May 2014 - Parks & Recreation - 70

Operations

Kids in the Watts community of Los Angeles flock to the Skate Spot, a pocket park with
4,500 square feet of skateable space that was built with support from the surrounding
community.

hours due to special additives in the
concrete that allow for relatively easy
removal, so what's the point? Other
municipalities embrace graffiti and
allow it to become part of the identity of the park, inspiring a community
of artists to get involved.
Having easy, multiple-entry access
for emergency vehicles - including
police, fire and EMS - can also help
keep park users safe.
The combination of grassroots
and official watchfulness goes a long
way to keeping skateparks clean and
wholesome.
Community Support Key to
Developing Skateparks
As with many community initiatives,
when a skatepark is first proposed,
there is often strong opposition from
some community members. In the
case of one park, a vocal minority
kept throwing up impediments to the
planned skatepark. One of their arguments was that the noise would be
disruptive to a nearby seniors' home.

Parks & Recreation

The combination of
grassroots and official
watchfulness goes a
long way to keeping
skateparks clean and
wholesome.
However, when opening day for the
park finally came, the viewing area
was lined with wheelchairs from the
seniors' home. The residents clearly
enjoying watching the flips and jumps
in the park, and many now return regularly.
While concern from the public is a
natural part of any municipal initiative, and the concerns expressed must
be responded to, a combination of facilitation efforts, education, listening

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and response to concerns helps build
understanding and support.
In fact, community involvement
is vital to the success of any municipal skatepark. This is partly because
a skatepark is often designed with
the involvement of the users themselves. This fact makes these facilities
a particularly powerful way to engage
what might otherwise be uninvolved
members of the community. These
parks are icons of our youth and are
becoming part of our cultural and recreational landscapes.
Many skateparks start as a dream
by younger people in a community,
wanting a safe, low-cost place to have
fun. It's not just a " guy " thing, either
- increasingly, we find that girls and
young women are avid skaters, too.
There have been several parks in
which the genesis came from a group
of teenage girls, with their parents,
who organized a base of supporters. In
one case, this group developed its own
fundraising events such as dances, and
this in turn attracted other supporters.
While the money raised by these grassroots groups is often not much, it can
sometimes be the seed money that pays
to engage a design firm - and it is rare
for a municipal council to turn away
that kind of enthusiasm.
With tangible evidence of community backing, it is often possible to get
support from charitable foundations
and other sources, and for local companies to make in-kind donations in
areas such as gravel, cement, structural steel and the use of construction
equipment.
There can be an extraordinarily positive community-building effect from
mixing varied community youth, industry trades and suppliers, city councilors, parents and park staff during
the collaboration effort to get a skatepark built.

May 2014 - Parks & Recreation

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