CHARLES  RIVER  PARKLANDS  UPDATE
April 2002
Archives—Table of Contents

Kickflips On The Charles

Perhaps "Walking The Dog" and "Multiple 360s" are foreign to your vocabulary. Skateboards and rollerblades might not be found in the trunk of your car. But legions of Boston and Cambridge kids search our city for rails, ramps, and pipes. An initiative of the Charles River Conservancy to make use of a challenging site under the newly constructed Zakim Bridge has skateboarders buzzing and community leaders smiling.

Looking forward to the completion of the Big Dig, the CRC hopes to transform part of the "New Basin" (east of the Science Museum) into a major attraction for kids throughout the Greater Boston area. Park supporters like Boston's Mayor Menino are ready to help break ground.

The movement for community skate parks that began in California and other western states is coming east, and Greater Boston can't build enough facilities to meet the demand. A skate park in the New Basin would serve athletes from Charlestown, East Cambridge, Somerville, and the North End. The proximity of the site to public transportation (Community College, Science Park, North Station, and Lechmere MBTA stops are all within walking distance) would make the facility available to skateboarders and in-line skaters from throughout Greater Boston.

Eager to create a venue with more than the basic riding features, the CRC is working with skateboarding ace Vanik Hacobian, a professional from Dorchester. Vanik will help with design considerations to involve artists that will make the Charles River skate park both a state-of-the-art facility and a visually striking addition to the Charles River Parklands.

In coming months, the CRC will continue to work with planners from the MDC, Central Artery (CA/T) and landscape architects to secure the best site for a new facility. The Conservancy is also in contact with neighborhood groups to engage skate park advocates.

Happily, the project combines two independent initiatives. First, it continues the work of local sports advocacy groups such as the "Kids on Wheels" student project started at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. It also draws on ideas generated a few years back at the Radcliffe Seminars in a student project designed to make use of marginal urban areas deemed inappropriate for more traditional use. Given the growing need for good skating areas and proposed park locations, the combination seems ideal.

For more information, please contact the CRC office staff at crc@thecharles.org with suggestions.

Charles River Parklands is published by The Charles River Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the rehabilitation of the Basin parklands of the Charles River.

• Back to this issue's table of contents
• Newsletter Archives - Table of Contents

Email: crc@thecharles.org

 
© 2002, The Charles River Conservancy.