Issaquah Skate Park struggles with crime, cracked concrete
Published 2:31 pm Thursday, February 24, 2011
When Issaquah opened its skate park about 12 years ago, it was one of the first on the Eastside. It was considered a gem of forward thinking, but even then people questioned its location off the Rainier Trail.
Skaters, like now 28-year-old Austin Fischer, came from as far as Snoqualmie to work the ramps. And like today, the skaters weren’t alone.
Teen troublemakers who showed little interest in the sport, wandered into the park to smoke joints and drink beer, he said.
Police have been battling the crime problem for years – minor assaults, possessing alcohol, theft – but this year it’s gotten worse, said Issaquah’s Commander Scott Behrbaum.
The major concern is a group of teens, mostly from Tiger Mountain and Issaquah high schools, who block the paved trail and intimidate passersby, he said.
The area even had a couple strong-arm robberies last summer.
Since classes began in September, officer Karen Weihe alone has made 17 arrests.
She’s found knives on the teens before, and they talk about having guns, but she’s never seen any evidences of it.
The group of kids even gave itself a gang-like name: Relentless.
On a sunny winter afternoon, an older member spotted Weihe outside the community center and quickly paced down the trail. School had just let out, and the group had begun gathering nearby.
After being spotted, she cautioned that there wouldn’t be much to see.
While the trail parallels an arterial, little light shined through the wooded area. The visibility is so poor,
Weihe had to walk down the trail to see what the group was doing, making her presence even more obvious.
“It’s such a hole down there,” she said.
She approached the group while they played hacky sack, and she carded a teen for smoking. He had just turned 18, and she sardonically wished him a belated happy birthday.
A group of middle schoolers gathered nearby, a few played with their skateboards, while showing interest in the older group.
For Weihe, that’s the saddest part. Clean middle schoolers who mix with the group often get arrested for the first time by the end of the year, she said.
Long term, police say that if the trail is cleaned up, the self-perpetuating group will move somewhere else. This area is important, however, because there is a vulnerable population of students, Behrbaum said.
Solutions
The group changes every year as teens move on and new ones join. The only common denominator has been the location, Behrbaum said. A maintenance crew cleared out thick bushes that concealed the skate park from the road, where police often pass.
The same can’t be done for the trail, said Anne McGill, Parks and Recreation director. “It’s a recreational pathway, so we can’t knock down every tree.”
Weihe was confident the more visibility has been a deterrent at the park.
During a nostalgic visit, Fischer experienced something different.
While the group hung out on the trail, an officer stood at the trailhead, questioning those who passed. The group worked a system of lookouts organized in shifts.
Once the officer left, the teens migrated to the skate park and began smoking and drinking.
“It creates a bad vibe,” Fischer said. “It seems they almost intentionally get in your way.”
Over the past few years, the parks department has submitted a proposal that would build two new skate parks in Issaquah, one in the Highlands and one downtown.
One idea was to build a new park behind the police station at City Hall.
Moving the skate park wouldn’t move the problem, but it would separate middle school students and families from it.
“We could have put a basketball court back there and have some of the same problems,” McGill said.
About a month ago, a group of volunteers picked up 28, construction-sized bags of trash off the trail.
“If we didn’t pick it up, it would be awful.” McGill said.
Just a week after, a beer can could be seen floating in a creek. FourLoko was also a popular choice, before Washington banned the alcoholic energy drink.
Today, someone from the nearby community center is sent out daily to spend about 45 minutes picking up the garbage. They often put on waders to get at the stuff thrown into the wetland areas, she said.
An aging park
Fischer was a teen kicking it around town when his friends encouraged him to buy his first skateboard. He sold video games and old sporting gear to make the purchase.
He hasn’t stopped skating since, earning a sponsorship that lasted eight years.
There wasn’t a skate park, so the group of teens skated the streets of North Bend, in front of businesses or at schools.
“We would skate until we got kicked out,” he said with a laugh.
Around the same time, skaters in Issaquah approached the City Council with a proposal for the park, which would give them a place other than City Hall.
When the park in Issaquah opened, Fischer and a group of friends took the bus to visit multiple times a week.
One of the clan was David Gravette, now a professional skater in Oregon.
When Gravette visits home, he always visits the old Issaquah park. The outdated design is nostalgic, Fischer said. “The Issaquah skate park was one of the originals in Washington.”
Even more of an issue is the park’s cracked and shifting concrete. Lifted edges create places for the small skateboard wheels to catch.
“If your wheel gets stuck in the crack, you’re going to fly off,” he said, picking at various cracks with the wheel of his board.
Broken bones aren’t unusual for skaters, Fischer has had seven or eight, but safety isn’t his only concern.
Tall evergreen trees keep the sun from drying out the park. It rains one day and is wet for five more, making it unusable, he said.
When a skateboard gets wet, it’s ruined.
Fischer is excited about the idea of building a new park, and would like to serve on a committee to design it, he said.
Skating is unique, he said, because it can be very artistic. It’s not a team sport, there aren’t coaches to yell at you, but it’s a healthy outlet.
“Some of my best moments in life have been skateboarding.”
Austin Fischer grew up using the Issaquah Skate Park, then a local gem. The park is now outdated, in need of repairs, and plagued with a growing crime problem.
Celeste Gracey/Issaquah Reporter
Austin Fischer, who had a local sponsorship for eight years, grew up using the Issaquah Skate Park, then a local gem.
Celeste Gracey/Issaquah Reporter
Austin Fischer grew up using the Issaquah Skate Park.
Celeste Gracey/Issaquah Reporter
When Austin Fischer first starting using the Issaquah Skate Park, it was one of the first in Washington, a local gem. Now it’s in need of repairs.
Celeste Gracey/Issaquah Reporter
