30 responses so far ↓

• 1 Peter Karvonen // Sep 23, 2008 at 3:48 pm

  we are talking with people in the mayor’s office right now and they are very open to the idea of a public skatepark. We have gotten as far as looking for proposed sites now. The city owns the property at sloss north of 1st ave north. They are talking with the right people now in hopes that a skatepark conjoined with sloss furnaces would be a great relationship. I invision a concrete park there with metal skateable sculptures that would be made there at the furnaces steel works! Sounds amazing to me!

• 2 Dystopos // Sep 23, 2008 at 4:00 pm

  That sounds like an awesome idea. Good luck. If Birmingham stepped up and helped build a truly gorgeous destination-type skate park and tied it to our unique industrial history, it would be great PR as videos were shared around the world of top skaters showing their stuff with towering furnaces, green trees and purple sunsets in the background.

  Back in the real world… In the comments to the previous article, the issue of supervised vs. unsupervised skate parks was brought up. Is that something generally agreeable to serious skateboarders, or would most folks avoid it?

  PS: Anyone know anything about the Wheel-A-Wave skate park from the 1970s?

• 3 Leozap // Sep 23, 2008 at 6:41 pm

  There are several lots on both sides of the train tracks heading west on 1 st Ave. (Sort of near The Boiler Room).

• 4 Brad Lovell // Sep 23, 2008 at 9:17 pm

  Unsupervised is definitely more desirable. Mainly because there is really no use for it. Skateboarders are usually pretty good about “policing” there own skate park. The problem with Homewood was, there were to many lurkers just loafing around. According to my research, a simple sign with the proper lettering would be suffice. Plus, skateboarding is about the freedom you feel when your on a board. Someone shouting out orders all the time takes away from its purity. Maybe have the Sloss security guard keep an eye out, and make sure nobody is getting mugged. Supervision is truly a waste of money. Take Homewood’s park security guard for example. Threw me out three times for smoking, and im 25. Then, next thing you know, he is lighting up on the sideline. Guys like this cause trouble. But, thats a whole other story. The people I know who skateboard, go to a skate park to skate; not cause trouble.

• 5 peter karvonen // Sep 23, 2008 at 10:10 pm

  All we ask is a plot of land to make a skatepark. I am willing to do a lot of fundraising and benefits over the next year for the cause. However, we will need help from grants, donations, and or city funding. Downtown Birmingham would be ideal! The revitalization around the area is amazing and has the urban feel with a touch of art, much like that of skateboarding! Bottom line is that skaters “create”, they think outside the norm and see beauty in the unconventional. Nonetheless, most public parks around the U.S. are self sufficiant. Skaters patrol and clean the area, there are cameras linked to the police station, call boxes for emergencies, and generally the older guys who work hard for the park “police” it. They have generally worked to hard to see the “fruits of their labor” go victim to trash, fights, vandalism etc… Give us something to be proud of and we promise to make it a landmark for Birmingham.
  Fact: Emergency room visits from injuries related to playgrounds out number 2:1 that of Skateboarding. And likewise 90% of injuries from skateboarding are by kids who have skated for less than one month and due to rocks, abnormalities in pavement, and debris. (not from properly built skateboarding structures at skateparks). Studies have also shown that 1 in 7 kids are avid skateboarders (participating in skateboarding at least once a week)! Thats over 13 million skateboarders in the United States!
  Feel free to contact for more info or concerns!

• 6 Hunt Fanelli // Sep 24, 2008 at 2:58 am

  Birmingham needs a skatepark desperately, because it gives the kids somewhere to go after school, it basically creates a free or very inexpensive day care for many hard working parents. Then on top of the dare care aspects it is something very very active and it creates an easy way for kids to make friends and become apart a huge family!!!! Skateboarding is definitely a lifestyle, no matter what many might say, because it creates a community of people who tend to band together and help each other out like they’re best friends and in many instances they may have never met face to face before.

  Birmingham needs to realize that we are not criminals or liability issues, we are hard working students, business owners, artist, salesmen and every other job that is out there. A skatepark could potentially bring so much promise and upbringing to an area and a prime example is Louisville, Kentucky’s skatepark. The area grew with business and shaped up their buildings after the park was built.

  I personally don’t even live in Birmingham anymore but I have in the past for nearly 16 years and ever since I was 10 I have been glued to my skateboard. I don’t have a criminal record, I graduated high school and now I have moved to Nashville to pursue me love for the arts and I am doing so by attending WCAD. I love everything about Birmingham and if there was an arts college there I don’t think I would ever leave the place.

  I think the lot under the overpass, directly adjacent to the BJCC, would be a great place for a park and skatepark. The neighborhood isn’t terribly bad and the lot is close enough to the BJCC that if security is a huge concern, then a CAP that patrols the BJCC can ride through every now and then to keep an eye on things.

• 7 Pam // Sep 24, 2008 at 7:42 am

  if you’ve ever been to the Gulf Shores city park, they have an awesome skate park there on just a little lot of park space and it is run by one of the local skateboard shops there in town. It is well supervised and maintained and very clean and just a nice place to enjoy. There are paved walking tracks and soccer fields and playground equipment all around it and as many times as i’ve been there, have never ever seen anything negative going on. Just a truly lovely place to be enjoyed by all ages and everyone just wanting to get outside and enjoy some recreation! check it out next time you’re at the beach!

• 8 Candy // Sep 24, 2008 at 8:06 am

  OK I’m a mom and have a 13 yr. old who loves to skate! Skaters get a bad rap…. They need somewhere to skate… skating is a talent that is looked over by alot of people. Build it and we will come!!!

• 9 greg the prophet // Sep 24, 2008 at 9:29 am

  Move to Houston!
  We have the best public parks in the world. It’s free,has full time armed security (H.P.D.) and is open from 8am till 10pm! I went to the grand opening and met Shaun White, and a list of others_ Lance Mountain, Chris Haslam, and Andrew Renolds. I left Mobile, Alabama (my home for many years) for Houston to continue college.
  Upon my arrival to Houston, Texas_and to my surprise, up comes a huge skatepark on Allen Parkway and Sabine streets Downtown.

  Of course, there was no where to skate in Mobile, Alabama_ without being arrested, so when I lived there; I had to travel to Florida to skate.

  Come over here B-Ham skaters_ grab yourself a cheap apartment, a job, your reason to believe DVD, a Jamie Thomas Zero deck_ and lets skate. I realize Alabama is beautiful, but with most beauty comes corruption. I mean, you can work anywhere right? Everybody pays the same crap wages no matter where you live! If you have surrived Birmingham’s crap economy, you can really make it here. We have jobs and we skate, go to church, and vote. So come on over to Houston, Texas_ We love Skateboarders and it is obvious that the politicians in Alabama do not. Dont like concrete? Well I have the answer for that too! Kick it on down interstate 45 to college blvd and hwy 3 and skate at Southside skatepark. They have wood and it’s good. They have a wooden bowl, a mini, a stair set…et cetera. The owners are super cool and have tons of products from many different suppliers…(kinda like Faith in B-Ham, but add a huge skatepark).

  P.s. our very own mayor “Bill White” [and God bless him for it] endorsed our free skate park. If you can get anyone (politicians) in Birmingham to agree on anything, support anything,…or do anything; the world will probably end. So if your not quite ready to meet the maker, here are the Directions:
  65 south to I-10, and I-10 West to I-12, (yes take the Hammond exit in Slidell to bypass New Orleans…save about 4 hours drive), then continue to travel West on I-12 untill you veer back on I-10 West. Cross the Mississippi River in Red Stick, (Baton Rouge)and keep truckin West. Then you will pass through L.a -Lake Charles (pure beauty) and Orange Texas, then Beaumont, and Boom! your here! It should take you about 13 hours or so depending on stops for petro (which is also cheaper here). Can’t wait to see all you cool Bama kids, finally able to enjoy your sport.
  God bless you all, pick up Ben Gilley, and keep skating for Jesus.

• 10 Mossgard // Sep 24, 2008 at 1:06 pm

  Why not build it near the entrance ramp at I-20/59 in downtown Birmingham? If that’s where the people who wanted a skate park bad enough to get off their collective padded tailbones and build it themselves built one, that must be where they wanted it and where the city should build one too.

  And if the city does build them one, build it and then leave the kids alone and let them skate.

• 11 A skate park update | The Terminal — Birmingham AL’s hub // Sep 24, 2008 at 3:00 pm

  [...] For those of you who haven’t ventured through the comments and the site to learn more about the skate park situation, allow me to share what Peter Karvonen of Faith Skate Supply posted under the relating Magic City Question: [...]

• 12 Brad Lovell // Sep 24, 2008 at 3:07 pm

  Yeah great idea! Lets all just move to Houston! No corrupt politicians? Amazing! Whatever Greg, i would rather skate birmingham streets. I can visit though, even though its way too far, and Atlanta would be just as fun. I think the sloss furnace idea is great though.

• 13 Jeremy Crane // Sep 24, 2008 at 9:22 pm

  I believe a skate park anywhere in birmingham is great… i attended homewood skate park every weekend after work until a certain security guard was hired… which im not saying security is bad, just dont hire the first god-awful person for the job and i believe it will be great!!!

  R.I.P. Homewood…

• 14 W. David Bryant // Sep 25, 2008 at 2:41 am

  Please allow Faith to have a SkatePark built for the Skaters of birmingham. I am a retired Navy service member and my kids have been to skateparks all over the world. Birmingham should not be different and NOT have one. The Skaters NEED one. Please help them have one. Thank you
  David

• 15 Joey Cornetto // Sep 26, 2008 at 2:52 pm

  Skaters need a skatepark in or close to birmingham cause the only other good skatepark ive heard of is all the way in alabaster.Most skaters either dont have a ride to get them that far out,not enough gas money(cause gas is outragous!!!),or dont have enough time to drive that far.So so its either buld a skatepark or let skaters skate street!!!

• 16 James Beary // Sep 26, 2008 at 5:53 pm

  Just to let everyone know, all the rollerbladers would be more than down to help build, donate, or whatever for a skate park. There may not be a ton of rollerbladers here but the ones that do live here are serious about it and would Love to skate a sweet concrete park. I also feel that rollerbladers and skateboarders in Birmingham get along well and would be able to communicate with one another about the skate park situation.

• 17 Scott Robertson // Sep 27, 2008 at 9:05 pm

  My son loves to skateboard. Him and his friends were very dissipointed when homewood skatepark was shut down. Skateboarders need a new skatepark.

• 18 griffphoto // Sep 27, 2008 at 10:33 pm

  Seeing the kids skate and have fun was better than seeing the homeless living there and leaving garbage all over the place.

• 19 peter karvonen // Sep 28, 2008 at 10:42 pm

  Here is an update on what is going on with our quest. There is an Andy MacDonald skateboard Demo going on at Belk Dept store on Oct. 11? They are building a big ramp for him to skate and have nothing to do with it afterwards. Faith is working with the city to purchase the ramp and donate to the city of Birmingham for a public halfpipe for kids to skate. It will be 5 feet high and 20 feet wide. As of right now, sounds like its going to happen….but we all know how things happen and get messed up. Faith will service the ramp and patrol the area daily too. What ever it takes to show the “higher ups” in Birmingham that there is a huge need for a skatepark.
  This is the first step of many. Please cross your fingers and know we need support with this and in the future. Thank you to everyone who has left nice informative comments!
  ….peter

• 20 Christa // Sep 28, 2008 at 11:13 pm

  i think that it would be great to have a skatepark anywhere in birmingham, cause i am sick of the cops always getting on to us for street skating, we have nowhere else to skate as of right now unless we go to homewood or somewhere like that, but i think that i skatepark in birmingham would be wonderful + it would be alot easier for some of us that live in Fultondale + Gardendale + all them places. but i think that it would be a great idea.

• 21 James Jackson // Sep 29, 2008 at 1:30 am

  Under 280 on Carraway is a perfect place. What else could the city use the land for? It would offer a burnside appeal to the steel city as well as be conveniant to many downtown attractions.

  I have been stopped by C.A.P.S. and U.A.B. police for riding all over the city, and in all of those times I have never been given an alternative place to go. I have also heard stories of skateboards being confiscated by authorities and have witnessed a security guard try to take a friends bike. Athough I understand the desire to preserve these areas, there is no reason we as a people should be shunned by the city for doing something more than sitting on the couch. The reasonable answer is to give the community somewhere to vent this creativity.

  I agree with Hunt, Louisville’s public park has generated mass revenue by giving people something to enjoy.I Have personally spent weekends and money in Louisville restaurants, gas stations, bars, clubs, and hotels. All for the chance to ride something great. This sentiment is shared by people all over the country(even internationally). I was there for Tony Hawks tour and you could barely walk around for all the people.

  It doesn’t make sense that people from Birmingham spend hours in there cars going all over the south east for a skatepark. When instead people could drive from hours away to enjoy our skatepark, our nightlife, our dining, and our other amenities. As a city trying to flex diversity and youthful culture, such a large staplepoint should not be ignored.

• 22 Gerald B. // Sep 29, 2008 at 1:45 am

  Birmingham has needed a public skatepark for decades, its just that this city has done very little to nurture the youth here. Simply, if the city was to build a skatepark they wouldnt have to spend anymore cash on the city’s marble and granite structures that we love to thrash upon.

• 23 Jona // Sep 29, 2008 at 8:15 am

  hello Birmingham, I live in atlanta and own hazard county skatepark and hazard county construction.
  I am building a mini/plaza for the city of kennesaw GA, right now. We are currently putting together a cement crew and bidding on jobs in the southeast. I have seen alot of nightmare parks
  go up in the last ten years and alot of good parks as well.
  Lets all agree that Prefab metal ramps and prefab cement are all out of the question and will get kids killed or hurt. Those companies make playground equipment and need to stick with that. Your city officials may try and sell you on this but if this happens you as skaters have to stand up and disagree. these structures are too small for adult skaters and a huge waist of funds. Georgia has made several mistakes in this department. Custom cement and wood only. Hire a skater owned and building crew. Not all cement companies will do. As a skater you have to think ten years ahead, so that obstacles and tranny do not get boring. Also going with big companies with east coast builders and west coast isn’t always a good idea. We are seeing a lack of street course design, good bowls but no progression in the area of proper obstacle placement.
  Alot of that has to do with One real skater on the crew and the rest of the workers are day labors helping, so when its time for the stuff kids want ,it seems they ran out of steam. Find a builder that will spend your tax payers money local, on supplies and hotels. Custom wood is changeable and cement is not. Sometimes just having a good maintenance plan and closer companies is what cities need. I wish all the skaters of B-Ham the best and don’t give up. You are the future, and the close minded older Male of the south will be dead and gone while we are skating with our sons and daughters this is for them too. Thanks Jona

• 24 philip hosey // Sep 29, 2008 at 9:01 am

  so when you say skatepark…do you mean something your not going to find on the street right? because the last time i checked all you “street skaters” dont like transition. if your going to build a skatepark with stairs and ledges, well you can find that anywhere.

• 25 Tim Spinosi // Sep 29, 2008 at 11:44 am

  First of all it is just great to see this discussion taking place. I’ve been involved - to some degree or other - in the construction of most of the skateparks built in Alabama for the last thirty years. The latest of these is Veterans Skatepark in Alabaster where I still consult for the Park n Rec. dept. and helped to bring in the Pat Wachter Pro Bowl contest … the first pro contest in Alabama in 23 years. I’m currently working to get a park built in Pelham, and if Bham doesn’t take the Belk’s demo ramp I’m trying to get Alabaster to grab it as it would make a nice edition to Vets Park. I think everyone here will agree that Birmingham is wayyy over due to get a park, and I can tell you from personal experience that it is usually much easier to get these kind of facilities built in smaller cities and towns than it is a large city like Birmingham … despite the fact that the need is always much greater. The general rule is the bigger the city the bigger the barrier of red tape and politics. So my hats off to Peter K. and Faith for continuing their 10 year struggle to get a park built downtown. I really like the idea of creating unusual metal (skateable) sculptures. Anything like that - weird objects not found in other parks - makes them unique and therefore tend to attract more national attention. Beyond that the key word to remember when building a city built park is CONCRETE. You can lay a cement slab and put in steal or wood ramps but they are going to look like garbage in 3 to 5 years and need tons of maintenance, or you can spend the extra up front cost of pouring concrete which has NO long term maintenance costs … once it’s poured it’s done. As to where to build it downtown, that I leave also to Peter. I’m not a street skater and don’t skate downtown so I really don’t have any idea where the best place to put it would be. Obviously the big 800 pound gorilla in the room it funding. Their are lots of ways to fund skateparks if a city is involved in building it. Their is tons of grant money available from a variety of sources. First their are industry sources such as The Tony Hawk Foundation, Vans, Nike. etc that give money to cities for this kinda thing, but also their are grants available thru charitable organizations like the United Way that are interested in building communities and have money available for building all kinds of community parks. I would contact large local corporate sources such as Golden Flake and Russell Athletics, and I would also make a call to the Governors office. We spoke with them a few years ago and they are very interested in getting new parks like this built in Alabama. The Governor himself said it drives him crazy that Alabama is seen as 10 years behind by the rest of the country, and he’d like to change that impression. As the Philip Hoseys comment about street skaters not liking tranny, street skaters are by definition skaters and skaters will skate whatever they have to skate. The street revolution came about as the direct result of the destruction of the ’70’s era skateparks. Once they were gone skaters went to the streets because there really wasn’t anywhere else for them to go. Fast forward thirty-five years and in Bham at least that situation still exists. It’s definitely time for that to change. Best of luck to Peter and if I can be of help don’t hesitate to cal.

  Dystopos - I was a team rider for Wheel-a-Wave back in the seventies … what do you wanna know?

  Tim Spinosi

• 26 Lee D. // Sep 29, 2008 at 9:11 pm

  a public will really help kids stay active. skateboarding may seem dum but in our eyes nothing is better than skateing. I ask you to please let us have a public park. I know we srewed up the last in homewood but this time we will do better to keep it clean and safe becasue if people really love skating they will do anything to be able to skate. So please give us a park…

• 27 Jessie // Oct 1, 2008 at 10:39 am

  When I started skateboarding and searching out skateparks in Alabama, I was suprised to find that Birmingham didn’t have a public skatepark except Homewood. Skateparks are so important to the skate scene, and I don’t understand why it is so difficult to get a skatepark built, especially in Alabama. Without a skatepark the skate scene weakens and kids lose interest because they get frustrated with being run off by property owners and secuirty. In Decatur we had Highwheels for years, and although it was simply mini ramps and a slab of concrete, so many kids met up there to skate and chill. It was home for the skateboarders in Decatur, and since it closed down, myself and several others have asked for the city’s help in providing us with a place to skate. It has been a tough road, but there’s still a possibility that we may get our park.
  Right now the city of Birmingham has a big opportunity to step up and set the standard for skateparks in Alabama. I know it can happen too, because a shop like Faith is a shop that makes it happen in skateboarding. I just hope that the “higher ups” do the right thing and give back to the kids in their city. This could end up being a big step forward for skateboarding in Alabama. I hope to see that happen.

• 28 Gerald B. // Oct 12, 2008 at 6:54 pm

  when you really think about it, Sloss Furnace has tons of space!!

• 29 Heath Tyler // Oct 13, 2008 at 11:08 am

  getting the ramp from the demo would be a great start for a skatepark project. I hope we can make something happen soon, I have nowhere to skate.

• 30 Tommy Lee // Oct 15, 2008 at 7:06 pm

  finding spots is great but getting kicked out in a minute for skateboarding is really bumming, a park would give everyone in birmingham an easier go at life, the sloss idea seems rad, seeing as in how sloss is a popular teenage attraction anyways, another thought, alot of old vacant buildings exest around town, and a skatepark would look alot better than old ravage. birmingham strongly supports skateboarding and we need support to support our sport,

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