I want to skate in the bowl!

I'll help dig!

Please dig the bowl out. It is a desirable and necessary piece of the skatepark.

I love to skateboard and there's a perfectly built skateboarding bowl for me to practice my sick maneuvers, bought and paid for with saratoga springs' taxpayer money, right in east side rec park....and it's FILLED WITH DIRT!! PLEASE DIG IT OUT OR LET ME DIG IT OUT.

Interesting thing. The taxpayers are still paying off the bond used to build it. Filled it in because we were told that we the City could not afford to hire "skate guards" at the same time that the mayor is proposing to spend $1.6 million on Waterfront Park.

Seems crazy.

So you and the 7 people that want this fixed, unite as one, and grab some brooms and fix it. If people would take matters into their own hands and volunteer alittle of their own time, there would be alot less complaining, and alot more things getting acomplished.

Thanks for the tip Deb... that's exactly what we want to do and exactly what we are asking to do. Just give us permission to dig it out - we don't want a thing from the city - just permission. Multiple letters have been sent regarding this. We're just trying to follow a process... unlike the city when they decided to fill the bowl.

that's what's being done, hence the comments. thanks for the lame input Deb

It was a huge loss to the local skateboards to have this world class bowl filled in. Shame on the city of Saratoga for allowing this to happen. Give the skaters THEIR bowl back!

Why is there such contempt for skaters? If they would allow volunteers to fix it that would be good. Skaters are not the problem...local government is.

I travel all around the country to skate bowls like that. When ever i see metal ramps like the one at your park i don't even think about stoping, you need to do something about that bowl.

BRING BACK THE BOWL!

If you don't like the fact that the skate bowl has been closed and filled in well you will just have to deal with it. The city can't afford to pay for it to be staffed and insured. Since it's city property they would be held responsible for anything that may happen there. You want to skate then go find another skate park that can afford the safety/insurance costs. Unless you have the money to pay the City's bills then leave them alone.

@PD - there already is a skatepark there that is insured. It doesn't have to be staffed. It isn't staffed now. The city would be held liable if anything happened anywhere in the park... the skatepark, the football field (which is way more dangerous than skateboarding, btw), baseball field, etc. Do you have some inside information? The city isn't telling us a thing... we can't even find someone who will claim responsibility for the decision.

PD - Please check your facts.
1. The entire skatepark has been open, insured, and unstaffed for years. The rest of the skatepark (aside from the bowl) continues to remain open and functioning.
2. The city filled the bowl using taxpayer money. Somehow they found a way to afford that.
3. The bowl was open, insured and unstaffed for years before the city filled it. There were no safety issues nor insurance claims nor lawsuits during that time.

All we ask is that Saratoga follow the model of a free, public skatepark that is practiced in literally thousands of cities and towns across the country. They allowed the bowl to be built, and we have been given literally no explanation for why it has been taken away.

I am not a skateboarder, and I graduated from SSHS over a decade ago, but I do remember how much passion and joy this skatepark brought to my friends and fellow classmates. I do not remember there being any major injuries or problems with security. I remember the dedication, friendships, and brotherships that were solidified there and still remain today. As a mother of two boys I would be more than happy and hope that someday they too can enjoy filling their time with such a productive activity in Saratoga.

a sad site at the Saratoga Springs skatepark

The S.S. skatepark is NY State's first and has steel ramps and a state-of-the-art $30K exercise facility called the "bowl" entirely encircled by a fence. The city suddenly filled the "bowl" with dirt last year with public funds but without public input. @PD - First of all thank you for writing here -- it's great to get another point of view. We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to respond and address each sentence of yours: 1. We have been dealing with it patiently for over a year and we have asked the city for permission to dig out the bowl for free - no response yet. We love the city of S.S. which is why we feel so passionate about improving it by opening an incredible exercise facility available to the surrounding area and tourists as well. 2&4. Money has absolutely nothing to do with it. The city is currently paying the only cost - insurance. For the past 2 years there has been no need for it to be staffed, supervised or maintained besides the cost of filling it with dirt. There have been no known complaints or lawsuits. 3. All concerns about the bowl seem to stem from misinformation and confusion concerning bowl or pool skating. The simple truth is that pool skateboarding is statistically safer than ramp riding. Pool skating is per person actually safer than football or soccer. 5. We do pay the city's bills - they are called taxes. And we are still paying for the bowl in the form of loan payments so please respect the 2004 decision to build the bowl or get out of the way.

I can't believe that there are people out there that are restricting kids from exercising, building self esteem, or having fun. Do these people realize that they are encouraging kids to stay indoors and play video games or possibly cause trouble? There is something drastically wrong with this picture. I sincerely hope the politicians can get their head out of the sand (pun intended).
Joey D

Mr. Mayor: Open that bowl!
Big Daddy

Please let it be known that all we want is permission to dig out the bowl ourselves. We are not asking for the city to do it for us, and we aren't even concerned with why they filled it in the first place - although it would be great to know. All we want is permission to be able to unearth and skate what was built for us to skate.

Please let us dig the bowl out. It was one of the best things to ever happen to Saratoga.

please just do it. WE NEED IT COME OOONNN

Skaters will take action into their own hands... and their own shovels!

we know you can't wager or run horses in it but saratoga's got more than just degenerate gambler's living here. when's the last time the NYRA CEO or even one of the jockeys said, hey, let's rake the race track?? hmm? hmm? we'll take this over, just give us the go ahead or get out of our way. this ain't your little 12 year old brother and his friends you're dealing with!

You took away the half pipe and now you take away the only redeemable epic part of park the bowl.
You are putting Saratoga skaters to shame.
If you don't want to dig out the pool I know me and a pack of of able body skaters that would dig that bowl clean.
Please open it again.

The first time I visited Saratoga, I happened to be invited to the opening of the new skate bowl. There were local bands playing live, and happy kids and adults skating and enjoying the event. I thought, "What a cool place! How great that the young people here have an opportunity for such an event. Must be a great place to live!"
I ended up moving here. You have a great town. But you do a disservice, not only to skateboarders and their families, but to the community as a whole. You are lowing your appeal to families, and are now virtually one of the only towns in the US without an adequate skate park. I have been to smaller poorer towns with far superior skate parks, and these always include bowls. I recently vacationed in Prescott, AZ, where there was a beautiful big skate park with two bowls. It was not staffed, and the park was open until ten pm everyday. It was well used, by teens, adults, and kids, skateboarders, BMX riders, and roller bladers. Is Saratoga willing to be so old fashioned it doesn't recognize modern sports? Or the wishes of its taxpaying young families?
Your football fields and swings invite accidents just as much as any skate equipment does, and no one seems to be suggesting you plow over the sports fields or wading pool. Are you biased against the non-traditional appearance of the sport and its pracittioners? I invite you to visit with skaters, watch them in action, and appreciate the grace and skill of the sport.
Please do right your community. Be the contemporary and inviting town I was so charmed by. A community that supports all ages and interests without bias, and that leads the way, rather than trailing behind.

thank you MRS. LOPEZ!! how quickly people forget that amazing time when people were so happy about the bowl. the city, skaters, families, friends, everyone enjoying themselves at the grand opening. HOW DID SARATOGA LOSE THAT PERSPECTIVE SO QUICKLY?! Mayor, you should be ashamed of yourself to let this happen under your watch. Nothing like being remembered as the mayor who during his tenure, took one step forward, and many many steps back.

I'm not a skateborder, but this is ridiculous. Why was it filled in? And why is there a delay on letting people willingly dig it out??! What is happening to this town? The lack of support and investment in outdoor recreation - skateboarding and cycling are two major ones that come to mind - is short-sighted and, frankly, outrageous. Saratoga Springs needs to get with the times or it will be left behind.

For those who want the bowl cleared and re-opened why not create a physical or on-line petition that people can sign and make their thoughts known they you can give it to the city council. Petitionspot.com is a place I have seen used on-line before for this purpose. I apologize for any earlier comments i made as I did not have all of the information that pertained to this matter.

@PD - You are one of the rare and few who take responsibility for your actions. I admire that and congratulate you. We started a petition on 4 days ago which now has almost 500 signatures:
http://signon.org/sign/petition-to-reverse-saratoga.fb1?source=c.fb&r_by=968471
Please sign it and tell others. Thank you!!

NEWS FLASH: I think we scored a major victory today - Benj and I gave a presentation about NY cement skate pools at a Saratoga Springs safety meeting where 15 city officials unanimously voted to "support the concept of re-opening the skate bowl and we request the appropriate entities within the city government to review the request." So I think this means that it's now up to the School District who has said publicly that they would "leave it up to the City" so let's hope we passed the biggest hurdle so we can dig it out before the ground freezes.

The dirt has been dug out of the pool!

We are so happy that the skate bowl is back in action! Thanks for all your hard work, Charlie, Benj, et al. And thanks to the City for listening to the people. Yay!