What would Alexander Hamilton think?

Just leave it to the federal government to build a $203.5 million skatepark in Midtown. Maybe you’ve seen it. It’s on Peachtree Street. They call it the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Aaron Boodman, who runs a website www.youngpup.net, last week pointed out what must now be painfully obvious even to Alan Greenspan. He snapped a picture of the raised, marble platform that runs the length of one side of the opulent, 10-story tall reserve building. It’s the perfect launching pad at the perfect height for skateboarders to get a rolling start and grind away, a beauty unobstructed by pesky bolts, trees or benches.

“Anyone at all, from complete grommet to seasoned pro could skate this spot for hours,” Boodman writes. “I predict it lasts less than a year. After that, it will be such a broken mess as to make it completely unskateable.”

Boodman, though, isn’t writing the typical screw-the-government screed. He’s pointing out that Atlanta, unlike just about every other burg — metropolis to backwater — doesn’t have a public skatepark even though the facilities have proven relatively cost effective and easy to insure. Boodman just wants Atlanta to get with the times.

“Until this occurs, destruction of public and private properties will continue,” Boodman concludes.

Of course, with this year’s tight budget, which cut the parks department deeply, any plans to build a skatepark will probably have to wait until 2003. Until then, there’s always the federal reserve.??






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