February 2011 - Parks & Recreation - 26

Who, What, Where & how Around the Parks

PROFILE

" Just Add Concrete "
That's all Stephanie Murdock and other Baltimore skateboarders want.

he young people of
Baltimore are being
underserved. " That
is the simple refrain
that Stephanie Murdock, director of the not-for-profit group
Skatepark of Baltimore, echoes when
asked what motivates her in her effort to
make a 25,000-square-foot, park-department-owned concrete skate park a reality in her city. Following up that refrain is
a rapid-fire list of facts and statistics: Baltimore's 30,000 skateboarders have only
half the estimated 40,000 square feet of
skate terrain required for them to properly practice their sport; skate parks cost
about one quarter what a new recreation
center costs; and the centrally located
skate park Murdock's group is attempting to build would serve about 50 to 100
young people per day-at a time when
half the city's rec centers are scheduled
to be closed for budgetary reasons.
It's no wonder Murdock recently won
a $50,000 grant from the Open Society of
Baltimore: She believes passionately in
her cause-and she has immersed herself in the economics, the social benefits,
and the design of skateparks.
But Murdock is more than a grantchaser and skate park planner: She also
believes in recruiting the city's youth into
her army of fundraisers, designers, advocates, and planners. In an effort to teach
Baltimore's young skateboarders about
leadership, community service, fundraising, and pride of ownership, she runs an
after-school program from an existing
skate park. During those after-school
hours, Murdock uses cameras and modeling clay to capture kids' design ideas.
She also organizes the fundraisers. Two
recent successful, youth-centered fundraising activities have included sales of

24 Parks & Recreation

FEBRUARY 2011

Stephanie Murdock

bottled water at public events. (The custom labels read, " Just add concrete! " )
and a " Girls of Skateboarding " calendar
showing girls from the group doing ambitious maneuvers ($20, www.skatepark
ofbaltimore.com).
It has not been an easy road for the
grassroots group. Despite widespread acknowledgment of the need for more public skate terrain in the city, Skatepark of
Baltimore has faced some daunting challenges. First, the city of Baltimore has more
parkland to oversee (per capita) than any
other major city in the country-and, like
most city park agencies, is trying to maintain its infrastructure on a shrinking budget. Also difficult, Murdock says, has been
the lack of continuity in the city's parks and
recreation department leadership. In five
years, she recounts, Baltimore's parks department has had five different directors.
Murdock speaks optimistically, though,
of the current director, who successfully
oversaw the building of new skate parks
in nearby Montgomery County, Maryland.

w w w . NR P A . ORG

Despite the challenges, Skatepark
of Baltimore is well on its way to raising
the required $750,000 to $1 million for
the skate park-and Murdock hopes to
break ground in 2012. She expects to see
the park completed within the next five
years-and then operated by the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and
Parks. Murdock counsels other communities launching grassroots skate park efforts, " Remember, for every skateboarder,
there are four supportive family members
or friends receptive to the plea and the
plight of the skateboarding community.
Involve those parents, grandparents, siblings, and neighbors in the planning process. " She advises not to place too much
reliance on vendors for skate park equipment-focusing instead on being free to
invite the community to help plan diverse
terrain features into a durable, low-maintenance all-concrete design.
" This isn't just equipment, " she says. " This
is a permanent park to serve our kids. " 
-Interview by Maureen Hannan

February 2011 - Parks & Recreation

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