Charles River Skatepark | East Cambridge

Re: Charles River Skatepark

fattony said:
Huh, we must be about the same age then. I skated in middle/high school and played a lot of Tony Hawk in college. I was better at the game than the real thing, haha.
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I keep getting close to buying a Dreamcast online, then backing out. This would be one big reason to do it :).
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

Equilibria said:
Undeniably so, but have we missed the fad window for "XTREME!" sports?
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Well, even if (mostly) missed, there's only one way to fix it: encourage the fad's revival.

All "professional" sports need to ask where their future participants and fans are right now and what is being done to cultivate and encourage them.

Given that this has been kicking around since 2004 *, it is near-criminal (from a business standpoint) that it has taken this long.


* "Santa Cruz, Calif., skate park architect Zach Wormhoudt designed the Boston park over a two-year period with input from some 400 skateboarders during four sessions in 2004."--from the 2007 article that started this thread!
 
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Re: Charles River Skatepark

It will definitely get use...just possibly more from the 21+ crowd than teenagers...
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

There are tons of kids skating and biking around downtown all weekend, and boy do they drive the old pearl clutchers crazy.
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

I'm all for your fun. Just keep the fuck out of my way and stop ruining things. Skateboarders have damaged all of the benches in front of the MFA-something I didn't think was possible with granite.

And if a skateboarder comes towards me in front of the BPL I just put my arms out like Lisa Simpson and say, "Not my fault if I hit you in the neck," over and over again.
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

This is an extremely important development that I have been hoping would get approved for a long time. This is a spot for kids to go have some fun, get some exercise, and stay out of the city. Obviously its not an end all be all and people will continue to skate within the city, but when you have a beautiful skatepark like this many of them I believe would rather go here and be around other skaters and use the nice facilities. The best part is as a former skater myself I know that most skate parks were oriented towards people who ride ramps and the street skaters wanted nothing to do with that, but this park has plenty of ledges to appeal to the street skaters as well as those who skate ramps.
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

Groundbreaking will be this Thursday at 9am. I'll be there and will supply some pictures afterwards.
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

Make sure the get some shots of the flying pigs. They can be tough to shoot. :)
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

http://www.wbur.org/2014/10/23/lynch-family-skate-park

One of the pictures here is confusing to me. It says that the area under the bridge will be transformed into a "hardscape" for events at the skate park - I assume they mean the Zakim bridge because that is what the picture is of. This area really is not close to the proposed skate park however.
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

pixelsand8 said:
http://www.wbur.org/2014/10/23/lynch-family-skate-park

One of the pictures here is confusing to me. It says that the area under the bridge will be transformed into a "hardscape" for events at the skate park - I assume they mean the Zakim bridge because that is what the picture is of. This area really is not close to the proposed skate park however.
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The highway ramps on the west side of Miller River (ie., Northpoint and the skatepark) are on/off ramps for Route 1 to/from 93. They wrap around Boston Sand & Gravel and the tracks coming out of North Station. The Zakim is on the other side of the footbridge. It all connects, hence the pic.
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

I get that the spaces are connected via the north bank bridge but otherwise they are not very close - you wouldn't be able to actually watch the skaters from here. I'm unclear what they are going to do with this "hardscape", anything ambitious wouldn't make much sense if it's only used during events, which can't be that common. The way it is now seems fine for temporary setups like food stands, info desks, etc.
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

work has started on the skate park this past week
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Re: Charles River Skatepark

Only 8 Years after proposed for a $2.3m project (half of which was raised in 2007 according to the OP) What in the world took so long?
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

paperless paul said:
Not to go all 'get those kids off my lawn'. But does this mean they will voluntarily or forcibly leave the Nashua Street Park.
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Nashua St. is a good chill spot to skate. One of the last places I skated before I stopped. Don't know why either. I was healthier when I skateboarded. I had lots of fun too. Much better than my current hobbies, I gotta say...
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

Be nice if some of it is long board friendly too
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

#tbt to when there was a Charles River skate park website:

http://www.charlesriverskatepark.org/

Regarding the funding, one news report stated that $1.8 million in Big Dig mitigation money was going to be used either to build the park, buy the land, and/or for maintenance.

Does anyone by chance have all the details? I think the money trail is worthy of investigation, don't you?
 
Re: Charles River Skatepark

I cannot and will not go into too much detail, but having spent 6 months on co-op at the Charles River Conservancy the past year, I feel quite confident saying that issues with funding for the skatepark were not the fault of the Conservancy's leadership, apart from perhaps overextending the reach of a nonprofit organization that was very, very young when this project started.

This was also tied up in legal issues regarding ROW with the FHA for some time, leading to delays. I was present when we got the news that the final hurdles had been cleared; the sense of relief in the place was palpable.
 
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