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It just wouldn’t be a week in skateboarding news without a famous spot getting bulldozed to make way for an infinitely-stagnant construction site. In turn, Caltrans, a California transportation agency comprised primarily of dickheads and fun-haters, has launched a crusade against the Bay Area’s DIY skate spots. On Tuesday, workers posted a notice of encroachment on Oakland’s illegal skater-built nirvana, The Spot. By Thursday afternoon, it was rubble.

Following desperate pleas and petitions from local skaters to save The Spot, Caltrans proposed the city of Oakland lease the location for $5000 a month, a fairly reasonable offer, if by “reasonable” you actually mean “greedy and insincere.” $5000 a month for an empty lot under the freeway that developers aren’t even interested in. In fact, there are no concrete plans (ugh, no pun intended) for the space post-demolition, though Caltrans is reportedly in negotiations with a billboard company to “maybe use some of the land.” $5000 a month for some real estate in such hot demand that Caltrans might put a billboard there. But still, those nasty skateboarders! They had to go today, at 8 AM sharp no less.

Before and after photos courtesy of Slap Magazine.

Caltrans’ spokesperson / professional buzzkill, Bob Haus cites “homelessness issues” as part of the problem. Correct me if I’m wrong, but DIY skate parks tend to turn derelict areas where homeless people often congregate and set trash cans on fire into an active, community gathering place for skateboarders, who, generally, make the place an undesirable campground for the homeless to nod off or take shits at. You need some privacy for that kind of filth, nah’mean? Perhaps the homelessness issue in question was not the fact that it would attract bums, but instead, that The Spot pushed them out and as a result, the city of Oakland was experiencing a spillover of vagrants into areas where white voters might see them. Or, who knows, maybe Caltrans just mistook the skateboarders for homeless people. Fuck, I’m a skateboarder and even I sometimes mistake skateboarders for homeless people.

Nonetheless, skaters in the Bay Area will be more metaphorically homeless than ever after this latest blow to the local scene. Adding insult to injury, or perhaps just more injury to injury, Caltrans is on a warpath when it comes to DIY skate spots. Reportedly, Oakland’s other community-built park, Bordertown, is scheduled for demolition next. A coalition of local politicians and skaters were able to keep Caltrans at bay back in 2005 when they first tried to destroy Bordertown, and now it seems they’re hellbent on getting even.

It’s very disheartening to see such an incredible spot, that took over two years of committed work, refinement and upkeep, demolished in a matter of hours. Rest in pieces, as they say.

Unfortunately, it looks like Caltran’s negatrons have brutally defeated the optimism and hardwork of Oakland’s good-natured skatebots, but remember this my brothers — this was only one battle in our own war against the machines. We may not win in the end, but we can make things extremely inconvenient for all those bureaucratic douche bags, at the very least. Keep building, and keep skating.