The City of Eugene will unveil three preliminary concept designs for the City Center Skatepark on Tuesday, October 6 at 6 pm in the Bascom/Tykeson room of the Eugene Public Library located at 100 West 10th Avenue.
Eugene residents are invited to join the meeting to review the design concepts for the covered skatepark – which is intended to be a top-quality facility with year-round public use, rain or shine – under the I-105 Bridge in Washington/Jefferson Park.
Skaters for Eugene Skateparks (SES), a local organization dedicated to making the City Center Skatepark a reality, has set an ambitious fundraising goal of $300,000 by December 2009. SES and the City of Eugene Parks and Open Space Division will be working in partnership to secure this funding and to coordinate the collaborative design process.
The project was launched with $292,000 in seed money from the city.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
What I don’t get is why we need another skatepark if the ones we already have are being used as a place to go smoke pot? I have sat and watched several baseball games by the skate park in West Eugene/Bethel and watched boys over at the skate park with their bongs getting high. That is not ok. Don’t you all think we should first try taking care of the skate parks that we already have? I can’t even let my kids go play at the park anymore because of all the drug use over there. It is out of control. I can sit there and in about a span of 10 minutes I can watch the kids take out of their backpacks at least 3 bongs and start smoking with them. It is like they don’t seem to care who is watching.
Kim – taking into consideration that skaters… well, SKATE, i find it highly unlikely that any of them would be carrying around a bong, let alone three, in their bags. they’re too fragile to handle all of those tricks/falls. that and they’re sort of conspicuous, in that they’re fairly large and need to be filled up with water for every use. stop exaggerating.
you might take into consideration that for every “bong”-wielding heathen you see terrorizing the parks on his skateboard, that’s one less case of childhood obesity for us to worry about… which, just so you know, is more harmful to a child’s health in the long run. perhaps you should let them take the occasional stroll around the park, after all?
skaters have merely chosen an active lifestyle, for which they deserve more outlets. one must understand that skating IS their recreational drug.
I am 100% for letting skaters skate. that is not even close to being the issue or the fact that our children are obese. Maybe you should look at the real issue here…and I am NOT exaggerating, if anything I was under exaggerating. I have sat there and witnessed several of these young boys smoking off their bongs right next to the skate park on the benches. So if you think that it is too fragile for them too carry around…you are on crack yourself. They slip the bong right into their backpack and slip their skateboard right into their little carrying pack of their backpack and walk across the park like they have done nothing wrong.
If I had a problem with skateboarding then I would never have let my children buy them or would I ever be so proud of my cousin of which works for a skate shop in California and is an amazing skater. It is about the skate park that we already have in West Eugene that has given itself a bad name because of the ILLEGAL drug use going on there.
maybe you should go take a look for yourself!!
Kim; Why don’t you do something about it like call the cops? Anyway, having another skate park is a great idea so get off your but and do something. Plus do your kids even like the fact that they cant do anything that they want so much like skateboarding?
P.S quit complaining and let us have a new wicked park
If you really wanted something to change, then why are you just sitting there?
i agree. during ten minutes that you were sitting there with a horrified look on your face, as the evil 3-bonged skaters were corrupting your children, you could have called the cops.
alternatively, i’m sure had you walked over to them and asked them to take their activities elsewhere, they would have. after all, you’ve just seen them doing illegal drugs. are they going to talk back to you?
thos damn skaten borders always comin around ma yard and smokin off each others bongs!
it’s funny you say that. I did call acop that was right there on the premesis that was watching his son play baseball. He just said, yep. And then went back to the game. Sounds to me like you are all trying your hardest to fight for something that you have no idea about. Maybe you should take a look for yourself and then pipe back to me. I know what I have seen and witnessed. Do you? And as far as my kids go, I have told them why they are not allowed over at the skate park and they totally agree and understand.
I think that if more skate parks were designed like the one by Cal young middle school out in the open then things would be much better. The one in West Eugene is just way too secluded and too easy for the kids to sit on the benches by the wall and smoke.
It isn’t my place to be the bad cop of the neighborhood. I don’t get paid to police the neighborhoods and I should not have to. I should be able to sit and watch a baseball game while my kids play in the park and not have to explain to my kids why they are not allowed to go near the skate park. Hmm…. Maybe this is an issue that the “police” and Eugene need to take care of and not ME!
I’m 22, have never been drunk or done a drug in my life. This fact alone shocks most people. The reason is skating kept me passionate and away from it. BUT, so what if kids would be/are smoking pot? How is that really affecting kids around the park? It’s completely harmless. At least they aren’t drinking alcohol and even that’s not such a threat. It’s only just as dangerous as smoking cigarettes around someones kids.
There’s not much else to do around here in this small and boring city. Not building a skatepark would only further boredom and drug use. Across the US there are more skateboarders now than kids on sports teams, but we don’t get the same amount of attention.
People really need to rethink their views on pot. As well as the whole drug war. So many adults drink alcohol like it’s nothing and think pot is completely wrong. The actuality is the other way around.
Kim – congratulations on discovering the rating option. i’m sorry to inform you that rating your comments a five out of five and underrating every opposing viewpoint will not make your argument valid.
that being said, now that we’ve established your issue is with the eugene police force, rather than prospect of a new skatepark, you can take your argument here and stop punishing skaters for the short comings of local law enforcement.
http://www.eugene-or.gov/portal/server.pt?space=CommunityPage&control=SetCommunity&CommunityID=219&PageID=0
Ekatrina, do you know what you are even talking about? I am pretty sure you are very confused right now. Because I am not sure what you are even talking about. What rating thing are you talking about?
Oh, I see it now. I guess there are other people that agree with me and not so much with you. Thats too bad. Sorry!
Evidently, not anymore. That’s too bad. Sorry!
soft glass bongs are extreamly durable. you could blugeon someone to death with one and chances are it would be fine. wrap it in a towel in a back pack and that shit isnt going to break. also, they’re called water bottles. maybe you’ve heard of them?
on the other hand, i will say that a skatepark probubly wouldnt make any differince in the amount of potsmoking downtown. as long as venturedata exists that sort of thing simply isnt going to stop. although i will say that i would rather see a more conventional park with a basketball court and some benches.
What is funny about this whole thing is that I am for us having several skate parks around the town. I just wish that they were monitored better and taken care of better before going and making new ones. I would love nothing more than for my kids to be able to try skateboarding if they would like to. It looks like a great sport that takes a lot of skill and hard work. But unfortunately for them, the skate park by which we live has been taken over by nothing more than kids who need a place to go smoke pot and skate. It is sad that they can’t just enjoy what they have and skate instead of sit around on the benches and get high with each other.
If the new skate park were a place that I know would be monitored and kept clean, then I would love nothing more than another skate park in our city. But after seeing what has happened to the one in West Eugene, it just makes me wonder if we are making a skate park for the kids to enjoy, or are we making one more place that they can sit around and smoke pot? I would hope the second…but I am not convinced after how bad the West Eugene skate park has become.
Kim did you notice the location of the new skate park? Cops all over. Not to mention you saw ONE skate park? there’s what 3 or 4 in Eugene plus the one in Springfield? A lot of the skate environments are actually great for kids that skateboard. There is a very positive attitude with a lot of people trying to help each other achieve goals. I grew up at the Springfield park and i can tell you there was a fair share of drug use. And that parks right next to a playground! but when they did it they didn’t do it around little kids, they were responsible to the extent a stoner could be. I have been skating for years and i don’t smoke. it just doesn’t seem like your arguement is going anywhere. it’s basically “I don’t like pot, whine whine whine, cry some more cause i don’t get my way.” Stick to what you know, which isn’t skate parks. plz and Thx
Good luck! You’re all winners in my book!
http://www.blamonet.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/normal_Retard_Win.jpg
Smoking weed’s illegal; it shouldn’t be condoned at a skatepark or downtown or anywhere in public. With that said, the new skatepark is designed to open up the area under the Washington-Jefferson bridge so the illicit activities already taking place can be monitored more effectively.
Also, skaters have a way of policing themselves to keep them safe; they won’t stand for some bum drinking and getting rowdy, but if a couple fellow skaters take off to the side and light up, no harm, no foul. I’d rather see the new parks design push out the bad energy already there and let the skaters police themselves then shut down the project cause one mom saw a couple kids blaze.
Kim, I really do agree with you, but your original post stated, “I don’t get why we need another park if the ones we have now are being used as a place to smoke pot.” Well, I’d rather have a couple kids smoking pot at the W-J park then drunk hobos stabbing each other.