Stories indexed with the term ‘Veterans Memorial Park’

Ann Arbor celebrated the opening of its new skatepark on Saturday, June 21.

Trevor Staples addressed the gathering at the grand opening of Ann Arbor’s new skatepark.

The facility is located on the southeast corner of Maple and Ann Arbor-Dexter roads on Ann Arbor’s west side, in Veterans Memorial Park.

Festivities surrounding the late morning ceremonial ribbon cutting were started off by remarks from Trevor Staples, president of the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark.

He reminded everyone that the park where the skating facility has been constructed is not just named Ann Arbor’s Veterans Memorial Park. The entire park, he noted, was a memorial to veterans who served our country, and he asked for a moment of silence to reflect on their sacrifice.

The ribbon cutting ceremony itself featured several speakers who recited the history of the more than seven-year effort that finally resulted in the skatepark’s construction.

The day’s events included skating competitions that culminated in some demonstration skates by pro skaters – including Tony Hawk and Andy MacDonald. Although the half pipe facility is no longer there, MacDonald learned to skate at Ann Arbor’s Veterans Memorial Park, at a facility that had been constructed on the opposite side of the park.

Below are some photos of MacDonald, Hawk and other skaters who celebrated the opening. [Full Story]

The grand opening of the new Ann Arbor skatepark – at the corner of Maple and Dexter-Ann Arbor roads in Veterans Memorial Park – is scheduled for June 21, 2014 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The organizers have announced that Tony Hawk will be there.

This is not Tony Hawk doing a 900 over the teeter totter in my backyard. Here’s how you can tell: Tony Hawk is a polite young man who would not hop the fence of your backyard and skate your personal playground equipment like this guy did in 2007. And now that a new concrete skatepark has been constructed in Ann Arbor’s Veterans Memorial Park, this guy won’t need to do that any more.

Other names from the world of skateboarding who’ll also attend are Andy Macdonald, Alex Sorgente and Garold Vallie.

But I want to focus on Tony Hawk.

I imagine when some Ann Arbor Chronicle readers hear the name “Hawk,” they will reflexively think of Buteo jamaicensis or perhaps of high-intensity activated cross-walk beacons. That’s because I imagine many of you are hopeless nerds of some stripe, who don’t know very much about American mainstream popular culture, and might even take pride in that kind of cultural gap. I could be wrong – about you, but I’m not wrong about me.

I remember first becoming aware of Tony Hawk’s name in the early 2000s when I worked in the frozen foods department at Busch’s on Main Street. (At that time a banner hung over the department that read: “It’s Fresh Because It’s Frozen.”)

Jeff, the frozen foods manager, explained to me that I should be ready to re-stock frozen waffles through the week because he expected them to be very popular. He’d ordered extra. Now, it might have actually been some other food, because I don’t remember it all that well, but let’s say for the sake of argument that it was waffles. Anyway, Jeff expected that week to be selling a whole bunch of fresh-because-they’re-frozen waffles because there was a Tony Hawk promotion on the packaging. Kids could get some sort of Tony Hawk prize by sending in proof of purchase for some number of waffles, the exact details of which I don’t remember.

I do remember asking: Who is this Tony Hawk? Jeff explained that Tony Hawk was kinda famous – adding that his own kid was pretty into Tony Hawk. To me, Tony Hawk was just a guy I blamed for making my fingers just a little bit colder. I then forgot about Tony Hawk for more than a decade. [Full Story]

The Ann Arbor city council has given the final approval necessary for the creation of a skatepark in the northwest corner of Veterans Memorial Park, on the west side of the city. That approval took the form of a unanimous vote on a $1,031,592 contract with Krull Construction.

This conceptual design by Wally Hollyday for the Ann Arbor skatepark at the northwest corner of Veterans Memorial Park was approved by the city council on … [Full Story]

The Ann Arbor park advisory commission has recommended awarding a $535,000 contract to Pranam Global Tech Inc. to replace the roof at Veterans Memorial Park Ice Arena. The project includes a 10% construction contingency of $53,500, bringing the total project budget to $588,500. The vote was taken at PAC’s April 16, 2013 meeting.

Pranam, based in Livonia, was the lowest of five responsible bids received by the city. Other bidders were A.Z. Shmina Inc. ($612,000), Cedroni Associates Inc. ($738,000), Construction Solutions Inc. ($738,800) and Phoenix Contractors ($747,754).

According to a staff memo, the roof is nearly 40 years old and has several leaks. A coating was applied 12 years ago but is no longer effective. The purlins and beams have … [Full Story]

The final design of a new Ann Arbor skatepark, to be located in the northwest corner of Veterans Memorial Park, has been approved by the city council. The city’s park advisory commission had unanimously recommended approval of the proposed design at its Dec. 18, 2012 meeting. [.pdf of skatepark design] The city council’s vote approving the skatepark design came at its Jan. 7, 2013 meeting.

Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2013, with a goal of completing the project by the fall.

The park, expected to cost about $1 million, was designed by Wally Hollyday. In July of 2012, the Ann Arbor city council had authorized a $89,560 contract with his firm, Wally Hollyday Skateparks, … [Full Story]

The Ann Arbor city council authorized a $89,560 contract with Wally Hollyday Skateparks for the design and construction oversight of a skatepark to be built in the northeast corner of Veterans Memorial Park. The action took place at the council’s July 16, 2012 meeting. The city’s park advisory commission had recommended approval of the contract on June 19.

City council action on the skatepark at that location dates back to a Dec. 1, 2008 approval of a memorandum of intent. [.pdf of memorandum of intent]

The roughly $1 million project – including an anticipated $100,000 endowment for ongoing maintenance – will be financed through a combination of funds. Those include private donations – primarily solicited through the Friends of the … [Full Story]

The city of Ann Arbor has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the design of a skatepark to be built at Veterans Memorial Park. [.pdf of skatepark RFP] The goal is to solicit proposals for a consultant to handle design and oversee construction of the skatepark, which will be located on city-owned property. The roughly $1 million cost of the project will be paid for through a combination of private donations – primarily solicited through the Friends of the Ann Arbor Skatepark – a $300,000 state grant, and up to $400,000 in matching funds from the Washtenaw County parks and recreation commission. The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation is acting as fiduciary for the project.

The deadline … [Full Story]