Detroit's doin it.

Detroit Project

A friend of mine pointed this out to me.  This is a pretty awesome project going on in the Inner City of Detroit.  Check out the link.  I have become frustrated with the city of Indianapolis recently and have hit a brick wall.  If anyone out there reads this and knows who the person to talk to at Indy parks or the city about building skateboarding infrastructure PLEASE let me know.  You can email me at timdevlin24@gmail.com.

Indy skate advocates in the paper

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011110270314

There was recently an article in the Indianapolis Star.   The writer Amanda Kingsbury was trying to find some educators that are doing interesting things.  She had heard about our group and wanted to get the story out.  Hopefully this helps our cause.

Recent updates

Sarah and Jordan are having a baby! Congrats to the new family.  They were the ones with the idea to start this now as they have more on their plate a few of us have stepped up and are trying to take the reigns.  Evan and myself met a few weeks ago and started making some emails and phone calls.  Hopefully we will be able to put some wind back in our sails.

The money we have raised is now in an account.  WE RAISED $1200 in a short amount of time.  Hopefully we can get someone from the city on our side and make something happen.  Stay tuned.

TRASH AT THE PARK!!

Also upon my return I noticed a TON of trash at the park. I picked up a ton of trash the day before I left and there was all new trash today. The guys were there cutting the lawn and they were taking pictures of the trash in the lawn. This can't be good publicity for the park or more parks to come. If you see someone leaving there trash get on them. I know it feels silly but it is going to suck when we can't get a new park because the litter problem is looming. It will REALLY suck if they take our park away that we have now!

Recent travels

AHHH. The motivation that follows a trip to Oregon. They have it so together there. If you would like to check out what they have going on you can check out this website.

http://skateportland.org/

Every time I go there there is something awesome happening. The latest addition is a park known as Brooklyn Street. It started as a small DIY spot and then turned into a real park. Not only did the city decide it could be a park they funded a small amount to the builders of the park to improve it as well. This doesn't just happen for anything they have worked long and hard to achieve this credibility and for the city to see the benefits of skateparks. Pictures of the park are below. They are removing the walking bridge soon and the city has given the entire area all the way to the building to the builders!

Great meeting

We had a great meeting on the 20th. Thanks to everyone that is helping us. Remember if you haven't seen it on facebook we have an event this coming Thursday the 28th at Talbott St. There will be some awesome bands playing and all the proceeds go to ISA. Also, we will be selling some awesome photos from Hutch, a tattoo!, a bike tune up from ISC, and many other things. Come check it out!

phew. We hope.

Wow, what a relief. Gage and I attended the meeting today and the overall feeling both of us had was very positive. The parks department was very concerned about losing the skateboard park and was assured by the reps from Marion that it will be safe.

Gage and I spoke with the Dean Peterson and Deborah Lawrence after the meeting and they were very happy to meet us and look forward to opportunities to collaborate with events. Their number one concern is the community and they are using the recent rise in cycling popularity to our advantage.

During our conversation there was even mention of the long forgotten park addition that was in the original plan. There main goal is to revamp all of the infrastructure, build some bike courses, and actually generate revenue through cycling events and summer programs. Lets keep our fingers crossed and keep pushing for new stuff!

meeting update

: I guess the indyparks thing is on the agenda. This is not a rally of sorts. It would just really be cool if we had some representation from the skateboard community there. We might not even get to talk. But at least we will be there.