why is the pic always tanz?

Evan sucked my D
Once…

yant air tights little boys

pics or it didnt happen.

fuck the skateparks get to the streets !!!

Chris Duncan Clothing votes yes

Whoever wrote “Diana Mey is a bitch” was not necessarily a biker. There were skaters that were bummed on the situation aswell. This e-mail made it look like it was a biker 100%. I just don’t agree with that.

skateboard’s dead and CDC SUCK BALLS

i agree. i don’t want a public skatepark where i ride cos then i’ve got every excuse to grind everything in sight.

I ride skateparks all the time – some of them bikes allowed, some not. I’ve never really had a problem with skaters, police or anyone else.

If I wanted to go to a bunch of meetings, I’d join the PTA. “Bike liaison”? I want nothing to do with this crap. If some goofball city administrator somewhere wants to dump a bunch of taxpayer money into my little pastime, great. If not, it’s nothing new.

Just go ride the park in your town, and if it’s a hassle, go ride somewhere else. Don’t get locked into the idea that BMX is some kind of coordinated activity that you do in a defined space.

Joshua, I think it’s safe to assume that it was bikers that spray-painted the park since they have been the most vocal group and Diana has been a focal point for their frustration. Of course, it could have always been a skater who did it to make the bikers look bad. Or it could have been the cops who have been wanting to shut the park down all along. Who knows?

Ugh, your complete dismissal and misunderstanding of what we do at SPS is pretty ridiculous. It takes balls bigger than yours to sit through some of these meetings and get this done. What I wasn’t asking for is some kind of Seal of Approval from you on whether getting skateparks built was a worthwhile pastime. As far as I’m concerned, YOU (and people like you) are a big part of the BMX problem.

Given the chance, not only do you not give a shit but you actively paint the hard work and dedication it takes to do this as a waste of time. Way to go, hero.

I’m looking for people who would be willing to get involved and maybe do a little good work.

i run from the police everyday cuz riden …they need to build a street/park that lets us in, fuck a “bikepark” wtf is that gay shit..and alot of bmxers are str8 assholes and trash everything that why we cant get in parks u sorry lames….act rite n maybe we can fukn stupid asses

Peter, I read your email and I agree with most of what you say about bikers handling things the wrong way and not being present at local meetings and such, which no-doubt make a complete mess of things for bikers. And I personally try to get young riders (and/or their parents) active in the process by writing handwritten letters to politicians voicing their concerns and requests. I applaud you for your efforts and would like to buy you a beer if I ever got the chance to meet you.

But from my personal experiences with the skatepark design/build process I have come the conclusion that the problem is actually deeper, and starts before any public council meeting. The real problem is us; bikers and skaters both. We still see, and speak of ourselves as separate entities even though we both have the same pastime and claim to be fighting the same battle. This is apparent right down to the name of your organization.

You have to think about it from their point of view. Most of the politicians don’t know anything about skateparks. They come from the “good old days” when all they had to do was put in a cheap baseball field to make everyone happy. Now there is this new thing that the kids like to do, and is going to take a huge chunk of money to build. It’s their job to decide weather it is within the best interest of the town to build this new facility. So they want to lean more about skateparks so they host a meeting to try and get more information from the people that are involved in the sport. The meeting starts and the first bit of information they receive about skateparks is that there are actually two groups of people that use the facilities and it’s dangerous to have them both in the same facility and that it would be ideal to have two facilities. The cost instantly doubles and our chances of having anything done at all instantly gets cut in half. Right from the beginning it becomes an uphill battle and it doesn’t have to be.

I propose that we stop representing ourselves as skaters and bikers during such meetings to try and project the idea that we all get along and that by building one skatepark would actually make people happy and not spark a fight.

I also propose that inclusive parks with coping, etc. not be talked about as an extra expense and burden that would have to be dealt with if bikes are to be considered. Why give them an ultimatum like that? Coping should just be considered another part of a well built skatepark. I know that when people do this they think they are proposing a solution to a future problem, but in the politicians eyes, all they are doing is uncovering a hidden feud that they don’t want to deal with. It’s not their job to play the part of Jerry Springer.

So although I agree with a most of what you said I think my, yours, and everyone’s efforts would be better spent trying to portray a camaraderie between skaters and bikers instead of passive aggressively sabotaging ourselves from the very beginning.

wow this actually was a thought out and well written comment in response to the post above. I’m quite shocked to see something like this on thecomeup to be honest. But I do completely agree with what you said and believe a viable solution lies in your view.

I rode a curb yesterday that I had NO involvement in the construction, funding, approval or design of. No one from the bike community even showed up when the construction guys were pouring the concrete! Can you imagine how irresponsible and unorgainzed they musty be?

It doesn’t take “balls”, really, to sit through a park board meeting and go through all the mother-may-I crap involved in getting a skatepark built in your town (that will probably suck anyway). You know what takes balls? To be a poacher, and proud of it. It takes balls to call out the self-appointed responsible adults in the room that have taken skateboarding and turned it into bowling.

People like YOU are the problem. Skateboarding has rolled over and become a part of the social control apparatus that it was supposed to reject. Yuck. No thank you.

Ugh, let me know when you begin seeing the bigger picture. In the meantime, keep poaching.

Kevin, I understand your position here and think it’s spot-on. In the time I’ve been working directly with my City for skateparks (and decriminalizing places that are busts) I’ve never had to say that bikes were or were not included as a core user group. Strike that. I think maybe ONCE one of our Parks people asked “what about bikes?” If I recall, I just said, “bikes will be included.” That was it.

What I’d like to see is a bit more pressure from the BMX community—or an organization representing that community—for BMX inclusion. That will provide a sounding board for the contributors at SPS to develop materials they present at national Parks conferences and to their local communities. Currently we are split with a group of our contributors in favor of BMX inclusion (period) and a group that considers BMX as “competition” to the limited skatepark space. When—from the outside at least—the BMX community seems so fragmented and unapologetic about barging the parks, it simply cauterizes those anti-BMX opinions. This ultimately compounds the problem, of course.

Open up Ripon, CA.

Mr. Whitley please take a look at my site and the struggle that the BMXer’s in Tucson have been going through recently. You can find all the posts on the subject in “Protests”.

Wow. Mr. Whitley is asking to work with our community, from all indications his request is sincere and he really does want to help BMX. I am shocked by the negative response that he’s gotten!

Everyone should step back and take a serious look at the situation. Currently, only a minority of parks in the US allow bikes. Sure there are a lot in Oregon but in Cali, only a couple dozen.

The ONLY way that the situation will get better is if we start working closely with the skaters.

The idea of bike parks is a very good one, in fact it is the best option of all. Some communities have more than enough bikers to warrant their own park. And if we build SPECIFICALLY for bikes, the parks will be better for us. Ever notice how FEW parks have sub boxes? Concrete rythym sections? Think about it. The chandler AZ park is sick, just google it if you don’t believe me. Santa cruz is above ground wood and far less appealing but still a lot of fun. A lot more fun that being chased out by the police.

Of course, “bike parks” are a new concept and can be costly to build, so sharing is another option. It is a good one and can work out just fine. But bikers need to look in the mirror and recognize that it just doesn’t make sense to join in when the park is crowded, it just doesn’t work right. Plus it’s no fun for us. I am all for compromise. Look at what they did in Burnside – bikes allowed in the morning. That can work.

We need the next generation of bikers that are willing to do more than whine and complain. I for one am glad that Mr. Whitley and SPS are attempting to reach out to us. Please continue the dialogue and drop all this negativity. It is extremely counter productive.

As for the notion that guys like Whitley have somehow damaged skateboarding by getting PUBLICLY funded parks, that is not even worthy of discussion here.

Peter, I totally agree that BMX’ers are way too under-represented when it comes to skateparks, and that some of the younger unapologetic kids hurt us more than we help ourselves as a whole.

But I’m trying to better understand what exactly you are proposing. Are you trying to recruit bmx’ers to join your or organization or are you hoping that the bmx’ers will join together and create their own organization?

If the later, why have two organizations? If your organization is already involved, why create a separate one just for bikes? All that does is extend the problem even deeper without actually fixing anything. Why not just simply alter the image of an existing organization (maybe yours?) to reflect the interests of anyone who wants to use a skatepark? Skateboards, bikes, rollerblades, scooters, unicyclists, mountain boarders, everyone.

I apologize ahead of time for using your organization as an example because I really do appreciate all that you do. But, I took a look at your website and what I see is “skaters for public parks” in bright colors at the top and pictures of only skateboarders. If I didn’t know anything about skateparks (like most politicians), I would look at your site, see all this and automatically assume that skateparks are only for skateboarders and that would be my first impression that gets burned into my head so that later, when the bmx issue inevitably comes up I would already be opposed to the idea. So right there, looking at your site for two seconds hurts bikers and ultimately everyone including skateboarders. I think you’re fighting the good fight, just in a direction that is parallel to the problem.

I think if you and your organization are serious about wanting to help bikers then you should welcome bikers as members of your organization and then change your site and image to reflect your interests as a whole and not just one specific part. Maybe this is what you’re trying to do? Maybe we need a separate bmx organization to counter the anti-bmx stuff? But I really think if skaters and bikers joined together as one super-entity then its existence alone would be enough to discredit the anti-bmx community as basically a hate group.

Fortunately I moved to a part of the country that doesn’t have this problem. My town alone has 4 skateparks that all allow bikes. Skaters and bikers get along and everyone just has fun. I would love to be a part of your organization and help skateparks get built for everyone. My life is hectic right now, and I don’t live in an area that could use the help, so I don’t know how much help I could be. I will try and get in contact with you, maybe there is something I can do. I would encourage anyone else to help out and do the same.

i hope that bike riders never become as self indulgent as skateboarders

I think separate bike parks are fine only when the price of two parks fit into the original budget, but not when separate bike parks are proposed as 2X the original budget. And if separate parks are proposed as a solution to a problem of us not being able to get along then we have already lost. We cannot let the people that are ultimately in charge of weather or not we get parks built to see even for a second that there is any kind of divide. This hurts everyone, not just bikers. I wish more skaters would understand this.

Crowding is a legitimate reason for needing 2 parks, but still, why have them be segregated? Why not just have two parks that everyone can use? My town has 4 parks that everyone is allowed to ride. They are all designed differently and are different sizes. When a new park gets built, it’s pretty crowded at first but then everyone spreads out to the other parks. Bikers don’t usually go to the small parks because they’re not as fun as the bigger faster parks. Younger kids don’t usually like the bigger parks because it’s not as fun for them. It all works itself out in the end. I think this is the way it should be.

yes

Not one bit of my comment is negative. What the hell are you talking about? In fact, I would love to work with Peter on this subject. I have another local news article coming out about the BMX situation in Tucson. We are about to gain access to the newly built public funded skatepark in Tucson. And, we are a couple years out of having a BMX concrete park too. Mr. Whitley please email me at bikehines@gmail.com I’d like to talk to you more about this.

^To Sam who is for separate parks……… Just a tip but BMX riders never refer to themselves as “bikers”.

Helllllllla good skatepark. Nathomas is so fun

To Mike:

Wasn’t referring to you when I was making a point about the negative comments. I know how hard you guys have been working in AZ and have mad respect for you.

To Douglas:

I’ve been riding BMX for 30 years, and I sometimes refer to us as bikers. Or bmxers. Or bmxicans. Anyway, I am a bike rider not a skater.

I suck balls for many many famous people

Kevin, what SPS is specifically looking for is a better sense of what is going on in the BMX advocacy world. Whatever is identified as a viable and long-term organization willing to dedicate itself to the (sometimes) abrasive space between BMX and skateparks, we want to work with.

Similarly, if there are individuals who are facing an “access” challenge, I would encourage them to take a look at SPS’ editorial and liberally co-opt it to suit a BMX purpose. Take it, use it. (You can do a search-and-replace “skateboard” with “BMX” if you want.)

What we ultimately want to see is a stronger voice from BMXers so that we can get more skateparks, better skateparks…for everyone. Is that self-serving? Absolutely.

Frankly we feel a little bit sheepish about recommending BMX policy when we don’t have any BMXers in our group, and we don’t know where to turn for information.

How practical are peg sheaths, or no pegs?
How are BMX lines through a park different than skaters’?
If a park is designed to specifically attract BMX, when does a radius begin to get too tight?
We’ve calculated how much skatepark a community of any size may need, but did not include BMX. We’d like to change that but need help.

Those are the things we’d like to look at. Ultimately they become tools for skatepark advocates…whether they’re skaters or bikers. It also becomes useful information for communities facing skatepark decisions with a strong BMX contingent. Right now those people come to SPS (by and large) and get an earful from skaters. That seems like a problem.

In this vacuum of leadership you will get people who aren’t qualified stepping up and taking charge. Heidi Lemmon, (from SPAUSA), has been a vocal advocate for BMX inclusion for a number of years but I consider her methods to be unrefined and dogmatic. I don’t believe she’s doing the progressive BMX community any favors. (She encouraged, for example, BMXers to barge the Wheeling park on opening day…when the place was packed. It was confrontational, sensationalist, lacked clear purpose or strategy, and (as far as I know) once the kids got tickets and such, she detached herself from the effort. She’s not a biker or a skateboarder.

Sam, a vast majority of skateboarders are whiners and/or would prefer to do nothing. They’re not bad-spirited people…they just don’t have the interest or time to get involved. Those that do speak for those that don’t.

That existing or future body of BMX advocates could make a LOT of change with just a few short people. I’ve already received half a dozen emails from interested people…some already run BMX organization, some are just passionate individuals. Once we get a better sense of what the interest level is, we’ll work with that organization or group of people to populate their mission with editorial material that can be distributed to local BMX advocates…where it can be used to make positive change. With each success story, it becomes easier for other groups to lobby their cities for change…until you have a movement. Delusions of grandeur, maybe…but we gotta start with a vision.

I would love to see a more effective BMX voice in SPS. However, we were founded by skaters (100%) and continue to be operated by skaters (100%). Most of us share parks with BMX on a daily basis…have skated the T1 ramp…raced their Webco back in the day…or whatever. There’s shared blood, sure…but we are skaters.

Thank you all for entertaining this idea. It’s a bit abstract just yet, but it’s also where SPS was 7 years ago. Now we speak regularly at several national conferences, have a published book, and engage in direct consultancy all over the damn place. There was a need for legitimate skatepark and skateboarding information and we supplied it.

Now there’s a need for better BMX information.

I think skaters and riders should just quit the bullshit . Go to meetings as one group and ask for parks that suit both our needs , if we want it so fucking bad .Then when the park is built we need to respect the park and stop fighting with each other . Pointing fingers everywere dosen’t get us anywere. just unite and fix this shit.

There’s just too few bikers to show up at meetings. The skater kids all listen to what Bam said about BMX being bad for things, and now nobody wants anything to do with two wheels. From my experience, skaters are the rude, pushy ones with no respect. BMX riders are the ones stuck wandering around trying to ride somewhere.

Kevin K, a common complaint that we hear is that although BMXers express interest in a new park project, they often don’t show up for meetings or help with events.

Older skaters are often the ones who are most successful in skatepark advocacy. As you know, BMX is a young man’s sport and it can be hard to find older bikers who are willing to engage in something like skatepark advocacy. Truth be told, getting skateparks pushed through is a frustrating pain in the ass…and usually by the end nobody really understands or appreciates the hard work it takes. Nobody is surprised when people bag out. Seriously. It happens all the time.

We don’t believe the BMX community (as a whole) will have any real voice in the skatepark world until they have some place they can go for consistent, factual information. Most of the arguments we hear for bikes in skateparks are either ridiculous, lies, or naive and out of touch with the real discussion. It can change and we know that—as skaters—we benefit when the BMXers get their collective shit together.

Unfortunately it’s not as easy as just saying “quit the bullshit” because for most people, skaters and bikers, it’s not a personal issue. A majority of skatepark users don’t care whether the space is shared or exclusive. The problem is getting bikers to the table so that when design and policy is discussed, there’s at least ONE person who rides a bike there to say “that’s not right.”

Such a simple thing to do, and so much is lost when it doesn’t happen. I mean, not for skaters…they end up with a bike-free park…but for bikers who then must poach and face tickets and have bowl barneys call the cops on them and all that. You know.

Later, we can put together some real data on bikes in skateparks. Maybe we’ll find out that mixing the two users isn’t such a good idea. Maybe we realize that there’s a strong case for bike-only parks. Who knows…the future is unclear.

The bmx in skate parks issue is one of the reasons I got into skate park design. I am pleased to see that skaters for public skate parks has made an effort for the bmx community to get involved. I have often seen the situation where bmx is not fully represented at the public skate park meetings. I am interested to see if there is a way to produce some type of unbiased statistical evidence on the issue that might help remove the negative stigma around bmx.

Your company is one of the biggest reasons why bikes are not being allowed in skateparks. If I had it my way I would make sure that SDG and California skateparks never have a job in Arizona again. SDG and Brian Harper are a bunch of lying, money hungry, thieves taking advantage of communities, and excluding certain user groups from “public” parks. Thanks for your wonderful insight Jeff.

Hines ———-
There’s certainly another way of looking at this. SDG has designed several progressive skateparks that have inspired (certainly) hundreds of would-be skatepark advocates to get involved. For several years all we heard at Skaters for Public Skateparks was that some kid in the middle of nowhere wanted a skate plaza like Kettering. We have more skateparks today—excellent skateparks that may support BMX—because Kettering was a living example of what could be done.

So, a little respect. California has much bigger problems that its skatepark designers. It’s liability laws, as they apply to recreational spaces, are ridiculous. Thankfully there are lots of dedicated individuals working to get those fixed. Hines, maybe you’re one of them. I don’t know.

Jeff ————-
We certainly need better site studies at existing parks. We have a few ideas for online usage studies but we’re struggling to lay the framework given our limited resources. We’ll get there eventually…it’s just going to take time.

If you have ideas for the kinds of statistical data you’d like to see collected, feel free to drop me a line; petermwhitley@gmail.com. I can tell you a little bit about our research activities.

Peter I’ve tried contacting you, and I have tons of examples of BMXer’s standing up for their rights to use a “public” park. You obviously have not looked, nor have you payed any attention to what I have said. Because, if you did you would have noticed that I live in Arizona, not California and could careless what the laws are, in that state. Maybe you don’t know that SDG started in Arizona and was based in Phoenix long before they got their scummy asses out of here. You probably also don’t know about their avid BMX hatred, and reasons why no bikes are allowed in any of the parks they built/designed in Arizona. I worked for Brian Harper years ago, and he did not like me because I rode BMX. Ridiculous? Absolutely. They are the sole reason why there is a separate BMX only park in Chandler, because they constantly imposed the notion that BMX and skateboards cannot co-exist in the same park at the same time. They claim that bikes are wreck-less, out of control, and are not intended to be in a skatepark at all. I have been fighting for a year now all because of SDG and California skateparks false claims that they use different PSI for parks that have BMX access. Bullshit. So, respect? Respect for a company that has denied access to thousands of kids all over my state of Arizona. Respect to a company that has contributed to kids being arrested, having their bikes impounded, riding in the street and getting hit by cars. Why the hell would I respect them? While I type this, those guys are driving around in their giant monster trucks drinking energy drinks on their way to the bank. They just excluded bikes from a publicly funded park in my town, and ripped the city off for a 800,000 plus dollars for a park that has 3 bowls and a one foot tall grind ledge. The whole park is under 12,000 square feet. While in Chandler they just built a 20,000 square foot facility for almost the same price. Woo!

Peter Whitley.
Adding intellect to a problem doesn’t justify anything.
Its as simple as the little feeling in the back of your head as you sift through your book of ass kissing words.
Lie.
The skate/bmx problem will never go away if people are in a place of power like you.
Represent the youth as a whole,not only the one you understand or prefer.
The fact that you try to claim any sort of higher opinion over anyone else should make anyone’s bullshit detector go off. Unless,its convenient.
Maybe you are the same kind of person as we may be,you just kiss some different asses.
There is dishonesty in the way you are trying to place things. I’ve been to enough meetings to keep our local park open and there was plenty of people sharing there views. I tried to be an example in order to gain some sort of listening ears for our youth. After all the fancy bullshit I tried to use, it really just boiled down to honesty. It was almost scary seeing so many blank stares as truth rang in peoples ears. Almost everyone can gather an honest opinion but sometimes its an intimidating situation when you have a bunch of old fucks telling you some rules that will never,ever apply to them in the way that they do to us and selfish insecure skaters with people like you backing them.
At our park, everyone is friends and when we get kicked out we get kicked out for honest problems like not wearing our helmets.

I’d like to say,that our scene is a prime example and we earned it.

YOU keep running down the old street of safety in hopes that you can somehow make any sense of this but its bullshit. There is no right or wrong way to skate or bmx.
If the park isn’t getting ruined by bikes,then something else is,right? Something that might not have a place in a skateboarders heart so it doesn’t matter?
You know where the faults are.

We have the opportunity to show up at the meetings,yet if we don’t what happens? Is there any honesty left in the room or a chance for some selfish moves that will keep us out? You are doing a great job on one end,but absolutely not on the other. Where the youth is. Youth that should not be separated by the instruments they chose to express themselves.

“When the bikers protest or barge the park, those involved with the effort feel (justifiably) that the bikers didn’t pay their dues and work as hard as the skaters to get the park built. You know this story, I’m sure. The bikers figured it was taken care of, the skaters had it under control, or maybe they didn’t feel like they fit in. (Maybe they even got vibed out of the meetings, who knows.)”
Yeah,who knows?!…

I’m not licensing out anything either.
It’s just that,its hard to kiss someones ass when you know they are waiting for it. And. Its hard to come together when Fuck heads like you support anything that keeps us apart.

So how about some honesty??
I honestly think you have a complete grasp as to why any of us bike riders act the way we do.
You,are the dishonest man that has far more dishonest people backing you.
Great work.
So the second we give in to the real,and stick our noses up the right asses,we’re free? Fuck that.
If you want any acceptance in our scene i suggest you get your cards right. We can keep breaking the rules that pay for your parks.
Don’t come to us like a fucking door to door Jehovah witness in hopes to save us.
Your image is a joke. You know it.
We will keep our rebellious,care free name in exchange for honesty.

I apologize for misreading your location.

I can understand your frustration and completely respect the way you’re getting it across. It’s obvious to me that you’ve been involved in advocacy for a while because your rhetoric is so strong.

Seriously though…not to make light of a grave situation but skaters die too. It happens too often and every time a skatepark is prevented because of some NIMBY’s concern about vandalism or teen smoking, it puts our kids at risk. Every time a skatepark gets built out in the sticks where nobody will be bothered by it, some kid who can’t make the trek puts himself at risk. Every time a gate fee goes in, a kid is at risk. It goes on like this forever.

That’s precisely what Skaters for Public Skateparks is out to prevent. We advocate for design principles that make skateparks succeed.

Our current position on BMX is murky. You can read it here: http://www.skatepark.org/faqs/sps-positions/does-sps-support-bicycles-in-skateparks.html

What we all can benefit from is a stronger voice for BMX in skateparks…whether that’s for existing no-bike parks or parks that are currently being planned. You should know this: SPS is currently talking about whether bikes belong in skateparks to dozens of communities…and probably loads more who are using our content to inform their decisions about BMX inclusion. You know what? We don’t have any BMXers on our Board of Directors…no BMX content providers…no BMX advocates engaged in helping us with these decisions. We are skaters informing communities about BMX…and you know that this is isn’t always leading to the representation that BMX deserves.

At the end of the day it’s simply not our responsibility to be pro- or anti-BMX. We are unapologetic about being 100% pro-skater. If our mission works with bikes, awesome. If it doesn’t, then we need to make sure that we completely understand why not. That’s what this is about…and that’s why I’m here.

Chandler is awesome.

Yeah, you want an honest opinion, RJ?

The reason skaters are reluctant to embrace BMX is because of people like you. So, fuck you, my man.

We work very hard for skateparks…locally, nationally, overseas. BMX is a tiny percentage of our concerns and for many skatepark advocates, if every BMX simply disappeared it wouldn’t matter one bit.

I’m here to see if there’s interest in stronger collaboration between the BMX community and an organization like SPS. If you can’t get that through your thick skull, I apologize.

So, to reiterate in case you didn’t catch it the first time, fuck you.

Wow, this conversation really devolved quickly.

I used to be heavily involved in this issue, I am not anymore. This reminds me of exactly why…

Hey Sam, it didn’t really devolve. We get the same kind of treatment from skaters on occasion…dudes who are too cool for school. It doesn’t bother me or deter me in the slightest about what I think would help skaters, skateparks, and (as an added bonus) bike riders.

What some dudes don’t understand is that just because they don’t get it, they need to call bullshit. And just because they called bullshit, they think that the whole world needs to stop and listen to them. Hopefully someday they realize that they weren’t part of any solution…they just added to the clutter.

There’s been a lot of positive interest. Not surprisingly I’ve received about a half dozen emails from dudes out in the world who are facing bike prohibitions and need advice on how to get things changed. Sam, as you well know there’s a need for authentic, effective bike advocacy materials. There are people out there who don’t know where to find it.

When you google “skateparks”, SPS is the 5th result. When you google “bikes in skateparks” none of the results on the first page provide real guidance on launching an advocacy effort. That’s pretty easy to change…I think.

Probably the best single source for advocates and communities making this decision is found on Bikes Belong…a group run by a board seemed populated entirely by bike industry professionals. (The material itself seems authored by Heidi Lemmon, owner of SPAUSA, because it so strongly promotes SPAUSA skatepark insurance.) Conflicts of interest…and hardly anything “by bikers, for bikers” about it. That’s pretty easy to change, too!

SPS sees a need for something with new energy behind it and has resources that can help. SPS also has plenty to gain from seeing a BMX advocacy group coalesce.

“Don’t come to us like a fucking door to door Jehovah witness in hopes to save us.”

Word to THAT. Maybe he would have gotten a more positive response if he didn’t come on here (especially thecomeup) and tell bike riders what they need to do and not do, and then spout the same lameass excuses for excluding bikes from skateparks. Bye.

The way you presented yourself was a bit much.
I can admit I was being extreme,I really was just trying to get the point across that if you want to work with most kids in the scene you might need to drop the a lot of the bullshit and just talk to them.
Same level.
You came off a bit tough. It was insulting and then you blissfully expected a clean following from it.
I’m not commenting on the job your doing because that’s not where the problem was. It was simply your presentation and your reaction to insult as if you had already earned some sort of respect.
I may be an asshole but I’m saying what a lot of kids are afraid to say. I admire that you are forging a path for yourself. Its all about presentation though and anyone with a brain half as good as yours should be able to detect weather or not your being real.

We work very hard for skateparks…locally, nationally, overseas. BMX is a tiny percentage of our concerns and for many skatepark advocates, if every BMX simply disappeared it wouldn’t matter one bit.

Oh ok. Make up your fucking mind.
Either you care about us with or without the bullshit or your looking for more of a following.

Maybe your exactly right. Not one thing would matter at all

Our park fines PAY for YOUR parks.

Also.
Is the solution kissing your ass because you say so?
That sounds like bullshit to me.
Mask it all you want.

I’m not going to get into this here with you. Either email me like you have or let’s have that conversation here…but please don’t start in with the “quotes” from my emails and such. I don’t have time to help you figure all this out.

Incidentally, “your” fines hardly pay for skateparks. Perhaps in your simplistic world all money that isn’t in your pocket goes to some giant bucket of funding…but it’s (actually!) a little more complicated than that.

I really don’t care about BMXer’s needs HOWEVER I see value for skatepark advocates in having a more vocal, organized BMX advocacy community. Self-serving? Sure. There, you win.

I’m not looking to have my ass kissed either…but thank you for the concern.

Iam a skateboarder and I have personal experience with Peter Whitley and SPS. It was with their help that I was able to help get our local skate park re-opened after it was shut down for 1 year. The closure was the result of kids on bikes calling themselves The Skate Park Crew…and ganging up on people. Here’s the deal..these kids are not even good bike riders, they were lurkers who just rode bikes. Iam sorry but it’s a lot harder to ride a skateboard than a bike..anyone can ride a bike. Iam not talking about tricks and jumping, but just riding. In my opinion thats the real issue at skate parks. The lurkers who wanna fuck everything up. My town is rural with nowhere to skate. Having a park is great, and needed. We the skaters got our park built, no bikers helped…but they showed up when it opened. When it got closed, we put a movement together to get it open, we invited BMXers to be a part of it. They didnt show to meetings or help in the process. However when we the skaters got the park re-opened they were there on the first day. Iam sorry but most of you guys just whine and complain and I dont feel sorry for you if you cant ride your local park. As far those of you that are hardcore, and wanna poach. Whatever man, just like skating your industry is no different. Most of everything is made in China. So being core and punk went out a long time ago when Monster energy started making all the pros walking billboards. You know whats core is helping the younger kids have a safe place to ride a bike or a board. The people on here who say they wont go to meetings or anything like that are typical…lazy. Get this…I live in Placerville California, we welcome bikers if they can act right, if not get lost. Get off of our coat tails and out of our parks if you dont like it. Some of the attitudes I read on here is the reason why you cant ride at places like Burnside, except early in the morning. You should be a part of the solution, not the problem. Get over your “too cool” attitude. When skaters put their hand out to you stop slapping it. So go ahead and talk some shit if you want..I dont care..

By the way for those of you “bikers” that wanna talk shit to Pete or about Pete know this. That guy and his friends go and get places to skate for skaters. Whether it be a park or in the street. They persuaded their local government in Washington to let them legally remove skate stoppers in a place called Thea’s Park. A sick spot on the waterfront in Vancouver..now thanks to thier efforts skaters can hit it up. A place that was a bust is no longer a bust. I dont see any BMXers doing that shit..

Go ride some dirt.

Haha, thanks for the props, Kelley.

I thought I might share with you dudes that coming here was a good idea. We’ve got some solid ideas flowing about kinds of tools might help BMXers who want to approach their local governments…whether it’s gaining access to an existing, “no bikes” park or getting something new going. As far as we can tell, those tools don’t really exist right now.

Skatepark advocacy isn’t for everybody. It’s pretty geeky stuff and if you would rather shoot yourself in the face than sit through a City Council meeting, you should probably be out riding instead. However, be sure not to dress down those dudes who ARE willing to sit through those meetings. It could very well lead to some cool new places to ride, (or old places to ride where you don’t have to be eyes out for popo).

Kelley, by the way, got his park re-opened after it was shut down by the City. It only takes a few dedicated dudes to make some serious change. It’s good stuff.

One more thing..we are not coming to you door to door like Jehovah’s Witnesses. We re trying to be cool…unlike most of you who are fucking annoying. Stop coming to OUR parks and thinking you have some entitlement. It’s laughable the way you guys act. If you are not involved in a process than you have no right to bitch when things do not go your way!

A skatepark was built in my city, somehow all the skaters knew about it but nobody informed any of the bmx scene. also were aloud to ride our park, but we get harassed and threatened what are we supposed to do then? no sign is gunna stop a bunch of dick skaters from fucking with you are they?