*** It's our £431m BMX park ***

Scotsman, United Kingdom -- 12/03/2005
The twists and curves of the Scottish Parliament building
have earned praise and ridicule in almost equal measure.

But one group who have been delighted with Catalan architect
Enric Miralles extravagant design are the city's young BMX bikers
and skateboarders - who have adopted it as a play park.

They have discovered that the curved walls and landscaped
gardens of the £431 million building are perfect for stunts
and tricks.

The Holyrood site has become an alternative attraction to
the popular skaters' haunt of Bristo Square in the evenings.

Unfortunately the visitors have left their mark. The walls beside
the main visitor entrance have become heavily marked with rubber
from bike tyres which have also churned up the gardens.

The problems have arisen despite a police ban on skateboarding
and cycling in the landscaped area, which was finally and belatedly
opened in the summer.

Mark Thomson, spokesman for the Edinburgh Skatepark
Project, said the walls were ideal for bikers performing tricks.

He said: "The last time I was down at Holyrood I noticed
someone riding along the walls of the building with a pretty
beefy bike. The marks are made when the tyres slide down
the wall just before you jump off."

The lack of a purpose-built skatepark near the city centre
and problems at Bristo Square had driven skateboarders
to Holyrood, according to Richard Roberts, of the campaign
group Skateboard Scotland.

He said: "There's no doubt some people are just avoiding
Bristo Square now as they see it is a no-go area because
of all the jakeys that are there now.

"The Scottish Parliament is a great
place to go for a change of scene."

Parliament chiefs said the marks on the building would be cleaned
off later this month as part of an annual operation costing almost £750.

A parliament spokesman said:
"The area in front of the parliament building is a public area.

"As long as there is no health and safety issue or risk of damage
to the building, we would have no objection or reason to report
anything to the police. To date skateboarders and BMX bikes
have not been a major issue."

Lothian and Borders Police said officers will move anyone
skating or riding BMXs in the landscaped area outside the
building because of "the potential for damage to be caused
to the building and also noise disturbance".

Bill Aitken, chief whip for the Scottish Tory group in the
parliament, said: "On the one hand it is good to see people
getting their value for money out of the parliament by using
it for something like this.

"However, on a more serious note the parliament was
not designed for this kind of thing and people should
be skateboarding and riding BMX bikes where it is
safe to do so.

"The last thing the taxpayer needs is for
damage to be done through something like this."

Rosemary Mann, convener of the Edinburgh Old Town
Association, said: "I'm not surprised to hear about this
at all. If you create a landscaped area like this then people
are going to use it."

Old Town councillor Bill Cunnigham said: "If there is a
problem with this then it's the parliament's problem to
try to sort out."

Geneb...Wenatchee,Washington-USA
All Things Northwest in BMX!
***** Gene`s BMX *****
http://www.genesbmx.com