Mayor Pam Iorio: Everyone is Welcome Except Diarrhea and Skateboarders
Posted By Rob
Monday, January 25, 2010
9:57 AM
Imagine breaking down a huge wall with a caveman tool. The first few times you hit, it's a small chip or maybe even just a scratch. Keep hitting and eventually the chips get bigger and chunks of the wall start to come down. At the Curtis Hixon Park Grand Opening yesterday, I'd like to think we put a few large chips in the wall. We showed up with skateboards, got the usual harassment from police, and made our little statement. During all this, Mayor Pam Iorio mentioned in her speech that the Park is for everyone except skateboarders. The news your dad reads also added one extra word to the title of the story about the grand opening, " Tampa's Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park opens to mostly rave reviews." The Mayor's words and that word "mostly" in the title of the news story is the dent we put in the wall. And, we had a damn good time doing it as you can see in a few minutes of footage. Warning: there are bad words in it. Sure, there are more mature ways of bringing to the City's attention the fact that places to skate are needed, but they're boring, time consuming, and likely won't result in anything worthwile. Oh well, Tampa is going to be the last city on earth to figure out their youth.
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The What's Up Blog Archives
Click here for the archives. The What's Up Column at SPoT chronicles everything that goes on here at SPoT and the other events we do around the world through SPoTlight Productions, our skateboarding events company. It's also littered with opinions on random things in skateboarding and other adventures from our travels like nightlife and plain old tourist sightseeing. Occasionally, there's even some skate business talk and industry banter and news. It's primarily written by Rob Meronek, skating for 20+ years and working at the Park full time since 2001.
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What's Up at SPoT: Random Posts From Over the Years
I've been posting random ramblings to this What's Up blog on the SPoT site since 1999. Here's a random list of some of my favorite posts over the years...Rob.
Red Bull Demo at Ice Palace (Dec 2006)
Posted by Rob on
Sun,
Dec
10,
2006
The SPoT crew did a demo at a hockey game yesterday. It turned out to be a pretty good time with some ripping skating. Check it out: Red Bull Demo at Ice Palace.
Mr. Meronek: 2
Officer Doofy: 0 (Jul 2008)
Posted by Rob on
Mon,
Jul
07,
2008
Hold your hand up to the computer screen. I'm high fiving you all over the internet. Although my skateboard was taken before I even entered the courthouse building, followed by my camera being taken, and then my phone getting taken right in the middle of court proceedings, my ticket was thrown out. Yee haw! Check out my story and some video footage of Officer Doofy fumbling about before he caught me filming him: I Fought The Law And The Law Lost. Again. Thanks, Doofy.
SPoTlight Productions Employee Session at THE BEST SPOT EVER (Jun 2010)
Posted by Rob on
Fri,
Jun
25,
2010
Colin Clark, Jason Rothmeyer, and I just left the Copenhagen Skatepark for a bit to check out an amazing spot we heard about down the street. It's kind of like a downhill snowboard run but with banks, ledges, and small gaps along the entire way. We all took turns behind the lens and filmed a few tricks before heading back to the park where we are now for the Annual Ring of Fire.
Spring Roll All Ages Contest (Apr 2007)
Posted by Rob on
Sun,
Apr
22,
2007
This one might take a while to load. Here's a bunch of photos from the Spring Roll Contest yesterday. Full results are right here.
Australia Day Six - Our Day Off (Mar 2007)
Posted by Rob on
Tue,
Mar
06,
2007
After traveling for 27 hours from Australia yesterday, we're finally back in Tampa. If you think you had a case of the Mondays, check ours out. We left the hotel at 8am on Monday morning, spent the next nearly 30 hours traveling, and arrived in Tampa on Monday at 8pm. That's a 42 hour Monday for us. On Sunday, we all had nothing to do so. Check out some chill shots if you're bored: Australia Day Six - Our Day Off.
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