Squatter Skate Park Becomes Official

The activists "outlined how their illegal takeover of an abandoned piece of city land in October 2004 has led to what will likely become Seattle's first covered space for skaters, Marginal Way Skatepark—and how the whole effort grew out of frustration with the city.

'We scoped an unused piece of city property,' said Demmon, gripping a Pilsner Urquell as he recounted how the effort began. 'It was a homeless camp, a garbage dump, an area where prostitutes and drug dealers congregated—it was a piece of shit. We took it, cleaned it up, talked to the area businesses and got them to sign off on our [then] illegal project.'"