Urban Jacksonville

Photo compliments of oxbowranch@gmail.com More photos here

Not to beat a dead horse, but we have pictures and a first hand account of what went down at the Jacksonville Go Skate Day 2006. Thanks to Levi from Urban Art Warfare for the description.

Hey All, well yesterday was go skate day and man was it madness! 300-400 kids showed up and after being kicked out of friendship park we took over the streets skating across the Main Street Bridge and into downtown to the park near JMoMA. Then we got kicked out there and started skating back and the cops showed up and just started tackling kids in the streets and throwin them in cop cars. It was like a war zone! but you wont hear that in the news.

We told them to let us stay in the park for a day and there wouldn’t be a problem but they made us leave and then ticket a bunch of people for illegally skating in the streets. Total BS! But I had Fun and think most every one else did too!!! So here are some pictures and the link to the article and news video that was way off the mark. Thanks for nothin First Coast News! You made us look like the hooligans that everyone already thinks we are! Its just skateboarding! boom pow surprise!

tags: jacksonville, go skate day

This entry was posted on Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 2:43 am and is filed under Downtown Jacksonville, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Levi

Well the intention of go skate day was solely for recognition for a new park
and it did get kinda out of hand in the end, but It was fun, no one actually got arressted
or hurt and we will have a better idea how to plan for a more constructive / organized event this
next year. and hey, at least we made enough of a ruckus the first time so that now the news and authorities will take us more seriously for the next event. this is only the begging of a fight that is not going to go away easily. I think the city thinks if they just keep ignoring us that we'll eventually stop
but i don't think they've done the research to realize how big skateboarding is actually getting.
Its not the outlaw sport it used to be, but i think the craziness of the go skateday event was merely a build up of years of being treated like the criminals were not. I think we all just felt like if were gonna be treated like criminals, we might as well have some fun like it for once!
Cash Carter

I think SkateDay is an awesome idea, my issue is this: If you want to legitimise what you are doing, you should make sure not to break any laws. The authority is only looking for a reason to stomp us flat. If you don't give the public or our crappy local news any positive things to talk about/report on then they of course are only going to see a bunch of hooligans.

I really, really hope this happens again, but only if all laws are abided so that the community has no choice but to embrace it.
joeymarchy

Jermain, Kona is the legendary skatepark in Jacksonville. Kona opened in 1977.
U-Turn

And I'm sure if some kid had ended up mangled under a caddy, those same people would have been the first to scream that the cops should have done something.
Jermaine

Isn't there a legendary skate park in Jacksonville?
Travis

" we took over the streets" And there you have it. Sorry kids, I was downtown that day and a lot of you were acting like little jackasses. Parks nailed it. Everyone wants to be a little rebel and when you've got a bunch of others egging on negative behavior, it's not good for anyone. I saw a few kids hitching to cars for a boost and that's absolutely stupid, downtown traffic is bad enough as it is with all the outsiders not being able to wrap their heads around the whole "ONE WAY STREET" thing, we don't need a bunch of 12 year olds mangled under some 90 year lady's caddy.
KTZ

at leasts they werent feeding the ducks. could have gotten ugly
Downtownparks

I guess I'm just not that sympathetic. Its not that I have a problem with Skaters. In fact, when I was a kid I really thought the skater crowd was cool (I couldnâ€™t skate to save my life, so I went to guitar route instead) But everyone has to admit that skaters tend to be less than respectful to authority.

Also, I know this wasnâ€™t everyone, but I understand that when the skater left friendship park that they trashed the place with litter and debris. This caused problems for the city, MOSH, and other businesses down there who were then forced to deal with the mess.

Lastly, looking at those pictures. The skaters didnâ€™t help their cause by swinging in and out of traffic. Had they stayed out of the street, I might have had more sympathy to their plight.

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