Watch this it’s about skateboarding spots and the significance of them. When there is a spot that is not made for skateboarding it is art. Just look at how stupid the mayor of philadephia was about love park.

Skateboarders were tearing up the cement benches and walks down by the lake downtown in my hometown. I yelled at one to knock it off after they nearly struck an old woman on a bench with a flying board.

He flipped me the bird right in my face. Do you know how hard it is to break a single exposed digit like that? It isn’t. I snapped his finger and he screamed like a b-tch. He said “W.T.F. you do that for, Ahole?” and I told him to stop being a punk-a$$ b-tch.

One of his friends ran up to hit me and I lifted my leg right into his path. I didn’t have to do anything other than straighten my leg as his momentum provided the push needed to knock him unconcious with the bottom of my boots. I monkey-stomped his head once afterwards. I guess it is bad sportsmanship to hit an unconcious fellow, and for that I’m sorry.

Cops came, I was on video “defending myself” and the kids got charged with assault. LoL. The middle-finger flipping appeared like a swing at my face on tape. Open and shut case!

I sued the parents of the kids to recover damage from my boots which had blood stains on them.

I’m a 22 y/o french guy who moved to SF, and I’m looking for some last spots to ride.

Not really into griding, more looking for some flat place like Wallenberg high school to skate “quietly” without being hassled !

Also could meet some cool people to chill!

Get back at me !

Take care m8s

While many skaters haven’t like it was said above it’s because we don’t feel they would pay us attention, because of our reputation.

Although, I don’t agree with that. I live in South Carolina and have been skating for five years. I’ve never smoked anything, never been drunk, never hurt anybody, never started a fight, never really damaged property. In response to the quote above and the view of skateboarders that city’s never listen, that is all wrong.

At 15 years old, I started Blythewood Skate Movement, which later was incorporated into POUR IT NOW, (as POUR IT NOW, Blythewood. POUR IT NOW (meaning pour the concrete now) is a non-profit organization that advocates and raises money for public skateboard parks in South Carolina. We have met with town/city officials in Columbia, Charleston, and Blythewood and started advocacy for real skateparks. Grassroots efforts and advocacy have grown into a soon to be park in Columbia. Columbia has been working on their project almost three years. So far they have obtained $300,000 from the city, and have raised a little over $125,000. Now, they qualify for grants, they just obtained a Tony Hawk Foundation grant for $25,0000 at a level where they qualify for all sorts of grants, it will be completed by the end of this summer. How did this happen? The city tore down their park, the skaters came to city government meetings to propose another idea. With some work and patience they have come a long ways.

The “punk” stereotype is wrong. It developed when street skating began. With no “institution” or professional league to make us seem educated and sophisticated, and to shine a spotlight of beauty upon us, we were succeptible to being viewed badly. So when street skating began, it was at a point when there were virtually no skateparks, expanding our boundaries in public property, (the only option) we were legally “loitering” and “trespassing” and eventually skateboarding wear would build up and become “vandalism”. We had no jerseys, no helmets, or pads. We wore t-shirts and jeans. Nothing too nice, pro skaters didn’t make any money, and who wants to ruin their nice clothes falling? Falls rip jeans, tricks tear shoes, the wind would blow our hair every which way. We weren’t televised, just shadows in urban landscapes. We didn’t do it to “fit in” we did for ourselves, and our bros. this caused us to be viewed as “rebels”. Ever since the beginning in the seventies, there was always a slight rebel connotation due to our roots in surfing. The publics view grew, and while we grew too, we expanded to wider and wider audiences. We are now a diverse spectrum of kids, teenagers, and adults, mostly good and bad. Today there are 16 million skaters in the U.S. according the the national institute of government purchasing. That’s more than football or baseball. Yet, as every city has a place for those, for skateboarding, many do not.

Real skaters do it to improve themselves, and find satisfaction and personal identity. However, when people treat us like criminals, it helps shape this “identity” of up and comers. Ingrained into their mind is societies grudge against them. So some take on these stereotypes why? It’s called a self-fullfilling prophecy, a statement that inadvertedly causes itself to become true. Like how racism put african americans into povery, where some of the youth became involved in gangs and violence. Now white supremecists that still exist claim that since intergration black people have gone out control, dealing drugs and shooting. The truth is most aren’t but some are. This would have never have became if people did not stereotype. So I say that stereotypes influence, oppress, and eventually can KILL, depending on how bad the stereotype is.

My message for skateboarders, don’t let these stereotypes shape your thinking. The better we look, the less we will be run off, knobbed, discriminated, ticketed, and criminalized. A good appearance the more skate You can DEFY THE STEREOTYPE! how?
-be considerate when skating (don’t be rude, don’t grind anything nice (stick to skateparks and tire marred ledges in the back of parking lots.) no city monuments.
-don’t feel like you need to fashion yourself to any “style”.
-be advocates, constantly searching for ways to reverse our reputation
-make sure there are those among you taking the lead and representing you to City
officials. We cannot keep being run out forever, we must step up and do something. If
there are no advocacy groups in your city, YOU KNOW YOUR JOB- petition, advocate,
raise money if needed.
-SUPPORT- (you do it for your local skate shops) so stand right behind any advocacy
group, volunteer, buy their products as much as possible. Go to their meetings and both
of the advocacy group and the city.
I go the Blythewood town hall meeting in a suit and tie. A critic of the skatepark came up to tell how skateboarders “don’t look like honor students to me” calling us hoods. I came up to the front, all dressed up, and explained to them who we are and what the skatepark will do. Later he congratulated me. “good job” The point is most people don’t know who we really are, it’s up to us to show them.

I want to tell any city government that they should build parks, based on what the SKATEBOARDERS want. Don’t build all vert or clunky metal. Don’t enforce rules like pad requirements, you can hardly walk in those things. Don’t charge. BUILD CONCRETE have a variety of obstacles, an SP system with medium sized parks in reach of all skaters (One big one is not what you want). And you will find that skateparks are the most used public facilities around. The skaters will be more than willing to help.

If americans are serious about wanting to keep kids out of trouble, then get us off the streets, quit criminalizing us and start listening to us.

Some skateboarders may do illegal things. Most are fairly clean. Some skaters do bad things. But one thing we all have in common is we simply want to skate, no real skaters are looking for trouble. This prevents us from seeking out drugs and gangs. And we are a close knit community, we’re like a family, accepting, supporting, and embracing each of us. Accept us as a potential positive contributors in society, and we will be urged to accept ourselves the same. The key to this, is through skateparks(/skate plazas) which give us a place to go, where we belong, a place in community, society, and life.

Don’t judge as a group, judge as an individual.
Skate on.

First, I love the argument that taxpayers pay for the public places that we skate, I have been paying taxes for 11 years and I skate the spots my tax dollars paid for.

Second, So we should stop whining about not having a place to skate and pay for one ourselves.. did you pay for the local park with football fields in your town.. I doubt it. Why is it that our request for a public place to skate is so ridiculous to you. I lived in a town that promised us a park in 1994 we got one in 2002. That is why we skate your public places.

Really it all boils down to small minded individuals who can’t seem to cope with their non-comprehension of skateboarding as a sport. The “adults” going to city planning meetings don’t want to build public skateparks, they would rather build parking lots. I know this because I have been to plenty of planning meetings.

Yeah we erode public property just like rain, wind, freezing weather, or the daily barage of obese Americans who walk/sit on these structures. But, like me, many of us paid tax dollars to build that bench, ledge, rail etc… You don’t hear us complaining about paying for your social security when there won’t be any left for us.

Basically, this dilemma will never go away…until all the old fogeys (baby boomers) that are from the non-skate era die, then we will see plazas like those in Canada where skater and pedestrian are in harmony. What a beautiful day that will be, I can’t wait to be rid of thos damn aging hippies. You all should have OD’ed while you had the chance.