Foreclosed Pools a Mecca for Skateboarders

Skateboarders in California are making the most of the mortgage crisis: they’re turning the swimming pools at foreclosed homes into skate parks. Tracking local foreclosures, one Fresno skater arrives at empty homes with a pump and buckets, drains the pools, and hops on his board, the New York Times reports. The newly-made parks are drawing people from around the world.

“God bless Greenspan, patron saint of pool skatin’,” one skater writes online. Pool makers aren’t so cheery about the crisis as their work orders sink. “You’ve got people that still want to build pools, but now you’re getting maybe 20% or 10% that can actually qualify now,” says one builder. Pools left stagnant pose a threat as a mosquito breeding-ground; some skaters like to see their drainage as a public service rather than trespassing.
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