Open Road of New York

Open Road Rooftop Afterschool

2012-01-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

In the 2011 to 2012 school year we had a team of 50 skaters + artists from all over NYC volunteering at the roof with kids from all 5 schools in the building. Thank you all. We get going again in March. Be ready.

Today in Fort Greene

2012-01-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

In the playground of PS 20 Arts + Letters in Fort Greene Brooklyn skateboarding, BMX, and basketball co-exist with kindergarten kids playing, unfenced, nearby.

An ollie over the gap contest that pitches the skateboarders right into the busy play equipment doesn't faze anyone. In fact the kids follow the skaters around, asking to borrow their boards. And when someone lands a trick they shout. Then they try it.

Tarela Kelvin Ebiotu, (above), a graduate of PS 20 and now a college student nearby, shows the kids how it's done. Thanks Tarel.

Winter Contest + Skate Advocacy at Susan B in Jamaica Queens Dec 28 2011

2012-01-02T06:58:00.000-08:00

photo by Eric Cooper

Skate Contest and Advocacy Wed Dec 21, 4pm

2011-12-20T08:40:00.000-08:00

Join us Wed Dec 28 ~~Wed Dec 21~~ at 4pm at Susan B 238 in Queens. Contest 4-5, Advocate for public access to public parks (including 12+A) 5-6pm.

New Breed skateboards - Jamaica clip from newbreedskateboards on Vimeo.

For Directions click here

Please Welcome our New Director of Skateboarding Rob Campbell

2011-12-18T14:04:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release

December 18, 2011
For more information please contact: Paula Hewitt Amram, openroadpark@gmail.com

We are pleased to announce that Rob Campbell, pro skater, NYC native, and owner of New Breed Skateboards, is the new Director of Skateboarding for Open Road.

Please join us in welcoming him at his upcoming work with us at New Design High School/Open Road Rooftop and 12+A/Open Road Park. Visit www.openroadny.org for a schedule of events this December 2011 and throughout 2012.

Rob will lead all of our Skateboarding Physical Education classes, our annual skateboarding events, and all of our advocacy to ensure skate spots remain open to the public citywide.

Welcome Rob!

For more information:
http://www.nyskateboarding.com/2010/07/introducing-new-breed-skateboards-by-rob-campbell-2010/
http://www.nyskateboarding.com/2010/03/after-midnight-am-springsummer-lookbook-2010/
http://airspeed.us/team/detail/35
http://www.openroadny.org/

Help get 12+A open to the public

2011-12-12T07:42:00.000-08:00

join us Thur 4pm at the Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, NYC. RSVP to openroadpark@gmail.com

12+A/Open Road Park

2011-12-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

Donations from Vans this past summer 2011, were spent to pay Sean, Billy, Tim, East Side students and skaters to keep the park open under Paula's volunteer supervision, up until August 18, 2011. This public access for skaters and everyone else was led by Paula, Open Road/12+A founder, until the school shut down public access.

As of September 2011 Vans donations have instead gone directly to East Side. East Side is now saying the park is closed to the public. Please contact us at openroadpark@gmail.com to advocate for public access.

Income: May to August 2011, 4 months x 1750 = $7,000

Payments: May to August 2011: $7,183.00

Funds paid from Open Road, May to August 2011 to
Sean Nguyen, Billy Rohan, Tim Rutgers, for work at Open Road Park/12+A from May 1, 2011 to Aug 18, 2011 and to summer jobs for East Side students/skateboarders: Maria Grant (East Side student/skater), Joshelly (East Side student/skater), Swing replacements for Park; parts and hardware: $400.00 (receipts)

Total: $7,183.00

Breakdown by person

Sean Nguyen, May 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011: $1,533.00

Billy Rohan, July 7, 2011 to August 18, 2011: $1,450.00

Tim Rutgers, July 7, 2011 to August 18, 2011: $1,400.00

Maria Grant and Joshelly: July 7 to August 18: $2,400

Paula Hewitt, May 1, 2011 to August 30, 2011: 10 hrs/wk for 10 weeks provided to supervise public access for skaters and everyone, volunteer

connect the beat

2011-11-05T16:59:00.001-07:00

Join us on the Rooftop Sun Nov 6 1:30 to 4:30 for Connect the Beat

Advocate for Healthy Food in Your School Cafeteria. Come to this event at 350 Grand Street, NYC Monday Oct 24 at 12noon, in the school cafeteria. RSVP to openroadpark@gmail.com

2011-10-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

New Design and East Side High Schools: food gardens + skateparks with teenagers

2011-10-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

Prove It: Improving Parks with Youth

2011-09-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Right now, youth/adult teams are planning improvements to Faber Park in Staten Island, Forest Park in Queens, and Betsy Head Park in Brownsville, Brooklyn. You can add your own information about any park to the NYC skate/BMX park map so everyone can see it.

Click the pic of the Forest Park locals to see our NYC skate/BMX park map combined with Oasis. You can create a custom map showing your skatepark together with subways, flood zones, elected officials, schools, and other information you can use to advocate for park improvements, in Oasis.

Our Prove It programs are supported by the Levitt Foundation, and by individual volunteers.

AfroPunk OpenRoad 2011

2011-08-16T01:26:00.000-07:00

AfroPunk Free School at Commodore Barry Park

View NYC skate/bike park map in a larger map

At AfroPunk in August 2011 we'll have a week long free school at Commodore Barry Park led by pros in BMX skate + photography/art. Free. Ages 13-18. email us at openroadpark@gmail.com for more info.Kids will produce professional level photographs and art work and compete in skate and BMX comps during the Afro-Punk festival. Click here to view the curriculum framework for the school. Click here for our photo/art curriculum. Click here for our skateboarding curriculum.

Check out Tracy Landon, 18yrs old when he made this as part of our AfroPunk arts program.

Open Road Park

2011-06-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

Above photo, far left: Paula and Tim from Open Road with volunteers in 1993, placing the landfill liner to remediate the contaminated soil at Open Road Park. For more pictures of kids and Open Road turning this place from a contaminated vacant lot into a park, go to this link

Click the timeline below to see how we got rid of an infamous 90's era drug spot in the Lower East Side, and replaced it with a park open to skateboarding, gardening, basketball, volleyball and teen programs. Click here to support these free programs.

Click this link for a New York Times article about our skateboarding classes with East Side Community High School, where girls and boys learn in Open Road Park.

See the Sports Illustrated Teen cover story on Open Road Park here

Click this link for a New School Press article, and here for an ABC News story about our fun positive programs for girls and boys on the Lower East Side.

Click the pic for directions to Squibb Park

2011-05-23T10:22:00.001-07:00

2011-05-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Thomas Greene Park

2011-05-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

Thomas Greene Park review from Quartersnacks...

"The people at Open Road, California Skateparks, Friends of Douglass Greene Park, and the Tony Hawk Foundation were smart enough to figure out that the best thing for New York, a place predominantly filled with ledge skaters, a place where twenty people would line up to skate a concrete island into traffic in the back of Union Square, would be to put three ledge-like obstacles in a basketball court, as opposed to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a wedge ramp to a ledge with a Euro gap three feet after it. Now at Douglass Greene Park on 3rd Avenue and Degraw Street ...they have a bench with one curved side and another straight side, a low manual pad, and an up-and-down sort of triangle ledge, all on familiar basketball court ground. Take the D, N or R to Union Street, skate north for two blocks, and make a left on Degraw"...

Sat May 7th Thomas Jefferson Park, Harlem

2011-05-04T10:50:00.001-07:00

Billy Rohan presents Element Make it Count and King of Spring at Street Games in Harlem on Saturday May 7th 11am to 3pm. Open Road and New York City Parks invite you to join our hosts Billy, Alex Corporan, Rodney Torres, and Donny Barley. Contest runs 11am to 4pm with a course designed by Billy using Element Drop Spot obstacles. A dozen skaters will lead free skate clinics for the kids. Parks Dept is open to more skate spots cause we're telling them the numbers of skaters justify it, so come out May 7th and prove it.

2011-04-05T07:43:00.000-07:00

Growing food in self watering containers

2011-03-17T17:43:00.001-07:00

Skateboarding at East Side

2011-03-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

Open Road x Red Bull x East Side Community High School from open road on Vimeo.

Curriculum Report: Mentorship camps and events, Open Road 2010

2011-02-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

Click here to read a copy of our report

Open Road Teen Programs

2011-01-20T08:11:00.001-08:00

We create programs together with teenagers in digital arts, video, skateboarding, BMX, music, dance, gardens, environmental design.

openroad afropunk: art, skate, music, video

NYC skate/bike parks

2011-01-11T13:11:00.001-08:00

click here to go to the interactive map

View NYC skate/bike parks in a larger map

Free skate and art in Fort Greene Park, PS 20/Arts+Letters, and Commodore Barry. Click photo to donate.

2010-12-24T00:25:00.000-08:00

Open Road Park

2010-12-16T11:26:00.000-08:00

Thank you to the Maloofs and Vans, and the citywide skate community, for making the holiday event at Open Road Park December 18th such a success.

Schoolyard plaza game

2010-12-11T08:45:00.000-08:00

1. Choose a schoolyard. Measure walls, steps, cracks, drains.
2. Make maps in SketchUp, Sims, Skate3, pencil.
3. Learn how people use it now. Ask people, search youtube, oasis.
4. See what people want on scribd, online surveys + real people at the place. Make avatars of them.
5. Make 2D + 3D game pieces of what people want to to do there. Choose an avatar to represent each kind of user: skater, biker, student, parent, teacher, little kid, teenager.
6. Take pix and list the good + the bad about the place
7. Play design games with people at the real place.
8. Play Android and Skate3 games of your place with people.
9. Play games, skate, football, free play at the place with people.
10. Send game + place info to sponsors who might support it.
11. Get support by sending community groups, and sponsors info on kids nearby + need for parks.
12. Work with partners to build your new schoolyard plaza.

This Friday at PS 20 Arts+Letters, Fort Greene

2010-12-08T07:36:00.000-08:00

Join us Friday at 12 noon on the school playground (Clermont) side of PS 20 Arts+Letters in Fort Greene, Brooklyn to draw and map on the ground and each other

mapping by bike

2010-12-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

We needed a map of every piece of property in NYC so we could do some planning for parks. GoogleMaps didn't exist yet. So we made our own, with a huge citywide team. it became www.oasisnyc.org. The crew in the photo mapped the LES and Williamsburg in 1998. Peter Zayas, Leiani Garcia, Erica Colon, Jake Li, Jasiman Lopez, Nate Allejandro, Richard LeBlanca. Click pic for more info.

Come Play

2010-11-28T16:51:00.000-08:00

Contest: create an accurate base map (replica) of an existing NYC public skatepark in Skate3, Sims, or SketchUp. Our mission is free, public parks, skater built + run. We use base maps to work with the community and agencies to design/build + update new areas within parks. You win a signed deck from a local NYC pro. And maybe a free public park built in reality.

Ben Soto skatepark, Staten Island

2010-11-23T20:44:00.001-08:00

Thank you Tony

2010-11-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

tony hawk foundation has generously donated skate art by california skateparks to gowanus, brooklyn. coming soon.

Open Road Rooftop: Tracy Landon

2010-11-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween Hellraiser 2010 from Tracy Landon on Vimeo.

Open Road Rooftop: Transworld

2010-11-02T14:33:00.001-07:00

Open Road Rooftop: Sean Nguyen

2010-11-01T13:11:00.001-07:00

what we're working on: Safari and Squibb

2010-10-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

Our non-profit, Open Road has provided volunteer assistance to local Staten Island advocates Ed Pollio, Juliane Forsythe, the Parks Department and local civic associations in their efforts to get new BMX and skate parks built. We have no contracts or agreements in place with Parks Department to design or develop any skate parks in Staten Island, despite news reports to the contrary. We are unpaid advocates. We are not leasing Safari from the city. We have been discussing pros and cons of Safari as a potential skate park site with Staten Island residents and Parks staff. We are a low budget, grass roots, non-profit that has been supporting bike and skate access to public parks for 20 years. We've supported skate/bmx parks in every other NYC borough, and hope to support Staten Island's efforts to develop skate and bmx parks.

Squibb Park, Brooklyn: We have been leading a team of volunteer skaters and bmx'ers who keep Squibb Park open after school hours and on the weekends. Squibb was unused for 10 years because of resident and agency concerns about safety. You can't see into areas of Squibb from the park entrance, which is 30 feet above the park. You enter the park through a long, steep, switchback ramp, and there is only one entrance/exit. This will change when a new pedestrian bridge is completed in 2012 linking Squibb to Brooklyn Bridge Park below. For now, we keep it open with volunteers so we can keep this park available for skaters, bikers, and free play.

Halloween Hellraiser 2010

2010-10-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

Squibb park open for skaters and bikers

2010-10-09T02:03:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Spiegel's last days on the job, opening Squibb with Open Road
click here for News12 article on Squibb

New walkway: Squibb to Bklyn Bridge Park

2010-10-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

Squibb

above: Sean Nguyen

2010-10-06T22:36:00.000-07:00

Watch open road park grow from a contaminated bus garage in 1986 to a beautiful green park and playground today.

open road at afro-punk 2010

2010-07-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

Afropunk Festival 2010 from Tracy Landon on Vimeo.

Two clips of the kids programs at Afro-Punk 2010. Turn on the HD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7fMZQsCht0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEPOFOjrqzI

2010-07-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

At Open Road, kids work side by side with architects, artists, writers, scientists, and professional athletes. Green areas are integrated with active sports, reading areas and skate ramps with slides and art. Ponds, sand and dirt are playable as well as respected living systems. Organic food grown in a skate park is served by the cafeteria staff. Instead of fences and signs, suggestive design tells you where the fast ball playing and skateboarding spots are. This is the leafy green area good for growing food, reading, and birdwatching.

Since kids love to play in water our water systems are open and integrated into the playground. Ponds are connected with underground cement holding tanks. These lead to deep ponds that fill & run dry. Kids play in the ponds, which change daily as the water levels change. Through participatory design the ponds and streams change direction as kids design new channels, waterfalls, and retention basins. All of the stormwater at Open Road Park is channeled into an 8' deep 60' wide bowl, open to skateboards, BMX, tag, and peoplewatching. Come play with us. openroadpark@gmail.com

Mentor pairs took digital pix of Commodore Barry Park during Urban Youth Camps in 2009 and 2010

2010-06-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

commodore barry park

Coming up: AfroPunk

2010-04-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

To volunteer for the free skate school at AfroPunk, please email us. In addition to our regular staff instructors, we welcome volunteers in order to have one on one attention. openroadpark@gmail.com

Kane Cameron, Eric Johnson, Dave Willis, Jitu + Taji Ameen teach skate at AfroPunk 09, left. Join us for AfroPunk 2010 the last weekend in June. Thank you!

King of Spring

2010-04-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Volunteers for King of Spring:
Meet Paula at 114th Street and Pleasant Avenue, Harlem
11am on April 17th, 2010
openroadpark@gmail.com

food gardens

2010-03-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

Working with SchoolFood, Open Road has been creating food gardens and skate parks with public school students from the 420 E. 12th Street and 350 Grand Street campuses.

New Design High School, Essex Street Academy, East Side Community High School, and Ross Global students are growing food in their gardens. Strawberries, lettuce, collards, garlic, sweet potato greens, peas and herbs are growing in open road park, on the roof at 350 Grand, and in school gardens in the Lower East Side. This is served in the New Design cafeteria, at Open Road Park, and on the roof for skateboarding classes + events. This spring 2010 we will grow food at both campuses for the cafeterias at all the schools!

In 2010 new partners are joining us; Kin from Cornucopia, Liz Neves, AAAS Science Policy Fellow David Hewitt, Ross Global, and SlowFood.

Greenlane

2010-02-17T14:12:00.001-08:00

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4755008

skate spots we're working on this winter

2010-02-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

2010-02-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

Keeping swales + permeable cobblestones clean so stormwater drains work at open road park

2010-02-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

350 grand rooftop winter garden

2010-02-04T10:56:00.001-08:00

OASIS Maps

2009-11-27T23:47:00.000-08:00

Skateboarders, urban gardeners, artists; check this out. OASIS lets you click on any piece of property in NYC and see the owner, political representatives, how it's used, who takes care of it, toxic contaminants, natural areas, and much more. Open Road has been working on this collaborative effort with a huge team for many years. See the website here and see an article about the collaborative here.

New Rooftop Art

2009-11-27T23:41:00.000-08:00

Art by Royce Bannon, H2O, Billy, Paula, Olu, more.

2009-11-15T07:02:00.000-08:00

halloween clips from runmygame.com

Save the Unisphere

2009-11-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

check out a movie by clicking the photo, and sign the petition online
check out our proposal spearheaded by Rodney Torres after the jump

We're supporting local efforts led by Rodney Torres to add new skateboarding areas to Flushing Meadows Corona Park. These include a new skateboarding area under the Van Wyck Expressweay, new skateable art benches along the park's winding pathways, and a new skate plaza near the Unisphere.

Friends of Flushing Meadows
Flushing Meadows Corona Park is a beautiful park with skateable plazas known around the world. The Unisphere, the car free paths, fields, and dry fountains are filled with people biking, skateboarding, walking, and playing volleyball and soccer. Winding paths, open fields, and dry fountains promote a wide variety of activities not available in other nearby parks.

But now the Unisphere is closed to skateboarding, without any new skate park alternative nearby. So Friends of Flushing Meadows has been created to mobilize the community. We believe this park will be even more popular year round when the community is more involved in care and improvement. Skateboarder advocates are taking a lead in the Friends of Flushing Meadows, and are involving soccer, volleyball, and cricket players, bikers, and families in park improvements & supporting the Parks Department’s work in our park.

We are designing a beautiful new skate plaza near the Unisphere and need your support to make it happen.

In addition to this new skate plaza, there are other areas of the park we'd like to open to recreation. The area under the Van Wyck now is just designed for cars, but people informally skate and play there. These areas could be made beautiful and safe recreational spots with a combination of professional design/build and DIY community efforts, like Burnside and FDR.

The Unisphere and Flushing Meadows have been a home for the local and worldwide skateboarding community for over 20 years, breeding new generations of talent, keeping kids motivated, progressing, and productively active. Skateboarders document their skills for skateboarding publications and video productions and these promote the park in a positive light. This coverage will help attract funding to the Parks Department for maintenance and capital projects, and for programming, events, and education for the Friends of Flushing Meadows.

There is great interest in the worldwide skateboarding community in the Unisphere, which is being returned to a prior life as a fountain despite its vastly more popular current use: active recreation and skateboarding. A petition is filled with signatures to reopen it, at least seasonally, for skateboarding. If the Unisphere itself can't be open to skateboarding, the petition shows how many skateboarders care about it, so there will be official support for a real skate park within close view. Many people consider skateboarding at Flushing Meadows, on the winding paths and around the Unisphere, as a cultural heart of the park.

Beyond the Unisphere, skateboarding and bicycling take place all over the park, in winding paths that extend around Meadow Lake and connect to the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. There are paths around Willow Lake, in a natural wetlands area in the little-used far southern section of the park. Recreational playing fields and playgrounds in the park are used for activities that reflect the vast cultural mix of Queens like soccer, cricket, volleyball, biking and skateboarding.

Please get involved in three projects Friends of Flushing Meadows is working on now: 1) to design the fountain jets so the Unisphere can be open to skateboarding when the fountain is dry, 2) to add skate art + benches along the winding pathways, and 3) to create a new skatepark in Flushing Meadows and make areas now filled with cars new recreational space. All of these areas will be multi-use and welcoming to everyone in Flushing Meadows Park in Corona, Queens. Contact us at openroadpark@gmail.com

skateboarders organizing at the hellraiser

2009-11-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

2009-10-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

Save the Date: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street, NYC

2nd Annual Halloween Hellraiser on November 1, 2009.

The second annual Halloween Hellraiser is set for Sunday November 1, 2009, from 12 noon to 6 pm at Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street at Essex, Manhattan. Skateboarding, music, art, literature, and food.

Presented by Run my Game and Open Road of New York. All ages. Free. Check back here for updates.Click here for rooftop slideshow.

And if enough of you volunteer we can do free Skate School at the Hellraiser like we did at afropunk

Partners: Sign up now to run your own table. Your table is FREE if you provide art, literacy, or music education services. Promote your group, reach new kids, meet new people. You may not charge for any services at this event, but you may sell your own books, writing, art, or music at your table. No cost. 1000+ come to this event. Join us.

fresh food growing skateboarders go to the White House!

2009-09-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

see the ESPN story about our trip with the kids

skateable art

2009-08-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

above, Noguchi unrealized NYC Playground, Riverside Park

above left + center Noguchi unrealized NYC playgrounds.
above right Lily Yeh, Philadelphia, unfenced 5' high concrete

above left rooftop pyramid. center grass maze.
right giant slide, Smith playground in Philadelphia.

above left + center Noguchi unrealized slideable pyramids, NYC
above right public park in San Francisco

left, giant slide in Japan, bikeable hills, skateable mounds in Europe.
NYC is far behind in allowing public art you can play with.
Are we a cultural capital or not?

2009-08-22T15:29:00.000-07:00

How do we get from this...............to this?

email us at openroadpark@gmail.com

Billy Rohan, NYC Parks Commissioner Benepe, Paula & June

2009-07-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

We work closely with the Departments of Parks and Education to identify spots for skateboarding, raise sponsorship funding, lead a participatory design process with skaters, and build the project. Then we support stewardship activities and events in the completed parks.
Contact us at openroadpark@gmail.com

2009-07-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Open Road. Our mission is free public places and programs with youth. We create gardens, parks, murals, and public events, with free programs in architecture, writing, art, music, and youth research. Come see us at Open Road Park,12 st between 1st & A, Manhattan. Write to us: openroadpark@gmail.com. Your donations are tax deductible; we are a tax exempt 501(c) 3 non-profit, incorporated 1990 in New York State.

Team Pain Skate Art at Manhattan Bridge

2009-06-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

click the red piece on the upper right to see Jefferson Pang's album

2009-06-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

VIMBY - 12th & A Skatepark

tony hawk in the white house/open road outside the white house advocating for the legalization of skateboarding in DC. live twitter updates @skateable

2009-06-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

obama with tony hawk and other founding fathers. tony in the center with skate shoes, black suit. Pictures from twitter @tonyhawk

Write to us about youth advocacy. Send us movies. Write to us about skateboarding. Send pictures. Come to our Creative Writing workshops. Volunteer to advocate for and build skate spots, advocate for youth, and support free youth programs.

We've been building parks for 20yrs and we've never seen anything like this. Right now kids want to skateboard, and they are willing to work for it, so they've started to convert our playgrounds into skate spots. These spots are skateable parks, not segregated skate parks, with community gardens, art, music, and youth culture, open to all.

tony hawk getting ready to meet with president barack obama

Come to some of these spots and volunteer, write to us about your advocacy projects, upload advocacy videos to youtube and send us links to your youth service projects. Participatory projects with youth leadership are the wave of the future, please send us yours. openroadpark@gmail.com

The Pursuit of Happiness

2009-06-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

The Pursuit of Happiness
One day Billy called and said Here's an idea. Maybe next week when school's out, spring break, we skate in front of the White House. I said Yes. Because I always say Yes no matter what the question is then I sort it out later. It's why I'm careful who my friends are. Do you want to do it legally, with a permit? Yes, I have to, Billy said. I can't get arrested.

So I start finding out what it takes. First I need to figure out what DC is. I know it's a district, but if it's not a state, does the city have a city government? Who handles permits? I know that sounds stupid, but I didn't know. So I call the National Parks Service. Yes, you would talk to us about permits for demonstrations or sports events in Lafayette Park in front of the White House. But you can't skateboard there. It's grass.

What about the sidewalk? You can't get a permit for the sidewalk. But anyway you can't skateboard on the sidewalks on DC. You can't skateboard anywhere unless it's permitted. Like a skatepark.

What about a demonstration in the park, and we skateboard in the street? The street would be the district. The district you mean like the District of Columbia district? Yes. Do you know who I would ask there? DOT.

But, back to the park, could we have a permit for a demonstration about skateboarding in the park? Yes. And could we build stages, and could we skate on those stages? I don't know. That's a good question. Let me give you to my supervisor. Good luck.

The supervisor is interested. She wants drawings of a skateable stage. How many people would we expect? A thousand come to our events in NYC.

(to be continued)

Photo courtesy Tony Hawk Foundation

2009-06-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

tony hawk with open road and manhattan bridge skateboarders. SteveR@5boro set this up with Tony, thanks Steve and 5boro!

Open Road Rooftop June 2009

2009-06-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

2009-06-13T09:10:00.000-07:00

mini mania 2008
rooftop rampage 2008
rampage 2009
and then some movies for you of some of ourfriends
gonz 1
gonz 2
happy people

June 13, 11am to 4pm, FREE

2009-06-12T13:16:00.001-07:00

King of Spring, April 2009, Open Road Uptown

2009-06-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

photo courtesy runmygame.com

2009-04-18T06:16:00.000-07:00

Manhattan Bridge LES survey results.

2009-04-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

Overwhelming interest in skate art, concrete, variety, and a simple skate spot design. Billy Rohan and Steve Rodriguez of 5boro custom designed a layout with Team Pain. Thanks for answering the survey. We got 1500 hits on the survey on official new york. Tim Payne of Team Pain will be up in NYC to custom install.

Billy Rohan's "playground in a box"

2009-04-15T21:35:00.000-07:00

Playground in a Box
5 people, a shipping container, a set of tools, & moveable equipment.

click the photo to see a movie with Open Road's playground in a box design. At the end of the day Billy Rohan puts away a moveable skatepark (along with the skateboards & helmets we lend out free) inside a 20' shipping container.
Click here for Open Road Skateboarding Phys Ed program.

we're custom designing this concept for another NYC location this summer, with multi-use skateable ramps + slides, benches, and a stage (above). Click for skateboard phys ed program.

Street Games & King of Spring in Harlem Sat April 18. Click image for info. Apply to volunteer at event openroadpark@gmail.com

2009-04-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

2009-04-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

open road. who we are. what we do.

2009-04-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

top photo: public art youth crew, billy (skateboarding) tyriq randy

above: charles ahlem dito marcos nikios karel olu paula (founder)
below: anthony (music)
we create programs with youth based on what they want to do. Right now we do participatory planning, public art, skateable green playground design, music, art, food waste composting, youth led research, mapping, advocacy, activism.

DJ Class at East Side Community HS: Open Road/Apostle Sound

2009-04-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

alejandro polanco, wilkins vidal, diamond rodriguez, david velez, corey pena: Open Road playground mural crew youth leaders.

2009-04-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

Natural Playground Design

2009-04-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

parks dept bank by billy rohan

2009-04-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Sweet Potato Vines in the Rooftop Greenhouse

2009-03-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

vines will shade the skateboard ramps

2009-03-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

skateable art

2009-03-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

skateable art designed by DOT (above)

skateable art at open road park designed by billy rohan

skateable art in ikea red hook photo billy rohan

Skateable art in paris photo billy rohan

manhattan bridge skatepark

2009-03-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

With design and construction managed by Open Road, this park is being created by skaters. Get involved. This is the first NYC project funded by the Tony Hawk Foundation. Construction to begin Spring 2009.

Summary of survey results: Most important thing to people is flow and the bad surface. People overall prefer cement obstacles, with and without steel edging. People want a variety of obstacles, plaza style, mix of street and transition, pool coping. Many people brought up need for building up speed, quarter pipes, banks.

check this link for pictures of skateboarders in the park drawing designs, answering the survey, conducting interviews, measuring the site, and drawing their skatepath to Manhattan Bridge Skatepark

skate/music fri feb 20, 12-6

2009-02-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

open road east river skate/music fri feb 20 12-6 at the Blue Oval, across from the domino factory, north of the williamsburg bridge

Open Road Park in 1990 and Today

2009-02-17T20:15:00.000-08:00

Olu and Ahlem's design team: Manhattan Bridge Skate Park & Allen/Pike Street

2009-02-01T11:43:00.000-08:00

Skaters and neighbors build scale models of Manhattan Bridge skate park, Allen and Pike Street, and bike/skate traffic lane designs. They add traffic lights, pedestrian overpasses, seating and water fountains to the Allen and Pike Street malls to create a corridor linking the skate park with the rest of the city to the north.

Olu and Ahlem's team

See this link for their final presentation of their designs to Leroy Street Architects, the Parks Department, New Design High School staff and students, Hester Street, and Open Road.

And see this link for Ahlem's, Olu's and the rest of the team's drawings and writing in their proposal for the Allen Street/Pike Street Malls & Manhattan Bridge Skatepark

Moveable Marble Ledges: moveable with a forklift. FAQ: yes that is Billy Rohan on the forklift.

2009-02-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

If skateboarders want to use these as marble skateable ledges they can be professionally cut and placed within an overall design within the Manhattan Bridge Skatepark. They can be joined together by a professional stone mason so they can be long ledges.

open road art & playground murals

2009-01-28T14:56:00.000-08:00

open road art programs: Paula

Open Road Skateboarding PhysEd Standards

2009-01-25T08:28:00.000-08:00

Students understand and demonstrate movement concepts and principles in a variety of movement forms: Skateboarding requires self awareness, balance and physical control. Students learn to walk, push, glide, skate forward and backward, hop and jump (ollie), all of which demonstrate different movement concepts and principles. Momentum, inertia, friction, slope, incline and other concepts are learned naturally while skateboarding, in a fun, experiential and challenging atmosphere.

Students use interpersonal communication skills that respect differences and demonstrate responsible and social behavior: In Open Road skateboarding physical education classes students depend upon one another, learn from each other, work on skills in a group and work independently. Students learn to respect one another's physical capabilities and differences. Skateboarding as a group requires students to demonstrate responsible and social behavior by respecting one another's physical space, learning not to skateboard into one another, enjoying the achievements of others, and learning to assist one another in mastering the skills. In skateboarding culture when a skateboarder falls in public others show respect. Students in the class quickly adopt this standard.

Students exhibit a physically active way of life and understand that physical activity provides opportunities for enjoyment, challenge, self expression, stress reduction and employment: By participating in Open Road skateboarding classes and being encouraged to skateboard on their own after school, and at citywide skateboarding events with their families, students participate in a physically active way of life. Skateboarding is naturally enjoyable and fun for children. Learning the sport is challenging, and by increasing the skills learned, the skater is continually challenged to learn more. Skating encourages self-expression by teaching the students at their own pace and allowing them to create their own choreography. The physical and mental focus required to skate well, along with the sensation of freedom felt gliding, reduces stress. The career and employment opportunities provided by skating are evident from the sponsorship relationships associated with skateboarding events, and through exposure of students to skating instructors – professionals who earn a living by skating and teaching the sport.

Students demonstrate competency in physical skills with proficiency in several: Skateboarding requires competency in a variety of physical skills. At the conclusion of the school year, the students are able to demonstrate competency in numerous physical skills on the skateboard, including standing, pushing, gliding, skating forward and backward, balancing on one foot, hopping, jumping, turning forward and backward, and navigating safely through the playground.

Students demonstrate safe and responsible personal and social behavior in physical activity settings: In Open Road skateboarding classes, students learn and are able to demonstrate safe behavior while using a skateboard. This includes the proper way to wear and care for the equipment, the safe way to fall and get up, and how to distinguish between safe and unsafe skateboarding behavior. All of the skills learned will include the proper and safe way to execute each maneuver, with discussion of the possible consequences of not executing the maneuvers safely. Students learn safe ways to assist someone who has fallen, to avoid bumping into other skateboarders, and to respectfully alert other skaters who may not be aware of their proximity.

Rooftop Playground Designs

2009-01-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

To see rooftop playground designs click slideshow to the right

open road food waste compost bins. park slope food coop composts food waste in the hot box

2008-12-29T04:52:00.000-08:00

see this link for a guide to building hot box food waste compost bins

John Decker managing the Open Road Hot Box set up at the Garden of Union, Brooklyn. The Hot Box system at this garden composts food waste from the Park Slope Food Coop, which has over 8,000 members.

ambient temp is 48 degrees, compost temp is 140.
here is a report by cornell university on food waste composting in NYC, featuring the open road hot box. the report is a pdf so you need the free adobe reader. you can download it free here.

Open Road of New York volunteers designing Manhattan Bridge Skatepark

2008-12-06T05:28:00.000-08:00

Thomas Greene Park in Brooklyn

2008-11-18T19:30:00.000-08:00

Open Road built moveable skate obstacles & donated them. They were up for a couple of weeks & hundreds of kids came. This along with listening sessions by the Parks Department where the entire room asked for a skateable park here is part of a powerful movement for change. Photo Right: Ramp/skate armor: $300, Ledge/skate armor & steel: $1,000. Photo Left: Spine $2,000 in skate armor/steel

2008-11-11T16:45:00.001-08:00

Art at Open Road Park

2008-11-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

skate event: Brooklyn

2008-10-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

2008-10-31T16:25:00.000-07:00

2008-10-31T13:09:00.000-07:00

serving food from the garden

2008-10-22T14:49:00.000-07:00