There is a baseball diamond in almost every American city. Public swimming pools and basketball courts are always popular with communities. Dog parks, even, are quite common. But public skateboard parks are rare. The costly insurance is not within city budget. Because even if Little Billy wears the proper safety gear, skateboarding is still too dangerous…right?
Wrong. There were more injuries treated in 2007 for basketball, soccer, and baseball than for skateboarding, according to U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission statistics. And insurance is less expensive for a skatepark than for a public swimming pool. So when politicians reject the permit for a public skatepark and say the problem is insurance and liability, they really mean the problem is Little Billy.
It took 10 years for the Santa Monica public skatepark to get built. Heidi Lemmon, the founder of the Skate Park Association of the United States of America (SPAUSA), a nonprofit organization that helps cities across the nation build and operate skateparks, was the leading force behind the project. “We ran into every possible problem from the city and politics,” said Lemmon. “The city didn’t want a park.”
When Mrs. Lemmon moved forward with a petition for the construction of the Santa Monica skatepark in 1997, she was met with a hodgepodge of excuses from the city: insurance was too expensive, there was not enough land, and so on. “They ran us around for years,” recalls Lemmon. Nearly 8 years, really, of relentless harassing and arduous work until Lemmon was finally issued a permit from the city. It was then that city officials and the police department admitted their actual concern, and fear, for the city of Santa Monica. According to Lemmon, the police department believed that “all skaters are gangsters,” and proposed to barricade the skatepark inside a protective tarp “to prevent drive-by shootings from the other skaters.” Their opinion of skateboarders then, says Lemmon, was that they were the kids going to jail.
Sgt. Renaldi Thruston of the Santa Monica Police Dept. was on the force in 1997 and doesn’t recall any animosity against skateboarders or the development of the skatepark. “I don’t know who would’ve been involved at that time,” Thruston said. “But we have no concerns or major issues with the skatepark and don’t feel that skaters are gang members.”
Brad Misner of the Santa Monica city planning department was the senior planner on the project. He did not return messages left on his voicemail requesting comment.
Discrimination against skateboarders is ordinary. Skateboarders love to skate and will break laws to do it. They trespass, commit injury to public property, and are usually in groups or “gangs.” Also, skateboarding is organically aggressive (the sound of a skateboard alone will send a dog into hysterics). This tends to give skateboarders an intimidating and menacing disposition. So law enforcement-having to reprimand skateboarders regularly-often approach them with a prejudice. They expect retaliation.
Vince Skelly, a 21-year-old student and skateboarder from Claremont, Calif., reminisced with me on a day we were harassed by local police for skateboarding.
The Claremont Unified Methodist Nursery School is a local skate spot in Claremont. There is a slick ledge that runs along the building, the parking lot is well paved and smooth, and the location is low-key. It is ideal for skateboarding, and you can usually skate without any problems. Occasionally a faculty member will ask you to skate in the parking lot only and not “on the building,” and sometimeswill politely ask you to leave. “Sorry, but it’s just too loud,” apologized one teacher. But skateboarders are usually received with a nod and a smile from the faculty, and don’t have to deal with law enforcement.
Except in the summer of 2007 when two police officers invaded the school. One was a middle-aged, muscle-ridden Asian man, the other a reserved, young blonde woman. “Sit down,” the male officer commanded immediately. “It’s okay, we’re leaving,” replied Skelly. This is a code between officers and skateboarders. A skateboarder knows when he’s going to be evicted from the premises. He wants to avoid a fine, so he admits guilt by volunteering to leave. Officers almost always approve, and usually give advice or a lesson in responsibility on their departure. “Shoot strait young man,” is popular.
But this officer’s intention was not to enlighten us with trite counsel. Vigorous discipline was necessary here. “SIT DOWN,” he ordered again, this time his voice was harsh and loud. We complied, and he delivered a rampage of condemnations that were unclear and confusing, until he ended with, “if I see you again I’m going to find a reason to arrest you.” The female officer looked uncomfortable standing beside him, her eyes fixed on the hot, black asphalt we were forced to sit on. We left the nursery school safe and ticket-free, but confused and unsure of what happened. “That was lame,” recalls Skelly. We went back to the nursery school the next week.
There is no way to keep skateboarders from skateboarding. When a city refuses to incorporate a public skatepark into the community, kids, young men and women skateboard where it is illegal. And with business owners terrified of lawsuits, and a stigma against skateboarding prominent in many city governments, skateboarders struggle more with the law when there is no local skatepark. A 9-year-old skateboarder, who prefers to be called Nikko, says he and his friends have been in trouble with police for skateboarding multiple times. Now he only skates at the Santa Monica public skatepark. He says he’s happy it exists.
The delusion that skateboarders are troublemakers and “gangsters” impedes on the construction of public skateparks in cities across the nation. But organizations like SPAUSA and professional skateboarders like Tony Hawk are trying to persuade politicians to build skateparks by promoting skateboarding as a positive, healthy activity that helps keep kids away from drugs and crime. In an article for Skaters for Public Skateparks, an organization similar to SPAUSA, Tony Hawk says that while many people think that skateparks “are breeding grounds for trouble…when a skatepark finally gets built in areas where the idea was first met with disapproval, the naysayers quickly realize what a positive impact it has on their communities.”
The City of Santa Monica is proud of their skatepark. They even advertise it on their official website with colorful graphics. But other cities remain reluctant to build a park for skaterboarders. “A lot of cities are building skateparks,” says Lemmon. “But many, many more will not having anything to do with it.” So if you are an adversary of skateboarders, I implore you, please, think of Little Billy.
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