The Return of the Blog!

Here it is June 10^th and I am finally starting back on my blog. Much has happened since I last wrote, but I'm not going to use my first blog boring you with long-winded updates. So let’s just tell you the condensed version of the two months or so:

I shaved my head.

John moved to Florida. He seems to be doing really well there. We were able to part of very good terms and as very good friends. I talk to him periodically.

Russ and I moved to 207 Walnut Street in South Portland. We’re busy working away on the 4 bedroom Colonial house. It’s a little more work than we expected, but it feels like home and we’re plugging away at the various projects. I’ll post pictures here soon.

We have had a phenomenal Spring and beginning of Summer here in Maine. We’re usually still battling cold weather, but it’s been nice. We’ve had some raw-ish days, but luckily they’ve been week days for the most part.

My brother Mike and his wife Yolanda gave birth to Gloria Elena Whalen on May 16, 2009. She is named for my mother and Yoli’s grandmother. She is a beautiful and healthy baby. I even wrote a song for her. More on that to come.

End of updates.

As I’m sure is the case for most cities, Portland has a large population of skate boarders. They range in age and gender and they’re everywhere. Exchange Street in the Old Port part of downtown is considered the hub of the downtown shopping area. It is also a decent sloped hill that has foot traffic and auto traffic. One of the big concerns with this street is the skaters use it as well. And they’re often weaving in an out of traffic and going up onto the side walks. They come up so fast that they often startle motorists and pedestrians. Mind you, not EVERY skater does this, but some do. So the city wants to put in some cobble stones in the street to curtail the problem.

The skaters had a great skate park down on Marginal Way that they paid for with donations they personally raised. However, the city of Portland sold that land to Intermed for their new office building, but the skaters never saw any of that money. So where did the money go? Did the city pocket the skater’s share of the money? If they raised the money themselves, why didn’t the city pay the money back from the sale of the land?

The city is currently building another skate park to help with the problem, but the skate park isn’t all the convenient to the downtown area. Since many skaters use their boards as transportation, putting a park out of the way isn’t going to help them any. Many people have written into a local paper complaining about the skaters and comparing them to “outlaw bikers". Are you kidding me? Talk about generalizing. That’s like saying all people with tattoos are like outlaw bikers. It makes no sense. I know plenty of people who ride skate boards who also hold down good jobs and pay their bills. They’re not out there trying to be outlaws or hoodlums. They just want to skate.

So how about the city building them a skate park in a convenient location? Like maybe down on the waterfront or on the state pier? Are their rogue skaters? (I love that term I just invented). Yeah there are, but there are rogue members of every single microcosm wandering the Old Port. Singling out the skaters is just stereotyping and it’s wrong. Two things the city could have done to lessen this problem: One, they should have taken the money from the sale of the land where the old park was and put it towards another skate park. And they should have put together a board (pun intended) of skaters to have a say in where they want their park and what they’d like it to be. From what I’ve read, the city of Portland did neither.

Maybe the city should be more aggressive and issue tickets to those few “rogue skaters” who do cause problems. It would deter others from causing problems. Also, does the city really need to spend $6,000 on cobblestones to curtail a few skaters? Wouldn’t that money be better spent on a new skate park closer to the Old Port? If the city was allowed to ban skate boarding on Exchange Street before, why can’t they do it again? I’m sure the ban is cheaper than $6,000. So how about instead of trying to criminalize every person who rides a skate board, we try to find a way to all work together to solve the problem.

(And for the record, I do NOT ride a skate board. I can barely stand on one in a stationary position without almost killing myself. So, this is not a self-serving post, just my observation.)