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Posted on Mon, Oct 5, 2009 : 12:40 p.m.

How many city officials does it take to fill a party bus?

By Jordan Miller

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I don't know what you did this weekend, but I bet it didn't involve riding a party bus, powered by fryer grease, to a skatepark in Farmington Hills with a bunch of city officials.

Ha! I win.

On Saturday, the Ann Arbor Skatepark Action Committee (of which, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a member) took - among others - Park Advisory Commission vice-chair John Lawter, city park planner Amy Kuras, green building consultant John Barrie, and city council member Mike Anglin, D-5th Ward, on the BTB Party Bus to visit Riley Skatepark in Farmington Hills.

Coffee and cookies were also served.

I have to admit that I had this vision of the rowdy bunch of us really partying on that bus. Lil Wayne bumping, politicians raising the roof, Cristale poppin'. It would have been sweet. Oh well. It was really productive.

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Productive!

But we did get this:

City Council member Mike Anglin (D-5th Ward) keeps it real while Ann Arbor Skatepark Action Committee member Chris Cassell supervises. Photo by Kristie Brablec.

And isn't that worth a thousand bottles of Cristale? Or at least four?

Plus, the Ann Arbor Skatepark had a good showing of skaters, identifiable both by their Ann Arbor Skatepark t-shirts and by their median age, which was three times that of most of the other skaters using the park.

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THEM.

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US.

The goal of the trip was to show people what a great skatepark, like the one the committee is raising funds to build in Ann Arbor, looks like. And to test the committment of our officials and city employees by making them stand around outside on a really cold, wet Saturday.

There was an impressive level of media coverage, both by myself (I rode on the bus and ate two cookies), and Dave Askins from The Ann Arbor Chronicle, who rode his bike there (remember, this was in Farmington Hills) in the rain and had a very fancy camera. Okay, I admit it, he totally out-bloggered me on this one.

This event was just a pre-cursor to the big one coming up: A free, public design session with nationally-known skatepark designer Wally Hollyday on October 18. The meeting will be a workshop format, with hands-on participation by local skaters, interested community members and city staff. Wally Hollyday will present a visual representation that includes images and illustrations of skate parks he has created. More info to come, or check out a2skatepark.org.

Jordan Miller is the lead blogger for The Deuce. She can be reached via E-mail: A2jordanmiller [at] gmail.com, or on Twitter: _jordanmiller_

Comments

Trevor Staples

Thu, Oct 8, 2009 : 6:31 a.m.

Ryan, thanks for the shout out to Bay City. We have skated there, and consider it one of the better skateparks in Michigan. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a haul from Ann Arbor. A great resource for finding skateparks is Concrete Disciples. They have a list of EIGHTY Michigan skateparks. Right now, Ann Arbor is in the RIP section of the site, but soon we'll be at the top of the list! http://www.concretedisciples.com/skateparksdb/display_state.php?state=MI

Castanza

Mon, Oct 5, 2009 : 8:43 p.m.

A skate park built on top of the soon to come 5th Ave. underground parking structure would be an awesome spot! Such an attraction in the center of downtown would be great for civic engagement. If city officials want to boost the vitality of downtown, this would be a slam dunk. Plus we should of had one 20 years ago!

Jordan Miller

Mon, Oct 5, 2009 : 8:10 p.m.

Catherine, you're more than welcome to use it if you credit me every single time. As in, "Karl was completely out-bloggered (courtesy Jordan Miller) by Joan."

Catherine Juon

Mon, Oct 5, 2009 : 6:21 p.m.

Out bloggered is a great phrase (ok if I use it? :-), but you're clearly holding your own. This is great writing & photography - you tell a vivid, informative, fun to read story. Kudos!

C.Eagle

Mon, Oct 5, 2009 : 4:35 p.m.

This is a great park! I hope we have a similar facility in AA soon. I've been taking my son and his friends there since it opened in July. On any weekend day there will be 50+ skaters. I hope the funding to support the park can be found soon. This type of a facility will benefit our city. In addition to the benefit to the skaters, competition events will attract visitors and out of town Moms/Dads bringing their kids to skate will shop/spend $$ in AA while their kids are here.

Jordan Miller

Mon, Oct 5, 2009 : 1:34 p.m.

See, Dave may have out-bloggered me, but I scooped him! By the way, the URL for the BTB Party Bus site is http://www.btbpartybus.com.

Ryan J. Stanton

Mon, Oct 5, 2009 : 12:35 p.m.

Love the picture of Mike Anglin on the skateboard! If the committee is doing its due diligence to check out other skate parks, I hope it has seen the Infinity Skate Park in Bay City. It's more impressive in person than this video makes it look, and I have never seen any less than a dozen skaters at any given time out enjoying it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulO6P46DOX8