Wednesday, March 28, 2012

AND IT WAS GOOD...

Photo credit: Joel Lee
If you’ve tried to skate the first ever skatepark in Seattle to have lights at nighttime, then you know there is a serious problem: they don’t adequately illuminate the park.  This is in spite of the lighting designer shutting down any questions brought forth during the public meetings with quips like “I am a professional, this is what I do every day.”  There was even a bunch of talk about using LED downlighting that obviously didn’t make it into the final product.  (I almost wonder if this is why the shadows exist…)
It’s great that we finally have a skatepark that is open at night, but it adds a bit of insult to injury to have just enough light to skate, but not enough to actually skate safely.  There are shadows all over the park, and some of them could be dangerous if you weren’t familiar with those areas.  Good luck if it’s your first time skating there.
The good news is that Seattle Parks has gone back to the contractor to get a bid for adding more lights and frankly, for finishing the job they were supposed to do right the first time.  It must be nice to be a contractor with the City of Seattle…if you don’t do it right the first time, they will just pay you again to fix it later.
Anyone want to go in on a contractor’s license?
The schedule for this fix is TBD.  I will post more info as I get it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I skated here this evening. 3 simultaneous flatground sessions in the middle of the street section vs. 3 (including myself) dudes in the bowl. And 2 groups of teeny-bop girls (assisted by their pube-stached gentleboy friends) "learning" how to stand on a skateboard. I think it's an early morning spot...