On June 5th the City of Bethlehem held their first public meeting to unveil the design for the Bethlehem Skateplaza myself, Erich Hornung, Chad Shaner and Phil Chadbourn had been working on over the past few months. The Mayor, Ralph Carp- head of Parks and Rec, members of the architectural firm Simone Collins, who are contracted to design the rest of the Bethlehem Greenway and many members of the community attended the meeting. We were given a rundown on what the Bethlehem Greenway Project is and where the skateplaza falls into the big picture. The skateplaza- not a skatepark is meant to be a replica of various street skatespots from around the globe- Barcelona, China, SF, LA, NY and so on. A skateplaza is appelaing to most skaters and riders becuase that’s the terrain we don’t have everyday access to. If we wanted to skate a transition park we can take a short drive out to Sayerville but if we wanted to skate Love Park style ledges- that would be tougher. The plaza style park was also appealing to the City becuase it would cut costs and also be visually appealing even to people who don’t skateboard. The plaza will look- well, like a plaza. To make a long story short, the City loves the plan and fully backs it. We didn’t have any opposition at the meeting and now we’re in a position to move forward with fun raising.
Let me repeat that, WE ARE NOW IN A POSITION TO START FUND RAISING. This project will have to be completely fund raised for- THERE ARE NO CITY TAX DOLLARS BEING TAKEN FOR THIS PROJECT. We raised a $433 at our Grand Re-Opening, $500 at the Backed in Black Griptape Artshow and about $300 in donations in the bin at Homebase and then about $800 in dollars from people using www.Bethlehem-Clusty.com. I have volunteered to help head up the marketting campaign for the skateplaza so we’ll have plenty more ways to get the community involved in this groundbreaking process.
Check out the computer rendered skateplaza plan at Homebase.
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