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Say what you want about the city government, but don’t rail against their latest project — a state of the art skate park that is sure to be the envy of the skateboarding world.
 PHOTO: MOFO
Mayor Martin Chàvez and the city of Albuquerque are headed full “ollie” into the new year. Go ahead and throw in some carving and grinding as well.
While you won’t be seeing the mayor performing these skateboarding tricks for the camera any time soon, you will see local skateboarders enjoying a new cutting-edge skate park, currently under construction. The West Side Skate Park Environment at Alamosa Community Center, which is already garnering national attention among skate park designers and skaters alike, will have its grand opening sometime in March.
“This is one of a kind. It will be one of the craziest skate parks in the country,” Gregg Witt of Artifex Integrative Skatepark Environments said.
Located in San Diego, Calif., Artifex collaborated
with the city of Albuquerque on the design and construction of the
project. Witt has been a lead consultant since the beginning of the
plan design in 2004.
Los Altos Skate Park (off Lomas and Eubank) is the
only other “non-modular” skate park in the city, and both parks are two
of the biggest in the Southwest. Located next to the community center
at Bridge and Coors, the new skate park’s concept and look is drawing
raves from designers across the country and was recently featured in
the book Architectural Standards.
“Our initial idea is driven from (Albuquerque’s)
arroyos,” Witt said. “We wanted to make this a functioning arroyo, so
we built an arroyo ‘plaza.’ This has been a full-bore Albuquerquean
concept from the start. We hung out in-depth with the locals and got
input, and took (that) and merged it with different elements.”
Some of the more unique elements include a self-contained “vert bowl”
that accentuates the sun against the Sandia Mountains during sunsets;
one of the biggest in the world, according to Witt.
The skate park is comprised of two distinct main areas: the “Trenches” and the “Skylit Bowl.”
The Trenches is a flow area with a mix of banks, ledges, walls, stairs,
gaps, and rails in various combinations and arrangements and is
inspired by Albuquerque’s drainage arroyos, which has, for a long time,
been a big draw for many skateboard enthusiasts. This particular
element was designed to disperse skaters throughout the park instead of
congregating them in the middle.
The “Skylit Bowl” combines three deep bowls with a three-quarter pipe —
the first of its kind. This area is inspired by the backyard pools that
skaters rode in the early years of the sport.
City of Albuquerque architect George Gee hopes the finished product is
seen as a regular city park — but one in which people can skate.
 PHOTO: MOFO
“I think it’s a real nice project. This is more a park you can skate in
as it’s not fenced in like Los Altos (Skate Park). It is more open and
interactive,” Gee said. “It evolved into that and made more sense in
terms of fitting into the neighborhood setting.”
Gee said that meetings with neighborhood residents in the beginning
stages of the project were very positive. Mayor Chàvez and city
planners have made projects designed to appeal to young people a
cornerstone of the administration. It is partly in response to an
oft-heard refrain from teenagers in this town that there is “nothing to
do.”
Witt said the city was a vital partner from the beginning.
“Rarely does a city give you an opportunity like this — they’ve been really understanding of our vision,” he said.
Mayor Chàvez also recently unveiled a proposal for an extreme sports
park that would be located somewhere near the Big-I interchange, this
is proposed to include skating, BMX and wall-climbing facilities.
Originally set for Jan 13, the opening of the West Side Skate Park was pushed back to mid-March due to the recent snow.
“On a positive note, (the delay) will give us more time to make it bigger and better,” said Witt, a skater himself for 20 years.
“We’re real close to finishing, Gee said. “Once the snow clears off we
can get the landscapers back in to finish it. It makes more sense to
wait until the weather is a little more cooperative.
“I guess skaters could take the wheels off their skateboards and use them as snowboards,” Gee joked.
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