grind it - filling urban spaces
The area behind the new SCPA seems custom made for this guy. I've noticed these types of places after hours attract one of two crowds. There could be vagrants loitering around or there could be skateboards and/or bikers in the spaces. Seems to me the latter group gives these places a sense of purpose filling it with life and activity.
Isn't that we wanted in the first place?
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6 comments?
I know it's unpopular to defend a form of vandalism, but I love seeing people use these kinds of spaces in unexpected ways during otherwise desolate moments. I wrote something along these lines about skateboarders downtown a while back: http://visualingual.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/in-defense-of-skateboarding/.
ReplyDeleteExactly, that's what I was trying to articulate.
ReplyDeleteThere's a skate park at Elm and 5th I see skaters at all the time, and they're zipping past Parker Flats literally all hours of the day and night.
Is Love Park the place, I swear I read a story about a park in Philadelphia where no one went, the skaters took it over, people started returning, the place got popular, upgraded and the skaters were forced out.
Funny how that works.
When downtown was dead in the 90's we used to rollerblade all over and had the place to ourselves. Used to ride the elevators to the top of the parking garages and race down the ramps.
ReplyDeleteAs a skater, Cincinnati is one of the worst places I've ever skated which sucks because the environment has so much potential. The problem is that cops are real quick to not only kick you out, but confiscate your board and issue tickets as well. Back in the day, I left my ID at home so they couldn't give me a ticket; they would just suggest jail time instead (though it never happened). We even had an older guy defend us when a cop came to kick us off the Serpentine wall. The older guy (and others around) told the cop we were being polite, letting people go by, not bothering anyone, etc and told him 'skateboarding is not a crime' (one of the best moments of my life, lol). The cop then informed him he was about to get all of us tickets.
ReplyDeleteI've skated a lot of cities but Cincinnati just isn't worth the hassle. They should take notes from Louisville on this subject.
Also, that park on 5th and Elm isn't a skatepark. I don't really know what it is and it's actually kind of hard to skate as the ground is rough. I've had the cops kick me out of there before as well.
Sorry for the rant, it's a subject that bothers me, ha. Also, my information is based on my experiences and I haven't skated Cincy in probably 8 years. Perhaps things have changed.
No apologies needed, I appreciate your viewpoint on the issue. I agree that 'park" might not be an official skate park but I see skaters there all the time.
ReplyDeleteHell that could have been you Ms 5chw4r7z and I saw on the Serpentine Wall getting hassled by park cops. Most of the kids I see skate boarding around are polite and don't bother people. Hell they need to keep as low a profile as they can with the discrimination out there.
I'm with Maya and just enjoy watching people put spaces to use no matter what the original intent.
We call that park on 5th "shapes" for the obvious reasons....might have to take the trials bike down there tonight...
ReplyDelete