Behind a Progressive Facade; Prejudiced Procrastination Towards Burlington's Skateboarders

        Of course we are all aware of the glorious city of Burlington.  It’s leftist tendencies, progressive attitudes, and overall acceptance of most things human.  However; underneath this cozy blanket of patchworks stitched together by clean energy consumers, localvores, and smiling faces, sleeps the democracy that serves exactly these types of people.  The people who the city, if the city were one mind, would want to be revered for letting exist, as if it is The City who make’s the people. 

For any skateboarder in Burlington, it is clear that something must be done about the waterfront skate park, something progressive. A beautiful brand new skate park nestled in a completely revamped waterfront park would at the very least give skaters a safe environment to skate away from traffic and pedestrians. According to John Van Hazinga of Ridin High the park was built as a temporary park to give skaters a place to ride while a much better one was constructed; the park is still there in the same place thirteen years later rusting away underneath the countless layers of bright paint redux, and the holes in the wood structures continue to face onslaughts of runaway board-bombs. 

            It seems that the city of Burlington, for how progressive they seem to be, is actually just as apt to procrastinate.  Seven Days published an article, May 2011, written by Ken Picard, which I assume gave the skateboard community and project supporters a lot of hope.  The article makes it known that plans and propositions had been a topic of bureaucratic conversation for more than a year before any bid was made—three years ago.  As of now on the Projects and Initiatives webpage for the City of Burlington, there is no project titled Waterfront Redevelopment, Skate Park Redevelopment, or anything involving the Moran Plant, where the new park is proposed to be.  There are thirty-six projects listed under the Facility and Parks and Open Spaces Projects.

             Picard wrote that the new park will be the best park in New England and will surely attract skaters, bikers, and extreme sporters from all around.  How could it not?  If Burlington had the best skatepark in New England it would become a tourist hotspot from that aspect alone.

I remember as a younger kid I would pile in the back of my friend’s van and his dad would take us across the lake from New York to skate at Talent Skatepark in South Burlington.  Talent is a quality skatepark built indoors so it does not get the same wear and tear from the weather that the waterfront receives.  However,  Talent is packed, and Talent costs money to skate for a three hour session.  What if I don’t want to skate for three hours?  I still have to pay.  The point is; people travel for a good skate park, even if they have to pay and be inside with fifty other skateboarders.  With a brand new twenty-thousand square foot concrete park, imagine the flood of talent and up and coming skill that would wash into its concrete waves.

A park like the one being proposed would not only serve the already flourishing skateboard community, but it would ensure healthy prosperity among the growing culture.  A park that can cater to all abilities, expert to first day on a board, is crucial.  Kids get scared when they get hurt at a young age. For some, one bad crash can mean a lifetime without a board.   The waterfront park as it sits is almost unusable for any beginner.  Anna, who works with John at Ridin High, says she doesn’t like to skate it because she doesn’t have the skills yet to make the features fun.  Being able to have fun on features and not feel scared or unsafe is important for anyone to stick with the sport.  With a park that allowed skaters of all abilities to do that, the community would be a better place, and kids would be happier. 

Kids are attracted to skateboarding, at least a lot of them are.  When I was a little kid I was immediately drawn to it but I had no place to skate except my driveway.  Eventually that got pretty old.  I lived in a town of two hundred however; there was not much opportunity for trouble.  Kids here who are turned off of skateboarding don’t have a lot of options.  There aren’t rivers everywhere and big backyards, it is easy to find trouble and easy for kids to get stuck inside.  A beautiful skatepark would give kids the opportunity to become the professional skateboarder they dream to be while keeping them happy and healthy. 

Instead of working with and catering to the rising skateboarding scene in Burlington, the city has, since the decay of the current skate park, taken features out.  There wasa mini half pipe in the corner of the skate park where now at least fifty square feet remain as flat open concrete.   From certain points of view, the city has it out for skaters. 

At the closing end of the 2011 year in November Seven Days published an article by Kevin Kelley that dropped the spirits Picard’s raised up.  Kelley interviews some of the skateboarders like Picard and of course it was more of the same responses, just a bit more disheartened.  They metal is rusting, the integrity is deteriorating, and the park is becoming an increased liability. “Skater’s get pushed to the side…” says an intern at Ridin High in reference to the cities redevelopment projects.  Another Kevin Kelly article, summer 2013, drops us even lower.    

Faith in the system has been diminished, a lot of skaters are wary the project happening at all.  One thing is clear however; the city of Burlington needs to more evenly cater to all of its citizens.  I think Burlington, if it were a single mind, pretends to care a lot more than it does.  After all, It is The People, all of them, who make a city.   

Everett Renderer