harbinger
issue 1 / september 6, 2005 / 7500 mission road prairie village, kansas
Closed briefly this summer, Harmon skate park is now
back in I
ABOVE: A skater flies down the ramp at the recently reopened Harmon Skate Park. ABOVE RIGHT: A local skater flies off a jump photos by Kathleen Sprouse and Samantha Ludington
action
story by sylvia shank
t’s afternoon at Harmon Park and the concrete structure echoes with the clacking sound of wheels on pavement. Barron Bowling, his arms a pallet of tattoos snaking up his biceps, heads back to the park from the water fountain. “When I was young, I had to skate for miles just to find a curve like the ones here,” the 43-year-old Bowling says. “That’s bogus that kids are up here fighting when they should be having a good time.” Bowling is referring to the city’s recent decision to temporarily shut down the three month old Harmon Skate Park in Prairie Village after a mud fight clogged all of the park’s drains. “I can’t believe kids do it right here by the police station,” says Bowling, glancing at the police headquarters and several patrol cars just across from the park. Somehow, they do manage.
Graffiti, brawls, smoking, drinking and the recent mud fight have been a problem. And this park has only been open 90 days. Up until the park closed for 2 1/2 days in late July, the Prairie Village Police had received 43 complaint calls about behavior in the parks. “We got a lot of favorable reactions from parents once we closed it,” Bob Pryzby, Prairie Village Public Works Director said. Back in the park, senior Spencer Schanzer picks up his skateboard and carries it up a concrete ramp. He feels that the recent closing was unfair to the skaters. “The problem with all these fights,” he says, “is that kids from the pool used to come sit on the ledge of the park. They were the ones fighting.”
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