Public Square Group News

Rebuild Dodge!

(Past member) — Wed, 10 Dec 2014 18:00:21 GMT

Dodge Skatepark in Columbus, Ohio will be 25 years old. Its time to spruce it up a bit. Show you care here: Dodge 2.0

Public Square Group: 5 days of Ohio from Skateandannoy.com

(Past member) — Sun, 23 Nov 2014 04:30:46 GMT

Lots of coverage of Ohio on Skateandannoy.com recently. Public Square Group got Day 4 of 5. Other features include Alien Workshop, Fickle Skateboards, Condensed Flesh, and some random photos from around the state.

Josh Nims of Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund - Ted Talk about Skateparks

(Past member) — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 20:20:20 GMT

Josh Nims, a skateboarder from Philadelphia, gives a Ted Talk about the economic value of skateparks.

PSG Volunteer Days at Crooked River Skatepark!

Vince — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 14:27:47 GMT

The Crooked River Skatepark is nearly complete. Public Square Group is directly responsible for the landscaping portion of the project and so with help from Alan Kraus, skater and owner of Independent Tree, we will be wrapping up this part of the project by the end of October

Come help plant trees!

Now its time for the skaters in the community to pitch in and help us plant trees, seed, spread top soil and erect protective fences to give the landscaping the best chance of taking root and looking good next spring.

Volunteer Work Schedule

Friday 10/24 9am to 5pm
Monday 10/27 9am to 5pm
Tuesday 10/28 9am to 5pm
Wednesday 10/29 9am to 5pm

What to Bring

Work gloves, work clothes, boots – prepare for some cold muddy work
Shovels, spades, hard rakes and wheel barrow if ya got em.

Show up during the hours you can and be prepared to work. When you arrive, ask for Alan Kraus and he will add you to the team.

Where to Go

Rivergate Park
1785 Merwin Ave
Cleveland, OH 44113

NOTE: Columbus Road Bridge is Closed! Must enter from the North from Center Street/Columbus Rd.

Crooked River Skate Park - Public Art Awarded

Vince — Sat, 10 May 2014 18:25:40 GMT

The City of Cleveland has advanced the skatepark project through the final hurdles and committees and are preparing to break ground! The park design has had to endure many modifications but the final park will be pretty similar to the original design.

The new public art component has been awarded to Dru Mckeown of TOI studio. Dru presented a shade structure that was reminiscent of the shipping containers so prevalent along the riverfront and a nod to Flats industrial history.

The Skate Kitchen is Moving! New $125 Membership Level

Vince — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 22:00:19 GMT

The Skate Kitchen is looking for a new location for next Fall 2014.

The current space down on East 30th will be active until May 1st, 2014.

Jakprints is growing. The Skate Kitchen is growing – time to move on

The space we rented from Jakprints needs to be converted to accommodate the growth of the company. Jakprints has created over 180 jobs and is on pace to add more next year. When we started the Skate Kitchen we knew it would be temporary but we used this space to develop the concept and we hoped to bring more attention to the space. Back then there were no other tenants in the building and as we leave, there are new offices all around and new design and merchandising businesses moving in. We want to do get a better floor, more variety but keep the Keyholder system we created.

New short-term Skate Kitchen Keyholder Memberships now available! Age 18 and over!

For the rest of the winter, we are opening a small number of keys for a short term keyholder membership will be active through May 1st for a one time charge of $125. Current key holders who have not renewed can renew at the short term rate or renew at the full term rate and be active at the new location. Its your call. Sign Up Here until December 15th.

Whats next? Where is it moving? What about the ramps? Come to the meeting…

We have some new locations in mind but we want to hear from all the current members as to what we should look for. Skate Kitchen meeting Monday 12/2 at 7:30 PM. If you have ideas for fundraising, events at the Kitchen, or new obstacles come to the meeting. If you have a ramp or obstacle at the Kitchen, you can keep it there or take it out.

What about my current Skate Kitchen Keyholder Membership?

All current, active keyholders will keep their keys through the term of their membership. We will apply these to the next location and you will keep the annual rate. The new location will have more overhead so most likely the annual membership rates will go up. Come to the meeting Dec 2nd at the Skate Kitchen.

Crooked River Skate Park heading north

Vince — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 13:25:00 GMT

Underground problems with the chosen location for the Crooked River Skate Park - possible land swap nearby

In March 2013, Grindline began exploratory digging on the site which resulted in the discovery of large bulkhead anchors throughout the site. These anchors help hold up the bulkhead along the waterfront and cannot be removed or built around. The City began looking for another location within the Rivergate Park area and a public meeting was held on July 24th, 2013 to present the options. The public overwhelming supported the new location in order to maintain the current conceptual design.

The new site is directly north of the original site and will accommodate the snake run style park with deep transitions and plenty of space to build up and avoid issues with the water table. The City must complete a land swap deal with the Cleveland Metroparks in order for the project to continue.

Land swap for a better site

Vince — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 20:52:58 GMT

Problems with the chosen location - possible land swap

The new site is directly north of the original site and will accommodate the Snake Run style park with deep transitions and plenty of space to build up and avoid issues with the water table. The City must complete a land swap deal with the Cleveland Metroparks in order for the project to continue.

New Skate Camps for 2013

Vince — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMT

After many years of hour long skate lessons spanning 5 weeks or so, we responded to the requests for more stuff with a new 5 day long Skate Camp based out of Lakewood Skatepark but covering more than just skating around the banks and blocks.

Skaters who sign up for the new Skate Camp will not only get some extended skating time with PSG counselors each day, but we will also be diving in to some more skateboard culture with a trip to West Side to learn more about board maintenance and how a shop works (along with some skating on the West Side ramp). On Friday we will be starting the morning at The Skate Kitchen to skate our ramp and try some skills on some of the other elements there. We will also get a peak into the skate industry at Jakprints to see where skate shirts, stickers and boards are designed, printed and merchandised.

Skate Camps run on a Monday through Friday with each day starting at 9:00 AM to 10:30AM. Transportation is required to get to Lakewood Skatepark, West Side and the Skate Kitchen.

Skate Camp is for skaters 8 years and up who have had some skating experience and want to meet more friends and learn more about the skate world.

Check it out!

Dickies Demo at Lakewood Skate Park

Vince — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 20:45:23 GMT

Dickies skate team stopped by Lakewood for a session and some autograph signing time.

After hanging out at West Side and checking out some skate spots around town, Kevin Terpening, Vincent Alvarez, Stevie Perez, Peter Hewitt, Dan Plunkett and Tom Remillard hit up Lakewood Skatepark in the evening and put on a demo for everyone.

Kevin Terpening used to ride Lakewood when it first opened and easily handled everything like it was yesterday. Vincent Alvarez was still hurt so he just hung with the kids. Stevie Perez and Tom Remillard and Dan Plunkett destroyed the park and put together some new lines and combos that no one probably even thought of.

Thanks to the City of Lakewood for some extra attention at the park that day and West Side for hosting the team. Thanks to Daniel Wheatley and Atiba for coming through - hope to see some Cleveland footage/photos of these guys!

Crooked River Skate Park hitting snags underground

Vince — Thu, 30 May 2013 20:52:24 GMT

Some weeks ago Grindline began checking the site for some underground impediments to ensure that the conceptual design can be supported at the location. Exploratory digs with a backhoe revealed some underground permanent structures and utilities that need to be worked around in some way.

The riverfront site contains some unmapped utilities and some bulkhead supports that extend well into the skatepark site.

The City and Grindline are looking for ways to retain the design of the skatepark down at Rivergate. If the skatepark needs significant design changes, we would be invited to give input at another public meeting. We do not have a ground breaking date yet the City and Grindline are expecting to be under construction through the summer.

Dickies skate team heading to Lakewood Skate Park

Vince — Wed, 29 May 2013 20:05:55 GMT

Come skate with new Chocolate Pros Vincent Alvarez and Stevie Perez along with veteran Peter Hewitt and Ohio Son Kevin Terpening at the Lakewood Skate Park.

Tuesday May 29th 7PM at Lakewood Skate Park

Skate Kitchen Ramp Complete!

Vince — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:27:52 GMT

A good bit of PSG members have put the new Skate Kitchen ramp through some testing sessions ; )

The ramp is 32' wide, 5' tall with about 7.75' transitions. 2 inch black steel coping and birch riding surface make it a very solid, fast ramp to ride. The rest of the space is getting cleaned up. If you want to get your own access to the Skate Kitchen, you can now sign up a a Founder level donor member and get your own secure electronic keyfob access - 24/7.

PSG will be offering up to 40 Founder level memberships and as of this day we have had 28 sign up. These PSG members are not only donors but have been working on the space and getting it ready for more PSG events and lessons this winter.

Skate Kitchen Ramp Almost Complete!

Vince — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:23:04 GMT

Don Billington, Chuck Sinito, Andy Liedel, Dustin Sheesley, Gabe Venditti, Don Moran, Dan Overfield, Dan Byler and a few others have been putting in long hours on the new Skate Kitchen mini ramp.

The ramp is being built by 100% volunteer efforts by PSG members that will give us a chance to continue work in the winter months and hold small events and contests even when it rains!

Read more about the Skate Kitchen project.

New membership system - getting ready for 2012

Vince — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 13:30:00 GMT

After about 3 years using our old home grown system we have moved to a new membership database to make it easier to keep people up to date with what's going on.

If you have never signed up as a member of PSG, now is the time. There is a lot in store for 2012. The Skate Kitchen website is coming back but we also added an indoor spot and mobile skate spot for getting out to more events during the summer.

As we get more involved in more skate park projects and work on more events and lessons, the costs of PSG have gone beyond what we can cover out of our day jobs so we also started offering some paid membership levels to help cover costs and build toward bigger things.