The state of skate: How the legislative session became a boon for skate park projects

Completing Northfield s skate park has been a long grind Years of lobbying by a local skateboard coalition culminated in the city finishing one part of a two-phase project in A decade later the park remains halfway done mentioned Tyler Westman owner of the city s Northside Boards shop Plans to get it done are ultimately rolling again after the Legislature in the last few days appropriated grants to the project and other skate parks around the state Phase two will come to life because of this money Westman stated We ll presumably get the park we were promised so I m very grateful very excited about that Inadequate proposals made the cut for cash from the state s general fund as opposed to funding derived from bond sales during the Legislature s special session The special list features million for a wastewater project in Litchfield to the Minnesota Transportation Museum and for a Hubert H Humphrey statue What got the majority general fund money of all Eight skate park projects that when combined together came in at million Considering how a multitude of competing interests jockey for limited guidance each session the Legislature s inclusion of skate parks might raise several eyebrows But the money was indeed first appropriated in the much bigger billion cash bonding bill of So what lawmakers did during the special session was more of a redirection of the funding through the Department of Employment and Economic Maturation to specific uses To the people who ve been working to expand renovate or build skate parks from scratch the grants are the state s way of playing catch up to bring skateboard infrastructure in line with the sport s popularity Each city has really been working on this for years if not decades trying to get skate parks across the finish line mentioned Paul Forsline executive director of the City of Skate organization Tyler Westman owner of Northside Boards in Northfield has been involved in securing grant funding to complete the city s skate park Phase one of the park finished in but phase two never came to fruition Credit Brian Arola Here s how the million is being divided -Brainerd s Memorial Park -Rochester s Silver Lake Park -Winona s Multiuse street park -Northfield s Memorial Park -St Paul s Merriam Park -Minneapolis Folwell Park -Minnetonka s Glen Lake Park -Minneapolis Central Gym Park City of Skate based in the Twin Cities spearheaded efforts to secure funding for the parks four in the metro area and four in Greater Minnesota The grant effort focused on skate park funding has been in place since but never before had it been utilized with such specificity Up until this session it felt like every other recreational activity got its due Forsline explained The money was never there for us he recalled being stated in the past Even though there unfailingly seemed to be money for ice arenas and field sports State Sen Scott Dibble DFL-Minneapolis and former state House Speaker Paul Thissen now a Minnesota Supreme Court justice were early champions of skate park grants On Monday Dibble who extolled skateboarding s virtues on the Senate floor when the Legislature established the funding stream in disclosed he s happy that funding for specific parks crossed the finish line this session He wants the initiative to grow to encouragement more projects around the state The fact of the matter is there are countless a large number of thousands of young people who participate in skateboarding who wouldn t otherwise be participating in other kinds of sports he revealed Our failure to serve them would mean they absolutely go unserved Establishing the project in securing initial funding in then carrying it over to named projects in required enough other lawmakers to get on board State Sen Rich Draheim R-Madison Lake wasn t a fan He brought up his disapproval during an interview with MinnPost reacting to the legislative session earlier this month Nothing against skate parks but our job is to prioritize he mentioned It s hard for me to pick money for a skate park over certain of my communities that don t have clean drinking water Water infrastructure projects did receive million in general obligation bond funding this session Draheim would ve rather seen more cash funding go directly to water projects instead of skate parks Zach Krage owner of Anthem skate park and board shop in Winona sees the funding as leveling the playing field Outdoor baseball fields basketball hoops and tennis courts aren t hard to come by and are generally free to use Skate parks are rare in comparison and sometimes come with a cost to participate Skateboarding in a great number of cases has a paywall and I think that s unfair to young athletes he announced I think it s just being equitable Winona once had an outdoor skate park Intentions for the park were seemingly good the execution wasn t Skater input wasn t prioritized in the plans Krage mentioned leading to a little-used facility It was like building a basketball court with -foot hoops and wondering why nobody plays on it he noted He opened Anthem indoors after the outdoor park s removal A free place to skate outdoors would be a worthwhile group stake he disclosed and groups have so far raised at least toward the goal Skateboarding has a counter-cultural image which Krage thinks is partly created by city policies Absent skate parks young people find other places in the society to spend their time until they get pushed out When you re informed you shouldn t be here and you get kicked out of a place you ll have a chip on your shoulder he stated I don t see that in towns that have skate parks In a world of heavily structured youth sports Westman likes how skating is refreshingly freeform There is no rigid practice schedule and no scoreboard Even if someone doesn t feel like skating or scootering or BMXing at a park going there to socialize with friends won t get them shooed away Max Casson of Northfield skateboards at the city s skate park Friday The city is eligible for a grant to expand the park through an appropriation by the Legislature Credit Brian Arola In that way skate parks are examples of third places a term used for social environments that aren t home school or work One analysis published in the Soundness Place academic journal in detected these outlets were being overlooked by policymakers despite their vital group roles as places for socialization The researchers concluded this before the COVID- pandemic a time associated with the closure of multiple third places Reviving third places has been a focus of occasional news coverage including by MinnPost in the years since Skateboarder input demands to be centered if parks are to become these places Krage and Westman reported plans in Winona and Northfield are keeping this top of mind In Northfield s event current renderings call for the park to double in size More space is what Max Casson and Louden Weis are looking for at their hometown park as loyal as they are to it as is They dropped into an avocado-shaped bowl Friday as a demonstration of how they use it Getting a fully completed park would be a dream Casson disclosed Northfield has sort of become so accepting of so plenty of other creative pursuits he revealed Having a finished skate park could really allow skateboarding to become one of those pursuits that s accepted by the area The post The state of skate How the legislative session became a boon for skate park projects appeared first on MinnPost