▶ enter
▶ events
▶ issues
▶ music
▶ art
entertainment
hilltopics
the university daily kansan
wednesday ▲
10.7.98 ▲
eight.a ▲
Local skaters anticipate new street course, fewer hassles
story by carolyn mollett kansan staff writer
"It's actually happening, and that's something thats just super, super good to see."
ben tuttle lawrence skater
Lawrence skateboarders will have a new skating center in Centennial Park to call home by late November — if bad weather doesn't delay construction.
Fred DeVictor, director of Parks and Recreation, said the project's $120,000 budget stemmed from a 1994 Douglas County sales tax.
The new center at Centenial Park, 600 Rockledge Road, will be a street course, DeVictor said. Its eight concrete features will be modeled after obstacles that skaters would encounter on a Lawrence street.
Mike Wexler, Buffalo Grove, Ill., junior, said skaters view everyday objects through the eyes of a skateboarder. While most people see only curbs, planters or rails, skateboarders
"It will probably be one of the skater parks in the Midwest," said skater Robert Brown, Winfield freshman.
The city is building the course after more than three years of planning, said skater Ben Tuttle, who graduated from the University of Kansas this summer.
Turtle was a member of the Lawrence Skate Park Committee and pushed the city commission to build a skate park.
"It's actually happening, and that's something that's just super, super good to see," Tuttle said.
Some skaters take to the streets to skate, and Lawrence Municipal Court records show that 13 tickets were given in 1997 for skating violations.
"I've watched 30 kids try to skate that park at once," Tuttle said. "It's just a safety hazard."
The skaters made everything themselves at Burcham: the ramps, the boxes and other wooden structures.
ing skateboard on videos, his skate.
Glynn said skateboarding had its own
subculture. Its allure was what had first
drawn him into skating.
Tuttle said the push for a park originally came from rezoning that expanded the areas in Lawrence that prohibit skating. The city allowed skaters to use a concrete slab in Burcham Park, Indiana and Second streets, several years ago to gauge the demand for a skateboarding park.
But little time passed before the wooden ramps were splintering and rusty nails and metal strips began to protrude from the structures. A city-installed wire-and-wood fence, intended to guard against the drop into the Kansas River, is broken and could impale skaters who bail at the wrong time.
Quillan Glyn, Lawrence resident, said he dropped out of culinary school because it interfered with his skating. He couldn't handle spending sunny days in a classroom. He said his life revolved around skateboarding.
Tuttle said many kids were unaware of the ordinance that prohibits skateboarding downtown, on the KU campus and on city streets. Tuttle said he thought it was unfair that skaters were constantly yelled at, flashed dirty looks or given tickets.
With such perceived aggression, Turtle said skaters developed a confrontational nature. Armed with this front, they cop an attitude with people, and those people are insulted, creating a cycle.
"For us, it's a safety issue. It's not really an attitude issue," said Sgt. George Wheeler, of the Lawrence police department.
Tuttle agreed it was perfectly rational for people to fear someone who was flying down the street on a board that had no visible means of stopping. But he said people should realize that there is more to skateboarding than meets the eye.
Wheeler said officers were concerned about pedestrians' safety when people skated or bicycled in crowded areas
Lawrence's population of skateboarders spend every possible minute skating, he said. The crew comes from a medley of backgrounds, and each has a different set of goals in life. Some are in bands. Many are still in high school, and a few attend the University. Regardless of their place in life, skating is a part of their identity.
"If we aren't skateboarding, we're with our friends who skateboard and watching skateboarding videos," he said.
see a new obstacle to ollie (or jump) onto.
Tuttle said he remembered when the skateboarding culture was ridiculed for wearing baggy clothes. Now, the style is so mainstream that J.C. Penny carries it, and skating is changing its style again, he said.
"It's like the subculture was recognizing what was happening, and now it's embracing what was once not cool to skaters," Tuttle said.
Tuttle, Brown and Wexler did their own thing as far as most skaters were concerned because they were KU students. Tuttle works at Let I Ride skate shop, Ninth and New Hampshire streets, and skated while he went to the University. Wexler said going to college didn't stop skating.
"In general, without school. I think it'd be hard to skate, and vice versa," he said.
Above: The new skate park is defined as a street course — one Lawrence skaters hope will be one of the better parks in the Midwest.
Left: Kelly Cox, of Morgan Concrete Foundations, measures out a piece of wood for a skateboard ramp.
Photos by Graham K. Johnson/KANSAN
1