(By Travis Jensen)

The S.F. Skate Club, a youth skateboarding program dedicated to providing children with skateboarding lessons and mentoring, hosted an art show last Friday in Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi’s office at City Hall. The show featured a series of hand-painted skateboard decks by local youth skateboarders, ages 8 to 13. Although none of the artwork was for sale, the club was hoping the show would help raise awareness about the need for a skateboard park in Golden Gate Park, near Stanyan and Waller streets.

Supervisor Mirkarimi originally drafted the legislation for a new skateboarding facility in Golden Gate Park; due to concerns from surrounding businesses and neighbors about the kind of crowd the park might attract, however, planning has since been put on hold. Skate park supporters feel the concerns are ironic, because the proposed Upper Haight location is a neighborhood that prides itself on diversity.

San Francisco currently has one skate park, which is basically an empty swimming pool in a remote corner of Crocker-Amazon Park. Built in 2001; the park is rarely ever skated because of its old-fashioned design and out-of-the-way location. A second park is scheduled to open this Saturday, June 28 in Potrero Del Sol at 25th and Utah streets. (Continued after the jump.)

Nature lovers will be peeved.

Under the budget proposed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today - dear God, just how did we get here? starting off a sentence like that? - nine local state parks would face a temporary shutdown until California learns how to balance its checkbook, pay its bills on time, stops disrespecting their mommas on , or something like that.

Statewide, the Gov is considering closing 48 state parks. Among those close to home are Henry W. Coe State Park, Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, Austin Creek State Recreation Area, Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve, Tomales Bay State Park in Inverness, Petaluma-Adobe State Historic Park, Portola-Redwood State Park, Benicia Capitol State Historic Park, and Benicia State Recreation Area. They all face temporary closure if and when the Gov and the Legislature compromise on a spending plan later this year. And overall, that's one out of five state parks, folks. Egads.

One more thing, according to the Gate, "money will be spent for patrols to keep people out of the closed parks." How very creepy.

Although he is "believed to be a good swimmer," 32-year-old Eric Wright's rescue search has now turned into a body recovery effort according to CBS 5. The Tracy resident was reported missing after Wright's father-in-law discovered his boat capsized this past Sunday in the Bethany Reservoir in Alameda County.

Sheriff's deputies, park rangers, and CHP helicopters will still conduct "periodic checks for Wright on the shoreline and surrounding areas" along the the Bethany Reservoir State Recreation Area, but prospects for a live body look grim.

Wright's image from CBS 5.

Oh man, are you kidding? This is terrible. Not to get all tugging-the-heart strings today, but this spill is much worse than initially reported yesterday. This oil covered bird above was found at Fort Baker cove in Sausalito today. It seems that the Marin Headlands are getting crazy sloshed with oil on their shores. (The aerial shots of the spill on SFGate are jaw-dropping.)

A Golden Gate National Recreation Area ranger claims that the entire area is covered in oil, "you can smell it. This whole area is closed."

So, two things: one, residents who find birds covered with oil should call 877-823-6926. And two, are there any clean-up efforts going on that we should know about? Like, know about right now? Some readers have asked and we'd love to give you more info. We'll snoop around and try uncovering scheduled efforts, but if any of you have scheduled info on volunteering clean-up, let us know. Please.

The best sports, we say, combine beauty and ridiculousness, and that’s why cycling is a favorite of ours. But, like many others in the Bay Area--too many, it turns out--we’ve recently discovered cyclocross, a form of Pure Sweet Hell. Others have written eloquently on the attractions of this "bike-riding amalgam of roller derby, steeplechase, mud wrestling, and ballet" -- so let us just say here that, as a spectacle, it combines all the beauty and ridiculousness of your standard road race with an added beautiful/ridiculous component of leaping on and off the bicycle to surmount the various natural and artificial obstacles by sadistic (and therefore beloved) race promoters.

The growing number of Bay Area cyclocross enthusiasts are fortunate to have a full calendar of events: the local season was launched September 1st with the first race at the Livermore Area Recreation and Park Department (or "LARPD"--charming!) race series. Our neighbors on the periphery of the Bay Area (i.e., beyond the reach of BART) also host cyclocross series (Sacramento, the Central Coast), but the crown jewel of Northern California is the Bay Area’s own Super Prestige Cyclocross Series, now in its fifth season (or saison cinq, as the preferred nomenclature would have it).

We stuck it in Day Around The Bay already, but thought we would let you hash it out here in its own pad, readers. It seems that, according to the preciousness that is Dan Noyes, "the Silent Drill Platoon of the U.S. Marine Corps wasn't allowed to be filmed Sept. 11 on California Street in San Francisco for a segment of its new advertising campaign."

Stefanie Coyote, executive director of the San Francisco Film Commission and wife of Peter Coyote, claims that the ban was due to a traffic control issue, not a political one. The U.S. Marines took their pancake makeup and on-screen "it" factor over to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area to film the commercial instead.

Read more about it here, here, and Marines and veterans getting cranky about it here.
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Image U.S. Marines; thanks again, MalcoveMagnesia

Other events:
--Jennifer Granick and Annalee Newitz are co-hosting a Nerd Salon at 111 Minna (x Mission/2nd). There'll be a demonstration of GNU Radio and a challenging puzzle to solve. 6-9 p.m, and it doesn't look like there's a cover (but we could be wrong).

--It's time for the monthly Jazz at Intersection concert! This month, it's trumpeter/vocalist Sarah Wilson. 8 p.m., $12-20 sliding scale, 446 Valencia (x 15th).

--Like PTI if the guest host with Tony Kornheiser were Karl Marx -- Dave Zirin brings his left-wing sports analysis at the New College. 7:30 p.m., 766 Valencia (x 21st).

--Honkytonk "hillbilly swing" at 12 Galaxies with Wayne "The Train" Hancock. 9 p.m., $10, 2565 Mission (x 23rd).

--And Sparkletack Richard fans take note! There's a local history talk at Fort Mason today about how citizens saved the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. $5 donation, Ft. Mason Building A (Buchanan and Marina Blvd.), 7 p.m.

You've read about tomorrow's big City Hall showdown over the issue of unleashed dogs on Golden Gate National Recreation Area land. Part of this issue has to do with the 2 Western Snowy Plover Protection Areas in San Francisco, so we thought we'd head over to Crissy and check things out. We saw a few dogs (all unleashed) in the protected zone, but we didn't see any harassment ourselves on this quiet, rainy day.

A few more shots and comments after the jump.

And you know who's really gonna want to play this drinking game? The star of the event! See you guys there -- we'll bring the booze.

Gavin buck-buck-buck'ed a testy response to this latest coop challenge, saying only, "Been there, done that. I've talked about it for one month." But not yet answered any questions from supervisors!

And finally -- don't forget! Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the fake Question Time "town hall meeting" on Saturday at 10 a.m., at the Richmond Recreation Center (251 18th Ave, between Clement and Geary)!

While Gavin may be dodging disgruntled supervisors, he's not going to be able to avoid the disgruntled public -- not only is everyone and their animal companion coming to watch the show, but the Living Wage Coalition has announced that it'll be protesting low wage conditions in the city as well. We can't wait!!!!

Don't forget -- your insufficient substitute for Question Time will take place at 10 a.m. this Saturday at the Richmond Recreation Center at 281 18th Avenue, between Geary and Clement.

We can't wait until the weekend -- we love drunken chicken! To tide you over until then, though, we found some YouTube footage of the chicken dance music they play at AT&T Park whenever someone walks Barry Bonds.

The BoS Rules Committee has placed an item on the agenda (item 2) for next week's board meeting, for a motion to convene a special board meeting on.... Saturday January 13, 2007 at 10 a.m. at the Richmond Recreation Center, 251 18th Ave. (between Clement and Geary). Why, what's happening there then?

If the motion's granted, it would require all board members to attend Gavin's community meeting, that all the procedures of board meetings be followed, and that the meeting be broadcast on SFGTV.

The board will introduce the motion on Tuesday and vote on it next Thursday. Gavin -- your move.

Stomp it out along with us: Ques-tion TIME! Ques-tion TIME! Ques-tion TIME! Ques-tion TIME!