DIY skatepark in Southeast Portland draws big crowds

[Music] i'm pat doris welcome to the story congratulations we've made it to friday survived another week we're starting the show in southeast portland in the lentz neighborhood not because something bad has happened but because something good has happened it's a community spirit and a determination to make things better for neighborhood kids they've built this skate park for bmx bikes rc cars and yes skateboarders i first spotted the project at the end of january as i rode my bike along the spring water corridor trail it's at southeast 100th and duke i was surprised to see a bunch of guys working to smooth concrete as they built a wall for a growing skate park i stopped to ask who they are and met alex jenga i interviewed him using my phone he said there's no company behind this project no it's just a community group loosely organized group of people that come together to clean this area up and make a safe place for kids to get some recreational activity through skateboarding biking you name it the germ of a park started here long ago at the end of a dead-end street someone built this tiny ramp on the edge of the sidewalk it's really expanded since then portland has a proud tradition of do-it-yourself skate parks one of the first and most famous is here under the burnside bridge it was built 32 years ago back in lentz alex told me the effort began as the pandemic hit and the world came to a stop people were bored a lot of people were laid off out of work and so people just started coming together he's a contractor and knows how to build things and he was frustrated that there were no decent skate parks in his neighborhood there's one skate park way up over the hill on mount scott that's pretty you'd have to hike really far if you're a kid that doesn't have a driver's license doesn't have a mom like mom and dad or at work you don't have a way to get there that would be really hard to get there and then at benedict which is always really crowded off of powell and so this kind of been a dead zone for skatepark so the community took action into their own hands and as you can see there's people volunteering their time here to make a safe place for kids on a recent friday we found nine-year-old max loving this place like there's a bowl right here there's going to be another one over there and there's another bold i mean i like it because it's transition and bowl he likes that it's close you can walk here and yeah ride your bike and like ride your skateboard down stop here and skate for a little bit his friend kelly loves it too if there's one part that you can't skate there's many other parts that you can and it's really flowy the ramps are collectively called the feral cat skate park it's not an official location that's approved by the portland parks department but with so many problems in outer southeast from gun violence to issues with homelessness the city doesn't seem too concerned about a neighborhood skate park that's a good thing along with all the heartache brought by the pandemic this appears to be one of those silver linings that's arrived as well a bright spot for the community built with the skill sweat and love of volunteers over the last two years by the way the workout there is not over the volunteers will be out there again tomorrow around 11 30 or noon if you feel like pitching in the parks at southeast 100th and duke tell them i said hello

Channel: KGW News

Views: 7,195

Keywords: local, news, the-story, diy skatepark, diy skate, skate diy, diy skatepark ideas, diy skatepark build, diy skateparks, diy skate park, skate park

Id: 5jDgSyL1Lb8

Length: 3min 31sec (211 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 04 2022

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