Seattle Center Skatepark Closes For Demolition
Amy Radil
01/02/2007
THE SEATTLE CENTER SKATEPARK IS THE CITY’S FIRST AND OLDEST. SKATEBOARDERS SAY THEY’LL MISS IT, EVEN THOUGH THE PARK IS SHOWING ITS AGE.
ON A RECENT WINTER AFTERNOON, ABOUT 30 SKATEBOARDERS WERE TESTING THE PARK’S CAVERNOUS DIPS AND CURVES. THIRTEEN YEAR OLD URIEL REYNOSO SAYS HE HADN’T HEARD THE NEWS THAT THE PARK WILL BE CLOSING. LATELY HE SAYS HE’S ALSO BEEN GOING TO A BIGGER, BETTER SKATEPARK IN THE CITY OF KENT.
REYNOSO: "I’d say this is a good park but the one I go to is more professional, has more ramps, it’s bigger, and has a lot of bigger ramps and everything."
BUT SOME SKATEBOARDERSS SAY IT WAS THE NEWS OF THE PARK’S CLOSURE THAT BROUGHT THEM DOWN ONE LAST TIME. PETER MAXWELL IS 35 AND STARTED SKATING WHEN HE WAS TEN. HE HAS GOOD MEMORIES AT THE SEATTLE CENTER PARK, BUT HE SAYS IT’S PACKED INTO SUCH A TIGHT SPACE THAT IT’S TREACHEROUS TO SKATE THERE.
MAXWELL: "We won’t miss it I don’t think but it’s just fun to come back once more and skate it because it was the first one around so, kind of nostalgic I guess."
THESE DAYS HE AND HIS FRIENDS PREFER THE CITY’S OTHER SKATE PARK, IN BALLARD.
MAXWELL: "I don’t know, we’re old, so we like the big bowls that you can just flow around in versus all the little hips and stuff the kids play on. We just get hurt skating here, so..."
MAXWELL SAYS HE’S ENCOURAGED BY THE NEW MASTER PLAN TO DEVELOP A CITYWIDE NETWORK OF SKATEPARKS. AND THE DEMOLISHED SKATEPARK IS SCHEDULED TO BE REPLACED ON SEATTLE CENTER GROUNDS. SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER RICHARD CONLIN SAYS SOME MONEY FROM THE SALE OF LAND TO THE GATES FOUNDATION WILL GO TO REBUILD THE PARK LATER THIS YEAR. AMY RADIL, KUOW NEWS.
© Copyright 2007, KUOW
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