Thursday March 9, 2000 by Miki Vuckovich
For years the typical letter to TransWorld SKATEboarding has complained of sucky scenes where there�s nowhere to skate and the cops hate skaters. The situation seems nearly uniform, regardless of the size or location of the town or city or metropolis. The fact is, skaters have always had a hard time trying to skate stuff that wasn�t built for them, and unless we do something about it, the scenario won�t change. In most cases, the solution is simple: activate, motivate, organize�change the system and make it work for you. That�s the short answer; it�s successful for some, not for others.
Success depends on how receptive a city government is to the idea of a public skatepark, and it depends a great deal on the resolve of the local skaters to see the project through. All the way through.So many diligent efforts to establish public parks result in less-than-perfect results. After months of petitioning, deliberation, voting, and designing, cities usually award the job of constructing the parks to the lowest bidder�contractors with little or no experience building skateparks. This is a new endeavor for most cities, and they need the guidance and input of local skaters at every step�especially on-site during construction, and at every step until the concrete cures. The efforts and investment of a community can be fouled by one man and his trowel.
A successful public skatepark project requires skater involvement at every level. Skateboarders of Claremont, California realized this, and refused to allow their park to be ruined by people who cared less about the project than they did. So they organized themselves, sought the help of the local teen council, and approached the city with their idea. That was in July 1995.
Last December the 7,000-square-foot Claremont Skatepark opened to the public�a free, concrete collection of banks, rails, and ledges. It was a time-consuming, often frustrating, back-breaking effort, but it happened. And now the skaters of Claremont (and not just the ones who worked on the skatepark project) have somewhere to skate�free from hassle, and free of charge. The City of Claremont has addressed the need for youth programs by establishing its youth activities center, which sponsors athletic and counseling programs for young people. When the skaters approached the city with the idea for a skatepark, they formed a 22-member Teen Skateboard Committee (TSC). The committee began by working with local law enforcement officials on the problems skaters face, like excessive harassment and prejudice from police officers, and the fact that they had nowhere to ride. "That was one of our main arguments when we went to city council," says TSC member Matt Kramer. "We were like, �There�re basketball courts everywhere, softball fields, soccer fields, and all sorts of other stuff, but there�s no place for us.� They listened to us and thought it was reasonable."The committee helped bridge the gap between city officials and local skaters by showing that the skaters were willing to resolve issues surrounding skateboarding through dialogue.