Skateboarders May Soon Have a Place to Take Their Wood in Rochester

Skateboarders could have a specially designated place to practice their half-pipe maneuvers in Rochester or one its neighboring communities.

Business owners Von and Linda Gallaher, owners of the South Street Skateshop, are working with city officials to create a destination for skateboarders to take their wood, the Oakland Press reports.

By “destination,” the Gallahers aren’t talking about throwing down a few ramps and rails on a slab of concrete and calling it good, as they say too many municipalities do.

“If you’re going to do something, do it right,” Von Gallaher told the newspaper. “Let’s do it the way the kids really want it.”

The Gallahers previously ran the South Street Skatepark for eight years until their lease expired in 2013 and they decided to focus on the retail end of their business.

But that left skaters with no place to practice their tricks.

“We just need to give kids a place to do their thing,” Von Gallaher said. “Get them off the streets, get them off the curb, get them off the private property. It’s a litigious society.”

Talks with the city are going well and a committee has been formed to further research the proposal, Rochester City Manager Jaymes Vettraino said.

“It probably should be thought of as a regional attraction,” he said. “We’ll be working with our neighbors at Rochester Hills and making sure that we pick a good site between the good communities.”

City officials are talking with their counterparts in Farmington Hills and Auburn Hills to gauge their interest in a regional project