potential slalom spot

[slowtofastest]

as most of you know i drive around town all the time for work ... well the other day i wasn't paying attention and took a wrong turn, and while taking a shortcut through a neighborhood to get back to where i wanted i was forced to stop in the middle of the road and oggle what i had found. the parking lot of the fairview church.

set your googles to:

844 NE 78th St
Seattle, WA 98115

or this link might work:

http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=na ... 1&ct=image

switch to satellite view and you will find a parking lot a block long and a block wide heh.

i did not get out and survey on foot. but it looked to be more or less flat and smooth. and it has the benefit of being just off I-5, and really in the grand scheme of things only like a mile and a half off 520, so easily accessible to pretty much everyone.

do we have a seattle slalom club? if so do we have a contact person who can call them up and find out what their policy is on public use of their parking lot during non-church hours? should i just take it upon myself to give them a call and see what's up?

[stacy]

looks like it could be a good spot. We don't have any official group, so go ahead and contact them.

[jlacivita]

if it weren't raining today i'd go check it out...

[slowtofastest]

i went out and took a look. it is ... mediocre, unfortunately. not better than what we have currently as options, it's just not flat enough. i'll keep searching.

[slowtofastest]

i've been looking around and i remembered this place, not sure what the status of this old school is but i'll find out. set your google to this:

6701 weedin pl ne seattle wa

the tennis courts and basketball court have been in disrepair for some time. i'm not sure if the school is closed down or not but i've never seen kids there. under the highway in the park and ride is another possibility for a rainy day, i dont know if it's lighted at night or not.

edit:

ok i went down there today (5/3/2009). apparently the baskets have been ripped out and the local trash company has leased the parking lot / court for storage of big green trash containers. right now there is plenty of room to set up one row of cones on one side of the court but i would presume that would vary based on what trash cans are in there.

the tennis courts however seem to be idea. they are seattle school district rather than seattle parks department so there is no sign stating that they can only be used for tennis. they are not used a lot from what i have seen so they might be a really good spot.

additionally, if it's raining there is the adjacent metro park and ride under the highway that has lights, i just dont know if they're on at night. as it turns out the pavement in there is pretty damn smooth and flat in a lot of areas. so as a rain or a nighttime option it could be really good. the only problem is of course that the sign over on the back side lists a bunch of rules one of which is no skating. easy enough to plead ignorance but if a cop shows up and tells you to leave, probably it would be bad if you went back again as presumably cops are like mailmen and have regular routes. so at least until told to leave the park and ride would be pretty ideal like the tennis courts adjacent.

[jlacivita]

Hmmm

debating whether to go check this spot out tonight or use the unused half of the tennis court that the dodge ball players use (i was there last friday and it was pretty fun) at Cal Anderson Park

[slowtofastest]

why so post name but no details!

1635 11th Ave 98122

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1635+11th ... e&resnum=1

[slowtofastest]

another spot i found that has potential is in magnussen park.

approx address 7201 sand point way ne 98115

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=7201+sand ... e&resnum=1

zoom in and look due east (right) of that marker. you will see a basketball / tennis court combo. they are in a state of disrepair, the surfaces are degrading. the tennis court is probably unusable. the basketball court you can put up a row of cones. easily accessible through the main gate of the park which is at about 75th.

[srsly]

since this seems to be the biggest thread i'll post a possible spot.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... 7&t=h&z=18

this is literally down the hill from my house. it's reasonably flat and just plain cement. it's in good repair from what i can tell as far as cracks. i only ever see one guy using it regularly and he's there early saturday mornings. i seem to remember someone mentioning in another thread about tennis court usage... does it vary by location or is there some city-wide thing that encourages people to just play tennis on them?

[slowtofastest]

officially, or unofficially?

officially lots of places can't be skated on. like park & rides. but you'll find all manner of activities going on under I-5 at 65th NE that the sign of rules officially prohibits. jeremy and i have had cops drive by and not bother us on numerous occasions.

the tennis courts are the same thing. officially, any parks department tennis court is for tennis only. seattle school district tennis courts do not have the same sign, but i would presume that they are presuming that you get official permission from the school in question.

basically how it works is that you go skate until someone bothers you. sometimes it's right away, sometimes it's never. but know the rules for wherever you're going, that way you know whether or not to hold your ground. the tennis players have tried to get me to leave where i go on occasion but it's a seattle school district court so i politely (or not) suggest that they go over to greenlake where there are lots of tennis only courts.

i've eyeballed the spot you have linked there on the way by before but i've never tried it out.