’Crete cred

Local skaters are beavering awayon the Taz’s outdoor skatepark

The do-it-yourself skatepark is part of a long tradition in skateboarding. Rather than settle for city-sanctioned sets of obstacles, skaters decades ago began taking matters into their own hands, pouring concrete wherever they could to create spots they wanted to ride. Portland has the Burnside Project. San Diego has Washington Street. Philadelphia has FDR. And now Montreal’s skaters have a homemade park of their own: Projet 45.

The project began in 2009, when skatepark construction firm Bloom Paysage was contracted to build a free, outdoor park just behind the huge indoor park the Taz, on Papineau north of the Met. After a false start, the company recruited a group of skaters to help with the initiative. But when work on the park stalled, the Taz’s management during the summer of 2010 gave the skaters, led by Yan Tremblay, the green light to assemble their own DIY crew and finish the job.

A year-and-a-half and about $13,500 worth of concrete and other materials later, Projet 45—named for the 45 bus line, which goes by the Taz—is “maybe 20-30 per cent [complete], as far as the original idea goes,” says Todd Henderson, a 34-year-old B.C. transplant who works on the project. Thus far, the park, which is located at 8931 Papineau and is open, boasts quarterpipes, a bank-to-wall, a volcano and a transitioned Jersey barrier, along with other odds and ends. A bowl is among the future obstacles the crew has discussed.

Like any DIY initiative, Projet 45 is self-financed. Along with donations from local shops and distributors, money has come “[through] various funding drives that some of the main guys have organized,” Henderson says. A bid for $150,000 worth of financing from the Aviva Community Fund, a competition that rewards community-improvement efforts, recently fell through.

But whenever they can, Henderson—who holds down a day job as a lawyer at SNC-Lavalin—and a contingent of 40-50 others gather at the park as early as 6:30 a.m. to build obstacles and ready them for the next pour. “Every time you call that concrete truck, you’re there for a good eight, nine hours,” he says. “That’s the time it takes for the concrete to set.”

Eric Meunier, a seasoned park builder, directs the efforts, schooling novices on the ins and outs of ‘crete. “Everybody’s individual progression has been interesting to watch, and it’s made us effi­cient as a team,” Henderson says.

And how, exactly, do they decide what to build? “People who are into, like, [the] Occupy movement and these anarchist movements would probably find our situation kind of fascinating because there is no formal decision-making structure,” Henderson says, though those who contribute the most, like Meunier and others, “probably have the most pull, just for pure moral reasons.”

Despite a five-feet-and-under rule stemming from insurance concerns on the part of the Taz, the end result is a park in which skaters have an ownership stake. “It just creates a greater sense of belonging than the typical indoor, pay-for-use-type skateparks,” Henderson says.

There have, of course, been setbacks: the crew has had to contend with vandals and patch up the occasional construction failure. But, by Henderson’s account, skating the park sounds riskier than building it. “There’s been maybe a little cut on your finger here and there when you’re working with the wires to [create] the forms and such, but that’s it.”

For more information, see projet45mtl.blogspot.com. ■

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