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Ask the skaters, then build a park.It's
safer for the public and skaters-despite their high-flying
antics.
By Lamarie Rutelonis, League staff
In the '70s, skateboarding, as it's known today, was
mostly limited to a hand full of punk-rock-lovin', cursin',
California miscreants-some folks would say. Skateboarding
and its disciples embodied the lefties-the disillusioned,
the quintessential counterculture poster kids, they opined.
But it spawned invention, inspired movies and created
in its wake a culture with its own style and innovations.
It has developed into a community with its own language
and idols. It's Arkansas, it's almost 2006 and about
25 percent of Arkansas's population is 18 years old or
younger. Skateboarding is booming. According to the Sporting
Good Manufacturers Association there about 11 million
skateboarders in the United States; that's 3.7 percent
of the population. To follow that logic-that puts more
than 100,000 Arkansans on skateboards. The popularity
of skateboarding is growing and the total number of skateparks
in Arkansas is rapidly increasing. Skateboarding popularity
grows in some communities, however, which have not allocated
proper places for the sport. Communities have prohibited
skateboarders' use of sidewalks, stairs and other skateboard-cruise-able
terrain for any purpose aside from walking. Enter the
skatepark. It is an athletic facility, akin to a ballpark
or a soccer field, and devoted to the wheeled, foot-propelled
devices. How it's built, where it's built, who builds
it and use restrictions are debatable variables, but
it is a place where skating is legal.
Answering the plea, "nowhere to go." Whether the decision
to commission a skatepark is conceived by local officials
or residents, more municipalities across Arkansas seek
to meet skateboarders' needs. Pocahontas's Parks and
Recreation department built its skatepark about four
years ago after residents-young and old-demanded one.
"We had trouble in our downtown," said Betty Getson of
Pocahontas. "The elderly people were afraid to come out
of the buildings because they might get knocked down
by someone going fast on a skateboard." While civility
and order are certainly high on the list of concerns
to municipal officials, so is safety. Skateparks provide
a place to localize an activity sometimes seen as hazardous
or reckless and provides safety to everyone, including
the skater. Trumann Parks and Recreation Director Sharon
Turman went to a playground equipment grant workshop
held by KaBoom, a national nonprofit organization that
builds playgrounds and skateparks, and came back wanting
to build a skatepark. "When I came home I saw these guys
walking down the street with their skateboards and I
asked them 'How would you guys like a skatepark?'" said
Turman, who skateboarded in high school and bought a
new skateboard when the park was approved. Trumann's
skaters, excited by the prospect of skating without being
run off, came to "skatepark meetings," a requirement
from Turman, and also attended city council meetings.
"There were about 15 meetings," said Tyler Russ, a 14-year-old
Trumann resident and daily skatepark fixture. "It was
definitely worth it. I come here every day." If residents
haven't approached your city or town about building a
skatepark yet, then you still have time to develop a
plan; however, don't be surprised when they come. "At
a city council meeting two skaters came in, dressed in
typical skate attire, and at the end when it is open
to public comment, they got up and told us, 'We don't
have anywhere to go,'" said Paragould Mayor Mike Gaskill.
Skatersforpublicskateparks.org, a skatepark advocacy
Web site, sums it up best, "If your city doesn't have
a skatepark, then your city is a skatepark."
Skaters and voters have responded. Aside from the city's
approving building a skatepark, the next challenges are
where to put it and how to pay for it. Cities and towns
may have several parks from which to select a location;
for others, it may be deciding where in a specific park.
Paragould had one park with two potential skateboard
sites-one near a highway and one near a residential neighborhood.
The city chose the residential site; that location with
its ensuing noise has been the only complaint from residents.
"They're teenagers, I was one once," said Gaskill about
the noise. "Other than [location] I wouldn't change a
thing, I'm glad we did it." The potential skatepark was
wrapped into a recreational package that proposed a one-cent
tax: a 1/2-cent temporary tax to fund bonds and a 1/2-cent
tax to pay for operational and maintenance costs. Voters
approved the package. Local skaters met with Paragould's
parks commission, decided what they wanted and hired
True Ride, a Minnesota-based company that designs and
installs skateparks around the country. The park is 18
months old. Portions of a voter-approved extension of
a one-cent sales tax combined with a $5,000 grant from
KaBoom gave Trumann the funds and the green light to
solicit bids for a skatepark. With limited location options,
the city selected a park in a central location and with
an abandoned swimming pool. The contract was awarded
to Arkoma Playgrounds and Supply, a commercial playground
design company in Fayetteville, and Skatewaves, a company
specializing in modular skatepark equipment. Trumann
completed its almost yearlong, $129,000 skatepark project
with a grand opening, parade and skating competition
Oct. 8.
Listen to the skateboarders A positive correlation lies
between a skatepark's size and the size of its budget.
With the right plan, cities and towns can build a skatepark
that builds community and might bring tourists. The most
important element to ensure success is to involve the
local skate community. Ask skaters what they want, listen
and design the park for the user. Phase one of North
Little Rock's $200,000 skatepark, built by skater-owned
and skater-installed Dreamland Skateparks of Lincoln
City, Ore., is just what the locals wanted. "I'm positive
our success can be attributed to the involvement of skaters
...," said Steve Nawojczyk, North Little Rock youth services
director. Skateboarding is now the main attraction to
the once fledgling Riverview Park. "We hope to expand
it by a third and are looking at installing smaller satellite
parks in neighborhoods," Nawojczyk said. "We know it
works and they love it." While there are no national
standards for skatepark construction, some simple guidelines
are available from the Skatepark Association of the United
States of America (SPAUSA). SPAUSA recommends that a
skatepark's minimum size be 30,000 square feet and one
skatepark be built for every 30,000 residents. Each skatepark
should include 50 percent street skating elements (stairs,
rails, etc.), 30 percent bowls and 20 percent beginner
level terrain. Including support facilities-drinking
fountains, shade and restrooms-is important. The SPAUSA.org
has other considerations listed, such as electricity
for lights, pay phones and trash receptacles and fencing.
(North Little Rock's also has bleachers.)
Tort immunity calms concerns. Worried about being sued
over a skateboard park? Arkansas Code Annotated ยง 21-9-301,
passed in 1969, provides that Arkansas cannot be sued
in tort. Municipalities may build recreational facilities,
skateparks included, and be protected against liability.
"We have to provide quality," Gaskill said. "I think
we have a moral obligation to be sure that what we put
out there is safe. After that it is skate at your own
risk." Cities may post guidelines and that restrict hours
of use and conduct. "More cities invest in skateparks,
the less they have to worry about kids in other parts
of town," said Franz Hayes, 15, a North Little Rock skatepark
fixture and son of the League's general counsel, Mark
Hayes. "From Harrison's pool to Jacksonville's park system,
the more our parks expand from the traditional park is
a great thing," said the elder Hayes in his support of
municipal skateparks.
Invite all to participate. Standing on a board with
four attached wheels may not be for everyone, but as
Turman noted, team sports are not for everyone. Developing
a skatepark creates an opportunity to involve young residents
in the civic process. "Night they came into the council
meeting, they were as nice as they could be," Gaskill
said. "They just march to the beat to a different drum
and that's OK."
Is your
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