{"id":8109,"date":"2010-05-12T15:10:55","date_gmt":"2010-05-12T22:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/?p=8109"},"modified":"2010-05-12T16:38:07","modified_gmt":"2010-05-12T23:38:07","slug":"tk-arnold-village-skatepark-a-brilliant-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/?p=8109","title":{"rendered":"TK Arnold: Village Skatepark A Brilliant Idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"27828<\/a>It’s one of the best ideas I’ve heard yet for Carlsbad’s quaint downtown village: turning an ugly old city maintenance yard on the south end of State Street into a skateboarding museum and “action arts center.”<\/p>\n

The plans, presented to an unimpressed Carlsbad City Council by the Carlsbad Village Association, are absolutely, positively brilliant. In addition to the museum, the decrepit old yard would be home to an art gallery, an education building, a multimedia production center and a skatepark. Best of all for a city concerned about its finances, supporters aren’t asking for a dime of city money, hoping to fund the project solely through donations and grants.<\/p>\n

All they want is the land.
\nCity councilors should have given Robin Young, the energetic and visionary executive director of the Carlsbad Village Association, a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Instead, they reacted coolly to the idea, noting that the land won’t be available for a couple of more years.<\/p>\n

Regardless, let’s get the ball rolling on this commendable project —- beginning with a hearty and enthusiastic vote of support from the City Council.<\/p>\n

For starters, skateboarding tugs at the heart of Carlsbad’s pop culture. With a litany of illustrious skateboarders from Carlsbad, from Tony Hawk to Shaun White and Kenny Hoyle, it is imperative that Carlsbad find a way to honor its heritage, and the museum proposed by the Carlsbad Village Association fits the bill. If Huntington Beach can claim to be Surf City USA, then Carlsbad certainly is the capitol of Sidewalk Surfing.<\/p>\n

But a skateboard museum in downtown Carlsbad makes sense not just because of what it is, but also because of what it represents: an infusion of culture into a charming little village that desperately needs someone to yank it out of bed, shake it awake and boot it through the doorway to its potential.<\/p>\n

Think Carmel, think Laguna Beach, think Del Mar. We don’t necessarily want the crowds, but we do need to create the sense of place that these seaside resort towns each have. The arts play a critical role in defining this sense of place, and all three of these towns are home to dozens of galleries and other facilities where the arts and culture can be celebrated.<\/p>\n

In Carlsbad, we have the New Village Arts Theater and the really cool Snyder Art and Design gallery, but that’s about it.<\/p>\n

A skateboard museum and action arts center would be a fitting southern anchor to Carlsbad Village. It would pave the way for more galleries and cultural attractions to open their doors in the village, particularly if it succeeds in bringing more people into downtown.<\/p>\n

Attracting people won’t be much of challenge.<\/p>\n

To lift a line from the movie “Field of Dreams,” build it and they will come.<\/p>\n

Thomas K. Arnold can be reached at TKARNOLD@aol.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s one of the best ideas I’ve heard yet for Carlsbad’s quaint downtown village: turning an ugly old city maintenance yard on the south end of State Street into a skateboarding museum and “action arts center.” The plans, presented to an unimpressed Carlsbad City Council by the Carlsbad Village Association, are absolutely, positively brilliant. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8109"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8109"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8113,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8109\/revisions\/8113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.carlsbadistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}