" Wortman says"Besides that,it keeps them off the streets"
Truth is I'd imagine skates don't roll to well on boiler slag. "

" " Wortman says"Besides that,it keeps them off the streets"
Truth is I'd imagine skates don't roll to well on boiler slag. "

Ouch! "

" Not sure how good of an idea it is to let out of towners use the park. The town I live requires that you must live in the town or be accompanied by someone who does to visit several of our parks. There are a few open to the public but they actually pay someone to hang out at the park and check ID's. The majority of our parks are on the bay and I think that it is really just to make sure that the fishing piers don't get overrun by people that don't live here and contribute to the taxes that pay for them.

Mattoon could charge out of towners to use the park, that might keep big groups from Champaign or elsewhere showing up and taking over the park. "

" Cool! Local youtube clips now! Gotta love skateboard faceplants. "

" Texas T - First of all, the park was funded with Federal dollars, so your premise seems incorrect. There are a couple reasons you don't limit it to just local kids (aside from just being mean):

1. The town wants to draw people from out of town. Hopefully they'll spend money at local food places and maybe make a big purchase at someplace like the Rebel Board Shop (instead of in Champaign).

2. Tax dollars don't need to be spent doing 'ID checks' and then escorting those who don't pass - that's a bit too Big Brother to me, and if anything, city positions need to be cut, not added to.

The skateboard community overall will benefit from those outside the area coming and sharing their skill set each other. These are a fun group of kids and adults. "

" whats most likely to happen is the same thing that happened in Charleston. it became a spot for drug transactions and graffiti. also there is the chance that some parent will try to sue the city of mattoon for one of their children s "great face plants". "

" I don't recall all this fuss over all the money spent on the various ball parks around town. The city finally took the initiative to do something for a small minority of kids and all some want to do is complain. Some of the financial decisions that have be made over the last few years are certainly questionable, but this is not one of them. "

" Collatine, your are probably correct about restricting access when Federal dollars are used.

Hopefully they'll spend money at local food places and maybe make a big purchase at someplace like the Rebel Board Shop (instead of in Champaign).

Sorry, but a bunch of skateboarders from Champaign will not spend enough money in Mattoon to make any difference.

The only way Mattoon will make any money from this Park is to host a large competition. Any increase in revenue from this Park will be off set by the insurance claims paid out.

If Mattoon wants to run with the "Big Dogs" they need better leadership. "

" Why don't I ever see anyone wearing helmuts, knee paids,etc when using this new facility? Is the city insured for serious accidents? "

" This is why think some grandparents or unemployed adults should take cellphone and be at the skating park. I think this is a good idea. I saw many skaters on parking lots and most were kind to people but where were they to go? I agree on holding competitions. I am sure ones skating do eat at the local fast foods and buffets. I would hope the city does have insurance on this park. Or someone from city there to see statements are signed against a lawsuit if something happened?
With all the fence building in Mattoon, I wondered why not one around this place so no bikes or kids go flying out to the roadway since not that far away?
When we were watching the skating, we did see padding and helmets, just a few bikeriders who ride in Peterson Park were not helmeted and padded. Just went over the concrete enjoying a ride.
Am sure I would want padding, wouldn't want that concrete RASH. HAPPY SKATINGBOARDING AND BIKING KIDS. "

" The park may have been funded by federal money, but how is the liability insurance for this facility being funded? Still haven't heard anyone say how much that liability insurance is costing us. "

" I think it's great Mattoon now has a skate park. I would have loved to have something like that when I was younger and skated all the time. My skating friends and I built half pipes out of plywood, and if we got really, really lucky, we'd find a drained swimming pool. Perhaps Mattoon could build a disc golf course, too. I know there is a nice one at Lakeland, but it's only a nine hole course. "

" I think it's a great addition to the community. Have fun kids! "

" WAY TO GO MATTOON! I'm so glad of any progress for the kids being made. Mattoon is limited on public "hang outs" that kids absolutely need for socializing. (Yes, I said NEED because I'm a realist) It is better than them going under cover in houses, private property, etc to party, fight etc.
I do however agree with Texas T:
"Mattoon could charge out of towners to use the park, that might keep big groups from Champaign or elsewhere showing up and taking over the park"
This is a excellent prevenitive idea. The possibilty of overcrowding, fighting etc. along with older, or possibly negative influences from other areas could bring with them more than we want for our kids. If they are responsible potential consumers then the fee won't matter & will help pay for improvements & maintenence.
I also agree with judge:
"Why don't I ever see anyone wearing helmuts, knee paids,etc when using this new facility?
That should DEFINATELY be mandatory to use the park's facilities, and I'm shocked that it is not being enforced already. No one wants to have this new great facility to be the source of serious, preventable injuries. I want people to have fun, not experience tragedy. I'm sure our local ER would agree with me on that point.
Go to youtube or google and search "skate board roller blade accidents"-you will see/read examples that will give you chills! "

" Yeah, lets make up a bunch of rules,bring notes from your parents,have adult monitors,just like the one that flopped at the ymca.
Try leaving them alone to be kids,more than likely they will monitor themselves like they do in Sullivan.Thats whats always been wrong with this town,old fuddy duddies trying to run and control stuff they know nothing about.I'm quite sure with what I've seen,these kids will respect their newfound skatepark and deal with their own problems as they arise.
If not I'll be more than happy to eat my words.Just for now leave em alone. "

" Gosh, I hope I'm not considered a fuddy duddy yet! LOL! :0
No, I agree, not a bunch of dumb rules-just a reasonable out town fee and protective gear required. In addition, only someone observing (not rigid monitoring) & available if a emergency personel or police needed to be called in case of injuries, or aggressive or illegal activity. Without some measure of consideration, it will flop-because of too many problems. That's not being fuddy duddy it's considered being aware of reality. Even the professional skaters, bladers & bikers are smart enough to know that, and I doubt anyone would consider them out of touch or uncool. "

" Welcome back, Pumpkinseed - good to see ya posting again! Hope all is well. "

" wow i honestly can't believe some of the selfish comments that are clearly coming from adults of the Mattoon community. half of the comments by you folks seem to not care whether the kids of the community have a new place to enjoy. no instead you instantly want a way to control and make money off it. all the talk about "Sorry, but a bunch of skateboarders from Champaign will not spend enough money in Mattoon to make any difference." is ridiculous. everyone i know that skates or rides bmx when traveling to a skatepark out of town generally not only goes to get drinks and food, but more than likely gas and even go shop. lets do alil simple math people. get your calculators i know some of you need em.. if i myself went to Mattoon and got 2 drinks($2-4) a couple cheeseburgers ($4-6) some gas ($10-20). that's not even shopping that's just essential things i get about 95/100 times i drive to ride a skatepark. by my math that's between $16-30 i just spent in your town. Terre Haute Indiana has had it's new outdoor cement skatepark open for around a year now and daily has crowds of over 100 people. less than a 1/4 of which are actually from there. we'll even round down alil for this. say 50people from out of town all came to the park each day all year long. and they each spent $16-30, that's between $292,000-547,500 a year that is being spent in their city by out of towners that apparently aren't worth coming to your thriving city. well at least as far as old Grumpy is concerned. (i know with snow and rain you cant skate 365 days a year but that's why i rounded the amount of people down severely) so far they've had zero problems with skaters and bikers together there. zero problems with no pad rules(they have larger ramps there too) and zero problems with it being open to anyone and everyone free of charge without someone "supervising". supervising a skatepark is like if you had a ref aggressively calling a pickup basketball game between friends. DOESNT WORK. All the talk of an out of town fee. you'd basically make yourselves out to be one of the greediest towns in America, because you would be the first town I've heard of doing that. the reason no one wanted to go to that horrid YMCA park was you had constant supervision, a laundry list of rules, it was fenced in, and you had to pay. a park needs to be 65,000sq ft to draw any type of want for people to travel then pay to ride a park.(if i was to do that I'd travel to STL, Cincinnati, or the Chicago area, which we do quite often through the winter) your pretty much suggesting that people that can walk to the park shouldn't pay anything but in this horrible economy people already paying $2.50 a gallon for gas should also pay a fee to ride your small federally funded skatepark? seems realll logical.... also all the talk of insurance. the only talk Ive ever heard of problems with suing cities or liability for injuries is never from the users of these facilities. its only from the so called "responsible adults monitoring the children for safety" that then turn around and try to sue cities after watching their child who was knowingly participating in a "skate at your own risk" situation get injured by their own lack of skills/experience. people like that belong nowhere near a skatepark but always seem to think they are the owner/ceo/and boss of the park. everyone thinks that if they pay taxes the park is theirs. it is but it also is everyone's that pays taxes. Federal means everyone in America gave alil toward your park so i dont see what right any of you think you have to turn around and profit off of us in a clearly negative/greed fueled way. but yeh go ahead add an out of town fee. I'll just go back to not bringing my friend's and I money to your town. I'm quite sure Terre Haute would gladly except it. I've went there over 45times this year. and i've been to your park about 7 times since it was finished. so my suggestion, smarten up before you turn alot of people completely off to your city. =] "

" one other thing I'm sure a few of you will have some negative and borderline hurtful comments to make in response. just sleep soundly knowing I'll be back checking to reply to any and all comment made in my direction. "

" In response to a few of the comments from AndrewG & only speaking for myself:

"selfish comments"
I made my positive support of the skate park completely clear.

"get your calculators i know some of you need em"
If your worried about posters responding with negative or hurtful comments, you probably shouldn't belittle others yourself. Just a suggestion.

"zero problems with it being open to anyone and everyone free of charge without someone "supervising"
If you will take a moment to re-read my post, I clearly suggest that a responsible person be AVAILABLE OBSERVING for emergency situations, not supervising & laying down a bubch of interferring rules. In actuality the person observing would not half to supervise or speak with anyone, just make a neccessary call for emergency situations.

"the only talk Ive ever heard of problems with suing cities or liability for injuries is never from the users of these facilities"
I personally only mentioned the mandatory protective gear, as I personally know of instances where preventable life altering injuries AND FATALITIES have occured during these kinds of activites. I have friends and family who work in the medical field and have shared many tragic stories of preventable injuries. I mentioned no concern nor was I even thinking of how insured the city was or was not.

"zero problems with it being open to anyone and everyone...
...get injured by their own lack of skills/experience. people like that belong nowhere near a skatepark but always seem to think they are the owner/ceo/and boss of the park"
Yes, as YOU stated, anyone & everyone comes to the skate park (as it should be according to you) even the people who are lacking in skills and safety knowledge. So which is it that you want? You totally contridicted yourself with these two statements.

"greediest towns in America, because you would be the first town I've heard of doing that"
I understand what your saying, if that is the case, that would be a turn off. I supported the idea from another poster in the idea of drawing in a crowd of maybe more responsible persons not to try to stick it to out of towners. :)

"I'll just go back to not bringing my friend's and I money to your town...
...one other thing I'm sure a few of you will have some negative and borderline hurtful comments to make in response"
Your post was informative and enlightning as a experienced skate park attendee. For that it is appreciated. Your post is also a little condescending and presumptious to others post's that their opinions are based on negative, unsupportive, profit seeking, unknowledgeable concerns. I care very much about everyone having alot of fun in this investment, without the memory of a tragic incident. I'm still a big kid myself! LOL! I can't wait to take some time and go watch!
As far as your concern about me "sleeping soundly" no worries, I will. I appreciate & respect other's opinions and make a point not to be unkind in commenting on others- (opinions that is)but I will stick up for any misguided comments towards mine! ;)
Whew, this ol' fuddy duddy is goin to bed, I'm tired from typing.

P.S. Thanks for the friendly greeting Rotty-back at ya!:) "

" Also-with the success of this skate park maybe it could be enclosed in the future for year around use!
That would great!!! "

" hey pumpkinseed thanks for your reply, my slightly negative comments weren't directed toward you at all, but the others that seemed to instantly jump on the 'lets control this situation and make money off it' bandwagon that seemed to chime in where they aren't wanted. I know it's not good in forums to be insulting or jump to conclusions judging people based on just a small amount of text posted by them. But it kind of infuriated me when i come on here to read about how much of a good time everyone had at the grand opening on Saturday then end up reading things like "Not sure how good of an idea it is to let out of towners use the park" or "Sorry, but a bunch of skateboarders from Champaign will not spend enough money in Mattoon to make any difference." more or less puts off a vibe of locals only and everyone that's not from Mattoon doesn't matter in your world. You pumpkinseed had good things to say like "WAY TO GO MATTOON! I'm so glad of any progress for the kids being made". that's the attitude that people here need to have if you want your community to thrive. the whole backwoods, locals only, your not wanted here style of attitude is a huge put off toward not only wanting to go to your skatepark but to do anything at all in your city. That's why West Virginia isn't a more popular travel destination. And about the situation of a adult there to call for help isn't needed at all. Skaters and BMXers not matter how much people may think we don't care about anything or safety, if someone falls bad plenty of people will come to make sure they are ok, and if not they will call 911. In this day in age even the 13yr old there more than likely have cellphones on them. Any major injury I've ever witnessed first hand was INSTANTLY responded to by other skaters and riders. At the grand opening 2 skaters nearly collided causing one of them to slide out and fall into the rail. It was quite a nasty wreck and immediately 4-5 skaters ran over or slid down the bank to make sure he was ok and everyone stopped skating right there til he was ok and walked away of his own accord. I myself was in Champaign last fall to ride street and their skatepark. We had a close friend of ours with us that skates and is known for going off larger drops and doing other burly moves. He had his foot slip off wrong on a large gap and landed with his toe hitting the ground first snapping his leg above the ankle. It was slightly chilly that day and their were maybe 3 other skaters there at the time. Immediately 2 of them had cellphones out starting to call 911 and making sure he was ok with us. The park being as close to the hospital was my friend opted to be a man and let me carry him to the car and rush him to the emergency room in the time it would have taken just to get an Ambulance there. The doctors were able to re set his leg and told us that we helped him a great deal by getting him there faster otherwise the amount of surgery he would have had to get would have been a lot more extensive. The thing I'm trying to get at is that you'd be creating a job for a field that isn't really needed. If he wasn't my friend he would have just got picked up by the ambulance called by the others at the park. Either way there was no need for a monitor with a cellphone caddy. Someone would more than likely be making minimum wage or more just to sit around and watch kids skate. With all the complaints about tax dollars wasted on pointless stuff or costs of insurance for the park(I've always enjoyed how insurance always is questioned when it comes to skateboarding but a sport like football that is Men running into each other and trying to hit others to fall to the ground you never once hear the word insurance murmured) i think that this would be something that would be a much larger waste of money and essentially the person monitoring would more than likely have altercations over things that no one would care other than the fact they work for the city and would 9 times outta 10 have a ego due to "power" over the park. But i feel like I'm just rambling. Thanks again for your response Pumpkin =] glad to hear you had some nice sleep lol "

" I hear ya andrewg ;)
Don't let others opinions keep ya from coming over to bust an M-town session, and show the locals some sick stuff from your tricktionary!
P.S.Don't forget to spend some coin for grindage to make the ol' folks happy-LOL! kidding :) "

" definitely pumpkinseed, im actually going to try to make it up there in the next few days of nice weather =D "