bushy park skatepark website

shagman

Check out the brand new website for the proposed skatepark in Bushy park Sth Dublin. Check out the proposed design, most importantly SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION and contact the councillors who will be deciding if the park gets built. DO IT NOW!!! The next few weeks are crucial, if this and other skateparks are to be built we need to show that there is real support for public skateparks in Dublin. click here BUSHYSKATEPARK.COM

Shrimp

nah.....

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

fisheye

Can't say I'm stoked on the design to be honest - it reminds me a lot of the design of the park in Kinross in Scotland, near Edinburgh. I would have gone with an MK style of plaza myself, but any good concrete is better than no concrete.

lostexpectation

which counsellors again were objecting, cant find the previous post on it..?

shortys94

signed it:)
although the only skatepark near me is in galway:(, i just signed it because we need more skateparks in ireland, i am in mayo lol th worst place to be regardin skating

shagman

bump....can this be made a sticky at least for the next month???
We're up to 280 sigs in a few days.

asto

posted it on the Irish Rolling Messgae board!

Sanitarium

Guys, this is great. I was going to do thid but never got around to it.
Put this link in your sig and on other forums and on email it to people to sign.
We can get this done.
Maby we could get a good ol' fashoned protest and stake out. you know, the ol' tie outslefs to the trees thing
-San

Private Snafu

come on!!! They gotta build that skatepark. People get and sign that petition NOW :mad:

wideangle

I signed it shaggy,nothing to loose and a good excuse to ride in Dublin when it opens!!

Endurance Man

Done and dusted .

lostexpectation

what are the councillors actually saying?

Mr Wilson

lostexpectation wrote:

what are the councillors actually saying?

Very little, unfortunately.

Most of them are sitting on the fence and using the line 'of course we need skateparks, but they have to be located in an appropriate setting'. If Bushy isn't an appropriate setting, then where else will be??

Try it for yourself - give any of them a call - it is almost impossible to get a straight answer on where they stand on the park.

My guess is they'll take the coward's approach - wait till the last minute then go with the side that seems to have the most support.

Then again, wealthy homeowners have a lot more cash then skateboarders, so maybe they'll just go with the money, as usual, and against every claim they make about representing young people.

liamskater

done

FX Meister

Sorry Mr Wilson, you seem to be wrong about Councillors there. They won't wait till the last minute. They will wait till after it's built and then take the credit for it. Pack of useless **** the lot of them.

*Sam*

Just signed it....

Cork Skate

I signed it ...

There clearly is a need for a park. There are so many positives to be got from having a park which will benefit no just for skateboarders but the wider community aswell. Maybe what is needed is education for the local residents who may feel they have genuine concerns about a skatepark. In my opinion, if residents actually knew what a park would contribute to the area, they wouldn't be as opposed to it as they now are.

Thing is though .... its not just skaters that should be signing this ... its all their families and friends aswell. As i said ... its not just skaters who will benefit from the park.

FX Meister

There's plenty of spas in the area who don't care what you have to say, they just don't want it. It's that whole attitude that has contibuted to Ireland not having a decent skate park to date.

skapunkkeith

i signed loads of time in lazy dog, but i signed it online too

iceworm

done

adiobam

i just singned when i realized the park is crap

expn

Anybody got any news or updates about when Bushyskatepark will be open.......????????


thanks......

Dave!

I signed it... I'm not a skater, but I can see that skating has been getting very big over here in the past 5 or so years -- a few skate parks would be great, and Bushy Park is a good location too. The design isn't great, though, but whatever -- I won't be using it

wideangle

I like the design,it is a good all round desing suitable for bikes,blades and skates.There was consultation before the design was approved so it must be pleasing to some of the people who are going to be using it.If they werent happy why did they say it was o.k.?

red_ice

wideangle wrote:

it is a good all round desing suitable for bikes,blades and skates.

You mean its a good all round design suitable for skateboarders, push scoother nerds and otherwanna be 'extreme sports'.. I know ill have my urban kyack on the go when this puppy is live :rolleyes:

wideangle wrote:

There was consultation before the design was approved so it must be pleasing to some of the people who are going to be using it.If they werent happy why did they say it was o.k.?

There was loads of consultation... to skateboarders...

wideangle wrote:

If they werent happy why did they say it was o.k.?

Of course they were happy with it, they made a park based on how a skateboarder would want a park.

BMX's and rollerbladers need/want 5-10 foot transition, not a 3 foot transition that gets about the same speed as a turd rolling from a buttcrack.

That park is a state. Its a pitty the government are not learning from their mistakes by only focusing in on one particular area of a wide spectrum of sports. They delayed the skateboarders by 20 years, which is a crying shame that any enjoyment they had was out of their own pockets and they still work for it. Rollerbladers have been on the go for 15 years trying to get a park, and there is NOTHING for us. Do we have to wait 5 years now to get a park that suits us now too? Not fair imo - they should try kill the 3 'main extreme sport' birds with the one stone, not do it arseways as usual.

The park in santry is a fine example of an allround park (granted there is more for bmx/rollerblader which i dont agree with) it has something for everyone, but the design was terrible, they didnt mix anything up at all, it was 3 strips.

The only reason im signing that petition is because its a step in the right direction - now we have to pay our dues to be recognised

shagman

red_ice wrote:

You mean its a good all round design suitable for skateboarders, push scoother nerds and otherwanna be 'extreme sports'.. I know ill have my urban kyack on the go when this puppy is live :rolleyes:




There was loads of consultation... to skateboarders...



Of course they were happy with it, they made a park based on how a skateboarder would want a park.

BMX's and rollerbladers need/want 5-10 foot transition, not a 3 foot transition that gets about the same speed as a turd rolling from a buttcrack.

That park is a state. Its a pitty the government are not learning from their mistakes by only focusing in on one particular area of a wide spectrum of sports. They delayed the skateboarders by 20 years, which is a crying shame that any enjoyment they had was out of their own pockets and they still work for it. Rollerbladers have been on the go for 15 years trying to get a park, and there is NOTHING for us. Do we have to wait 5 years now to get a park that suits us now too? Not fair imo - they should try kill the 3 'main extreme sport' birds with the one stone, not do it arseways as usual.

The park in santry is a fine example of an allround park (granted there is more for bmx/rollerblader which i dont agree with) it has something for everyone, but the design was terrible, they didnt mix anything up at all, it was 3 strips.

The only reason im signing that petition is because its a step in the right direction - now we have to pay our dues to be recognised

The transitions ARE 5-10ftI don't know where the hell you're getting your 3ft transitions from, and any transition under 6ft is too tight for boards never mind bikes. There is no dimensions on the drawing on the site, are you guessing the dimensions? This design will not be the final outcome as with all decent park builders airspeed will tweak the design during the build process.Do some research before you start slaggin......
I reckon the park is a great design , I've done a lot of work on trying to get this park , and we pushed for Airspeed to get this contract because they make amazing parks. I've met with Geth and know he has a huge passion in building great concrete.We first heard of airspeed through the Irish directed documentary KM64 I suggest you watch this and check airspeeds website... http://www.airspeedskateparks.com/
And by the way I've been BMXing for 25 years now and skating for 20 so I think I may have an opinion on what is suitable for both bikes and boards, and believe me this park will be.I've biked and boarded on parks all over the world and the reason myself and others have got involved is to prevent more modular disasters being built.

Who do you think are the best concrete park builders out there ???

I do really want your opinions on this and would welcome more people getting involved but you've got to find out what you want a park to be like and who can deliver that. It's no use just going it's bound to be crap if the Irish government are involved.Bertie isn't the one gonna gettin in there with a trowel!!!

wideangle

Shaggie you know your stuff,you said everything I would like to hear plus more...ledgend!:cool:

red_ice

shagman wrote:

The transitions ARE 5-10ftI don't know where the hell you're getting your 3ft transitions from, and any transition under 6ft is too tight for boards never mind bikes. There is no dimensions on the drawing on the site, are you guessing the dimensions?

Actually i live by bushypark and ive seen the size of the area you have to work with and i can only guess from the age group of the skaters around terenure that I see on a regular basis the park would be aimed for their age group. Somehow i dont think this park is aimed for the poeple over in the santry(lets say) area who could be an older age. As mentioned and made clear, its a public park, so theres no reason to compete for rampsize/market.

shagman wrote:

This design will not be the final outcome as with all decent park builders airspeed will tweak the design during the build process.Do some research before you start slaggin......

I do actually research this stuff before i post, ive been reading every article i get my hands on and i have been talking with the staff (for the hell of it) in the park itself asking about the progress or lack there of with regards to bushy park skatepark. Before you start jumping to conslusions about someone you more thank likely dont have a clue who is, take some time to open your mind to how other poeple in other sports feel about it. WE are not happy with the design overall. The main focus of that park is a bowl which will only spell for a long wait to skate it, and you know you can expect 2 people to drop in at the same time, not everyone knows the 'unwritten rules' of skating a park. The confusing silence and general mistery of why noone's skating a ramp, so you decide to go for it only to be met with a body check in the face and 20 people standing on a quarterpipe screaming at you 'wtf are you doing'. Not everyone knows how to session ramps and the common etiquette for your fellow 'extreme sport' friends - some of which are being forgotten about in the design, and no matter how much you try to persuade us(skateboarders need not apply) otherwise, i will disagree with you untill i see otherwise. Nothing personal, thats just how it is.

shagman wrote:

I reckon the park is a great design , I've done a lot of work on trying to get this park , and we pushed for Airspeed to get this contract because they make amazing parks. I've met with Geth and know he has a huge passion in building great concrete.We first heard of airspeed through the Irish directed documentary KM64 I suggest you watch this and check airspeeds website... http://www.airspeedskateparks.com/

So your the man to thank for getting us a skatepark? You on your own? Your making it out like your the only person here tahts interested in getting that park. Ive been signing every patition and been at 90% of the events that have ramps in ireland for the last 15 years. (not the last 2 years tho). I have checked out airspeeds site, and i am impressed by their work, good find shaggy fair play. If the chap has a passion for it, then he should work something in thats not so skateboard orientated - tahts some passion if its only aimed towards 1 possibly 2 sports. And before anyone here asks, if it was the otherway around, and it was a rollerblading park, i would push for skateboarding stuff, because its all new/creative transition to me.

shagman wrote:

And by the way I've been BMXing for 25 years now and skating for 20 so I think I may have an opinion on what is suitable for both bikes and boards, and believe me this park will be.I've biked and boarded on parks all over the world and the reason myself and others have got involved is to prevent more modular disasters being built.

You said more than a mouthfull right there shaggy. Dont make me out to be stupid, i know who you are. I was the only chap that clive sponsored to rollerblade other than pierce. I've been in the skating scene since 93, Ive been to a sh1t load of skateparks all around the world. I know my stuff too. When it comes to an area such as rollerblading, your self righteous attitude to your knowlege isnt rubbing off on me as im in the same boat as you. I know and respect you shaggy, your a nice bloke - i even think we had a few mutual friends when i was down at the cork jam, but when it comes down to fighting for a sport you do as part of your life style, i know everyone has in the back of their head, even you 'i want this park to be the best for us to skate'. Now, granted you may read up and say 'oh he just said he would consider other sports lalala' i would, and id definitly consider them in the park, but the main focus for me would be rollerblading as its what im best at.

shagman wrote:

Who do you think are the best concrete park builders out there ???

I dont know, you got me there, i dont spend my time looking at who can make a park. im not saying that the poeple who designed the park are useless at what they do. Im saying that im sure they could do better.

shagman wrote:

I do really want your opinions on this and would welcome more people getting involved but you've got to find out what you want a park to be like and who can deliver that. It's no use just going it's bound to be crap if the Irish government are involved.Bertie isn't the one gonna gettin in there with a trowel!!!

I should hope so, and i mean that with all due respect. If you ask any of the rollerbladers what they think of the park design, they wouldnt be happy with it at all. The only reason they signed it is because they want a park. As a rollerblader, i would like flowing lines, ramps on top of stuff, steps, handrails (proper handrails), gaps, and lots of variety in transition. The thing about bowls is pure and simple, if someone drops in on a skateboard while i drop in on my skates, that chap is going down hard - end of! i mean that for pritty much anyone on a skateboard V a rollerblader, im not trying to say were stronger or we will do it on purpose, its just an obvious outcome as skaters have more grip than skateboarders. A bike would mangle anyone it hits. Now considering the insurance on the park and it being based around a bowl, you can pritty much expect at least one new kid to be crushed by someone every day that park is skated by 10+ people. Its a small park, alot of poeple will want to skate it - a bowl will cause alot of injury. Simple 1/4 bowels linking to quaterpipes that lead into flatbanks, with ledges on top of the bowels and so on would make more sense. This way if your going big at something, the new kids wont be able to get in your way as they wont be able to drop in from higher structures.

You take a look at the [url=http://www.socalskateparks.com/park/Carlsbad[/url]encinitas outdoor skate park[/url] pic, that would be sh1te for anything but gaps. Which means some poor kid will be killed. The actual skatepark i was looking for in encinitas i cant find a pic of. Its all metal, has loads of flatbanks (high ones, useless for rollerblading), with ledges in the middle of them and so on. Im trying to use that as an example because its got a good layout even if its designed for skateboarding/bmxing, the lines are intense! Lots of quarterpipes, ramps on ramps, with angles going in all directions for great lines. Thats a prime example of a skatepark. Im sure you've skated playstation before? I was there for the uk championships in 2002 (i think).. The park has evolved alot since then, but if you know the back end of the park, you would see they made use of it. lots of great lines in there (pitty the atmosphere sucked). Even look at camp woodwards parks - mimic them in concrete and you'd be laughing.

How sick is this park? Thats how you make use of space. You dont fill it up with 1 poxy bowl.

shagman

Find me a photo of a skatepark that you think would be good using the same size area.
Posting huge amazing parks is lovely eye candy(Dublin ,Ohio I think it is) and will be great when they spring for a 2 million euro park in phoenix park but we're dealing with an area similar in size to the Galway park here.
If you look at upstairs at ramp and rail I'm sure you'll agree it's a preety good use of space but 10 people skating that and it's dangerous too.
With the space available it's just not possible to have great lines, cater for 20+ users simultaneously and have a big variety of terrain. Designing great skateparks is hard enough designing great SMALL skateparks is a very dificult matter of compromise and balance. If you want multiple users you build a multiple W set up (bank-box -quarterpipe) and everyone rides back and forth in straight lines.Hardly inspirational though if you've got the park to yourself , or if there's only a few of yous there.
The council visited various skateparks in Scotland and this is one in Kinross that will probably be closest to what Bushy will end up like I'd imagine.

http://www.duracrete.co.uk/kinross_skate_park.htm



The reviews I've read of this park have all been good.

I never did say I was the only person trying to get decent public skateparks built in Ireland ,Rodge and John have been working at this for years too as have many others. Rodge and Sinead put together a great website and petition as did Gav and Beky at Bentfork and we've all put a lot of time and effort into organising skate, bmx and blade demos and competitions as well as building a tonne of ramps over the years not to mention all the letters to councillors and newspapers TV and radio bits and lately all the council meetings attended. As regards multi-user park design I think you'll find that skater owned park builders build for skaters, BMXer owned park builders build for bikers (generally in wood) thats just the way it is. I've not found any blader run (or bmxer run) concrete park builders yet but if you know of any send me a link. What you really want is someone who skates,bmx's and rollerblades and builds top quality concrete parks (I do think you really need to be able to blade or bike yourself if you're designing for those users).
Unfortunately I doubt if such a person/company exists.
Do some googling and find me a park that fits in this area and epitomises what you have in mind. Find out the builders too as sometimes the council themselves does the work( no good to us as we can't hire eg Stoke council to build a Dublin park). If you think this is crap and doesn't cater to your needs show me what you think would work better.

liamskater

adiobam wrote:

i just singned when i realized the park is crap

ba humbug!

GreeBo

so which part of bushy park will be "enhanced" by this?

damnyanks

red_ice wrote:

Actually i live by bushypark and ive seen the size of the area you have to work with and i can only guess from the age group of the skaters around terenure that I see on a regular basis the park would be aimed for their age group. Somehow i dont think this park is aimed for the poeple over in the santry(lets say) area who could be an older age. As mentioned and made clear, its a public park, so theres no reason to compete for rampsize/market.



I do actually research this stuff before i post, ive been reading every article i get my hands on and i have been talking with the staff (for the hell of it) in the park itself asking about the progress or lack there of with regards to bushy park skatepark. Before you start jumping to conslusions about someone you more thank likely dont have a clue who is, take some time to open your mind to how other poeple in other sports feel about it. WE are not happy with the design overall. The main focus of that park is a bowl which will only spell for a long wait to skate it, and you know you can expect 2 people to drop in at the same time, not everyone knows the 'unwritten rules' of skating a park. The confusing silence and general mistery of why noone's skating a ramp, so you decide to go for it only to be met with a body check in the face and 20 people standing on a quarterpipe screaming at you 'wtf are you doing'. Not everyone knows how to session ramps and the common etiquette for your fellow 'extreme sport' friends - some of which are being forgotten about in the design, and no matter how much you try to persuade us(skateboarders need not apply) otherwise, i will disagree with you untill i see otherwise. Nothing personal, thats just how it is.




So your the man to thank for getting us a skatepark? You on your own? Your making it out like your the only person here tahts interested in getting that park. Ive been signing every patition and been at 90% of the events that have ramps in ireland for the last 15 years. (not the last 2 years tho). I have checked out airspeeds site, and i am impressed by their work, good find shaggy fair play. If the chap has a passion for it, then he should work something in thats not so skateboard orientated - tahts some passion if its only aimed towards 1 possibly 2 sports. And before anyone here asks, if it was the otherway around, and it was a rollerblading park, i would push for skateboarding stuff, because its all new/creative transition to me.




You said more than a mouthfull right there shaggy. Dont make me out to be stupid, i know who you are. I was the only chap that clive sponsored to rollerblade other than pierce. I've been in the skating scene since 93, Ive been to a sh1t load of skateparks all around the world. I know my stuff too. When it comes to an area such as rollerblading, your self righteous attitude to your knowlege isnt rubbing off on me as im in the same boat as you. I know and respect you shaggy, your a nice bloke - i even think we had a few mutual friends when i was down at the cork jam, but when it comes down to fighting for a sport you do as part of your life style, i know everyone has in the back of their head, even you 'i want this park to be the best for us to skate'. Now, granted you may read up and say 'oh he just said he would consider other sports lalala' i would, and id definitly consider them in the park, but the main focus for me would be rollerblading as its what im best at.



I dont know, you got me there, i dont spend my time looking at who can make a park. im not saying that the poeple who designed the park are useless at what they do. Im saying that im sure they could do better.




I should hope so, and i mean that with all due respect. If you ask any of the rollerbladers what they think of the park design, they wouldnt be happy with it at all. The only reason they signed it is because they want a park. As a rollerblader, i would like flowing lines, ramps on top of stuff, steps, handrails (proper handrails), gaps, and lots of variety in transition. The thing about bowls is pure and simple, if someone drops in on a skateboard while i drop in on my skates, that chap is going down hard - end of! i mean that for pritty much anyone on a skateboard V a rollerblader, im not trying to say were stronger or we will do it on purpose, its just an obvious outcome as skaters have more grip than skateboarders. A bike would mangle anyone it hits. Now considering the insurance on the park and it being based around a bowl, you can pritty much expect at least one new kid to be crushed by someone every day that park is skated by 10+ people. Its a small park, alot of poeple will want to skate it - a bowl will cause alot of injury. Simple 1/4 bowels linking to quaterpipes that lead into flatbanks, with ledges on top of the bowels and so on would make more sense. This way if your going big at something, the new kids wont be able to get in your way as they wont be able to drop in from higher structures.

You take a look at the [url=http://www.socalskateparks.com/park/Carlsbad[/url]encinitas outdoor skate park[/url] pic, that would be sh1te for anything but gaps. Which means some poor kid will be killed. The actual skatepark i was looking for in encinitas i cant find a pic of. Its all metal, has loads of flatbanks (high ones, useless for rollerblading), with ledges in the middle of them and so on. Im trying to use that as an example because its got a good layout even if its designed for skateboarding/bmxing, the lines are intense! Lots of quarterpipes, ramps on ramps, with angles going in all directions for great lines. Thats a prime example of a skatepark. Im sure you've skated playstation before? I was there for the uk championships in 2002 (i think).. The park has evolved alot since then, but if you know the back end of the park, you would see they made use of it. lots of great lines in there (pitty the atmosphere sucked). Even look at camp woodwards parks - mimic them in concrete and you'd be laughing.

How sick is this park? Thats how you make use of space. You dont fill it up with 1 poxy bowl.

Stop being nasty ocker!!!

You punks don't know how lucky you are!! Stop complaining, back in the good ol days when people roller bladed we got no park. There was a pretty crappy half pipe (If you can even call it that) up in bray and a reasonble place in dundrum that shut down.

fisheye

shagman wrote:

The reviews I've read of this park have all been good.

Have you skated there Shaggy? I have. The bowl is as close to a perfect transition as you can get, but what you see in that image is exactly what's there. It's just a bowl with some curbs around the edges. Even if you're skating a small ledge on the deck, you don't want to send you board flying into some guy's teeth when he's skating the bowl. The bowl is runs east to west, which means that on a sunny day, it's really easy to get blinded by the sun - one of the best parks in Australia - Weston Creek in Canberra, a favourite of Alan Petersen - is rarely skated by the locals during the day for the same reason. Kinross is a great bowl, that's all.

To be honest, I'm behind this park because of the quality of the build, a diversity in terrain and for eventually getting the ball rolling on parks over here, not because of the design. An area of the same size would fit Milton Keynes plaza - you know yourself that straight edges are easiest to build and maintain and are far more cost effective in terms of users than a bowl based park, not to mention fitting into the landscape, park landscaping, etc. With all the funding for a ****load of facilties around the country at roughly E100K each, that's **** all and you'll need to get as much bang for your buck as possible.

red_ice

damnyanks wrote:

Stop being nasty ocker!!!

You punks don't know how lucky you are!! Stop complaining, back in the good ol days when people roller bladed we got no park. There was a pretty crappy half pipe (If you can even call it that) up in bray and a reasonble place in dundrum that shut down.

Rofl ste!

State of bray bowl!!! I remember the day the lads announced they put in a new deathbox in the park lol! MY god that was a shamble!! Dundrum? The place that had a 'handrail' that was held together with mesh OVER the rail? lol

red_ice

fisheye wrote:

Have you skated there Shaggy? I have. The bowl is as close to a perfect transition as you can get, but what you see in that image is exactly what's there. It's just a bowl with some curbs around the edges. Even if you're skating a small ledge on the deck, you don't want to send you board flying into some guy's teeth when he's skating the bowl. The bowl is runs east to west, which means that on a sunny day, it's really easy to get blinded by the sun - one of the best parks in Australia - Weston Creek in Canberra, a favourite of Alan Petersen - is rarely skated by the locals during the day for the same reason. Kinross is a great bowl, that's all.

To be honest, I'm behind this park because of the quality of the build, a diversity in terrain and for eventually getting the ball rolling on parks over here, not because of the design. An area of the same size would fit Milton Keynes plaza - you know yourself that straight edges are easiest to build and maintain and are far more cost effective in terms of users than a bowl based park, not to mention fitting into the landscape, park landscaping, etc. With all the funding for a ****load of facilties around the country at roughly E100K each, that's **** all and you'll need to get as much bang for your buck as possible.

'word'

I've made my point and said all i've had to say. The bottom line is shaggy - if its your job to get this park rolling, you cant pass the responcibility on to other people like myself, we can only try guide you in a direction to what we want. I've done that, theres not much more for me to say on the matter other than.. I know you have our interests at heart aswell with this park, all we can do is say whats bad about it, and try help out in adding some other angles to look at. your doin a good job shag, im sure the outcome will be good - just let the public see more updates on the progression, and when the build goes ahead we cant say 'thats sh1t' because we would have had time to act apon it.

How about cutting the bowel in 1/2, make more ledges and transitions on one side of the courts? Im sure a tennis court of space is more than enough for a kidney bowel or something? The bowel on a raised platform that leads into steps/handrails or quarter pipes? Or take the Spineramp you have there and leave the bowl at that? Another side for rails/legdes or a W structure of some sort(with bowled corners) could work out pritty well? Just an idea...

red_ice

fisheye wrote:

With all the funding for a ****load of facilties around the country at roughly E100K each, that's **** all and you'll need to get as much bang for your buck as possible.

I just hope the government dont turn around and say "you've got your parks, thats all we are gonna do"..

Its very possible

shagman

fisheye wrote:

Have you skated there Shaggy? I have. The bowl is as close to a perfect transition as you can get, but what you see in that image is exactly what's there. It's just a bowl with some curbs around the edges. Even if you're skating a small ledge on the deck, you don't want to send you board flying into some guy's teeth when he's skating the bowl. The bowl is runs east to west, which means that on a sunny day, it's really easy to get blinded by the sun - one of the best parks in Australia - Weston Creek in Canberra, a favourite of Alan Petersen - is rarely skated by the locals during the day for the same reason. Kinross is a great bowl, that's all.

To be honest, I'm behind this park because of the quality of the build, a diversity in terrain and for eventually getting the ball rolling on parks over here, not because of the design. An area of the same size would fit Milton Keynes plaza - you know yourself that straight edges are easiest to build and maintain and are far more cost effective in terms of users than a bowl based park, not to mention fitting into the landscape, park landscaping, etc. With all the funding for a ****load of facilties around the country at roughly E100K each, that's **** all and you'll need to get as much bang for your buck as possible.

No I haven't skated Kinross but I did skate Weston Creek.Canberra is a great city to skate with a variety of different concrete parks each with their own flavour.If you look at the difference between plans for Bushy and Lucan you'll see that is something we are trying to encourage over here. I reckon it'd be great to have the possibility to skate a few different Dublin parks in a day all with their own particular flavour. Diversity in terrain brings diversity in skills which is what makes truly great skaters and also makes for a scene that never gets stale.

Yeah it won't be everyones cup of tea, but no park unless it's like the new Shanghai monster ( http://www.convic.com/china.html ) could be.
Kinross was built by a non-skater owned company relatively new to park building, it did turn out damn well nevertheless. Airspeed grew out of the early Oregon concrete park scene of Burnside, Lincoln city etc and have built countless amazing parks since so I've no doubt it will be far better than Kinross both in design and in quality of finish.
If you look at the designs for Lucan they're very different. I think it'd be sick if there were a number of different parks in Dublin and Ireland as a whole each with their own flavour. If we leave the councils to it we'll just end up with loads of modular $hite.

"I've made my point and said all i've had to say. The bottom line is shaggy - if its your job to get this park rolling, you cant pass the responcibility on to other people like myself, we can only try guide you in a direction to what we want. "

It's not my job, well no more than it's everyones job including yours.
I'm not passing the responsibility on... I think if you want a decent skatepark it's your responsibility to demand it , to go meet with councillors and go to meetings and to organise petitions etc.
I haven't been paid for any of this I just don't want to see public money being wasted on more waterford style playground $hite.
Myself Rodge and John have given up our free time to do this thats all.

I think it would be a great idea if you got together with a few mates and organised a campaign for a park that was designed with rollerbladers specifically in mind. I think I think a variety of different parks and different terrains would be great. I'm not taking the piss here I have no idea what makes a great park for bladers and there will be more parks built , theres 22 planned now and there will be more money allocated for the next fiscal year.Skateparks are now generating positive publicity for councils and there'll be loads more banwagon jumping so nows' the time to milk it!

fisheye

red_ice wrote:

a W structure of some sort(with bowled corners) could work out pritty well? Just an idea...

By "W structure" do you mean a driveway between 2 facing quarter pipes? If so, that's utter bollocks. No imagination whatsoever in that design - lame, tired and played out over 10 years ago. Stoke is the way to go for park designs. Granted, that's on a massive scale and there was a budget of well over £500k (not Euro) for this, but look at the elements put into that design. Quite literally something for everybody.

shagman wrote:

I did skate Weston Creek.Canberra is a great city to skate with a variety of different concrete parks each with their own flavour.If you look at the difference between plans for Bushy and Lucan you'll see that is something we are trying to encourage over here. I reckon it'd be great to have the possibility to skate a few different Dublin parks in a day all with their own particular flavour. Diversity in terrain brings diversity in skills which is what makes truly great skaters and also makes for a scene that never gets stale.

...If you look at the designs for Lucan they're very different. I think it'd be sick if there were a number of different parks in Dublin and Ireland as a whole each with their own flavour. If we leave the councils to it we'll just end up with loads of modular $hite.

Weston's rad alright, I spent some time in Canberra and their parks are ridiculously good and diverse. You're right about needing some diversity in the park designs here, it's needed. I'd also like to see a decent facility in the city centre though - Nantes, Fance has the first of modern street plazas. The central obstacle is about the size of upstairs in RampnRail sitting on a large tarmac (gash) surface with a few other obstacles surrounding it. This is smack bang in the city centre with traffic, people and shops right beside it. Granted, land in Dublin city centre is prohibitively expensive, but there's no reason why a skatepark can't be landscaped into an existing park and made look like it should be there to begin with. Wolfe Tone Square would have been ideal, but you know yourself the attitude of many councillors and NIMBYs. I think it's hilarious how the councial effectively stopped skating at Jervis but still have to go and spend a **** load more on a park when modifying Wolfe Tone slightly would have benefitted both skaters and the people in the area - whenever skaters are given the boot from a spot, the junkies and alcos move in.