Skate The Date: Galveston Skate Park Opens June 16th!
Skate the Date
Galveston Municipal Skate Park to Open June 16
Join the City of Galveston as we dedicate and officially open the Municipal Skate Park on Monday, June 16, 2008, at 6:00 p.m. The public is invited to attend the ceremony and stay on for a celebration that includes refreshments and skating demonstrations.
The City official broke ground on the skate park back in January of this year, but community support for the project originated more than seven years ago. Following a previous City Council’s decision to pass an ordinance banning skateboarding, local enthusiasts organized and began a grassroots campaign to raise money for a park. Situated at the north end of Menard Park, the park’s appealing location will undoubtedly attract competitions and demonstrations, but more importantly it will finally give island skateboarders somewhere to call home.
The skate park is an integral feature of Menard Park’s restoration. The new, permanent park will feature amenities such as restroom facilities, spectator viewing areas, and adjacent parking as part of the overall plan for Menard Park. In a matter of days skateboarders will be racing over an all-concrete bowl complex and streetscape featuring ramps, jumps, rails, as well as a cradle, a first in the U.S.
Grindline, an internationally known firm that is dedicated to state-of-the-art skate park design and construction, was awarded the $285,439.50 contract in December 2007. Park funding ultimately included many cash and in-kind donations, in addition to the City’s donation of land for the site and Community Development Block Grant money. Long-time park supporter and skate Rhonda Gregg noted, “This Park came about due to the community’s commitment to kids.”
The Skate Park will be open daily from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
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I can't believe the City of Galveston paid all that money for some dumb roller rink for all the skate riders. What a waste of money! All skate riders do is get drunk and high all day, then ride their skateboards around until they sober up enough to vandalize the island. The Strand use to be such a beautiful place to go to until the skate riders destroyed it. We should of used the money for the roller rink to fix all the damages on the Strand caused by these damn skate riders! I was born and raised on this island and i'll be god damned if some hippy skate rider is going to destroy it!!! I LOVE this island and I will protect it at ALL COSTS! You Skate Riders better stay out of my face and off the island....
Keeland Sanders
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You are very wrong. My wifes Lil bother and my lil cousin love to skate board and they are not getting drunk or high. They both are straight A Students.I Think you probly don't have kids or you are very stuck up.
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Mr. Sanders,
I certainly appreciate that you stopped by to read the family friendly information that may be found on the www.GalvestonKidz.com website. It is a personal pleasure to be able to share all of the fun, unique, educational and diverse opportunities that Galveston Island offers local and visiting families. It is a joy to be part of such an amazing community and I especially enjoy welcoming new families to the island.
While everyone is certainly entitled, and often encouraged, to offer differing opinions about how public schools or local government spends their limited resources, I don't believe that this is the appropriate venue to voice your strong concerns as this forum is not meant to influence local educational or governmental policy and their expenditures. I think your comments are better offered to the Opinion Section of the Galveston County Daily News.
As a mother, it pleases me that the City of Galveston has done so much to provide local youth with such a tremendous quantity of quality and diverse activities. It is one of the many aspects of Galveston that I strongly promote when I am speaking to families as they are deciding if they should live on Galveston or on the Mainland. From what I understand, there has been matching private money that has been spent on the Skate Park, which indicates to me that while you may not find the Skate Park valuable, there are others in the community who find such a community resource valuable and worthwhile and have worked very hard to see this project completed.
As the owner of this website, I also need to make you aware of my comment policy. You may not, under any circumstances, threaten or berate any person, group or organization on my blog. I will keep your comment posted as an example of comments that I find intolerable and should you choose to leave another negative and mean spirited comment, I will delete it and ban you from accessing this forum.
I do hope you take the time to check in with friends or community resources, such as Rabbi Kessler, and consider investigating the root of your fear based comments as I don't believe that they will help you in meeting your stated goal of preserving the beauty of Galveston Island. I like to consider Galveston Island an inclusive, eclectic, diverse and wonderful community in which to raise our children.
Most sincerely,
Erin Toberman
Your Community Neighbor and Local Mom
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You are an idiot. Im 49 years old with a six figure income and Ive been skateboarding since the '70s. A far cry from what you describe. Its a multi million dollar industry and a recognized sport. I think that maybe you drank to much of your own bath water.
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Funny that as a mom at 34, I remember in high school all the guys that got high were the jocks but somehow the skateboarders were the ones just trying to skate and stay out of trouble but were always hassled. Now, as a mother, I'm happy that my son has something to catch his interest that is productive besides sitting in front of a playstation. The kids I know that are involved in skateboarding are good kids that just want to stay out of trouble that may look outside the box. What a sad world it would be if we all had the same interests and what a bitter person you must be to have so much hate in your heart for kids when there are so many worse things in the world going on.
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SEE! No one believed me! I tried over and over to warn about this new roller rink and now look at the island... IT’S DESTROYED! And don't think for a second that this roller rink isn’t responsible. The extra money that went into building this roller rink was originally suppose to be spent on the construction of a new levee system on the bay side of Galveston. This new levee system could of kept the island from flooding during Hurricane Ike, saving millions of dollars in property damage and saving hundreds of lives. Well I hope it was worth it! I guess all the people in Galveston living in tents right now should hop on some roller skates and head down to the roller rink for a few laughs… roller skate around until they forget about how they just lost everything! Oh wait!? The roller ring is probably destroyed too! The irony!!! I use to love this island and would die for it but I don’t think I could say that now with a straight face. Your precious roller rink turned this island into a toilet soup bowl and I for one can’t live like this for one more second… I’m taking my insurance check and moving to the Kokomos… Farewell Galveston!
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People complaining about skateboarders downtown are what caused the city of Galveston to ban skateboarding in the strand area. This ban started a wave of confrontations, tickets and skateboard confiscations by local police, who of course usually have more imporant issues at hand. This dispute in turn spurred a local grass roots movement to petition the city of Galveston to provide a first class skatepark to service the local skateboarders that were rejected and displaced from the area which they had loved.
So without people like Keeland Sanders complaining about skateboarders downtown, the Menard Park Galveston Skatepark might have never been built. So I would just like to say thank you Keeland Sanders, thank you for everything you have done for the local skateboarding community.
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Thank you to all who worked for the skatepark. It is outstanding, even when compared to other great skateparks all over the country. Cloesed minded folks like Mr. Sanders, will be drowned in the positivity that comes from these great places. Hate usually begets more hate, but in this case it turned the tide and created hope for skaters all over the area.
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