Mat Hoffman's Action Skate Park

[metro]

I know this topic was discussed awhile back although when it was posted it was not named after Mat Hoffman. I think he deserves recognition since he has kept his roots and money here in OKC. Firstly the Crazy Freakin tour will be at the park next weekend and its free, so show your support as it will be broadcasted on several stations internationally. Two, I found the following info on his website.

May 13-15, 2005- Mat Hoffman's Crazy Freakin' Biker Contest presented by Target Hosted by airing on Fox Sports Net and Fox Fuel networks/Grand Opening of Oklahoma City's Mat Hoffman Action Sports Park.

Future Projects:

Action Sports History/Creative Arts Museum, *placed near the Mat Hoffman Action Sports park. Funds being raised through the Mat Hoffman Foundation.

[metro]

All of you who say there is nothing to do in OKC, here is something different to do and its free! Go show your support so we can continue to land international events. We don't have an ocean so this is one of only a few chances to land international sporting competitions. For more info and schedules click here:

http://www.hsacentral.com/05CFB.cfm

http://okc.gov/query.html?parks/skatepark/index.html

[metro]

Pro skaters may avoid park rule on helmets

By Bryan Dean
The Oklahoman

A helmet requirement at Oklahoma City's new skate park could push a pro skating exhibition to Edmond, organizers said.
The event is sponsored by Fast Forward, a skate shop at Penn Square Mall. Store Manager Amy Lavender said pro street skaters from Team Foundation are scheduled to visit the store June 14 for autographs, followed by a demonstration.

Lavender hoped to hold the exhibition at the Mat Hoffman Action Sports Park of Oklahoma City, 1700 S Robinson. But she met resistance when she took the idea to the Oklahoma City Parks Commission.

Commissioners said they would be reluctant to allow the event if the pro skaters refused to wear helmets. Helmet use is required at the skate park.

Ward 2 Park Commissioner Scott Buxton said he doesn't want the kids who use the park to see the helmet rule violated.

"Regarding professionals, we would hope that they would provide a suitable example," Buxton said. "We're trying to encourage a culture of being safe about using the park."

Low-level tricks
Unlike BMX events or "vert" skating, where skaters do tricks off high ramps, pro street skaters don't typically wear helmets. Their tricks are done low to the ground, off smaller obstacles.

Lavender, whose store sells safety equipment, said she never has seen helmets worn at a pro street skating exhibition.

"I want to protect our kids, too," Lavender said. "We don't encourage amateur people to go out there without a helmet. But when professionals are swimming a triathlon, they don't wear a life vest and floaties."

Lavender said pro street skaters take responsibility for their own safety.

"It's just a level of accuracy and a level of performance that doesn't require a helmet," she said. "We expect the city to respect professionals for what they are and give them the latitude to monitor their own safety gear."

Dan Bibb, who works at Fast Forward and is a member of the regional chain's skate team, said he doesn't think city officials fully understand.

"There is a huge clash," Bibb said. "The whole skateboarding thing in general is kind of an outsider activity."

Bibb said a culture clash is inevitable as the sport moves from its underground roots to the mainstream.

Bibb said many competitions require those under 18 to wear a helmet but allow adults to choose their own gear. He'd like to see the same approach in Oklahoma City.

Buxton acknowledged he knows little about skateboarding and said commissioners are having to learn as they go.

"If we discuss it amongst ourselves and get some leadership from the city council to re-evaluate this, then maybe we'll change our stance," Buxton said. "Right now, I think our position on this is pretty firm."

Lavender said she probably will give up on holding the June event in Oklahoma City and take it to Edmond. The Edmond skate park does not have a helmet requirement but does have signs recommending safety gear.

Earl London, assistant director of Edmond parks, said Edmond officials were worried about opening themselves to liability if they required safety gear.

"If you require it, then you've got to be there to ensure that it is adhered to," London said. "Nationally, we found most skate parks weren't staffed, so the signage was posted like we have as a recommendation."

Wendel Whisenhunt, Oklahoma City parks director, said commissioners were adamant about helmets, and the city's attorneys did not believe such a rule was a liability risk.

Oklahoma City's skate park is open from dawn until 11 p.m. Officials are considering hiring full-time security guards to enforce the helmet rule.

Mayor Mick Cornett said he hasn't been involved in the issue but hopes Lavender's group will continue

[soonerguru]

I was hoping someone would post that article.

This is just another example of the "Oklahoma City mentality" at work. Why would we want to host a national skate competition and show off our cool new skate park?

Geez. The people who run this town have their heads buried so deep in their arses they can almost see the sunlight piercing through their nostrils.

Keep in mind how things work here: pick the right idea, in any scenario, and our trusted city leadership will ALWAYS have the reverse instinct. I believe it's called backwardness, and the term seems to have been invented for these clowns.

This is sad to say, really, because I have been OKC's greatest optimist for more than a decade now, but I'm honestly looking to move when the right career opportunity avails itself. I watched Kelly Ogle tonight and got seriously depressed. He represents the way people really think here with his insipidly uninspired and thorougly uninspiring "My Two Cents" rants.

Think about it: Kelly Ogle represents the way these rubes view the world. I would love to see things change here but after a while you get tired of beating your head against the wall. Why not move somewhere where you can already live the life you want and surround yourself with people who don't need to be brained with a two-by-four to understand simple concepts.

Look at the Stanton Young's abortion with the Hill. This is our future, our present and our past in a nutshell. Pick the wrong decision, and you can count on our trusted leaders to make it, damn near every single time.

[metro]

Yeah, Kelly Ogle can shove it, his my two cents on this topic tonight was a load of well you know. He totally showed how backwards alot of the older leaders in this city think. Its a skater mentality Kelly, don't expect them to be pro-OKC and show up wearing suits and helmets to skate. Oh well, at least Edmond will be getting this other competition since OKC is to ignorant to step in and make an exception for a pro event.

[NewPlains]

unfortunately, I've been all over the place and backwardsness knows no geography. Anywhere you go, there will be people who just don't get it, who have a heavy stake in the status quo, and these are usually the people with the most to lose (ie money, position, power, etc). The sort of lively, interesting local culture that many of us are looking towards always starts underground and then when it hits critical mass, it erupts into the mainstream. Mat Hoffman himself is a perfect example of one of these local misfits who just stuck around, did his own thing against a backdrop of local indifference, and managed to become quietly huge. The Flaming Lips are another example. We aren't at that critical mass yet, but the city is (in many cases dispite itself) creating the sort of infrastructure that could help that along. I've been around long enough to know that this isn't the first oblivious decision made by our city leaders, and it probably won't be the last, but the key here is what's happening where these people aren't working; the exploding local music scene, a nascent underground art scene, shops and resteraunts that not only don't cater to the suburbs, but don't give a pair of dingo's kidneys about what's going on in the suburbs. If Kelly Ogle had any idea what is happening on any given night in this city underneath the radar, he would probably pack up and move to Branson. My fiancee and I aren't from Oklahoma (although I grew up here) and we've both lived in and around "hip coastal cities"-(she's from San Diego, and I went to art school in northern Virginia). We were talking about maybe moving in the future, and it struck us that there isn't anything we would be doing in Seattle or Minneapolis that we can't do right now, right here. This wasn't always the case. I certainly don't have any problem with people who want to move for whatever reason, but personally I want to stay here; I kind of feel like leaving now would be like leaving a movie just as it's getting good. We're at the beginning of a generational change right now; even though this skate park controversy is an example of "business as usual" from the city leaders, can you even imagine this debate 15 years ago? I'm pretty sure that the same city that was hostile to the idea of a new ballpark certainly wouldn't have anything good to say about a massive skatepark.

[soonerguru]

Ol' Kelly always seems so amused with himself. You can almost see the synapses sputtering in their lame attempt to fire as he tries to form a coherent thought. He is a mental midget in a city of wuthering weasels and in-bred good ole boys.

Like most of his local TV brethren and sistren, his existence carries the weight of air. A quick wind gust would scatter all the substance he can muster to the heavens. His vacuity is an embarrasment to the craft of journalism; his editorializing an abomination for anyone who has ever profferred an idea in the public sphere.

I am now relegated to tuning into KOCO, the only "Ogle Free" newscast in the market. Seriously, they ought to put up some billboards and work a campaign around that. No Ogles.

[soonerguru]

Ol' Kelly always seems so amused with himself. You can almost see the synapses sputtering in their lame attempt to fire as he tries to form a coherent thought. He is a mental midget in a city of wuthering weasels and in-bred good ole boys.

Like most of his local TV brethren and sistren, his existence carries the weight of air. A quick wind gust would scatter all the substance he can muster to the heavens. His vacuity is an embarrasment to the craft of journalism; his editorializing an abomination to anyone who has ever profferred an idea in the public sphere.

I am now relegated to tuning into KOCO, the only "Ogle Free" newscast in the market. Seriously, they ought to put up some billboards and work a campaign around that. No Ogles.

[metro]

I second that NewPlains, I strongly encourage you to get involved with our Alliance of Emerging Professionals group. There is a sticky about it in the main forum. As easy as it is too move our age, its even better to be able to be one of the ones that will help reshape this city. many of our members (20 somethings) including myself have run for public office and several are mick cornett's advisors etc. Before to long, we will be in power and will help abolish more of the good old boy networks. You should come join us.

[metro]

come on people go show your support, its today thru Sunday and again its FREE!

[TheImmortal]

ill probably head out there after work tomorrow. how late does it run?

[metro]

It runs until about 11pm, when the park closes , if you click one of the links I posted at the top of this forum it has a schedule of each day if you want to know whats going on at certain times.

[metro]

I went today, it was sweet. We definetely need a ton more locals representing in the stands. Alot of the competitors were from OKC although alot are also from all over the world as well. I was very disappointed in the turnout although the weather became gloomy. I hope the weekend will be more packed for the finals this weekend. My car club will be out there tomorrow showing cars as well. I will post more details and pics about this event soon.

[Decious]

I wouldn't worry about the turnout this afternoon. Work and school were probably to blame. I know I'll be there Saturday and Sunday and so will several of my friends. Thanks for the update Metro.

[floater]

Newplains, you make a great case. There are a cadre of individuals and groups that are making OKC their own. I've also read about the simmering rock music scene OKC boasts, with the Flaming Lips pioneering and groups like the All-American Rejects continuing. I've been around the people who compose the "underground" arts scene, mostly from the Save the Dome effort. And we all know that OKC has a gay community that manages to exist and live their lives well without much intervention from the more conservative forces in this town. The fact that they can do this tells me that OKC is a place where you can be happy. It's just a matter of finding your niche community and developing a stable of talented volunteers and events that get your community to be mainstream contributors to the OKC culture. Just look at the OAR (Oklahoma Association of Rowing, yeah, cute acronym) and what they've done to stimulate interest in rowing.

[NewPlains]

I think that OKC is actually a great place to live if you're sort of on the margins of society, (and I mean this in the "eccentric college kid" or "recent immigrant with a good idea and lots of drive" sense, not the "criminal lunatic" sense) because unlike places like NYC, San Francisco, etc, it's still possible for people not making six figure salaries to have a decent quality of life without having to work 3 jobs and live in a squalid studio apartment. I think that the idea that in order to lure young creative people to your town, you have to have a starbucks and a pottery barn on every other corner is borderline inexplicable. I would personally trade all the pottery barns and yuppie shops in the world for one Saigon Baguette, Aladdin Bookshop or any of the other tiny niche shops and resteraunts that only survive here because of the low rents- those are the real canary in a coal mine for a city in my opinion. When those go away, you end up with something painfully sterile, painfully pleasant, and utterly deadly to civic life.

[floater]

Yes, indeed!

[metro]

Anyhow, back to the skatepark topic, turnout was better on the weekend but still disappointing. I hope Mat will bring the event back next year although he was excited just to be able to bring it to his home town. I'll post pics in my gallery tonight or tomorrow

[soonerguru]

NewPlains,

I completely agree with you regarding the encroachment of chains and corporate owned stores into our increasingly homogenistic society. That being said, there are plenty of the unique, niche stores in the San Frans, New Yorks and Austin's of the world.

For every Saigon Baguette, we have 21 Wal-Marts and 15 Old Navy's here, too.

My biggest gripe about Bricktown is that small, interesting niche stores CANNOT SURVIVE and pay the New York rents being demanded. No little pizza joints, record stores, book stores, etc. Other than large restaurants and clubs, Bricktown is completely, as you put it, sterilized. It's like Disneyland without Mickey Mouse and the rides.

[NewPlains]

I know that those cities have local niche businesses too, but in general I think they are either bigger more established (and more expensive) operations that lack a lot of the charm of their oklahoma equivilents, or they don't last very long because of the competition and high prices. I remember eating very expensive, beautifully presented, and incredibly bland pad thai in lower manhattan at what I had been informed was the "it" resteraunt at the time, wishing I was at Thai House II or Sala Thai here in OKC-that was a key moment in my reevaluation of our fair city. I know that there are plenty of chains here too and I think that's fine, but I think the difference between here and some larger more established cities is that central OKC is still basicly populated by normal people, and isn't, to borrow a phrase, "a honeymoon spot for lawyers in love". A lot of Manhattan is essentially that Main Street Disney feel of Bricktown taken to it's natural extreme, and I can't understand why that's preferable to paying 500 bucks a month and living in an actual community. I think that as Midtown starts to revive, we can turn that into the sort of lively and interesting cultural district that we can't get in bricktown. We already have the art museum and Stage Center at one end and The Paseo and 23rd on the other end, and I'm already seeing interesting businesses starting to go in down there.

[metro]

anyhow, back to topic of Mat Hoffman's skate park, I posted new pics of the event in my gallery, they should be up as soon as the mods approve them

[soonerguru]

but in general I think they are either bigger more established (and more expensive) operations that lack a lot of the charm of their oklahoma equivilents

How much time have you spent in New York, San Fran? If you were in New York, did you make it out of Times Square? There are more interesting niche businesses of every variety and stripe in New York City than about anywhere else on the planet.

Next time you're in town, check out East Village, West Village, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, NoLitA, Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Tribeca, Flatiron and Gramercy Park, and that's just Manhattan. I think you will be very impressed with what you see if you're interested in niche shopping, dining, etc. Trust me on that, and I'm not hatin' on OKC.

[Keith]

.....The Mat Hoffman Skate Park

[metro]

thanks keith, this thread was getting way out of hand. again, check out pics of the event in my gallery

[metro]

Just wanted to remind everyone that Mat Hoffman is confirmed to hold the Crazy Freakin' Biker Tour here in OKC next month. I went to the his website but the info hasn't been updated. Stay tuned for more! In the meantime, check out this.

http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1317234