• A new street plaza area will be created in place of the Chartrons skatepark by spring 2022.

  • While the tension was strong between skaters and residents in the mid-2010s, it fell sharply thanks to several facilities made available to the former.

  • Next step, find a place in town for the new bowl.

It is barely 8 a.m. on Wednesday. However, Theo is already on a war footing. The young man goes on tricks on the skatepark on the Quai des Chartrons in Bordeaux: “At that hour, there is nobody, you have to take advantage of it. It's perfect ! What is much less is the state of the modules. Between very damaged wooden ramps and a patched-up bowl all over the place, the largest skatepark in the city is starting to look its age (14 years old). For Matthias, another morning skateboarder, “it has even become dangerous”. It is for this reason in particular that the current installations will give way to a new area, an all-concrete street plaza, by the end of next spring.

This new space of 2,387 m2 (like the previous one) will be a little different with modules (sidewalks, benches or stairs) lower (a maximum height of 1.50 m).

The docks located within the perimeter listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Certain rules had to be observed.

At the end of the space towards the Chaban-Delmas bridge, there will be a small bowl.

After the development of several places in Bordeaux in recent years, this is therefore good news for skaters in the city.

So can we say that skateboarding has finally found its place in Bordeaux?

No more major problems in the city

It is true that the time for repeated complaints to the town hall seems far away today. "There is clearly less tension with the residents", recognizes Léo Valls, professional skateboarder and very invested with the municipality on the work of mediation for several years. “I think we are on the right track. For example, today, there is no big problem to manage, explains Mathieu Hazouard, I have the feeling that it is working well. Everyone must continue to add water to their wine! The sports assistant does not hesitate either to recall the work done by the old majority because it is indeed "an in-depth work" which begins to pay for Léo Valls.He is surely thinking of setting up schedules dedicated to the practice of skateboarding in 2017 or the skate plan voted by elected officials at the end of December 2019 with arrangements on the forecourt of the Capucins, the forecourt of the station on the Belcier side or even

the Koening terrace.

In 2022, a 600 m2 site should also be developed on Place de la République with a smooth concrete floor.

Equipment welcome to cope with what the Bordeaux skateboarder calls the "confinement effect" with an explosion in the number of skateboarders, scooters, rollerbladers or BMX riders with people who have taken to it "to keep a physical and social activity ”.

On the side of residents, Sophie also notes "a real improvement because it is much less anarchy than in the past".

Finally for this Bordeaux woman, "the problem at the moment is above all traffic and not the practice of skateboarding, much better supervised and where everyone finds their account".

The question of the new bowl will have to be resolved quickly

There remains a point of tension all the same. Not necessarily with local residents, but with the skaters themselves. Where and when will they have a new bowl? On the new street plaza, there will only be a small one for beginners. The town hall says it is actively working on it with a first meeting on this subject to come. Léo Valls, he already has his little idea: "I would like it to be installed on the quai de Brazza [right bank], it would make it possible to make the junction between the skatepark on the quai des Chartrons and the equipment installed in Darwin. [which will also recover the old facilities on the left bank]. But is it possible to dig there? The question is still unanswered.

Bordeaux: Shifty School, the first skateboarding com school, opens in September https://t.co/QPfieiQk10 via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/1HNxpiBUo7

- 20minutesbordeaux (@ 20minutesbord) June 24, 2020

Matthieu Hazouard, for his part, evokes a place at the exit of the Angéliques park, still on the right bank.

The budget for this new bowl is approaching 500,000 euros, says the deputy mayor.

He is also considering a device to support certain Bordeaux athletes for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. In the meantime, one thing is certain, Bordeaux "is no longer in a logic of parking skaters", welcomes Léo Valls.

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