Margaret T. Hance Park will be the location of Phoenix's new Urban Skate Plaza. The park is located near West Culver Street and North Central Avenue. (Stephanie Snyder/DD)
The Parks and Recreation Board Subcommittee unanimously voted the south side of Margaret T. Hance Park as the recommended site of Phoenix’s new Urban Skate Plaza on Wednesday.
Hance Park, located near West Culver Street and North Central Avenue, was chosen as the designated area of the skate plaza because it has access to bathrooms, light rail stops, bus services and less traffic, the subcommittee said.
Subcommittee Chairwoman Delia Ortega-Nowakowski said she chose Hance Park because it fit all the criteria listed for the Urban Skate Plaza.
“Youth come to downtown just to skate,” Ortega-Nowakowski said. “By having a designated skate area, it will be a big impact to the downtown area.”
Currently central Phoenix does not have a designated skate area. Some businesses along North Central Avenue have reported “security headaches” from people practicing on their skateboards around that area, said Julia Tourville, a member of the Midtown Museum District Neighborhood Association.
“They have nowhere else suitable to practice,” Tourville said. “The skate plaza will be a huge benefit.”
There will be a difference between this “unique” skate plaza from the others, Ortega-Nowakowski said, referring to the “dips and bowls” of the older skate parks around the area.
“It is an incredible opportunity for the City of Phoenix,” Ortega-Nowakowski said. “Since it is in the central Phoenix area, people can come together as a whole to enjoy it.”
Rob Dyrdek, a professional skateboarder, donated $50,000 to help fund the design and initial construction of the skate plaza.
Parts of the skate plaza will be constructed from previous parts of a skate park used for Rob Dyrdek’s Street League Skateboarding DC Tour at the Jobing.com Arena in August.
Chris Ewell, a landscape architect who works in the Parks Development Division for the Parks and Recreation Department for the City of Phoenix, said they were planning on working closely with California Skateparks, a skate park and action sports facility that designs and builds notable skate parks around the United States.
“People skate in places they aren’t supposed to, so building a skate plaza in downtown Phoenix will give a more positive environment for skateboarders,” Ewell said.
Urban Skate Plaza is expected to take at least three months to build, Ewell said. The project is estimated to cost between $300,000 and $400,000, depending on the final design, he said.
The Parks and Recreation Board Subcommittee will hold another meeting on Sept. 23 to discuss further details regarding the skate plaza.
Contact the reporter at jessica.s.choi@asu.edu
How cool is this!?!?
What a great addition to the area…
Thanks for the heads up.
BMX bike riders have been trying to get Phoenix to build places for kids who ride bikes since 1997. We have talked to Phoenix Parks and Recreation officials, gone to city council meetings, written letters to the mayor, held multiple protests at Phoenix skateparks, and tried to work on this issue with Councilman Greg Stanton, who Phil Gordon assigned to look into this issue. STANTON IGNORED OUR CALLS, AND WE STILL HAVE NOTHING!!!
STOP THE DISCRIMINATION AND ALLOW BIKES IN THIS PARK SO PHOENIX CHILDREN FINALLY HAVE A LEGAL PLACE TO RIDE THEIR BMX BICYCLES!!!
Jason Ryan
President
The Bike, Blade and Board Coalition
http://www.psychicflyingmonkey.com
It’s about time they opened another skatepark. For years I wondered when they would build something centrally located. I live 2 blocks from Pecos and like 2 mins from Tempe 1. I’m spoiled. But for the kids on the East side and central phoenix all they had for the longest time was desert west on the West side.
Bikes and skateboards don’t mix. Ive been to mixed ride parks like Reed and the tempe 2 and tempe 3 and you have to really watch your back so you dont get hit by a biker. I am way more relaxed and can put my IPOD full blast at a skateboard only park.
The whole bike thing, nothing against them is your numbers and popularity. Why are they going to build you something if it is not going to be used. I remember the days the bikers where on the news and they finally allowed bikes at Reed after protests. Then they built them their own bike park over there by the Fiesta Mall. No one rides those ramps. That place is a ghost town. Can’t even skate there the ground is blacktop made for bikers.
Skaters are everywhere and why not built skate spots everywhere.
Please allow BMX bicycles into this skatepark. Skateparks for skaters only using public funding is a rigged game. PUBLIC means PUBLIC, and BMX bicycles have been fair use in skateparks since the late 70′s!!!
Sincerely,
John Dale
Curbrider LLC
You know, since the bikes in Arizona skateparks movement started in 1998, I can’t count the number of times prejudiced skaters hiding behind fake names have posted their prejudiced opinions about kids who ride bikes on the internet. It reminds me of a certain organization whose members hide their racist mugs with white hoods….
So bikes and skateboards don’t mix, eh “Marco”? Tell that to the four Valley cities who have skateparks that allow co-mingled use by bikes and skateboards at all times. Tell that to the eleven other Arizona cities who also have skateparks that allow co-mingled use by bikes and skateboards at all times. Show us all the incident reports of bike/skater collisions and injuries. You can’t, so you won’t. They don’t exist.
You are discriminating against bike riders. Admit it.
And Kleinman was just an experiment. Bike riders (and one skater)worked many years with Mesa just to end up with that piece of crap. Mesa poured asphalt slurry over perfectly good concrete and plopped a few tiny, overpriced playground equipment ramps on it and called it a day. But it ultimately accomplished our objectives. We wanted to prove to Mesa’s risk management, city attorney, and parks and rec department that bikes could indeed co-mingle with skateboards and we did. So at the end of 2006, Mesa saw fit to allow bikes in Reed Wheels court, and they’ve never looked back. We can legally ride a 40,000 square foot, challenging concrete park mere blocks away from Kleinman, so we do. You know you’d do the same, so don’t be a hypocrite.
As of your last post, you have proved yourself a selfish coward, Marco. But when you are ready to reveal your identity and come out to debate bike riders in a public forum like a man, you let us know…
Martin Shipman
bikes have pegs, which ruin things WAY faster than trucks. Its like bashing, which ruins your ledges.
Nice attitude Biker dude. No wonder people have trouble seeing your view of things.
Come out and debate you guys. Why waste my time. I’d rather go skate. I really could care less about the whole biker movement.
I dont blame the parks that do not allow bikers. I think the main reason is because of the damage they cause. Pegs can cause all kinds of damage. When you guys go up and miss or come short of grinding/stalling the egdge/ lip its like taking a pick ax and bashing the edge. Even where you have steel coping you can see the damage in form of gaps underneath the metal coping.
Why not got the DIY route. Find a patch a dirt , get a shovel and your problem is solved.
This is a skate plaza. Rob Dyrdek designs these with the sole intention of skating them on a skateboard. Its like building a new weber grill and hearing ice cubes yelling that they cant use the grill! It just doesnt work BMX guys, im sorry. There are plenty of places for you. We used to have to drive 20 miles just like you would have to in order to go to the bike park on Arizona ave and Warner or one of the others, but we have amazing people that really work hard and go beyond silly protests and showing up at meetings, people like Laura Martin who got our first park Desert West and is still involved and even has yet another one in the works for us skaters after this. So before you start crying more, go out for a joyride around town, get back online, and do more research and be more pro-active.
“Manatee”, “Marco” and Steven– Please read an article Jason Ryan wrote (complete with photos) about “damage” by skateboards at the Peoria skatepark at http://www.psychicflyingmonkey.com/3BC%20page%20folder/exposition-of-bikes-damage-skateparks-myth.htm Read that article, and convince us that “damage” was caused by bikes. Convince anyone! You won’t be able to. Bikes cause wear and tear on skateparks, and SO DO SKATEBOARDS. It’s no reason to exclude kids who are practicing a positive activity and not sitting on their collective asses playing video games and dicking around on the internet from a PUBLIC PARK THEIR PARENTS’ TAXES PAID FOR.
These parks have to be maintained constantly, no matter who rides them, and that’s the city’s job. It doesn’t cost near as much to maintain these parks properly as a ball field, and most cities have many of those, and yet they don’t keep up proper maintenance on their skateparks, or make sure, many times, they’re designed and built correctly in the first place!
Hundreds of skateparks around the country allow bikes. 22 Arizona concrete and ramp parks allow bikes. 20 of those allow co-mingled use of bikes and skateboards at all times. Tell the Parks and Rec director at Prescott, or Prescott Valley, or Marana, or Mesa, or Fountain Hills that “it just doesn’t work”, Steven. They’ll laugh in your face and tell you to beat it.
You’re prejudiced. You discriminate against kids who ride bikes. JUST OWN IT ALREADY! I’d respect your opinions more if you would just tell the truth instead of making up a bunch of crappy excuses!
BTW Steven, Laura Martin spoke up a few years ago about Glendale’s 83rd Ave. and Bethany Home park, saying bikes should be allowed in…..