I pick on Baton Rouge a lot because of it’s lack of support for the skate community and for Baton Rouge’s ineffective Parks and Recreation department… and this post is no different. Sorry, I can’t help myself.

There are some people at BREC that want to do the right thing… Jason Hoggatt is one of those people. He posts in our forums to let everyone know what’s going on in the capital city, but Jason’s job is hampered by a ton of red tape, a gridlocked bureaucracy, and an organization crippled by infighting and good old fashioned Louisiana politics. With the demise of Revolution Skate Park (which was the only privately owned park in BR at the time), Baton Rouge skaters are again left with no legal place to skate except for the Velodrome. It occured to me that I’d never posted any pics of the place, and for some of you the Velodrome park was just a curiosity that you could only imagine… now i have some pics of the place so you can see it for yourself.

Click on the image below for a gallery:

To slightly paraphrase my friends over at Skaters for Public Skateparks, if your city doesn’t build a proper skatepark, then your city is a skatepark.

I won’t make this completely negative however… there are three good things that BREC’s park have going for it…

1. Jason (as mentioned above).
2. BREC has allowed skaters to contribute extra ramps to the facility, and even though they may be creaky and weathered, they’re there to ride.
3. Colton. Colton is a skater that I’ve known for a few years now… he’s a really good person and a hell of a skater… when I went over there last Friday, he was managing the place. He’s exactly the type of person you want to run your park… and I mean that whole heartedly.

Beyond that, the only thing Baton Rouge really has to offer skateboarders is a great downtown, LSU, and other skatespots peppered throughout. Until then, if you’re a Hammond local (or a regular), you aren’t missing anything in East Baton Rouge parish.