SCOTTSDALE

Maybe I've finally cooled down enough to write about the bullshit design input meeting Scottsdale held on September 17th for the McDowell Mountain Ranch Skatepark. Maybe not.

Things went badly the whole meeting. First off, they held it at 5 PM. It might as well have been held at two in the morning. Hardly anyone over the age of 12 made it there because people WORK FOR A LIVING! All the other cities we've worked with have held their meetings at around 6:30 or 7 PM. That gives people adequate time to get home, grab something to eat, and get to the meeting. Whoever planned the meeting time for 5 PM is a bona-fide idgetgaloot.

Only three riders showed up: Myself, Rex and Chuck Dogg. I got flyers out to every Scottsdale shop, and to a lot of other riders. It's been on this website for weeks. This is PATHETIC! I went down to the wedge just before I headed up to the meeting, and there were 15 bike riders riding the skatepark. I told them they needed to come up to the meeting to get someplace to ride, but everyone had an excuse. If the Scottsdale riders are going to keep bathing themselves in apathy, don't EVER expect to see anything open for bikes in Scottsdale. I know, it's messed up that we have to go to meetings and go through all this bullshit to get access to something that by all rights we should have had access to in the first place, but life isn't fair. Going to meetings is the ONLY WAY we'll ever get something to ride. Period.

First thing in the design meeting, a woman from Scottsdale Parks and Rec got up and said, "We will not be allowing bikes in this new skatepark, and be sure to tell your friends that ride bikes about this." At that point, I was instantly reminded of something that was related to me a few months ago, by a doctor that had written a letter to Councilman Ortega on our behalf. He had said, "You'll never get bikes allowed in the skateparks without paying someone off in Scottsdale Parks and Rec." It looks like he was right. It's a sad, sad state of affairs when you've got to bribe city officials to get places for kids to exercise and practice positive activities. Scottdale is claiming now that they are looking at buying a parcel of land off the 101 in North Scottsdale, and building a concrete bikepark on it, along with a few ballfields and such. Who knows if it will happen? We have been yanked around so much by Scottsdale, that even if they are telling us the truth, it just seems like another lie.

Scottsdale will be holding a community input meeting about the skatepark that is planned for McDowell Mountain Ranch on September 17th at 5 PM. The meeting is at Horizon Community Center’s Teen Center, located at 15444 N. 100^th Street in Scottsdale. The issue of “Should bikes be allowed in the skatepark?” will be very much affected by the number of bike riders that come to the meeting, so show up and make your voice heard!

I've got a correction to make to the August 19th update below. It turns out that Scottsdale's park is made of 4000 psi concrete. Also, most of the other valley skateparks are not 3000 psi, they are 4000 psi. Of course, this doesn't change the point I made. 4000 psi concrete is absolutely strong enough to handle bikes. That's not just my view, either. This is the professional opinion of Jeff Hutchins from California Landscape and Design (CA Skateparks) and of Mark Leone from Academy Skatepark Design.

In Scottsdale news, bikes are definitely NOT going to be allowed in the Wedge Skatepark because of one stubborn beaurocrat--Douglas Nesselroad. Rex and I met with Doug and Scottsdale's risk manager last week and here's what went down:

After researching about 8 concrete, public skateparks in other cities that allow bikes and finding that they were experiencing no problems, Mr. Nesselroad was grasping for any reason not to allow bikes in the Wedge Skatepark. He obtained pictures of skatepark damage from Chandler Parks and Rec, taken on Chandler's fact-finding trips to Casa Grande, Albuquerque and Las Vegas. Since he is so ignorant of skatepark construction, he ASSumed just by looking at a few pictures of damage in the Casa Grande Skatepark and the Albuquerque Skatepark that it was caused by bikes. Even worse, he ASSumed that if bikes were allowed in the Wedge Skatepark, that it would experience damage as bad as had been seen in Casa Grande and Albuquerque. He had his mind made up before the meeting ever started. When Rex and I informed Doug that the Wedge Skatepark was constructed very well with 6000 PSI concrete, and could withstand not only bike use but a nuclear holocaust, he asked, "Where did you get that information?" Well, it's not classified. How can anyone make a good decision on whether a skatepark can handle bike abuse if they don't know THE MOST BASIC SPECIFICATIONS OF THEIR OWN GOD-DAMNED SKATEPARK?!!! Scottsdale's park's concrete is DOUBLE the psi of all the other parks in the valley, which are built using 3000 PSI concrete.

The risk manager didn't even have a problem with bikes in the skatepark. He just didn't want bikes to be in there the same time as skaters and inliners. Simple solution--have separate sessions for bikes at the park. We were willing to compromise with 3 days for bikes and the rest for skateboards and inline skates. Doug couldn't bring himself to give one inch. Doug is not a skater. Doug is not an inliner. The only reason I can think of that he refuses to accommodate bikes at all is that he just wants to save face. Arizona has a huge child obesity problem, kids are getting into crime and drugs because they're bored, and Doug can't find one reason to allow another positive sport in the skatepark. Great job, Doug. No compromise at all. I wonder what America's founding fathers would have thought of you.

I spoke with Doug Nesselroad a few days ago, and he said they had a little more research to do, but it was looking like the risk manager does not want bikes allowed in the Wedge Skatepark. Now the risk manager does not have final say; the city council does. So we might be going to council sometime soon. I'll keep you updated on that.

The good news is that the community input meetings for the new McDowell Mountain Ranch Skatepark are coming up in August. I'll let you know the dates, times, location, etc. as soon as I know them. We need AS MANY riders from ALL OVER to show up at these meetings. In these community input meetings for parks, you don't have to be a citizen of the city to have a voice. The main problem we will face is that SDG (Site Design Group) has the contract, and I am sure that Mike will do anything he can to keep bikes out of the park, just like he did at the Tempe Parks and Rec Board Meetings. Needless to say, an overwhelming show of support from riders will be needed at these meetings to ensure bikes will be allowed and the park will be designed the way we want.

Rex Golos and I met with Doug Nesselroad and some of his staff again a couple of weeks ago. They had done research on 6 of the parks on my bike-friendly parks list, and the results were very good. No incidents of collisions between bike riders and skaters or inliners, and no significant damage to the parks. I want to commend Scottsdale Parks and Rec for doing this research. This is a very big hurdle we've just gotten over here, because now when a city we are working with wants to check out the facts on how bikes work in public, concrete skateparks, they don't have to call up 6 of them separately. They can put in one call to Scottsdale and get the data they've collected themselves. Now Scottsdale's risk manager is looking at the data and contacting the risk managers of these cities. I'll keep you updated as to what he discovers and what his final opinion is on letting bikes into the Wedge Skatepark when I find out.

Rex Golos and I met with Doug Nesselroad on Thursday, the 17th. The meeting went very well, much better than the one we had with him last year. It is fully apparent that parks and rec officials respond much more warmly to us if there are either protests or city councilmen involved. I gave Doug and the other parks and rec staff a short list of cities to contact that allow bikes in their concrete parks, upon their request. We expressed that we want to see bikes allowed in the Wedge Skatepark and in the new one that will be built at McDowell Mountain Ranch. They are doing the research now and things are looking good. We will be meeting again with them in a few weeks, so I'll let you know how that turns out.

One week after I delivered 36 letters from Scottsdale citizens expressing their views on bikes in skateparks to Scottsdale City Councilman David Ortega, I got a call from Doug Nesselroad, who was responsible for developing the Wedge Skatepark. He was much more open to looking at information that I had accumulated concerning bikes in skateparks than he had been in our previous meeting last year. He said he would research the cities and towns on my bike-friendly, public concrete skateparks list to find out why and how they are allowing bikes in their parks. This is very good, as obviously my councilman has responded to our request to start looking at this issue. I hope it ends with bikes being allowed in the Wedge Skatepark and in the new McDowell Mountain Ranch Skatepark.

The Scottsdale City Council voted to go ahead and build the skatepark and aquatic center at McDowell Mountain Ranch on Monday night, so I'm stoked. I think that the guys that showed up to support really helped in getting the vote, and I want to thank all of you for coming out. I spoke on behalf of the 3BC for about 3 and a half minutes about how the wedge park is overcrowded, it's a bad design, and it needs to allow bikes. I stated that about 5 more skateparks of at least 35,000 square feet needed to be built to meet the needs of all Scottsdale users, and they needed to be built well with good flow characteristics and allow bikes. A few of the riders that came also filled out comment cards that the city council members read. It's a good thing there were more supporters of the skatepark and aquatic center than detractors, because the MMR neighbors were pissy, they were stuffy, and they were organized. Their main concern was traffic problems, not noise and "the bad element", so that was somewhat understandable. Scottsdale said they will build a loop that goes under a bridge to provide uninterrupted access to and from the park, so there really shouldn't be any traffic congestion because of this thing. There was some alternate location at DC Ranch that Parks and Rec had identified, and the MMR neighbors wanted it there. I didn't really care either way, but after thinking about it, I realized that the DC Ranch neighbors would surely come out bitching that they didn't want the skatepark and aquatic center there either for whatever reason. This park has been on the master plan since 1994, and it needs to get built. It is scheduled to be finished around the middle of 2005. My next step is to get the "bikes in skateparks" issue on the Scottsdale City Council's agenda ASAP. I think I can get it on within one to two months, and I'll be able to give everyone plenty of notice so you can support.

SCOTTSDALE CITY COUNCIL MEETING TO BE HELD MONDAY, MARCH 17TH AT 5:00 PM IN THE SCOTTSDALE CITY HALL LOCATED AT 3939 NORTH DRINKWATER BLVD IN SCOTTSDALE. THEY WILL BE DISCUSSING THE APPROVAL OF A SKATEPARK AT MCDOWELL MOUNTAIN RANCH. ALL BIKE RIDERS NEED TO SHOW UP, ESPECIALLY SCOTTSDALE RESIDENTS, TO LET THEM KNOW THAT BIKES NEED TO BE ALLOWED IN THIS PARK. THIS IS THE BEST SINGLE OPPORTUNITY WE'VE HAD EVER SINCE I STARTED WORKING ON GETTING BIKES INTO SKATEPARKS. WITH THIS ONE, WE'VE ALSO GOT TO COUNTER ARGUMENTS FROM ANOTHER GROUP- THE SNOBBY NEIGHBORS IN MCDOWELL MTN THAT SAY A SKATEPARK WILL BE TOO LOUD. ALL SKATERS AND INLINERS NEED TO SHOW UP TOO SO THAT WE CAN OUTNUMBER THEM AND TELL THE COUNCIL THAT SCOTTSDALE CAN'T KEEP IGNORING THE NEEDS OF IT'S CHILDREN. I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS FROM A FRIEND WHO SAW AN ARTICLE IN THE AZ REPUBLIC. ALTHOUGH WE HAD BEEN KEEPING TABS ON WHAT'S GOING ON IN SCOTTSDALE, THE PUBLIC HAS LARGELY BEEN KEPT IN THE DARK ABOUT THIS ISSUE FOR SOME REASON. DO WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET THERE. TAKE OFF WORK, SCHOOL, WHATEVER, BECAUSE THIS IS THE BIG ONE. I'LL HAVE TO TAKE OFF WORK TO MAKE IT OUT, AND I WILL. BE SURE TO BE WELL-BEHAVED, DON'T WEAR ANY T-SHIRTS WITH A BIG PICTURE OF WEED ON IT, ALL THAT BULLSHIT, BECAUSE WE WANT THE COUNCIL TO LISTEN TO US. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE COUNCIL AND LOCATION, GO TO http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/council/documents.asp

Also known as the City Stuck in the Dark Ages as far as skate parks are concerned, the reason Scottsdale is black on our map is because the parks and rec situation is very grim. There are a few reasons for this.

First the Wedge Skatepark was built at a cost of over a half-million dollars, and the skaters end up with a horrible design with no flow and conical, or should I say comical, bowls. A meeting was held concerning a solution for bikes at the El Dorado Rec center not long after the Wedge Skatepark opened early in 1999. A bike rider input committee was formed then duly forgot about when the director of El Dorado Park left. Then Mark Lesco became the new director of El Dorado park, and although he was in no hurry, he was actively looking for a positive solution for bikes. When Christie Demas took over and Rex and I met with her and Doug Nesselroad about a positive solution for bikes, they wanted us to start all over from square one as if they had NEVER realized that BMX bikes needed equal treatment with the skaters and bladers. They informed us that all the community parks in south Scottsdale were located in the wash area, virtually leaving the option of building a bike-friendly park out, because a $225,000 study would need to be conducted to assess how the park would affect the flow of the wash. One such study was conducted before the Wedge Skatepark was built, and reportedly it took two years to complete and increased the overall cost of the park by almost 50%.

Building in North Scottsdale will be a very difficult task, as the residents can damage as much as the environment as they wish to build new golf courses, but they obviously don't want their kids to have anything to do. These residents don't even want volleyball courts at their parks! While many valley cities have 2 or 3 more skateparks on their master plan, Scottsdale fails to plan, thus planning to fail to meet the needs of its youth.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Wedge Skatepark is the most used feature out of all the features in all the Scottsdale parks. You can go there almost any time of day that the kids are out of school after 10 AM and see at least 60 users. The average time of use is an hour and a half, so that means that there are 500 users every day there is no school. How many users use a soccer field, volleyball court, or softball field a day? 100, 200 if they're really lucky? Christie Demas and her minions are dead set against BMX bikes, and they never miss an opportunity to call the police if bikes are riding the skatepark. I know a positive solution could be reached if Scottsdale Parks and Rec were willing to work towards it, but somehow they don't see providing this new wave of recreators with enough places to ride, skate and blade as their job.

It is for this reason that the 3BC is going to wholly circumvent this whole mess of a Scottsdale Parks and Rec scenario by first meeting with Councilman David Ortega, who has the El Dorado Park in his district. We plan to show him the huge amount of interest there is in getting more skate/bike parks in Scottsdale, and we would like to see if he can put us on the Scottsdale City Council's agenda so we can make a presentation. The thing is, we are having trouble getting started. I need at LEAST 30 letters from Scottsdale citizens addressed to Councilman David Ortega, telling him what we want to see happen. I've only received 12 letters 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 refer to:

Dear Councilman Ortega,

My name is Jason Ryan and I am a long time BMX bike rider and small businessman in your district. I am very concerned that there are no new skate/bike parks planned for the city of Scottsdale. The Wedge skatepark, in addition to banning potential users that ride bikes, is very overcrowded. There not only need to be skate/bike parks built in North and Central Scottsdale, but South Scottsdale needs more skate/bike parks as well. Bicycles should also be allowed into the Wedge Skatepark and any new skate/bike parks, as they need equitable treatment along with the skateboarders and inline skaters. 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.