Let's get up to date

Well, where to begin...

After the community meeting where we received a verbal go-ahead for this project to continue, we began on a very ambitious project that, without the extreme enthusiasm of a few friends, we probably would never have started. It was decided that we should adapt a well suited egg-shaped cul-de-sac island into a swimming pool style bowl. This project started in mid March and was not completed until mid July. We will do more detailed posts on this process later.

There were easily over a hundred people that contributed to the bowl and even more who donated to help fund it. We received funding from Pabst Blue Ribbon, which paid for most of the concrete costs. The cost of the pool coping ($1,700) was paid for through small in person cash donations or online donations to our Paypal.

This project received a huge boost when we won a $6,000 Rocket Grant, which is an arts funding program started by the Charlotte Street Foundation and the KU Spencer Museum of Art, with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. This award is funding the current round of construction of the park, the expansion of the park around the bowl.

This construction is 100% volunteer dependent and aimed at facilitating a way for people to learn this skill at no cost to themselves, while helping build a public park that is open to everyone at no charge.

We will post details of the builds and other project updates later on. Until then, come down to 401 Harrison St in Kansas City, MO to visit this project.

The Plural of You podcast interview

Josh Morgan asked if he could find out more about our project for a podcast series(The Plural 0f You) he does "...about people helping people, celebrating trust, compassion, and community." We obliged, and it was a nice opportunity to tell the story of how this project started and how it has evolved.

Listen to or read the podcast here.

Donations!

We have set up a paypal donation link on the right side of our blog, so feel free to chip in however you see fit.

A young Kansas City skateboarder wanted to donate $100 and his family decided to match him with another $100. Thanks Bowers!

Artist Paul Fish had a fundraiser raffle at his recent art opening at Escapist Skateboarding where he raised $425.

Also securing rebar, wood, and concrete donations.

Great jump start to fundraising. Planning another fundraising event for late April. Stay tuned!

March 24 Community Meeting

Our first community input meeting was held on March 24th. Columbus Park residents, Director of Public Works Sherri McIntyre, and City Council Woman Jan Marcason were in attendance. The discussion revolved around the street closure. The two options put on the table by the city were that either the road would be closed and the project is allowed to continue as-is, or the road is re-opened and the newly built structures would have to be removed, but the project could continue in a blocked off unused road.

The neighbors in attendance were unanimous that they wanted the skate project to continue, and there were mixed opinions about whether the street should be closed or opened. In the end it was agreed that the road would be reopened, the ramps in the street would be removed, and the Public Works department would repave an area on a closed street to be used for the community built skate park.

Currently, the road is open and we are in discussion with Public Works about the best way to resurface the closed off road so we can start working there.

We are all very excited to keep this project moving forward.

Clean up day.

Cleaned up a bit in the cul-de-sac.

Dug up this dangerous looking sign post that was hidden by tall grass.

Featured on local NPR station

This morning our project was featured as the introduction for the show Central Standard on our local NPR station KCUR. The host and guests also discussed our project throughout the show.

Link to broadcast.

Build #4.

We decided to build a pump bump, and then got a little carried away. It's a little funky, but we will have to wait and see how it works with future features.

Roughly $100 in sack concrete and 40 volunteer hours.

Starting with some dirt piles and rough forms.

Concrete in the finishing stage.

Sycamore Maintenance. Day 2.

A few volunteers came out on a 20 degree February day to spend 2 hours clearing out the 'sucker' overgrowth on this neighborhood Sycamore. Stumps still need to be cut down and there are a few rather large piles of trimmings that need to be mulched, burned, or hauled off.

New Project. Sycamore Maintenance Day 1.

So, as we have mentioned before, there is a lot of overgrowth area in this lot. There's a beautiful Sycamore in the lot that is suffering from root 'suckers' that have been neglected for what looks like years. Some of the suckers are up to 7" in diameter.

We started to clear out the area yesterday with some hand pruners. We'll come back tomorrow in the 20 degree weather to finish up.

Making a small dent...

Feature in Kansas City Star

Another bit of press for our project, this time in the Kansas City Star.

Pop-up skate park raises concern near City Market

Throwback Thursday

Back before anything was close to being built we were just skating in a street in our neighborhood. Sometime 2012-13 winter.

And today:

P.S. I think we'll be staying for a while.

Road is currently closed so the neighborhood can play.

This morning Public Works came and installed these baracades into the street to prohibit vehicular traffic. We were worried about this project annoying the neighborhood, but on a positive note, our neighborhood is always looking for solutions to reduce through traffic. While these barriers remain up this section of street provides a car-free environment for walker, skaters, cyclists, etc. Bring on the bike lanes!

Project write up on Urban Angle

Kansas City urban issue blog Urban Angle did a write up on our project, the reaction of the city, and the history of this area. Pretty interesting read, especially for the history of this property and neighborhood.

Currently...

Currently, the city has temporarily blocked off the entire section of road where the project is. They will have a 'community discussion' on Tuesday that we have heard about through the grapevine. We have not been invited to this 'community discussion'. 

Channel 41 news feature

KSHB did a short feature on our project Wednesday night after we found out the city had plans to tear it out. Link below.

http://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/do-it-yourself-skate-park-faces-possible-demolition

Happy Thursday!

Hopefully the city won't tear down our work tomorrow!

Currently...

KC Public Works came down today. They have a work order to remove the concrete ramps this week. We will keep you posted...

Build #3. Finishing up.

To finish off this thing we smoothed down the edges of the parking blocks and curbs and added a couple coats of paint.

The street is still rough and horrible though.

Build #3

We started working up the cul de sac with this small spined curb. This build took 16 bags of concrete and 12 hours of volunteer labor.

A little bonus.

Clean up and prep

This sidewalk has been completely overgrown and blocked for a while now. This first photo was taken after we had already cut out a lot of small trees that were blocking the way.

A more walkable sidewalk!

We pulled this barbed wire out of the dirt covering the sidewalk.

Snow Day!

Donation!

Neighbors keep dropping off wood scraps for us to use behind the barrier. These plywood scraps are going to be great to use for small forms.

Clean up day

This thing is too fun! This is the first day we tried out the whole barrier. The concrete on the newest section wasn't quite ready so we took it pretty easy. We swept a lot this day, gathered and removed scrap wood that had been accumulating behind the barrier while we were working, shoveling dirt out from behind the barrier, and painting curbs to skate and make the spot more noticeable.

The first white car in the photo below is a city codes worker pulling up to the spot because there was a complaint against skateboard ramps in the street. We assume it was the Housing Authority that made this complaint. She seemed a bit confused about what to do. She said that what was built wasn't even on the property they had said it was on and that 'there are no ordinances about skateboard ramps in Kansas City', so she said she wasn't going to do anything about it.

Wee!

Street clean up

This day we had a work day to clean up the cul de sac extending behind the barrier. This area has already been cleaned up a ton by us. The area directly behind the barrier was completely full of dirt that two volunteers dug out one night in the rain. The road was still way too dirty to skate or build on, so our goal was to continue the cleaning process, sweeping the street and digging out the curbs and sidewalks.

Here are a couple before and after shots from this day:

A photo from further back in the lot looking towards the street. Notice those clean curbs??

An area even further back into the lot that may some day be cleared out. There are usable walkways in this part of the neighborhood that are just not being maintained at all.

Build #1 Part 4

We're finishing the whole barrier! This time with a different design.

This build took 14 bags of donated quikcrete and about 24 volunteer hours on January 23rd, 2015.