CASE Co-Chair in FFWD Weekly
Josh Etherington, CASE’s Co-Chair, is in this week’s edition of FFWD Weekly. Click his photo to read the interview:
Privately Run Indoor Skatepark? Not Likely
We at CASE firmly believe that Calgary needs an indoor skatepark. It’s nearly impossible to skate outdoors in this city for well over half of the year due to the snow and cold.
In a major city like the one we live in, there should be a facility to accommodate a group of around 40,000 (estimated) users.
Skate Jungle Sticker
Many privately-run indoor skateparks have come and gone in our city for a variety of reasons. Some may have been poorly run, but the main reasons for their failure are as follows:
-Prohibitive real estate costs: it’s no secret that Calgary has expensive real estate — we’re known for it. Because rent is usually calculated by square foot, the relatively large area required to house a skatepark becomes pricey. Especially when placed in a desirable, accessible area with parking and a building that is not dilapidated with no obtrusive support pillars.
-Insurance costs: it is very difficult to find a company to who will provide insurance for a skatepark. The few that provide this service in Canada charge exorbitant amounts, mostly due to hysteria created decades ago when skateboarding was deemed “unsafe at any speed”.
These two factors add up to a hefty price tag to skate at an indoor skatepark. $10 to skate for a few hours? Most people would say “no way!” Of course, a facility would have to be very good to be able to charge anywhere near that and Calgary has had such facilities. Even then most skateboarders had trouble coughing up cash for something they can generally do for free outdoors in warmer months.
The Source Indoor Skatepark
Indoor skateparks in Canada are not impossible to achieve however. Regina, Saskatchewan has had one running for over a decade and their model is proven to work. The City of Regina has donated the building and therefore takes on any insurance liability. The staff are paid through grants applied for annually but the skatepark is self-sufficient and actually turns a profit from the small user fees and concession stand. It’s only $3 to skate for a day and most of the revenue goes back into the park for events and ramp maintenance. Helmets are required. Local skateshop, The Tiki Room volunteers time and effort to run it. Click here to view more images of the park. Video link.
Regina Indoor Skatepark
Calgary can get back on the skateboard map. Our city was once a hub of skateboard activity with many facilities running simultaneously which were visited by top pros. All we need is the help and support of City council and we’ll be rolling — outdoors and indoors. Hopefully Calgary will be known for something other than high real estate costs, The Stampede, and lack of skateparks.
Skatopia Pro Poster (year unknown
Another Calgary Herald Article
Calgary maps out strategy for more skateboard parks
City staff will forge ahead with developing a skateboarding strategy because facilities for the sport have fallen well behind demand.
Officials will have almost a year to complete the plan, with a recent report suggesting the number of skateboarding enthusiasts in the city numbers in the tens of thousands.
Right now, there are just three skate parks in Calgary, a far cry from the nine — including two indoor facilities — in Edmonton.
The effort to develop a strategy is good news to one skateboarder. Trevor Morgan, with the Calgary Association of Skateboarding Enthusiasts, envisions regional skate park hubs in the city, with smaller parks scattered around.
“These youth just want to be active, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “And if we give them the right venue to do that, and integrate it in the right way, and make sure the public understands it, then you get a really successful space where youth interact with everyone else.”
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Kevin Lowry Blueprint Footage from NYC
Kevin has a bunch of tricks in this web clip:
Vote for Jeff Thorburn on Color Magazine Site
Calgary photographer Jeff Thorburn is in the running for “photo of the year” at Color Magazine. It’s a shot of Tyler Warren doing a gap to 5-0. Click here to vote.
Articles in Calgary Newspapers
Today both the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun have articles about the need for more skateparks. Here is the one from the Herald:
“On a sunny day, Shaw Millennium Park will draw skateboarders from every corner of Calgary.
It’s not just that there’s no finer place for the kick-flip crowd. Beyond downtown’s skateboarding haven there’s virtually nowhere else in the city to skate, at least legally.
That made it a half-hour drive for Steven Hall and his trick-loving 10-year-old son from Sundance in Calgary’s deep south. Or longer, for those who rely on transit.
“It might have been smarter to put in four smaller parks in the four corners of the city, like in the leisure centres,” Hakl said.
More than a decade after opening Shaw Millennium Park, the city is acknowledging in a new report the skater-filled suburbs deserve one new mid-size skate park in every city quadrant.
The document notes that Calgary also has two smaller skate parks at McKenzie Towne and the west-side recreation centre – as well as three portable parks it shifts around the city. But that’s a dismal tally compared to smaller prairie cities such as Edmonton (11 parks), Winnipeg (8) and Saskatoon (6), to say nothing of Greater Vancouver (18).
Calgary has only one permanent skate park for every 360,000 people, compared with Medicine Hat’s two large parks for its population of 61,000.
“The development of skate parks in Calgary has fallen behind demand, and given the rapid increase in population in the past five years, this gap has grown exponentially,” says the report, which goes to a council committee Wednesday.
In addition to four “regional” parks each nearly a half-acre large, the paper suggests smaller community-sized parks throughout the city.
It recommends private fundraising and partnerships to help the city afford new parks. But instead of offering a price tag or timeline, the paper proposes a fuller strategy by the end of 2011.
Ald. Andre Chabot, whose daughter grew up an avid skateboarder, agreed the limited number of parks has been a disservice for young skaters.
“So they end up using all kinds of different places that were not designed for that and probably not safe,” he said, listing Olympic Plaza and business’ staircases as those venues.
Skate parks would be a great fit in new southeast and northwest recreation complexes that are in the works – if there’s money to pay for them and other high-demand sports facilities.
“We are deficient in so many aspects, and it all comes down to dollars and cents,” Chabot said.
Hakl, who now lives in Okotoks, is trying to address the skate park shortage himself. He’s buying the old equipment from the former 403 Skate Lounge indoor park, and is pursuing investors and property to resurrect it.
But zoning rules will largely restrict his options to a warehouse in industrial areas, and demand a lengthy permit process, the aspiring entrepreneur lamented.
“If this was Vancouver, I could have had it up already,” Hakl said.
jmarkusoff@calgaryherald.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald”