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3rd Annual Powwow

Lawsuit against city officer who yelled at skateboarder thrown out.

By Justin Fenton
The Baltimore Sun
September 22, 2009
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SOB OP-ED for the Baltimore Sun
September 29, 2009

Justin Fenton's article "Lawsuit filed by skateboarder against Baltimore police officer thrown out", September 23, 2009, indirectly brings our attention to a tragic but often overlooked truth: There simply aren't enough skateparks in our city to support Baltimore's youth and adult skateboarding community. Baltimore is home to approximately 7,330 regular skateboarders and 29,322 casual skateboarders* of all races and genders. Unfortunately, this population is severely underserved by a lack of available skating facilities. Industry standards recommend that the square footage of terrain needed to recreate for a population of this size be at least 44,000 square feet. Yet Baltimore presently only has one public concrete outdoor skatepark--Carroll Park, which is less than 10,000 square feet. This park grossly fails to meet the needs of Baltimore's skateboarding community.

The absence of suitable recreation space for our skaters drives them to find "skate spots". These spots are usually concrete venues proximate to certain amenities: local businesses, public transportation, a place to get refreshmentsÑplaces like the Inner Harbor and the Lyric Opera House. Yet, as the confrontation between Mr. Bush and Officer Rivieri demonstrates, certain spots are considered unsuitable for skateboarding by the general public. We ask, where should 7,300 skateboarders go?

If your city doesn't have parks in which to skate, your city becomes a skatepark. The logical solution, then, would be to create more skate-able terrain. Our organization is attempting just that. The Skatepark of Baltimore, Inc. (SOB) is a grassroots, nonprofit organization whose mission is to facilitate the construction of a public, custom, concrete, destination Skatepark in the City of Baltimore. Currently, we are working with the City to develop Baltimore's first-ever destination spot in Roosevelt Park in Hampden. Beyond Roosevelt, we aspire to increase skating opportunities across the city in our effort to make Baltimore the most skate-able city in America. We think that, by pursuing this goal, we can prevent future conflicts between skaters and the law by bridging the cultural gap between those who see skateboarding as a public intrusion and what it really is, the fastest growing sport in America.

Stephanie Murdock is the President of the Skatepark of Baltimore. She may be reached with questions or comments at StephMurdock@gmail.com.

* Skatepark Adoption Model (SAM), 2006 U.S. Census