Another skateboard park design meeting is set for Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. at Holyoke Heritage State Park.
Skateboard park architect Mike McIntyre of ASD-Stantec explains the skate park project during a meeting Thursday evening at Holyoke Heritage State Park.
HOLYOKE - They'll have to resolve the "tranny" vs. "street" issue.
Skateboarders' lingo bounced around a meeting Thursday that drew about 40 people offering ideas about what features to include in the $250,000 skateboard park the city plans to build at Pulaski Park on St. Kolbe Drive.
Some favored a park carved into a loop of paths that tilt and twist, ramps of different angles, and drops in grade that look like bowls all unimpeded by any installations to ensure continuous flow, or transitions -- "tranny."
"You want to be able to start at Point A and go to every element in the park and get back to Point A and stop and maybe get a drink of water if you want. That's what flow is, you want to keep going," said Joseph Lusignan, 24, of Holyoke.
Others said they want a place to skateboard lined with concrete and steel features they use on the street like railings, ledges and walls - elements less appealing to the transition-favored.
"I am a street skater," said a young man, who jumped on his board without offering his name and quickly left the meeting at Holyoke Heritage State Park Visitors Center.
Mayor Alex B. Morse has designated $250,000 of the city’s share of the federal Community Development Block Grant for a skateboard park to be built in the summer.
After an introduction from Teresa M. Shepard, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, skateboard architect Mike McIntyre led the meeting.
McIntyre has helped design more than 150 skateboard parks in North America, South Africa, London, Israel and the Cayman Islands, his website said. He showed slides of those parks in the meeting and offered proposed designs for the park here, which will be a 6,000 square feet to 7,000 square foot, in-ground concrete skateboard facility.
Shepard said the plan is for skateboarders at such meetings - another is scheduled for Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Visitors Center - to determine the park's design. Lack of consensus would throw the decision to the Parks Commission and the mayor, she said.
Angel Prosper, 21, a skateboarder from Springfield, said a challenge for the city will be dealing with the "rivalry" between "older" skaterboarders like himself who favor a transition-themed park that frees of them from constantly pushing off, and youths and teen-agers who want street-scape devices like railings and ledges.
"I'm too old for that. My knees are shot. I've got two pins in my ankle," said Prosper, meaning the right ankle he broke skateboarding in Springfield recently.
Also, he said, while a field of walls and protrusions might appeal to some skateboarders, such an obstacle course might discourage children from the activity.
"We need to keep in mind the up and coming skaters. It's too big and intimidating, they're not going to want to skate," Prosper said.
Alex Maldonado, of Holyoke, was among those urging that the park be free of things like a fountain or mulch that have nothing to do with skateboarding.
Maggie Bergin of the Friends of Pulaski Park, a group dedicated to preserving the park, said Friday the group hasn't taken a formal position on installation of a skateboard park but supports whatever would improve the site.
"Friends of Pulaski Park supports a vibrant, active park in the center of downtown," Bergin said.