Several BMX riders met with the Tucson Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee’s BMX subcommittee last night to discuss what they want to see happen for BMX riders in Tucson.
According to Mike Hines, who has become a spokesperson for BMX riders, for now, they just want a legal place to ride.
Hines said he is working with the Kory Laos foundation to build a concrete BMX park near the Rillito River and Shannon Road, but that project hinges on funding from a bond measure that will go before the voters in 2011.
Realistically, Hines said, the Kory Laos park won’t be finished for five years or more. “We can wait that long for a place to ride,” he said.
In the meantime, they want to get approval from the city to continue to develop a spot they have been riding near Broadway and Park.
Watch this video about the creator of the dirt jumps:
“We want them to not plow over it,” Hines said. “Just make the zone a legal spot. All we need is a sign. We’ll maintain it ourselves.”
According to Hines, the dirt area has the support of the neighbors with the condition that the riders keep the area clean.
“They are completely 100 percent behind it,” Hines said. “They don’t want it removed.”
“The community there is so positive,” one of the BMX riders that attended the meeting said. “I was totally blown away by how many people were there. A lot of people there were parents who had brought their kids there to ride.”
Currently, the only facility for BMX riders to legally ride on in Pima County is at the Continental Ranch Skate Park in Marana.
According to Hines they were going to build a temporary dirt park at the future Kory Laos memorial BMX park but were shut down.
“We already had the dirt being dumped out there, we had a 300 gallon tank out there, we had people ready with shovels and they shut it down,” Hines said. They want a liscensed architect to do the drawing of dirt jumps.”
“It is like having one of us design a skyscraper,” one of the riders said.
Hines and the BMX subcommittee are planning on meeting with city officials to try to get approval to continue developing the area near Broadway and Park.
“That is our goal right now,” Hines said.
According to Hines, Rocky, the creator of the jumps is getting worried about them.
“As more and more people start going out there and as popular as it is getting, he has really gotten stressed about it,” Hines said.