Special meeting set for Monday By ROBYN L. MINOR, The Daily News Sunday, December 18, 2005 12:25 AM CST
Bowling Green City Commission is about to spend $70,000 toward establishing a skate park in town.
The expense, if approved at a special city commission meeting Monday, will go to Lose and Associates Inc. of Nashville, for services to design the skatepark.
Chris Camp, a landscape architect for the company, said once given the go-ahead, his firm will partner with Wally Holiday Designs in California for the project.
The intention would be to design a 25,000-square-foot park near the Parks and Recreation Center on Third Avenue, costing about $750,000, he said.
But features at the park will be largely determined by public input.
Lose recently designed a skatepark in Paducah that will soon be under construction and is getting ready for bids on one in Georgia. Wally Holiday designed the skatepark in Nashville, Camp said.
“I believe a lot of the skaters from Bowling Green come to the park in Nashville,” he said.
Ernie Gouvas, director of Bowling Green Parks and Recreation, said Lose has a good regional reputation but the city wanted to make sure it had a nationally recognized park designer in on the project - thus the partnership.
“Holiday is one of founders of California Skateparks - the first professional skatepark group in the country - and has over 80 parks to his credit,” Gouvas said.
Lose, he said, specializes in parks and recreation facilities in general, has hundreds of projects under its belt and is familiar with Bowling Green, having done the original master plan for a Greenways proposal several years ago.
Nine proposals for architectural services were initially received by the city. Five firms were interviewed and three were asked to submit written proposals. Of the three, two proposals were received on time. Lose's bid was about $20,000 lower than the other, Gouvas said.
But price was not the only consideration in making the selection.
“It's important to get a good design, but it is just as important to make sure it's constructed properly,” Gouvas said.
The proposal from Lose also includes 24 on-site visits during construction to make sure everything is being done as it should.
“I think they are well qualified,” Gouvas said.
Camp said if his company's proposal for services is approved, he would start having public meetings after the start of the year. A design could be ready for bid in about four months, with construction taking four or five months.
So next Christmas break, skaters would have a local place to skate.
Bowling Green City Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in City Hall and also will consider several other items, including a second reading on an ordinance amending the city's requirement of prepaying for fuel purchases and second reading on an ordinance denying the closing of two roads in Shawnee Estates. Supporters and detractors of that proposal were on hand during a special meeting Wednesday when the matter had a first reading.
- A full agenda can be viewed online at http://www.bgky.org. More information about Lose and Associates is available at http://www.loseassoc.com.
Corruption concern surprises city Survey reveals worry over traffic, spending tops residents' lists By JIM GAINES, The Daily News, jgaines@bgdailynews.com/783-3242 Saturday, November 26, 2005 11:22 PM CST
A recent poll of Bowling Green citizens' attitudes contained few surprises for city elected officials, they said, apart from the depth of feeling about perceived corruption and overspending.
But commissioners commented that they believe the odor of corruption to be a lingering effect from past scandals, getting a final airing now as problems are resolved; and that citizens may well be surprised by the positive effect of a few projects now denounced as pork.
On Oct. 21, John Parker and Jay Sloan of The Kentucky Poll used Western Kentucky University students to ask 201 Bowling Green residents - 131 women and 70 men - a series of 75 questions about life in Bowling Green, and their views of a range of services provided by city government.
Ninety percent of those surveyed said the city is a good or excellent place to live, citing Bowling Green's size, friendly people and location as the biggest pluses. Though the overall response was overwhelmingly positive, perceptions of problems have changed from previous polls.
“The greatest criticism this year continued to be directed toward traffic congestion, followed by the condition of streets and two new top concerns - reckless city spending and corruption in city government,” Parker and Sloan reported. “The sharp decline in concern about drugs and other crime from the 1998 survey continued this year.”
“I think probably the biggest surprise for me was the response about corruption. I guess I should have expected it, in view of the fact that we did have such a devastating blow with the Davis Cooper affair,” Mayor Elaine Walker said. “But that's why we're really working hard to make sure that we go after every dollar we can, that any holes that we've got have been plugged up.
“I was a little surprised with the comment about reckless spending as well, though I realize what a strong response the skate park has gotten from residents in general.”
A skate park, for which commissioners budgeted $850,000, will probably remain controversial until it's actually built, she said. But Walker then expects Parks and Recreation Director Ernie Gouvas' prediction to come true: that it will become the most widely used park in the city.
“Other than that, we're always used to having traffic as the number one issue,” she said, adding that it's heartening to see that in general the city is perceived as well-run and capable of meeting needs for services.
The skate park is probably what those surveyed were referring to in commenting on “reckless spending,” said Commissioner Brian “Slim” Nash, who has championed the skate park from the beginning.
“What it said to me is that there's a great deal of misinformation about what skate parks are,” he said. “Skate parks, in many cases, reduce juvenile delinquency rather than driving it up.”
The city probably needs to do more to counter the apparently general impression that building a skate park will cause the area to be “overrun” by young vandals, Nash said.
But surveys are always open to interpretation, both by those being asked the questions - in deciding what they're being asked - and by those interpreting the results, in figuring out what respondents meant, he said.
“Reckless spending” could be another reference to former city Chief Financial Officer Davis Cooper, arrested for embezzlement in March; or the financial management of the Sloan Convention Center, which plagued the last commission, Nash said.
Since many of the questions just ask opinions of “the city,” he's not sure whether responses refer to how top officials react to problems, or how they're handled by rank-and-file city workers, he said.
“Even though there are projects in there that I've supported that were not received popularly - and there are projects I've supported that were received popularly - whether or not I agree with any of the citizens, I believe that their input is invaluable to the process,” Nash said.
Traffic worries were not news to him, since they are perennially listed as a major problem, he said.
“There are no quick fixes to traffic,” Nash said. “Some of them have to be systematic changes that take several years for us to see the benefits or see the results of.”
Residents' complaints about heavy cut-through traffic in neighborhoods such as Shawnee Estates show that the city did not do enough in the past to make sure its major roads kept pace with development, a problem not easily solved after the fact, he said.
While there's obviously still a public perception of dishonesty in city government, elected officials and staff are working to prevent any recurrence of past problems, Commissioner Delane Simpson said.
“We've had that, we've gone through that, but I really, sincerely believe we've got that behind us now,” he said.
A skate park - and a dog park, which the city also plans to build - will be appreciated and heavily used once they're done, Simpson said.
The city builds golf courses and swimming pools to serve other segments of the population, yet those aren't viewed as reckless spending, he said.
A skate park will serve a community need, and will attract enthusiasts who tour similar parks throughout the region, Simpson said.
Such projects should not supersede an equitable pay plan for city employees, but money is budgeted for that too, he said.
Safety first WKU, skate shop work to put helmets on skaters By BRIAN WHITE, The Daily News, bwhite@bgdailynews.com/783-3243 Wednesday, November 16, 2005 12:01 PM CST Photo by Joe Imel/The Daily News
John Pierce (left), 14, and Tyler Preston, 13, both eighth-graders at Drakes Creek Middle School, spend a lot of their free time on skateboards - John without a helmet and Tyler with one. Tyler said he started wearing a helmet after he “cracked my head open” during the summer. John said most of his friends don't wear helmets because they “don't want to look goofy.” Blue Wallace skate shop and Western Kentucky University's Acquired Brain Injury Resource Program are working together to promote the use of helmets by skateboarders.
The Blue Wallace skate shop on Scottsville Road has sold more than 700 skateboard decks since it opened five months ago.
During that same time, just 10 helmets have been purchased.
That disparity is the reason Blue Wallace and Western Kentucky University's Acquired Brain Injury Resource Program are working together to promote the use of helmets by local skaters.
Wearing a helmet just makes sense, said Troy Reece, who owns Blue Wallace with his wife, Cheryl.
“Skateboarding is much safer than people think it is,” Reece said. “As long as you wear a helmet.”
The problem is getting skaters to wear the head protection. Reece and Richard Dressler, a Western professor and the director of the brain injury program, started a raffle in August to give a free skateboard to skaters they saw wearing helmets.
The problem? They never see anyone with one on.
So far, only one skater, Tyler Preston, 13, has gotten a raffle ticket. So he won a skateboard last month.
“Every time I see Tyler, he's wearing his helmet,” Reece said.
Dressler and Reece also give raffle tickets to win a helmet to helmetless skaters, but no one ever turns them in.
They were hoping that the lure of a free skateboard would get kids to wear their helmets, but that impetus doesn't seem to compete with teenage social stigmas.
Kids don't wear helmets because it's not cool, said John Pierce, an eighth-grader at Drakes Creek Middle School
“They don't want to look goofy,” said John, who is 14.
John said most of his friends don't wear helmets. Tyler, the default raffle winner, is the exception.
Tyler said he started wearing his helmet after “I cracked my head open this summer.”
“I was dizzy for about a week,” said Tyler, who is also a Drakes Creek eighth-grader.
His dad told him he had to start wearing a helmet or stop skating.
Tyler keeps the helmet on even when his dad's not around. One day he took it off, and he hit his head again.
“It's actually my choice now,” Tyler said.
Tyler said other skaters sometimes make fun of his helmet, but he has a way to shut them up.
“I'll show them my skating,” he said.
Reece said skating actually has lower injury rates than many sports.
The Tony Hawk Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds skate parks and other programs, cites a 2002 study by American Sports Data that shows there are 0.8 injuries per 1,000 exposures to skateboarding.
Sports with higher injury rates include boxing, with 5.2 per 1,000 exposures, tackle football, with 3.8 injuries per 1,000 exposures, and softball, with 2.2 injuries per 1,000 exposures.
Reece and Dressler hope that the city's planned $850,000 skateboard park, scheduled to open next summer, will have enforced helmet rules.
“We want to use the park as a springboard for the promotion of safety,” Reece said.
He said local skaters often drive to Nashville to skate in the three parks there.
John said he and other skaters do wear helmets when they go to Nashville, because the parks require it.
Reece, who is actively involved in getting the skate park in Bowling Green, said the park would give kids a place to skate without worries about police running them off.
It will also be a good spot to promote helmet use, Reece and Dressler said.
They would like to figure out a way to loan out helmets at the park so people would wear them there, at least.
“I think (the park) is an extremely positive thing, and I think we could offset a lot of the dangers if we focus on helmets,” Reece said.
- For more information about the skateboard raffle, contact Richard Dressler at 745-6280 or the Blue Wallace skate shop at 793-0055.
Bidding opens for skate park City plans $850,000 for project By JIM GAINES, The Daily News, jgaines@bgdailynews.com/783-3242 Tuesday, October 18, 2005 11:11 AM CDT
Plans for a skate park in Bowing Green are moving ahead, with the city taking bids until Oct. 26 for an architect.
Commissioner Brian “Slim” Nash campaigned on the idea of providing a safe site for skateboarders to enjoy their sport, and commissioners included it in their capital projects budget earlier this year.
The city has budgeted $850,000 for design and construction. Nash said that he realizes what a large amount that is.
“Based on my yearly salary, that's a mind-boggling number,” he said.
But he compares it to the price tag for other recent parks, and weighs it against the fact that skate enthusiasts now have only the streets and private property on which to ride.
“There's no question that the amount that we're spending on it is a large sum of money,” Nash said. “But I think that when you compare to other recreational facilities that we have in town, that number is a relative number.
“I think that while it is a large number, I think that it is a reasonable number, given the fact that we don't have any other recreational facilities like this in town.”
Roland Bland Park on Kentucky Street is the proposed site for the park, but no final decision has been made. Other locations mentioned have included Preston Miller Park or near the riverfront. At a recent commission working session, an architect's drawing showed it next to the new city Parks and Recreation building that will go up on Center Street, but none of those locations is set in stone, Nash said.
Nash said he knows some people have raised objections to specific locations, and urges those people to contact him or the city Parks and Recreation Department to contribute to the planning.
“I want to make sure we're putting it in a location in the city that is accessible to those people who are going to use it,” he said.
A city-organized committee has been discussing what features a skate park should have, Nash said. The committee consists of people who use skateboards, inline skates and BMX bikes - not only teenagers, but people in their 20s and 30s, he said.
Shawn Justice, 32, is one member of the committee.
The committee will get more involved in the actual features once an architect is chosen, he said. In the meantime, they've been taking trips to other skate parks in the region to see what features they like.
Justice has skated “as far as I can remember back,” and now has two children that he can introduce to the sport.
“I just really want to see a park here in town, because there's not really a place for them to go,” he said.
Justice drives to Louisville or Nashville, but teenagers who can't go out of town wind up getting run off of local private property, he said.
Perhaps 60 skate parks were built across the country in the 1990s, but in the five years since then that number has doubled, Justice said.
“There is quite a boom going on nationwide,” he said.
Kentucky is one of only seven states that have fewer than 10 skate parks, Justice said. Although several cities are considering them, there are parks now only in Louisville, Lexington and Covington, he said.
A Bowling Green skate park might serve 50 to 100 people a day, and attract skaters who travel to try out various parks, Justice said.
That fits well with the kind of general-use facility Nash is aiming for.
“One of the overall things that the city is looking for is for there to be three levels in the skate park,” serving beginners, intermediate riders and experts, so there will be something for a wide range of potential users, Nash said.
City Parks and Recreation director Ernie Gouvas has said the park could be finished by summer 2006.
Morgantown - Skate park plans mulled By GREG WELLS, The Daily News Thursday, August 11, 2005 12:15 PM CDT
The Morgantown City Council is talking about making changes to its park system.
A name change for the soccer park is definite - it will be named after the first Butler County High School girls' soccer coach, Mike Hayes, a Kentucky National Guard member who was killed in Iraq on July 12.
Mayor Charles Black said renaming the soccer park was an appropriate salute to Hayes, who was killed when a rocket propelled grenade was fired into the Humvee he was riding in.
He was serving with the 617th Military Police Company.
The 29-year-old coach was popular with his players and respected in the community.
Council members also are once again discussing the idea of building a skate park, something Black first suggested in May as a way to accommodate skateboarders.
The proposal seemed to have died at a later meeting when the council voted to only allow skateboarding at the parking lot of the baseball field when games are not going on.
The council also outlawed use of skateboards on city streets and sidewalks at that time.
Black said this week there was information presented to the council from a Hopkinsville business that constructs ramps, rails and other skateboard surfaces.
The council plans to seek cost estimates for the parts necessary to put a skate park together and decide how much land will be needed.
While Bowling Green has set aside $850,000 for developing a skate park, Black said he couldn't yet say how much Morgantown would invest in skateboard recreation.
Skaters turn out for park hearing By Raed Battah, The Daily News Committee to lead search for info, design, location Sunday, July 10, 2005
A steering committee charged with collecting information about the feasibility, design and location of a skatepark in Bowling Green has begun to take shape.
Skateboarders, parents and others interested in the park showed up Saturday morning to hear Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Director Ernie Gouvas give an overview of what it will take to make the park happen.
Since weve never done this before, its a very individual process, Gouvas explained to a room full of supporters at the parks and recreation building on Third Avenue. Each case is unique, so its not a cookie-cutter approach.
The plans mastermind, City Commissioner Brian Slim Nash, was greeted with enthusiastic applause.
Nash reiterated that places to skate are steadily being eliminated, forcing skaters to move from location to location, often to places where skating is restricted. He said it is the local governments job to ensure that someplace is available for skaters to safely practice their sport.
It will take a while to complete this, but if youre patient it will be worth the wait, he told those in attendance.
Gouvas asked for around 10 people to participate in a steering committee that would gather information on designers, architects, engineers, financiers and other players necessary to make the park happen.
Whoever is on the committee must make an active effort to get the opinions of everybody, he said. Its important to identify exceptional facilities, both the good and the bad, to see what we can learn from them. We want to make sure we dont repeat their mistakes in some cases.
The park will go through a design phase and a construction phase, both of which need to be carefully managed and supervised with input from the public and those who would use the park.
Gouvas said one of the next steps would be to send out requests for proposals to about 10 to 15 contractors. These proposals would include the contractors assessment and general design characteristics for their vision of the park. It will also include examples of work theyve done on similar projects.
A general scope of the plan will also need to be more clearly defined, including elements such as how many people will use the park, hours of operation and standards for night use.
The current proposed site for the park is Roland Bland Park, but no final determination has been made. Others have suggested the park be located near the Russell Sims Aquatic Center or possibly near Greenways space close to the Barren RiverGouvas indicated that a preliminary report could make it to the city commission by Halloween, and that the overall project could be completed by May or June 2006, but did not place too much emphasis on those dates.
We want to do it right and we want to do it right the first time, he said. If we have to push it back a month for some reason, then thats what well do.
During a question and answer session, Ken Meridith of the Greenwood Skate Center on Three Springs Road suggested focusing on utility.
Id like to see this project be done in a way that eliminates duplication of certain things like parking and restrooms, he said. We have several things planned for the immediate area like festival grounds, Circus Square and a possible whitewater rafting and kayaking course on the river. Id like to see this project possibly involve those projects as well and create a destination for these types of activities. This could create a cash flow element by drawing outside users and could take the burden of paying for the maintenance of these facilities of Bowling Green residents.
Some in attendance suggested making steering committee progress reports available online. Nash and Gouvas both agreed that something like that was a good idea and likely doable.
Park hours were discussed, with some suggesting the park be open 24 hours. No parks managed by Parks and Recreation are open 24 hours, but Gouvas, who said he favored a 24-hour skatepark, said it is up to Parks and Recreation to decide the parks hours. Nash seemed to support an open park as well.
When you turn off the lights on a facility like this, thats when you invite problems, he said.
Some grants the steering committee may pursue to help fund the project, such as the Tony Hawk Foundation grant, require a park to remain open 24 hours.
Blue Wallace skate store owner Troy Reece said the meeting was productive.
Im pleased with the meeting, said Reece, who plans on being part of the steering committee.
Weve had conversations with skaters about getting local input, he said. Skating is an individual sport and skaters have different styles. What may work in California may not work here.
Reece said one of the bigger challenges in getting people on board will be overcoming the stereotypes people have about kids and adults who do skating and extreme sports.
Tamela Smith of Bowling Green attended the forum with her daughter, who skates and has friends who skate. She said its good to get the ball rolling on the park.
It was a good start and there is a long way to go build a quality park, she said.
Smith spoke during the forum, saying extreme sports are just as important to some kids as baseball or football.
Even though it not a mainstream sport, it is a sport and these kids need someplace to do this, she said. We talk about physical activity being important and not wanting our kids staying at home sitting around playing video games.
Gouvas said the forum was helpful in preparing for future planning steps.
It was great, he said. Everyone here was for it. We got a good cross-section of people giving input, and thats what counts. There were kids, parents and business people.
Brad Ausbrooks said hes got a good idea of whats necessary to make the park happen now.
As far as the overview, it was really straightforward and touched on all the right points, he said. I think weve got some good level heads on board people who want to see this done right.
Ausbrooks said he plans on being on the committee and is prepared for the considerable amount of work that lay ahead.
I dont sleep anyway, so Im ready, he said. Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700
City finishes 2006 budget By Jim Gaines, The Daily News New public works center, 14th Avenue realignment included Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Hurrying to finish a few pieces of business before its fiscal year ends June 30, the Bowling Green city commission met in special session Tuesday afternoon.
Three of the five items passed were relatively minor, but two have been discussed heavily.
The citys $84 million budget passed 4-1, with Commissioner Brian Strow casting the only vote against it, as he did when the budget got the first of two required rounds of approval at the regular commission meeting June 21.
He voted against it as a gesture of disapproval that the city did not include further funding to buy land for the Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center on a downtown site, he said. That omission leaves property owners on the block between Sixth Avenue, the current Seventh Avenue, the planned course of an extended Seventh Avenue, and College Street uncertain as to when they can expect to be bought out. Commissioners have estimated that the city will need to spend $1 million to $1.5 million on the land.
Major projects that were funded in this years budget include $3.1 million for development of Circus Square; $1.25 million for road projects approved by the Bowling Green-Warren County Metropolitan Planning Organization; $250,000 for Southwest Parkway right-of-way acquisition; $500,000 for a new community center; $850,000 for a skate park and $50,000 for a dog park.
Also included are an additional $1 million for health insurance, due to more claims by city employees; and $880,000 more than last year for participation in the state retirement system.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a financing package for designing and building the first two blocks of a three-block realignment of 14th Avenue, and moving the Public Works Departments operations center to a new, larger site off Lovers Lane.
The College-to-Kentucky Street portion of the road realignment is expected to cost $400,000. The final block, between Kentucky and Adams streets, is anticipated to come later.
On part of the course of the current 14th Avenue, Western Kentucky University plans to build part of its Greek Village of fraternity and sorority houses, so it needs the old road right-of-way. In exchange, the university is giving the city right-of-way for the new road, all of which it owns, controls or is buying.
Commissioners have previously approved a resolution urging the Bowling Green-Warren County Metropolitan Planning Organization to permanently drop any plans to extend 14th Avenue from College Street to Cabell Drive to create a new link with U.S. 31-W By-Pass.
But the three-block realignment of the existing 14th Avenue has also drawn opposition from residents of the historic College Hill neighborhood. They argue that at least part of the realignment is unneeded, and would only encourage more cars to come down College Street.
State Street resident Eric Reed, who has led much of the opposition to 14th Avenue changes, asked commissioners yesterday for an update on changing plans for the road realignment. At the June 21 meeting, commissioners requested that Public Works and the roads designers rework the plan to accommodate residents concerns.
Reed asked commissioners to make their approval of the financing package contingent on redesign of the road realignment. Mayor Elaine Walker responded that a final design, and then approval for construction, will have to come back to the city commission for votes anyway.
Public Works Director Emmett Wood said its a foregone conclusion that the originally proposed realignment design wont be resurrected.
Wood said that his department met with designers and several other interested parties for that purpose last week.
In that meeting were developed four options for this situation, he said.
Reed asked him to describe the various proposals, but City Clerk Katie Schaller cautioned that since Tuesdays gathering was a special called meeting, state law requires commissioners to stick strictly to the announced agenda items.
The four proposals for changing the 14th Avenue realignment plan will be described at the start of the regular commission meeting July 5, but that will be only a public presentation, with no action by commissioners.
Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700
Forum scheduled to get skaters input on park By Robyn Minor, The Daily News Saturday, July 09, 2005
After the citys allocation of $850,000 toward development of a skatepark, Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department is taking steps to involve the public in its planning.
The department is hosting a forum at 11 a.m. today to discuss the matter at the parks and rec office, 225 Third Ave.
Im definitely going to be there, said Troy Reece, who owns the Blue Wallace skate store. The money has been approved; now they are going to decide who is going to build it and get some ideas from skaters about what they want at a skatepark. Some of us old people have actually been talking to some builders to get some information together.
But building the park isnt just a matter of using such information, according to Ernie Gouvas, parks director.
Weve got to talk about the process ... the statutes and procurement procedures, Gouvas said. We cant just go and pick out a park we like and get their designers.
Gouvas said designers will have to make proposals to the city, the city will have to further explore the usage of the park and scout a location, and most importantly, get input from skaters.
At 35, Reece said he doesnt skateboard a lot anymore, but easily recognizes its popularity here.
We have trouble keeping skateboards in stock, he said of his Scottsville Road store. There is a lot more skateboarding in Bowling Green than people realize. Its kind of underground; they do it at night when businesses are closed.
Reece estimates he sells nearly 25 skateboards a week.
Gouvas said a survey conducted during the winter of 200 households showed that 25.6 percent would use such a park the ninth highest need. Extrapolated out, thats about 5,600 households.
Reece believes skaters want the park to include concrete bowls or pools, named because they used to be empty swimming pools used by skaters, and some street elements such as curbs and rails.
The things they are doing now on the street and getting in trouble for, Reece said.
City Commissioner Brian Slim Nash lobbied the commission for inclusion of the funding.
He said Friday it was something that many people had requested of him.
They were of a non-voting age and ... those are the people who often get overlooked when it comes to government, Nash said. Thats not right because government isnt just set up for those people who can vote.
Nash said society as a whole is systematically taking away places for people to skateboard.
Thats something that private property owners have a right to do, he said.
But we have an obligation to provide them with a safe place to ... recreate, Nash said.
While a location for the park hasnt been chosen yet, Gouvas said Roland Bland Park is looking promising because of its proximity to downtown, where most of the skateboarding is taking place now, and there is space.
You just need about 10,000 square feet about the size of two tennis courts, he said.
As for how far $850,000 will go, Gouvas said: I told the commission they could build a park for whatever they want to spend.
Louisvilles skatepark cost more than $4 million, while one in Nashville that Gouvas said was a nice park cost just about $750,000.
It just depends on how big you want to make it and the challenges you want to include, Gouvas said. If you can do it at an existing park, you can save on costs.
Nash said because the city has committed a significant amount of money toward the project, he plans on being as hands on as they will allow me to be. I dont skateboard and probably havent in 15 or 20 years. ... But I feel obligated to make sure that its a park thats going to be used.
Nash said hes confident it will be used as long as it is designed and constructed properly.
Gouvas said the city has developed a very preliminary timetable for the project based on a scientific wild ... guess.
He expects that a committee could have proposals for design in hand by October and bids for construction in November. Construction could begin in December and be completed about June, provided the winter weather is not too bad. Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700
Letters June 9 by his actions Thursday, June 09, 2005 The Daily News
If we build a new skatepark, lets do it right
Let me be the first to say thank you to City Commissioner Brian Nash for pushing forward on a local skatepark.
When I first arrived here in 1999, I was one of the four-wheelers that this kind of effort is aimed at. But the only facilities available at the time were at Basil Griffin Park, and (in the words of a 19-year-old skate punk) they seriously sucked.
Skateboarding has a special draw to disaffected youth, and part of that draw is making a sport or, better yet, an art out of something that was once only useful in a mostly utilitarian sense: waxing up a sidewalk to make a slick surface for killer 5-0 grinds and massive backside lipslides, for instance.
For this park to work, it has to be built solidly that means no cheap plastic boxes or aluminum rails. Use a lot of concrete, a lot of solid iron. And please, please hire a designer whos done this sort of thing before and whose work isnt sitting unused somewhere as a monument to ineptitude.
And last but not least, no neon spray paint or cheesy slogans with the word extreme on them. Trust me.
Justin Shepard
Bowling Green
City budget taking shape By Rachel Adams, The Daily News Skate park in, Girls Inc. out after long talks Sunday, June 05, 2005
Some Bowling Green organizations were denied funding and others learned the meaning of ask and ye shall receive at a daylong special work session of the Bowling Green City Commission on Saturday.
Because commissioners are starting from scratch on the fiscal year 2006 budget under the new zero-based method, they spent a week in late May listening to budget proposals from government and nonprofit groups. During the work session, commissioners Brian Slim Nash, Brian Strow, Mark Alcott and Delane Simpson, and Mayor Elaine Walker, reviewed and discussed each organizations request.
Girls Inc., which requested $10,000 from the city for the first time this year, was denied their request after the commission decided it would be risky to help fund an organization eligible for United Way funding. Each commission member expressed deep regret in their inability to help, but the vote was a unanimous no, since similar organizations could also request funding from the city if Girls Inc.s request was granted.
City funding for Prime Time Events was cut entirely, Operation PRIDEs request was trimmed by nearly $27,000 to $24,900, and the Downtown Redevelopment Authority received $106,200 nearly $10,000 less than it requested. The Bowling Green Chamber Orchestra, another agency requesting city assistance for the first time, was denied their $25,000 request, but was granted $10,000.
The commission voted to maintain funding at the fiscal year 2005 level for the Bowling Green-Warren County Area Airport Board, the Warren County Primary Care Center, the Bowling Green Human Rights Commission, the Capital Arts Alliance, and the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force.
The Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society, which had asked for a 28 percent increase from the commission, was granted its full amount an $18,460 increase after Strow praised shelter Executive Director Lori Hare for her ability to stretch dollars.
The city is partially responsible for the crowded conditions at the shelter, Walker added. Since the city began handling animal control in 2004, quality of life for Bowling Greens stray animals has improved, but the shelter has quickly become full.
The Bowling Green-Warren County Welfare Center and Bowling Green-Warren County Emergency Management Services were each given a $10,000 increase over last years budget, and Hobson House received an additional $5,000.
A final reading of the fiscal 2006 budget is scheduled for June 21.
Capital improvement projects
The board voted to spend $6.1 million on capital improvements in Bowling Green: $3.1 million for the Circus Square Project, $250,000 to help acquire land for the Southwest Corridor Project, $1.25 million to Metropolitan Planning Organization, and $1.4 million to Parks and Recreation.
The Metropolitan Planning Organization money would be used for Phase II of the 14th Avenue realignment project, land acquisition for a curb improvement project on Broadway Street, and to design an extension for Shive Lane.
The commission trimmed some money from the Southwest Corridor Project to give Parks and Recreation enough to build a skate park for local teens. Nash spoke in favor of the skate park, but only if the commission would allot enough money to the project to make it into something local teens would actually use.
You give me $850,000, Ill fund-raise myself, he said.
Following a vote, $850,000 was designated toward a skateboard and rollerblade park, $500,000 toward the completion of a new community center, and $50,000 to fence in a five-acre area of land and make it into a dog park.
I feel like a kid at Christmas, Nash said, smiling. Ill start knocking on doors.
27th payroll
City employees are paid biweekly, which means there are generally 26 pay periods each year at a cost of $26.1 million. However, every so often there comes a year with 27 pay periods. Since fiscal year 2006 has 27 pay periods, the commissioners faced an additional $1 million in payroll expenses.
The last pay period in fiscal 2005, which ends June 30, is June 13 to 26, said acting Chief Financial Officer Jeff Meisel. Although employees would receive their checks July 1, which is the first day of fiscal year 2006, the payroll amount could be booked in fiscal year 2005, using $1.2 million in reserved funds, Meisel said.
The commission unanimously supported Meisels idea.
Pay plan
A second opinion is needed for the results of a 2003 market study designed to bring Bowling Green employees salaries on par with employees in other metro areas, Nash said. While he and other commission members fully support paying their employees market wages, Nash isnt sure he accepts the companys findings, he said.
Nash isnt alone in his skepticism, Alcott said. The study compared Bowling Green to cities such as Louisville; Evansville, Ind.; Franklin, Tenn.; and Lexington, which doesnt seem to be a fair comparison, he said.
All their tax rates are higher than what we have, Alcott said. That might be the way a market studys done, but it doesnt seem to me to be correct.
The cities may be larger, said Bowling Green Human Resources Director Michele Tolbert, but theyre the areas with which Bowling Green competes for job candidates. The reason the study was done in the first place was that the city was losing valuable employees to cities with higher-paying jobs, she said.
To say youre just going to query people in the city of Bowling Green, thats just not effective, she said.
Many employees were given raises at the beginning of 2005, Nash said, but some are still not up to their market value. The commission voted to bring those employees up to market standards, and to give a 3 percent cost of living raise to all employees.
An independent firm may be hired to give a second opinion on the 2003 study, Walker said. Any decisions on further raises will be postponed until the commission has a chance to look over the data. Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700
Team Inertia by Kim Mason Amplifier March 2005
Aggressive inline, like its cousin, skateboarding, has always maintained a precarious public image. Often identifiable by their punk/urban inspired fashions such as baggie pants, tattoos, piercings and colored or unique hairstyles, enthusiasts of the sport are frequently perceived as antiestablishment troublemakers. The fear evoking stereotypes coupled with concerns about liability and property damage have led to many attempts to eliminate the practice of the sport completely.
Regardless, in 2004, after several years in the planning, local high school student John Ritter formed Team Inertia Clothing, Bowling Green’s first and only competitive aggressive inline team and clothing line. Fellow skaters and WKU Students Brad Anthony and Will Sowers soon signed on as partners. Recently the three have begun working with Colleen Speers to form the offshoot company Inertial Girl. Booth clothing lines feature the artwork of Colleen’s older brother, 17 year old graphic designer, Jordan Speers (www.renderosity.com type woodhurst in artist’s name). Many of the apparel graphics are renderings by Speers of Ritter’s original insignia design for the company.
In addition to the owners, skaters for Team Inertia include Chad Anthony, Will Rosedell, Josh Whitfield, Robert Motter and Jeremy Toney. Taylor Popham and Tim Small serve as both skaters and filmographers, collecting footage for the first of several videos the team plans to release. Roger Langley, Colleen Speer, Kai Parkerson and Tony Woodland are “flow” members of the team, more inexperienced members, compensated with product. Chad Anthony is working on a website for the team at inertiaskate.website.curzwebdesign.com. Jim Winn, WKU Photojournalism student who took the pictures shown here will also be documenting some of the team’s endeavors with his photography.
Skating is a major part of each of their lives and they hope the team and the clothing will contribute to their up and coming sport. Sowers credits skating as a “good way to connect”, explaining that when you go on vacation and meet other rollerbladers you immediately are friends.” All members agree. Chad Anthony also credits skating as a source of satisfaction and personal self improvement.
The team is very enthusiastic, believing that due to the newness of the sport, involvement is still on the ground floor and anyone could emerge on top in the next few years. They told the Amplifier that unlike skateboarding, which has many participants in the area, most of the aggressive inline skaters in Bowling Green were part of Inertia. Several of Inertia’s members have begun to make their mark on aggressive circuits - Sowers and Brad Anthony garnishing 2nd place at BGSFA events, Motter 2nd Place for best overall at KY Battle, Whitfield taking first at KY Battle and Best Trick at Music City Madness, and Rosedell winning best overall 1st Place at Ho Ho Ho Skate Festival, Atlanta and 3rd Place at 6th Ave, Nashville. Chad Anthony has also organized several street skate events in Bowling Green. He said there was a “...huge turnout, mostly from Indiana, Ohio, Louisville, Lexington and Nashville.” Types of aggressive inline events include: Street or Park or skating around a park with various obstacles performing tricks for a period of time; Vert or jumping into a half pipe and launching themselves in the air to perform tricks; and Real Street or best trick competitions held on city streets.
Inertia and Inertia girl were both premiered last month in the trade show portion of the Bitter Cold Showdown competition at Vertigo skatepark in Ohio. Booth lines sold more than half their inventory at the show and arrangements were made for Skate Pile, one of the largest aggressive vendors, to carry the clothing in their stores and online. Several team members were unable to attend or were too preoccupied with marketing the clothing to enter the competition itself, however skate team member Chad Anthony made it to the semifinals, being one of a handful of skaters that day that landed a “sweat stance” or “backside shotgun” on the handrail.
After the showdown, the team got an early start so they could stop in Cincinnati and skate the park there before returning home. Having a place to skate and hone their skills has been an ongoing problem for the team, who recently lost their favorite locations when Western banned roller skates as well as skateboards and trick bikes. The ban was initiated following damage done to the Guthrie Bell Tower benches for which these groups were held responsible. Area skaters and others who saw the damage, such as Greenwood Skate Center owner Ken Merideth, contend that the chips and cracks had to be created by a vandal with chipping instruments such as chisels and did not resemble the striations sometimes created on the edges of structures used to grind on. Grinding, one of the basic tricks of aggressive inline, biking and skateboarding involves jumping onto and sliding along the edge of various structures like benches, railings and curbs. Though the switch from metal to plastic grinding plates has greatly reduced the potential for damage, the friction generated will eventually scrape paint or scratch the surface, much as rubbing sandpaper on wood does. And then there’s the liability.
Aggressive or Extreme Sports are often defined as a dangerous adrenaline rush. But as with any new sport, technology and equipment standards have evolved to greatly reduce the risk factor. In fact, though the first inline was patented in 1819, it wouldn’t be until the 80’s that aggressive inlining would be feasible.
Skating in general had a shaky start with regard to safety. The earliest reports of a roller skate design were of a man in Holland affixing wooden spools to his shoes to simulate ice skating in the summer, the spools were positioned in a line. The publics first view of skating came when Joseph Merlin, inventor and instrument maker attempted to introduce his invention to society at a masquerade ball in 1760. He skated around a ballroom playing a violin, when according to a newspaper of the day “not having provided the means of retarding his velocity or commanding his direction, he impelled himself against a mirror of more than 500 Pounds value, dashed it to atoms, broke his instrument to pieces and wounded himself severely “
The mishap would set the sport back nearly a century. Another inline would be patented in 1819, but it wouldn’t be until the quad skate by James Plimpton was patented in 1863 that the public would embrace skating as a pastime. Though improved inlines made short appearances in 1905 and 1966, the quad would rule the industry until 1980 when two hockey players would buy the rights to an old model and found the company Rollerblade. The brand name has become synonymous with inline skating. In 1991, INLINE, the first aggressive skaters’ magazine would be introduced. In 1995 the Aggressive Skaters Association formed and the inaugural X Games were held in the USA. 1997 saw the growth of inline skating explode into a billion dollar, international industry with estimates of American participants being as high as 30 million and ranging in age from toddlers to the elderly. Some dubbed it the fastest growing sport in history.
According to Ken Merideth, local rink owner, the key factor after steering capacity was the advent of composite materials to make the skates lighter and reduce friction. “My first pair of inlines weighed 40 lbs” he told the Amplifier. The Rollerblade also made street skating for fitness, recreation or transportation safer, as the wheels traverse debris and uneven surfaces much like a tank’s wheels. A small pebble can completely lock up a pair of quads. Nonetheless aggressive vert quad and jazz skating, a combination of dance and gymnastics on quads do exist.
Merideth is sympathetic with the plight of aggressive skaters in finding a practice ground. According to skatepark activist Heidi Lemmon, skateparks are the number one request to park systems officials, but are very difficult to establish. She, like many believe that the outlaw image of the participants are a major factor in the reluctance. Merideth agrees, but believes the situation is starting to change, just as the perception of motorcyclists has been completely altered over the last few decades.
All of the members of Team Inertia started skating in the local rink and as they got older joined inline hockey teams, only more recently advancing into aggressive techniques. Merideth had the chance to see them grow up. “They may march to a different drummer, but they are talented and athletic. Team sports aren’t the answer for every child”.
Will Sowers of Inertia claims that far from the often assumed connection between skaters and drug use, he believes that the sport played an important role in keeping he and his friends from following the path of others they had grown up with. Merideth agrees, pointing out the physical conditioning necessary to participate in a sport which requires such dexterity, coordination, stamina and ability to recover. Skating is also a lifelong recreation.
Meredith also believes the only solution for them is a city or county run park. “It’s cost prohibitive for any private business to do because of the insurance, but the City and County have Sovereign Immunity, meaning they can’t be sued.” Currently, the members of Inertia are traveling to Nashville 4-5 nights a week to skate at 6thAve or Rocketown and hang out at the Asphalt Beach, an inline store and school.
In 1999 for a few years Warren County had a skatepark. Though Warren County Parks and Recreation, with Phil Moore’s encouragement provided land for the park it was a youth organized effort. Skateboarders Nathan Curry and David Mender founded the Bowling Green Skate a Freestyle Association which enjoyed a membership of 170 at the time of the July 1999 Amplifier interview. Inline skaters, skateboarders and bikers solicited donations from supporters like Hillvue Heights Church and local businesses and then constructed the obstacles in the park out of materials they could afford such as wood. By all accounts the park was very well used by athletes in the region. But as the guiding members began to graduate and relocate or become preoccupied with their education and careers, the next generation of volunteers was unable to continue the ongoing efforts necessary to run the park and maintain the obstacles which by then were in need of complete renovation.
Most of the members of Team Inertia were just discovering aggressive inline as the park was in its last season. Members of the team have been in contact with Phil Moore as well as other representatives of the County and City about rebuilding the park. They, like Merideth did not believe that a skatepark was in the near future, and both were pleasantly surprised after hearing Phil Moore told the Amplifier that WC Parks & Rec would begin a new skatepark in the spring and would be responsible for insuring that it was properly created and maintained, but added that the success of the park would be dependent on volunteers and supporters. Merideth’s reactions was “Phil Moore has his finger on the pulse of what recreation needs are in our county and he and his staff have done and outstanding job... Mike Buchanon has also been a driving force to work with for funding and prioritizing parks.”
The future looks bright for Team Inertia and the other aggressive sport enthusiasts in the area. With the support of the community these young people may yet have a safe environment to hone their skills and enjoy their sport. Team Inertia would like to bring competitions to town as well as tour regional competitions and parks, marketing their apparel and videos.
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