Here is your replacement for OP Park in Orange Park FL

I don't think the town planners in Orange Park are actually smoking crack, but after seeing this proposed redesign of the park, it would certainly seem that way. Why would they take an already great looking park that is built by skaters to last for years, and replace it with what looks like a rejected 'build your own park' from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2? Apparently the budget is the reason for this barren wasteland of a skatepark design. According to Jason Baldessari of Spohn Ranch (whose logo appears on the above image):

"The design you saw that was put together for Orange Park is a direct product of the available budget for the available area. From what we were told the existing ramps were going to be scraped but if the park is in good shape that is a whole different story."

So basically this means whomever contracted the designer of the new proposed park intends to scrap the thousands of dollars worth of safe, skateable, built-to-last skate ramps and obstacles currently at the park that you have all worked so hard to get, and replace it with what looks like what Optimus Prime might crap out after a small meal. Kind of a slap in the face, isn't it? I mean sure, the small collection of tiny obstacles might be decent in quality, but seriously - that picture looks like a collection the Lego blocks that got lost behind the couch.

I'm having a hard time coming up with contact information for the people responsible for this, but here is what I have-

Town Manager:
John W. Bowles
Phone: 278-3018 (Town Hall)

Orange Park Town Clerk:
opclerk@townoforangepark.com

Please contact these people and try to find out what is going on. Let them know what you think. Let ME know what you think. Thanks.


On a final note - Check out the Spohn Ranch website to see what the designer is capable of. They are by NO MEANS the bad guy here. Just look at what is possible, and think about how you would apply that to the park design. Check out what they built at UNF:

On my soapbox RE: FBC Downtown

Have you ever been hassled by members of First Baptist Church of downtown Jacksonville, just for skating past the church on the sidewalk? I have. Numerous times. Apparently they own the city blocks and all the sidewalks around the church. Weird, huh? Check out what I read today about the church via jacksonville.com. Basically a blogger critical of the church was investigated via a subpoena to Google. A detective, who was a security detail for the church, basically broke the law and outed this guy. The article also illustrates some slanderous words used by the pastor of the church to criticize this blogger. From the blog in question:

My initial comment on the article: how sad to read the depths that Mac Brunson has sunk to. A pastor, a man supposedly called by God Himself to love and shepherd Christians, that he would unequivocally declare to a news reporter that I, one of his sheep until just recently, am "obsessive compulsive", and that I am "not stable at all", and the real humdinger that "What you're dealing with here is sociopath". Mac suddenly knows my mental state, when he has never met me, my wife, or my kids. Not one single conversation with the man and he declares me to be a sociopath. People who know me at FBC Jax and my new church and elsewhere know this is not true and just a pathetic attempt by Mac to attack the credibility of one of his critics. The sad truth is that Mac telling a news reporter this lie about one of his sheep speaks more to Mac's lack of character and lack of a pastor's heart than it does my mental state. Thank you, pastor, who never met me or my wife or my kids - for lying about me to Jeff Brumley - but I do forgive you, brother.

Sure, you might say this has nothing to do with skateboarding. But I'll tell you this: I skateboard downtown regularly. I hang out downtown regularly, and the only thing I have ever seen come from FBC is bullshit regulation due to the church's stranglehold on the city, and getting kicked off a SIDEWALK for not looking the right way. If you want to know why there isn't more cool stuff downtown, here is your reason. Because FBC is downtown. They ran off the Film industry back in the day, and they haven't stopped keeping people out since. So here is what I have to say to First Baptist Church: Until you start publicly doing something positive for the community you reside in, that community is going to continue to look down upon you. Right now, it's looking like you'd rather not associate with the people in your neighborhood. And god knows they don't want to associate with you.

Another Sad Loss for the North Florida Skate Community

I can't say I didn't see this coming, but I dreaded it and I hoped it never would anyway. Sadly, Board City in Orange Park is on it's way out. Board City has always been my 'Home Shop', I bought my first real Skateboard there almost 20 years ago and I've been friends with most employees of the place from one point or another. From a post Lance made on Myspace this morning: 

Sadly, most of you are aware of how bad the economy has been over the last several months, and it has screwed with everyone. In our little world of skateboarding, it has really hurt. Recently, we have been doing everything that we can to try to keep the shop afloat in hopes that the economy would pick back up, and we could get back to focusing on making skating in Jacksonville that much better. Instead, things have gotten progressively worse. We know that all of you value every penny you have right now, so we understand you going to online stores and buying cheap blanks to stretch your money. To those of you who have shelled out the extra to support core local shops that actually give back to the community, we truly thank you. You guys are the people who made us do this in the first place. Regrettably, we have come to a point where we are about out of options to stay in business. So we wanted to thank everyone for all of the support that Board City has been shown for the last twenty-three years, and invite you to come out for one last sale while we start the heartbreaking task of closing our doors. Until we are sold out or kicked out of our shop, all clothing and shoes are now half off. We will still try to offer a good selection of decks and other such stuff while we are going through this process. If you have any questions or concerns, or maybe a butt load of money you want to throw our way, feel free to hit us up. 904-272-6996.

Thank you again for all of the awesome memories you have given us!