Skating Free Skateboard Riders Are Accustomed To Flouting The Law, But A New Park Is Finally Giving Them Their Own Place To Play

The new downtown skateboard park couldn’t come soon enough for Jason Bagge.

“Man, I got a $40 ticket for skateboarding over by McDonald’s on Third on Saturday (Nov.8,)” said Bagge, a 22-year-old student at Spokane Falls Community College.

“Three squad cars pulled up on me, man. You know, I got a job and go to school part-time, but to them, I might as well have robbed a convenience store.”

Total bummer.

Skateboarders aren’t allowed to ride on their boards in downtown - between Third and Spokane Falls Boulevard and from Division to Jefferson.

Like bicyclists, skateboarders are prohibited from riding on sidewalks, and they can only ride in downtown streets as long as they don’t interfere with pedestrians, according to the Spokane Police Department.

But Bagge and his homeboys shouldn’t have any run-ins with the law anytime soon. They’ll finally have a place to call home when the Spokane Parks Department officially unveils the city’s first skateboard park Friday.

The space under Interstate 90 between Third and Fourth avenues and Browne and McClellan streets has been cleaned up and cleared out. A $24,000 concrete pyramid, designed with ridges and platforms for skating tricks, is just now drying. New equipment, including a half-pipe and a “fun box,” will be added later.

The park has been a long time coming.

“Man, you can’t skateboard up north,” Bagge said. “It’s too residential, and all the old ladies bitch.”

The Spokane County Courthouse - a skateboarder’s paradise with its low benches, brass railings and concrete steps - has long been a skating mecca.

“We’ve had them a long time,” said Pete Aiello, special agent for the courthouse’s Federal Protective Services.

“There are always those concrete chasers that need the challenge of cement and sidewalks. The security guards keep them at bay.”

He said the park may be the answer.

“It’ll give them somewhere else to go,” he said.

But not all North Side residents and merchants are anti-skateboarder.

“We don’t have problems with the skateboarders,” said Dee White, manager of Martinizing Dry Cleaning in the Shadle Center. “They’re on pretty good behavior.

Christie Toribara, manager of the Shadle Park Florist shop said skateboarders hit the store’s parking lot after business hours.

“They’re generally good kids,” Toribara said. “In general, I’ve found if you have a good attitude towards them, they’ll have one towards you.”

The city originally intended the area that houses the new skate park to have a series of basketball courts as part of an “urban landscaping” effort.

The idea never caught on and the vacant courtyard has served as a makeshift skating area for years. Skaters scavenged nearby gas stations and loading docks for boxes and wood pallets to use as improvised jumps.

Spokane’s skaters had to drive to North Idaho to find a space devoted to their sport; Coeur d’Alene built a $15,000 skateboard park in 1995.

In 1996, Shadle Park teen Bryce Neusse brought the idea of a Spokane skateboard park before the Spokane City Council.

Teens wrote and distributed a survey to gauge what turned out to be considerable interest in a park.

The Spokane Parks Department scheduled a series of public meetings at Lewis and Clark High School to gather teen input.

Each meeting drew in more than 50 teens, said Simonson, who served on the advisory board for the project.

Impressed with the enthusiasm, the Parks Department and the non-profit Spokane Parks and Recreation Foundation each kicked in $15,000.

Private businesses contributed another $4,300.

“The kids deserved this,” said Gerry Bulger, foundation president. “And the equipment they were indicating they wanted, you don’t haul down to the park on the back of a skateboard every day.”

Smack in the center of the city, the improved park will likely attract teens from all neighborhoods.

James Wynd brought his sons Alec and Brenen to the park last week after a concrete ramp was unveiled. The Wynd’s live out near the Fairways Golf Course in Cheney.

“I’m prepping them for wind surfing with the help of skiing, snowboarding and skateboarding,” Wynd said.

Alec, 7, and Brenen, 4, then strapped on their helmets and motored out into the thick of traffic.

With the sound of cars traveling on the freeway above and skateboarders scratching pavement below, the park gives off the feeling of being under the sea with a tidal wave passing on the surface.

“It’s lit, it’s undercover and there are hardly any residents or businesses around where it’ll cause a problem,” said Taylor Bressler, operation division manager for the parks department.

Bagge likes the park.

“This is an excellent idea. This is cool. There’s no reason why we can’t be able to go downtown and not get hassled by the cops,” Bagge said.

“I’ve been coming down here for eight years,” the Shadle Park grad said. “It’s all good.

Most skateboarders eschew clean apparel in favor of the ripped up, downtrodden look. Some of their elders perceive them as a bunch of ragamuffins.

“The trend of skateboarders has been to embrace the grungy look, the baggy pants, so the image is the ‘bad boys’ skating in front of the travel agency and breaking windows,” said Bressler.

“In reality, it’s a competitive, skilled sport,” he said. “So we thought we were obligated to provide a safe, real environment for them.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: Changed in the South Side Voice

This sidebar appeared with the story: DEDICATION A dedication ceremony will take place at 3:30 p.m. Friday at the skateboard park, under the freeway at Fourth and McClellan streets.