Houston-area skaters flip for new downtown park

By MIKE GLENN
The Houston Chronicle

The skater, clad in a black T-shirt and skin-tight jeans, leaned over the precipice for a brief moment before launching himself across the concrete valley.

"This place is sick," he shouted before disappearing into the teeming throng of teens, tweens and even a few adults who were packed like sardines into the Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark, just off Sabine on the banks of Buffalo Bayou.

The illusive skater's compliment — for them 'sick' is a term of esteem — was echoed by others who braved the heat Sunday for the park's grand opening.

"We've been needing a park for years. Every other major city in the U.S. already has multiple parks," said Ben Baxter, 21, who has been skateboarding for about 11 years.

Baxter was stoked by the layout of the park, which offers about 30,000 square feet of skateable area.

"We've never really seen anything like this in Houston," he said. "It's got everything you could possibly want."

Mayor Bill White and other local leaders were on hand for Sunday's ribbon-cutting.

"Have fun and have some adventure. Obey the good safety rules and skate safely," White told the crowd, who was anxiously waiting for the ceremony to end.

When the gates flung open, hundreds of skaters rushed to the park's 20-foot bowl, where pros like Shaun White were showing off their stuff.

Several fans whipped out their cell phones to snap pictures of the bodies hurtling through the air.

"The bowl is great," Baxter said. "I'm going to have to get some knee pads to skate that thing."

For the past several months, Amanda Silva has been counting the days until the park was finally opened.

"It's pretty awesome. You can really get some air," Silva said, referring to when skaters become airborne after clearing jumps or obstacles.

Paramedics were on hand to treat anyone who took a spill on the course, but the most obvious casualties were the newly-planted shrubs stomped flat by thousands of passing feet.

It took about three years for the privately funded $2.7 million park to go from the planning stages to the opening ceremony, said Joe Turner, director of the Houston Parks and Recreation Department.

"It just kept getting a little bigger, a little bigger and a little more fabulous," Turner said. "It's just one amazing facility."

Published June 1, 2008