Major Taylor skate park in danger of demolition!

I'm surprised there isn't a topic already. I have asked to help out in any way. I'm waiting to see what they say.

Taken from the Major Taylor skate park MySpace page
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Thursday, December 11, 2008


This is Not a Drill.(Please Read and Repost)

the velodrome has come to a proverbial crossroads folks.there has been a rumor flying around with the parks dept big wigs,that the velodrome might be run privately by marion college .it has also been stated if that happens,they will be removing the skatepark with no plans in place to build another in an alternate location ....what the *+$% !

they dont seem to realize that the park serves hundreds of people a day in the good weather months and thousands per year.it's one of the most heavily used pieces of public park property in this city and nutures/saves alot of lives.

i wonder how many people actually use all those football feilds the colts are buying for the city.i wonder how much annual taxpayer expense it takes to keep those going.


the parks dept doesn't know it's elbow from it's asshole if you ask me...but you allready know that.this is just absolute stupidity at it's finest .


we need to get some people together to form a skatepark committee just in case.(we need a current committee in place anyways).it would be cool to get some of the older wiser cats/kittens ,as well as some big guns together to talk about a battle plan if this in fact takes place.it would just be cool in general to get some peole together to talk about the future of skateboarding in indianapolis in general.


this is not a drill folks, this is bullshit.pretty much insane actually.

They have already invested lots of money into that park, why would they want to destroy it?? What idiots...

because if Marion College takes over the Lake Sullivan sports complex they won't want to pay any money for insuring the park, I suppose.

Well damn them. where will the 10 year old smokers hang out????

looks like were gonna ramp and rave naked around the city

Hey Alex, did you get that MySpace message I sent you last night?

Have you heard any news Vince??? I feel bad for slacking on this...I've been so fucking busy. Let me know if you hear anything dude...I just messaged their myspace and I haven't heard back.

***UPDATE***

Taken from the Major Taylor myspace blog:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, December 16, 2008


Current Status of the SkatePark.

I was informed today that the Parks Dept. heavies met once again with the Marion College reps........

As You all know by now Marion College wants the skatepark REMOVED if they take over the Velodrome in a partial partnership with the Parks Dept.That would be thier first choice in the scenario.They are anti skateboarding like it's 1989 all over again.

Fortunately one of the "Big Dogs" with IndyParks, Don Colvin, went to bat in a big way for the skatepark and said they would have to make arrangements to relocate it if they want to remove it.After they found the expense it would take they seemed to lay off a bit on that idea.It is My understanding that He pretty much blew everthing they shot at Him back in their faces....hell ya Don,at least someone has our back in this city to a certain extent.

They still however want to "Manage" the skate park:

This would include having a full time attendent(most likely a "pad nanny" to boot) ,charging admission!?!?,and having set hours(and that aint 24hrs. a day).As well as putting up a security fence.Did I mention charging admission that would go directly into the pockets of the Marion College?!?!Don stated to them that if they have an attendent it makes the city liable in the event of injury.They are starting to figure out it's not going to be all roses&lolipops for them.

So at this time it appears as though the College will be forming a partnership with the city in terms of Velodrome use.The staff will be hired by the College as well.I am doing My best to inform the city that the skatepark can still exist as it's own entity without scaring any of the Marion bike team away,and making their College look bad...heh.As well,I am trying to figure out a way that I can still work out there from time to time,to host contests,park maintenance,paint over Your damn graffitti etc.

So for now things are still up in the air,but looking a little more realistic.We still need to get a crew together to come up with a battle plan,and find some way to do a census/petition.The city doesn't seem to know how many skaters/bikers/bladers there are in this town and I would hate for them to blow 20 grand on a census.

Thanks Yall,

I will do My best to keep on top of everything and get info out as soon as I get it.

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So it seems things are getting a little better.

Thanks for all the info Vince.

damn. my brother goes to marion. im dissapointed in him

hey guys im new to the board but i frequent major taylor in the summers. ive started a petition for the major taylor skatepark at ipetitions.com/petition/savemajortaylor

im working on circulating this link to as many boards/myspace/facebooks as i can. please feel free to do the same and post the link wherever you can so the petition can grow... any help here would be appreciated.