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Wednesday, September 15, 2004 Greenville NC says Ramps are Too Big Mirra, Nyquist, Cooke and many other pros call Greenville home but town puts limits on size of backyard ramps. from: Scooter Don Wigent As you may have heard, Greenville NC, known to so many as "ProTownUSA" has recently passed a city ordinance which all but eliminates backyard ramps. This just months after city officials accepted national recognition as Sports Illustrated magazines "SportsTownUSA" 2004, citing the 35 Pros driving the thriving BMX scene. City officials said that the award alone would bring in million$ in increased revenues. The citizens of Greenville were lucky enough to have spent less than 1/2 the price of a 2-person tennis court on a skatepark which served 50-80 residents a day for 16yrs. They gained 35 world renowned residents (bringing in million$ in income and taxes from out of state), and thousands of viewer hours of the sort of glowing TV exposure that the small town has never seen. A good deal, right? They apparently they forgot us entirely the instant some neighbors of Allen Cooke complained that his ramp was bringing their real estate values down. The city immediately invited every home owner in Allen's neighborhood (except for Allen)to a meeting. There were 10x more home owners present, and protesting the ordinance than recommending it at the first meeting. They postponed discussion until almost everyone was at contests, dismissed the compromises offered by a city appointed commitee of athletes, and then moved forward. The ordinance limits ramps to a small fraction of the area and height allowed for every other trampoline, treehouse, swingset, shed, and pool in the same places. It further will require Allen Cooke to tear down the "several" 10's of thousands of dollars worth of investment in his career. Needless to say we are "ticked". We see how little things have changed in the eyes of the good old boys, even in the epicenter of BMX; and we fear it may cost our scene, and our city greatly in the end. Keep on swingin, till the walls fall down. -Scooter Don Wigent (scooterdon [at] cox.net) more info: http://www.reflector.com/news/newsfd/auto/feed/news/2004/07/22/1090471185.18121.5718.3459.html http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1491498p-7644711c.html http://www.reflector.com/news/content/auto/feed/news/2004/03/26/1080280076.23013.7664.0223.html keywords: greenville north carolina |
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