there can be little doubt that the best thing for Glendale to do would be to allow bikes in the new skatepark, which will be opening soon. It will save them a large amount of money, and bikes will finally have a public, legal place to ride in Maricopa County. Glendale Parks and Rec is dead set against this, so we need to go above their heads to the city council. I need letters to Glendale City Councilman Manny Martinez (who will have the new skatepark in his district) from all Glendale residents that ride, have kids that ride, or just support our cause. We plan to show him the huge amount of interest there is in getting bikes allowed in this skatepark, and we would like to see if he can put us on the Glendale City Council's agenda so we can make a presentation. I need at LEAST 30 letters from Glendale citizens addressed to Councilman Manny Martinez, telling him what we want to see happen. I've only received 1 letter so far. You can e-mail your letters to me at beardedlady@psychicflyingmonkey.com and I will print them out and present them to the Councilman. Or you can send them by mail to: Jason Ryan, 7701 E. Osborn Rd. Apt. #255W, Scottsdale, AZ 85251

Make sure you spell properly and try to be as clear and concise as possible. Here is a sample letter you can use as a guide:

Dear Councilman Martinez,

My name is _________ and I am a long time BMX bike rider in your district. I am very concerned that there will be no BMX bikes allowed in the new skatepark at 59th Ave. and Union Hills. Although I realize that a concrete BMX bike park is planned at 63rd Ave. and Northern, it doesn't look at all like Glendale will have the money to build it. You can save money by simply allowing bikes in the new skatepark. Bicycles should also be allowed into this skatepark, as we need equitable treatment along with the skateboarders and inline skaters. You should know that bike riders will be riding this facility anyways, regardless of the rules, just like they do in the other cities. Glendale will have to spend extra money for police and park rangers to keep bike riders out of the skatepark, but it doesn't have to be like this. Bike riders don't have to be turned into criminals. You can let us into this skatepark, making it a grindpark that all potential users can enjoy. In this time of our city, when kids tend to get into trouble because they have nothing to do, we need to make every effort to provide them with facilities in which they can practice positive activities.

Glendale's "X Court"
	Meetings were held at a school on September 4th and the 18th in perspective to the 2nd facility Glendale Parks and Recreation would like to build. This facility will be located near 83rd Ave. and Bethany Home Rd. Due to the lack of skateboarders showing support and the overwhelming amount of bike users that showed up,it is more than likely the "X Court" will be a bike park. Amen. These guys need a place of their own. Good job to Glendale for giving them their own place to ride.