OEIRAS POOL JAM, Portugal 28-05-06. By JoÃ£o Figueiredo

Jun 06, 2006

Written by Bart de Jong

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Following the news about the demolition of the “Oeiras” pool, Paulo Martins decided to organize a Jam with the intention of showing to the “Camara Municipal” (City Hall) and the local people that the pool continues to be an attractive place for the practice of sport activities like the BMX, Skate and in-line. At the event we could find regulars since many years from this mythical place in the national history of BMX, friends from other cities and two reporters from the local newspaper. In what concerns to the riding we cannot say we saw something amazing, mainly because it was a (very!) hot afternoon, but also because the central goal of the Jam was to put together old friends.

Nevertheless, the mysticism of the park and the perfect way in which it was built made some instincts of the attendees awake which resulted in them going for a ride as we can see in the photos, even with the high temperature (around 30º). With the Jam we wanted to prove false the statement of the City Hall for the demolition of the park, which is that the evening anti-social behaviour of the place is due to not being used anymore in a regular basis by the practitioners of BMX, Skate and In-line.

Let’s concentrate in the following question: in which way can the demolition of the park to build a public garden or other recreation spaces contribute to the solution of the problem? Could it be that the cause of the problem is the lack of enlightenment and low police presence by the local authorities?

The Oeiras pool, as it is known, exists for almost 15 years and continues to be a meeting place for the practitioners of the modalities above mentioned. We totally understand the complains of the locals but would not the improvement of the area be a better solution than its destruction? We hope so.

The jam has demonstrated the level of interest that the Oeiras pool provokes in people that, more than a meeting place, say it is unique for the practice and learning of BMX. For now we wait and hope that we can have loads of afternoons of riding in the famous Oeiras pool.

The photos speak for itself….

Text: João Figueiredo (Translation: João Pereira)
Photos: Helder Real