1. The skatepark will provide a safe place to recreate.
A
majority of the deadly accidents that happen to people while they’re
skateboarding involve a motor vehicle. In towns and cities across the
nation the most interesting terrain for skateboarding is found in the
streets and sidewalks. The skatepark will be the safe place to skate but
for it to be effective it must be more interesting than what’s out “in
the wild.”
2. Skateparks, if designed and constructed correctly, are fiscally conservative and require very little maintenance.
When
a skatepark is built correctly it will require virtually no structural
maintenance for years. The nation’s oldest skateparks have been
servicing skateboarders for 30 years and most have required little more
than cosmetic maintenance. For a skatepark to meet this high expectation
it should feature no fixtures; all of the materials used that are
intended to be skated on should be fixed into the forms with grout and
concrete. (In other words, skateparks that require no maintenance have
no kick-plates, screws, bolts, or other components that will loosen
through vibration and weather over the years.)
3. Skateboarders are currently under-served in the area.
As
a community we understand that we need to support our youth who wish to
pursue active, healthy lifestyles. Without community support those
groups are required to build their own support systems outside of our
community. Do we want to sit by while a significant portion of our youth
meet their recreational needs with no support or involvement from our
community?
4. Skateboarding has millions of participants nationally and is growing while team sports participation is in decline.
When
one considers that skateboarding is the third most popular
recreational activity for kids between 6 and 18 years old, it might be
assumed there would be skateparks all across our community. We have
baseball fields, soccer pitches, jogging paths, and plenty of other
places for people to be active. Yet we have no skateparks! It’s time to
address the needs of today’s recreational youth.
5. Skateboarding is a 2.5-billion dollar industry.
For
decades skateboarding has been on the leading edge of youth marketing.
Today it’s serious business with lucrative video games, television
shows, and brand names that launch dozens of product lines. With all of
this marketing, more kids than ever before are eager to learn to skate.
The demand is enormous and skateparks are the place to start.
6. Skateboarders are a vital part of urban communities.
Skateboarding
has been a commonplace feature of the urban environment for over 40
years, and a part of American culture since the 1950s. It’s so popular
with youth that today there is no city on the planet that doesn’t have
it’s own skateboarding group of kids. Our local skateboarders are not
part of a fringe group of kids who are into something unique and
uncommon.
7. A skatepark can attract skateboarding tourists if designed to do so.
Dozens
of skateparks in the United States—and abroad—enjoy a reputation for
being places that skaters dream of visiting someday. For skaters, places
like Burnside, Kettering, Orcas, Louisville, Black Pearl, Lincoln City,
and others share an allure that rivals Disneyland.
8. With national health issues looming for today’s youth, it’s time to offer a greater number of healthy, athletic choices.
You
don’t often see obese skateboarders. Lots of skateboarders skate
several times a week and often for hours at a time. There is clearly a
commitment for these kids to develop their skills, yet they do this
without coaches, leagues, and often without even an appropriate place to
do it.
9. The low cost to participation makes it accessible to everyone.
Skateboarding
is inexpensive and is economically feasible to any family’s financial
situation. While hand-me-down equipment is commonplace, even a new
skateboard can be purchased for around $60 and last for years if taken
care of. That’s all a person needs. There is no additional equipment, no
“green fees,” no travel expenses. To get into skateboarding one only
needs a skateboard and a place to do it.
10. Thousands of other communities understand the value of skateparks.
If
they had the opportunity to do it again, when asked what they might
have done differently with their skateparks many Parks directors claim
they would have made the skatepark larger. When skateparks are designed
to succeed, they succeed wildly. If you contact any Parks Department
with a successful skatepark, they will rank it as one of their most
popular, well-used facilities. (Seriously, try it!)
11. Skating in a park is much safer than skating in the streets.
In
2006, 42 people riding skateboards died. Of those, 40 of them were not
in a skatepark and 27 of those involved a motor vehicle. In other words,
of these 42 deaths, 40 of them might have been prevented had the person
been skating in a skatepark instead of the streets.
12. Our community already has hundreds, and maybe thousands of skateboarders.
The skatepark visitors are ready to go. We don’t need to wait and hope that patronage emerges over time. They are here now.
13.
In the future there are going to be many legitimate places to skate in
the city. The time to embark on that positive future is now.
Creating
a skatepark in our community is inevitable. It’s only a matter of time
before everyone comes to understand the opportunity skateparks
represent. There is no reason to delay the investigation any longer. The
time to start this process is today…right now.
14. A skatepark is a place where skateboarders and other people who might not cross paths in the street can come together.
Skateparks
are social spaces that will attract interest from all parts of our
community. In cities across the nation the local skatepark is a landmark
that everyone is familiar with. Our skatepark will include amenities
that visitors can enjoy so that it’s understood by eveyrone—skaters and
onlookers—that we appreciate and support what these kids are doing.
15. Skateparks can displace other less desirable activities in an area.
Skaters
love skateboarding. That’s what they’re into. For the dedicated skater,
any activity that disrupts their time skateboarding is going to be a
problem…and few obstacles will prevent the skater from pursuing it. When
skateparks are built in places where there are existing
problems—criminal activity, vandalism, and so on—the skaters will serve
to displace those people who prefer a remote, secluded environment.
16. The skatepark can be an attraction for family outings.
It
is increasingly common to see families skating together. Often, a
mother or father that skated in their youth has their interest rekindled
when their children get into it. It’s a great way for a family to spend
time together yet without requiring a lot of planning, expense, or
preparation.
17. Skateboarding is cool and the skatepark will enhance the community’s reputation.
There’s
no doubt that skateboarding is often at the center of whatever happens
to be popular among today’s youth. For lots of people, spending time at
the skatepark will be something cool to do that doesn’t cost any money.
For our community, having a great skatepark will serve to show the
region that we understand how to engage our young adults.
18. Good skateparks have volunteers to help maintain the facility.
The
central members of the skatepark committee will become the stewards of
that facility. As skateboarders dedicated to the park, we will work with
Parks to host lessons, workshops, and other events. We will be at the
skatepark regularly and will protect the facility that we’ve worked so
hard for.
19. Skateparks can draw skateboarders away from less appropriate areas.
If
we don’t have a skatepark, people will continue to skate wherever there
is compelling terrain. We should put the skatepark where we want there
to be activity and away from those places where we don’t.
20. Young and old people enjoy skateparks.
Skating
has been a part of our culture for more than 50 years. There are
skateboarders well into their 50s who still enjoy pushing around a park.
The skatepark is a place where the young and old can recreate together
as equals. This is important for adult skateboarders but equally
important for the younger set.
21. Skateparks support vibrant, healthy communities, just like many other athletic facilities.
Every
good skatepark has a group of regular patrons. These people may not
know each other socially outside of skateboarding but at the skatepark
they are friends and colleagues. The brotherhood of skateboarders has
strong bonds that cross economic, geographic, and even language
barriers. Skateparks are a great way of starting that kind of social
cohesion right here.
22. Skateboarding is mainstream.
With
13-million participants in the U.S., skateboarding can hardly be
characterized as a niche group of special users. In fact, skateboarding
is as popular (and often more so) than most “all-American” sports. We
see skateboarding in commercials. There are television shows about
skateboarding and starring famous skaters.
23. Skateboarding is a popular spectator sport.
There are more than 2-million skateboarding videos on YouTube with many featuring over 5-million views each.
24. Skateparks are flexible in design and can work in many different size plots.
Donald,
Oregon features one of the nation’s most well-known skateparks. It is
2,500 square feet, cost $35,000 to build, and serves a town population
of 750 residents. Yet it attracts celebrity skateboarders and others
from across the nation.
25. The skatepark will be a place to go after school.
For
skaters, the skatepark provides a third place in their lives. For the
most dedicated skaters they will spend most of their free time at the
park. The skatepark will have the amenities necessary for providing a
comfortable place for its visitors, including secure places to drop a
backpack, set a bottle of water, or just sit and relax.
26. Neighborhood skateparks allow younger skaters to recreate safely close to home.
As
a matter of public safety we prefer to have our children recreating
close to home or in places that are safe in the public eye. That is why
our skateparks should be near where the skaters live.
27. This skatepark effort will turn skaters into community activists.
While
some people may consider skateboarders the dregs of society, we will
see their passion applied to phases in the process that will rival any
other community action group.
28. There are experts who will help our community plan the skatepark.
The
people behind the world’s most successful skateparks are available to
help us plan for our own success, and they’re eager to be involved. With
so much experience at our disposal we are confident that our new
skatepark will be phenomenal.
29. The best time to start the new skatepark is today.
It
costs us nothing to begin planning for the new skatepark. However,
those plans will become a catalyst for local youth to engage in the
civic process. The only thing we need right away is a commitment to
mutual collaboration on the new skatepark plans. There is no value in
delay.
30. If a city doesn’t have a skatepark, it is a skatepark.
Skateboarding
is happening with or without a skatepark. By not supporting our local
youth with a skatepark, it doesn’t mean they’ll quit skating. It just
means we are putting them at risk of injury and run-ins with law
enforcement.
