Baker graveyard

"Here lies Baker skatepark, loved for its epic manual pad and ideal ledge for perfecting the art of smoking cigarettes."

A truly sore sight to see for anyone who knew and loved old baker skatepark, especially if its your local park. This marks the third relocation of the skatepark in barrhaven and in my opinion, the most poorly executed one. The new location seems to be a tad smaller than needed, however this is far from a valid excuse for the utter horeshit that comprises the placement of the obstacles in the new location. I was a bit concerned that the placement might be poorly done and I even paid 2 visits to the construction workers to inquire as to who is heading the relocation and if they would need any help. A meeting was scheduled for the last relocation in which the input of local skaters helped avoid a possible disaster like the one above. The construction worker began by stating "This is all for you guys" in a similar tone to when my dad cooks dinner and is subtly asking for a thank you. He then continued on to assure me that a knowledgeable designer is on the case and that everything will be fine. Im starting to think now that this designer must have been some sort of a fucked up modern artist, but more obviously has probably never touched a skateboard. Maybe he's a longboarder...I don't know what kind of an idiot would fuck something up so badly. I know people in the city that drive miles just to have a nice manny pad session and the city has decided to simply not include it in the new location. In their defense however, they did replace it with 2 stellar drainage areas and some rocks. Stoked! It might be a hard fact to understand for someone who doesn't skate but skateparks NEED to be designed by knowledgeable skaters, no exception. If you ask me, the biggest bummer is the fact that certain obstacles were neatly buried and covered with nice grass, not only because we won't be able to skate them (if there's limited space, I understand) but also because the money and effort put into that could have be used for other more productive and useful areas. If you have anytime and have anything to say to the city of ottawa please email Gaetan morin at gaetan.morin@ottawa.ca and please refrain from being rude to aid in maintaining a good name for skaters.