photo credit: Jeff Sandquist

Skate Like a Girl, a local program that empowers youth through skateboarding activities, is offering free skateboarding lessons to youth aged twelve and younger at the Lower Woodland Skatepark on Saturday, Sept 17 and Saturday, Sept 24, 2011, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

The Lower Woodland Skatepark is located at the western end of the space between Soccer Field #2 and the cloverleaf ball diamonds at Woodland Park (5201 Green Lake Way N).

The free lessons are being offered through Youth Employment Skateboarding (YES).

YES, which teaches leadership and employment skills to local young adults, was created by Skate Like a Girl with the help of the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods’ Neighborhood Matching Program and Seattle Parks and Recreation.

“Skate Like a Girl received grant funding for their YES program in part because YES is designed to promote healthy lifestyles, minimize negative activity in skateparks, and connect with Seattle youth who may not be involved in their communities elsewhere,” explains a press release from Seattle Parks and Recreation. “The program will train qualified interns and Coaches in Training (CITs) to implement free summer programs for local youth, and is structured to create a safe, positive environment for neighbors to come together. The grant total amounted to $20,200.”

For more information, contact Skate Like a Girl coordinator Nancy Chang at info [at] skatelikeagirl.com.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: bargain alert, kids, skateboarding, woodland park

The event, which is free and open to all ages and abilities, is sponsored by Youth Employment Skateboarding (YES), a program administered by Skate Like a Girl, through a City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods grant.

The event’s Facebook page lists the following schedule:

10:00 AM BEGINER LESSONS
12:00 PM BOWL JAM
BEGINNER FUNTESTS
LADIES JAM
2:00 PM MASTERS (30+) JAM
BBQ (FREE FOR THOSE THAT SIGN IN)
GAME OF SKATE
3:00 PM ADVANCED JAM
4:00 PM BEST TRICK
4:45 PM EVERYONE HELPS CLEAN-UP

The Lower Woodland Skatepark is located at the western end of the space between Soccer Field #2 and the cloverleaf ball diamonds at Woodland Park.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: kids, skateboarding, teens, woodland park

Photo courtesy Skate Like a Girl

Skate Like a Girl (SLAG), a grassroots organization whose mission is “to empower girls and women through the vehicle of skateboard-related programs,” is reaching out to the Green Lake neighborhood, home of the Lower Woodland Skatepark.

“We are trying to mobilize communities to take ownership of their skateparks,” SLAG Board Chair Nancy Chang says.

Lower Woodland Skatepark

SLAG is helping put together a neighborhood steering committee to advocate and advise on skateboard program needs.  The group is applying for funding from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Large Projects Fund, which provides awards up to $100,000 to support community members in building community relationships around a project.  SLAG would use the funding to provide citywide skateboarding programs, Sept. 2011 – 2012.

“We are also encouraging neighborhood groups to apply for funding through the Small and Simple Projects Fund to run skateboarding programs for July – Sept. 2011,” Nancy says. “The deadline to apply for this is in May. Skate Like a Girl will help committees go through the process, but the success of these programs must be generated from the residents of the neighborhood which the skateparks belong in.”

Nancy shared the following information about the roles and commitments that interested Green Lake community members could take on:

Neighborhood Leads: 1-2 people that can help from beginning to end (initial grant process to end of project dollars). This would resemble a project manager – working with neighbors of all ages, recruiting youth input, taking ideas and planning summer programs, coordinating with the Seattle skateboard community to help implement program plan. Ideally the Neighborhood Lead would work on the Small and Simple grant, AND Large Project Proposal.

Neighborhood Advocates: As many people that are interested to give feedback, or take on small tasks. Time commitment is up to the individuals.

Interested? Contact Nancy Chang at seattle [at] skatelikeagirl.com, preferably by March 1, 2011.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2011.

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Post tags: kids, skateboarding, teens, woodland park

Reaction to the plan was mixed, as evidenced by the differing views that were expressed in the comments left on our October story about the proposed new lighting.

Some commenters questioned the expense of the lights.  ”Does the City have money to waste on lights while laying off librarians and other personnel?” asked one.  ”I keep hearing about budget cuts EXCEPT when it’s time to write a check for a truly terrible idea,” added another.

The latest word from the Parks Department is that funding is in fact not available for the new lights.  The plan is on hold, at least for now.

If the lighting is considered again in the future, Project Manager Kelly Davidson says, skatepark neighbors will receive notification through the mail of a public meeting.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2010.

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Post tags: parks and rec, skateboarding, woodland park

The 17,000 sq. foot skateboard park opened in the spring of 2008.  It is located at the western end of the space between Soccer Field #2 and the cloverleaf ball diamonds at Woodland Park.

Kelly Davidson, Project Manager at Seattle Parks and Recreation, says that the Parks Department plans to add light to existing poles at the skatepark.  “The new lights would be focused on the skatepark only,” Davidson told us.  She said that the lights would be on a timer and would not run all night. “They would likely go off at 10:00,” she said.

The deadline for public comments on this project is Oct. 22, 2010.  Comments should be sent to Kelly Davidson: Kelly.Davidson [at] seattle.gov.

Lower Woodland Skatepark Lighting - click to enlarge

Thanks for the tip, Tracy!

Update, Dec. 22 2010 – The Parks Department has put a hold on installing new lighting due to insufficient funding.  Read more here.

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2010.

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Post tags: parks and rec, skateboarding, woodland park

All one has to do is go to Lower Woodland skatepark on a day when there are 10 BMX riders disobeying the “no bikes” rule. What they will see is younger and less experienced skaters leaving the park immediately, and the more experienced skaters shifting over to the one advanced bowl that the bikers seem to not want to use. The skateboarders of Seattle fought hard for four years to get that park built, only to then be displaced by 10 BMX riders who were not around during the tough times of getting over the political and bureaucratic hurdles in order to make that skatepark a reality.

To make things worse, when the park is full of skaters and the bikers show up making things sketchy for skaters, they don’t respond well to being asked to respect the rules and leave. In fact, they’ve been real dicks about it on almost every occasion.

This is not to say that I haven’t skated at Lower Woodland and at other skateparks harmoniously with bikers. It works well when the bikers are aware of the issues, respectful of everyone else in the park, and have enough common sense to stop riding if it gets too crowded and they become a safety threat to the other users of the park. Unfortunately these riders are the minority in Seattle skateparks.

[Seattle Skateparks]

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2010.

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Post tags: cycling, kids, parks and rec, skateboarding, teens, woodland park

What are your thoughts? Do you live near the skatepark?  Has it impacted the neighborhood, either positively or negatively?  Let us know in the comments.

To refresh your memory on the controversy that surrounded the park at its inception, here’s an excerpt from a Seattle P-I article dated February 1, 2006:

Skate-park site raises hackles
Green Lake residents rail at city’s switch to Lower Woodland Park
By Athima Chansanchai

[ ... ]

“The first thing I want to make clear is that we’re by no means ‘anti-skate,’ ” said Hans Bjordahl, a Green Lake resident who has led a group of concerned neighbors against the latest location, a green space between a soccer field and a softball field along East Green Lake Way North between North 55th and North 52nd streets.

The park department previously looked at two other sites in the area that Bjordahl and other neighbors supported. They were closer to the woods and a BMX area. They thought it was a done deal and looked forward to seeing it break ground.

That optimism quickly soured when he and other neighbors found out that the latest favored site has moved east — much closer to their homes. Supporters of the skate park believe that four lanes of traffic, a parking lot and trees are an effective sound buffer. Depending on whom one talks with, the distance from the proposed skate park to the nearest house is anywhere from 108 feet to 178 feet.

[ ... ]

Bjordahl and other neighbors are also upset about the potential loss of open space and the potential for a much higher decibel reading from a skate park.

“It’s across the street from my house, and I can tell you firsthand it’s heavily used: by sports teams to practice, spectators to cheer them on, cross-country teams to host their meets and by residents of the neighborhood every day,” he said. “And in terms of noise, the occasional cheer from the soccer or softball fields is very different from the constant clatter and grind of a skateboard park.”

Forget soccer moms. Skate moms are intense.

“People tend to connect the sound of skateboarding on worn sidewalks with the sound of skateboarding in a skate park,” said Kate Martin, a mother of two teenage skaters. “Urethane wheels on hard-troweled, mega-smooth concrete is almost without sound. … That roar of a skateboard thundering down an old sidewalk surface with all its pebbles exposed over time has no correlation to skate-park noise.”

Parents for Skateparks don’t think the proposed location is ideal, but it can work.

“When they compare noise generated from the skate park or any other athletic activity, they’re the same. I think the situation is the fear there’s evil children and all this evil stuff is going to happen, and that’s been disproven,” Martin said. “These people own property across from a very intensely programmed, active recreation area in the busiest park in Washington state. Skateboarding is more popular than baseball amongst the kids nationwide. The use of the land will never become less intense.”

For Martin, skateboarding is a pastime that deserves serious consideration. “This is not Xbox in the basement or myspace.com ad infinitum or childhood obesity,” she said. “This is strenuous recreation and exercise that is at the same time social.”

[ ... ]

A couple of clips of the action at the now-installed (and heavily used) Green Lake Skatepark:

©Amy Duncan for My Green Lake | Seattle's Green Lake Blog, 2009.

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Post tags: green lake community council, kids, noise, parks and rec, skateboarding, teens, woodland park