The Establishment

The establishment made the 14th Street skate park in a population dense neighborhood to serve the youth. An outreach started by a concrete cowboy. Property damage if it’s just for property. Property investment if it’s for the people. The anti-skateboarding and anti-establishment together create a sturdy future for generations to come. Quelling stabbings and shootings with granting a recreational wish list: fun box, grind rail, pyramid and ramps. Knotted trees long standing in the center of the greenbelt’s acreage were felled for the new and improved skate park. The 32 x 100 foot skate plaza was uprooted by heavy machinery. Hundred of thousands of dollars transferred from the federal government to Long Beach for the peoples’ block. An 8,000 square foot super park made local and national headlines. The concrete action deposited into the hands of the youth launched their potential in the action-sports world. The clock ticks digitally. The trouble on the block will less likely block a gnarly quality of life as skateboards flip. They’ll take many hard licks for the discipline to stick like grip tape. Cut down to size. Let them rip.

On the flat black surface near the half pipe, the overcast sky makes even light for the sundry hundreds of families who showed up. The grand opening of the Michael K. Green skate park is blanketed with a blanket laid by the greatest among us. It’s a court to give thanks among our various ranks. Power lines transmit from the unholstered microphone Mike Vallely holds with his skull and cross bones hand in front of the wooden podium. His hat says, “LB.” Open eared people receive the kind words of inspiration. Circles ripple out from the center of attention. On top of the open space Vallely affirms the life and purpose lived out by Michael K. Green. What has happened here grips the heart as the tape replays from the high Light.