Arizona BMX Parks
November 24, 2010 
3 Comments
Flagstaff, Arizona built the first ever BMX only public park called "The Basin".
Flagstaff, Arizona was the first community to build a BMX specific “skate” park in 2005. After years of kicking the local BMX riders out of the skateboard only park, the citizens of Flagstaff realized it would be a benefit to build a park solely for BMX. After the park opened BMX riders finally had a place to go, legally. Not too long after The Basin was built, a third concrete park was constructed in Flagstaff, again to be skateboard only. Once this third park opened the skaters and BMX riders started using all three parks together. Resulting in three shared parks within the community of Flagstaff for skateboards, BMX, and inline skates. Although, the rules still may apply on the signs that you encounter while entering the park, it has turned into an unspoken rule that everyone is allowed to have fun. The reason why the parks work as multi-use is less about the indifference between the groups of users not getting along, and more about the amount of space given by the community. If one park seems too crowded, users can commute to another. Displacement of skaters is often a reason why BMX is not allowed in such facilities, but if a community has enough users, support, and funding they can build to their population size. Rather than pushing one group out completely.
I’ve got some corrections for you, Mike. I’ve found that one of the biggest enemies of the effort to get bikes in skateparks has been misinformation. Much of it has taken the form of rumors and untruths passed from rider to rider. I also found much misinformation on the original BRO site and in RIDE BMX’s reporting of our “bikes in skateparks” effort in Arizona. That’s why I’ve written detailed logs of everything that has gone on in each city we’ve dealt with in Arizona since 2003 at http://www.psychicflyingmonkey.com/The3BCpage.htm In going forward with the new BRO, I urge you all to verify every fact, just like a journalist would (or at least should.)
The Flagstaff BMX park wasn’t built because citizens woke up one day and realized BMX riders needed a park. It was built because BMX riders rode Bushmaster Skatepark incessantly, regardless of tickets and getting kicked out. Flagstaff parks and rec realized they had a problem, and were open to fixing it when BMX rider Ben Burkett started talking to them about allowing bikes in Bushmaster or building a bike-friendly concrete park. The Bike, Blade and Board Coalition advised Ben and helped him in any way we could. Flagstaff parks and rec staff looked to the Phoenix cities to see how they were dealing with the issue, and saw that some of the cities were planning to build bikeparks and some were considering allowing bikes in their skateparks, due to the efforts of The 3BC. Fox Glen skatepark, Flag’s 2nd skatepark, opened around 2003. BMX riders rode it incessantly just like they rode Bushmaster.
Since Flagstaff gets its insurance through an insurance pool with other smaller cities and towns, parks and rec staff decided the best solution would be to build a bike-only skatepark. Like Mike said, after The Basin bike park opened, enforcement on the “no bikes” rule at the skateparks vanished, and the “no skateboards” rule at the bikepark isn’t enforced either.
Hey Jason, I wasn’t trying to go too in depth with this little article about the Flagstaff park. I appreciate the comment, though. In short, I was basically just talking about how a community tried keeping groups separated but later ignored their stance on the current rules. I realize a lot more went into it than that, but this was just a quick piece about the first BMX park.
Hey Jason,
Welcome aboard. Looks like some good info you’re passing on, thanks!
One thing I would like to respond to:
“I urge you all to verify every fact, just like a journalist would (or at least should.)”
I agree that journalists should fact check.
And for BMX advocacy work, it’s very important too. Although most park and rec people are very honest, I’ve seen some of them lie through their teeth.
However, for the BRO website, I want to be clear that we’re not journalists. We don’t have the time or the resources to fact check everything that comes our way. What we can and will do is depend on readers to let us know if something is factually incorrect. If we find that it is, of course we’ll change it.
-Sam