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SDOT Hates Skateboarders

5 June 2009 6 Comments

Jereme Rogers did something cool, but today we have a public service announcement and a call to arms.


[Image via The Stranger]

Slog reports,

Seattle skaters are about to have one less place to grind. Four years ago, frustrated with the city’s lack of skateparks and city leaders’ glacial response to community demand, neighbor-hood activist Kate Martin spent over $15,000 to design and build a spot for her two sons—then 11 and 13—to skate in their own front yard [see "Skate Mom," Amy Jenniges, June 2, 2005]. The thousand square feet of cement ramps and rails that flow across the front yard of Martin’s Greenwood home—with warped-but-clean lines reminiscent of a Frank Gehry building—drew throngs of neighborhood kids whenever the pavement was dry enough to ride. “People were stoked about it,” Martin says. “It’s something good for the kids.”

But as Martin’s skatepark became a hit among neighborhood kids, it also drew the attention of the city, since part of it was built on city property without permits.

In October, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) sent Martin a letter ordering her to demolish the portion of the park that sits on the city-owned planting strip.
…
On May 15, the city attorney’s office filed suit against Martin and her husband, Jose Chavez, slapping them with a $500-a-day fine backdated to October 6. Over the months, the fine added up to over $100,000. “It’s some pretty deep doo-doo we’re in right now,” Martin says. “My thing is to cut my losses completely. I’m not there to make a point. I don’t want to have to move out of my house.”
…
“This use of space is the best way for us to get skateable elements scattered through the city,” says Ryan Barth, president of the parks department’s Skateboard Park Advisory Committee. “This is a model for what the city should be doing.”

But Martin is not expecting a last-minute reprieve. She’s already gotten the permits she needs to demolish the park. “The fine’s still going up at $500 a day,” she says. “I’m waiting on hearing from [the parks department] and then I’ll send my husband out with a jackhammer, and that’ll be that.”

Kate Martin is patron saint of Seattle skateboarding. She has advocated for skateboarding for years, and has served on numerous community boards. An outstanding citizen indeed.

We encourage you to show your support for Kate and skateboarding by writing SDOT spokesman Rick Sheridan.

richard.sheridan@seattle.gov

6 Comments »

  • a. said:

    bro they killt the wall_uv_deth. fuck them for that one, forever… Sounds like this one was built in the parking strip, which is like hmmm, and I’m always wary of parents too involved in skateboarding, but hmmm…

    mostly fuck em tho.

    is she bloggin?

    # 5 June 2009 at 12:50 pm
  • Lou G. said:

    Wait, when they say “planting strip” is this that little two foot strip of dirt/grass between the curb and the mailbox?

    Haha. Who is in charge there? Sounds like he/she’s on a steady route to eternal damnation.

    It’s bad enough when you won’t even spend a penny to build your city a skate park, but to find a way to tax 10 times the cost of said skate park when someone steps up to do it themselves… complete bullshit.

    # 5 June 2009 at 3:39 pm
  • el bigote said:

    that spot is dope. screw the city. anarchy!!!!

    # 6 June 2009 at 12:35 am
  • Forrest said:

    I wonder how many tax dollars the State and Federal Govt make from skateboarding, an illegal sport? You have shops that pay taxes, you have sales taxes from the sale of boards, etc….. This is bullshit! How many empty baseball fields do you drive past in a day? I drive by many, but every skatepark I drive by in Utah is packed. Why doesnt the state invest in things that kids actually do instead of hassling someone for giving a place for the kids to skateboard. If this was a ball sport violation it would be swept under the rug.

    # 8 June 2009 at 7:57 am
  • Ed Huneke said:

    How do I send a note I wrote, thinking it was going to Richard Sheridan at the SDOT? I don’t want to re-write the whole thing, again, but the City needs to chill. Kate Martin did a wonderful, unselfish thing which benefited a lot of Seattle’s society in a way that our City does not contribute to the general population, and he needs to take a different approach to his governmental rule-enforcing attitude, and have a little self-appreciation for what Kate did for her neighborhood and children. The City does not gain anything by being so rule-enforcing on detail.

    How do I get my notes to Sheridan or someone else at SDOT?
    Ed

    # 8 June 2009 at 1:53 pm
  • Huckleberry Hart (author) said:

    Send your concerns to:
    richard.sheridan@seattle.gov

    # 9 June 2009 at 5:57 pm

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