Skateboarders Pool Talents, Land In Hot Water -- W. Seattle Underbridge Project Runs Afoul Of City

The skaters were stoked because the pool would have been killer.

But now they're bummin' - big-time.

Translation: Skateboarders were excited as they neared completion of a ramp shaped like a swimming pool - in which to showcase their gravity-mocking skills - at a secret location in a West Seattle park.

Then police showed up last weekend and cited five young men who were about to pour the concrete. They each face the possibility of a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.

The city also says it will fill in their outlaw handiwork, and skateboard fans here are right back where they started: No public facilities for their sport.

"It's stupid that we felt we had to go about this like we're criminals," said Scott Smiley, one of the men who dug the pool. "All we want to do is skate. Why does everyone else have something? Seems like there's enough baseball parks and golf courses around. But nothing for skaters."

The skaters engineered their project beneath the bridge on Southwest Admiral Way running through Schmitz Park, which the city calls a "preserve."

The land, near 55th Avenue Southwest, was given to the city at the turn of the century under condition it not develop the property or cut down any trees.

"I can appreciate their frustration but the best way to get something done is to work within the system," said Andy Reynolds, spokesman for the Parks Department. "I know there are times when people decide to do things on their own, but we are the stewards of public property. I wish they would have come to us first."

The skaters generally have been naive about the city bureaucracy. They did, however, consult with David Anderson, city bridge-maintenance supervisor, and he indicated they were not wrecking the bridge with their work.

"I looked at it and I thought, `Wow, this is kind of cool," Anderson said. "All we said was, `We don't have a problem with it.' But I did say that parks might have liability concerns. Looks like they do."

Anderson added that he did not challenge the pool's construction because the area where it was built is not under the Engineering Department's jurisdiction.

The skaters have been working on the pool for more than three months. They had strict work-site rules: Quiet conversation only, no radios, no digging at night. A few neighbors knew but no one complained - until Sunday (police say a neighbor called them).

"The kids were just desperate," said Carol Swim, mother of two men, aged 24 and 21, who were cited. "I knew they shouldn't be doing it, but in the back of my mind I was hoping they'd finally have somewhere to skate."

The Swim brothers and the others also knew what they were doing.

PROPOSAL DREW NO RESPONSE

Mark Hubbard, one of the skaters, had worked for a pool-construction firm, and he led the design. In all, the skaters have spent about $800 on shovels, wood, a bilge pump, concrete mix and reinforced steel.

Chris "Wez" Lundry, a skater active in a local skateboard organization called Sea Skate, said the group had submitted a proposal for a skate park to the city but they received no response. Reynolds said he was unaware of the proposal.

The pool builders are all men in their 20s. All say they've been skating since they were 5 or 6 and frequently have been cited by police for skating in illegal areas - the street, Westlake Park.

A couple of them even are "sponsored" skaters, who compete with equipment provided them by national skateboard companies.

To visit skateboard parks, Lundry and the others say they routinely travel to Yakima, Vancouver, B.C., and Portland.

Portland's skating scene blossomed after skateboarders there undertook a renegade project similar to the Schmitz Park scheme.

HANDS-OFF IN PORTLAND

Eighteen months ago, skaters built a concrete ramp under the Burnside Bridge in Portland. Ramps form the backbone of skateboard parks; skaters race up the inclines to "get vertical" so they can perform various twirling maneuvers called "tricks."

With the hands-off policy by Portland city officials, the skaters have built additional ramps and two pools.

Portland voters in 1989 had approved a parks-bond issue that set aside $41,000 to construct a skate park.

The city has formed a partnership with a local businessman, who will provide a pro shop and a snack bar, and plans to open an indoor skate park in a 12,500 square-foot warehouse in May.

A Skateboard Park Task Force came up with the final plan, said George Hudson, of the city's Bureau of Parks and Recreation. The city also found a private insurer, which works with many of the 125 skateboard parks nationwide.

Crime in the neighborhood near the Burnside Bridge has dropped since the skaters cleaned it up, Hudson said.

"There's an incorrect perception out there about skaters, I found," Hudson said. "When skaters are involved in skating, it requires such a a high physical skill level that they aren't going to be looking to do drugs while they're engaged in that activity."

BIG REACTION IN SEATTLE

Portland police never cited the skaters at the Burnside Bridge.

"We handle more than a half-million calls in service every year," said Sgt. Derrick Foxworth, spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau, "and our staffing level simply doesn't allow us to dispatch officers to those type of incidents."

Last Sunday, Seattle police dispatched five patrol cars to the Schmitz Park bridge.

"Maybe they aren't really harming anything," said Vinette Tichi, spokeswoman for the police, "but do we just let them build whatever they want and not let others? What if someone just decided to build an ice-skating rink?"

Reynolds said the skaters need to make their needs known to the Parks Department. He said so far the department has been wary of building skating amenities mostly because of liability concerns and uncertainty about where to locate.

As the skaters await their dates in court, they say they feel pretty much like they always do as skateboarders: Like criminals.

"These days, when we're having a big war on drugs, skateboarding gives people a good, positive thing to do," said Mike Swim. "Kids have to do something a little crazy, and skateboarding isn't a bad outlet for that."