skateboard parks and jails...an essay

skategeezer · 03-29-2007, 06:17 PM

Received this essay...this was supposed to go in National Recreational Parks Association

this is the non-edited version

love to hear your thoughts...

Guess Who’s Going to Jail?

Prisons For Profit

Heidi Lemmon
SPAUSA
3/2007

Do skateparks help keep kids out of trouble and are they worth the price?
The answer is Yes and Yes! So why is it so difficult to get funding for a skatepark?
The answer is complex. I would like to share some information with you in the hopes it will help you with your skatepark plans.

A good skatepark starts around $350,000 and goes to well over a $ million. Some cities are getting a starter park in place as low as $100,000 if they have a good surface available. At first glance it seems like a lot but here are some comparisons:
1 Tennis court $60,000 - $80,000
To resurface 1 tennis court $25,000 - $50,000
A restroom runs approximately $175,000
1 soccer field $2.5 million to $3 million
A public swimming pool starts around $1 million and can easily top $10 million plus there are high maintenance costs and staffing costs with a public pool.

When you compare a skatepark starting at $350,000 they start to look like a bargain.

What about the costs associated with serving “at risk youth”?

It costs anywhere from $20,000 to upwards of $140,000 per year to incarcerate one juvenile for 1 year.
Buffalo Boot Camp $34,000
Buffalo Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration $47,400
Milwaukee County $60,000 - $70,000
State of IL. Dept of Corrections $70,827
Washtenaw County MI $82,125
NY City Department of Juvenile Justice $145,650

It is easy to do the math and see that if only a couple of kids benefit from the park it will pay for itself several times over. While researching costs to incarcerate our young people I found some more interesting facts that relate to at risk youth and might explain why so many cities feel as if their park is stuck in purgatory.

The USA has a higher rate of incarceration than any other country in the world. Many jail systems are run as for profit companies and some are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. When they test 2nd and 3rd graders for reading skills they base the number of prison beds they will build by the number of children who read below their grade level. Instead of tutors, we get prison beds.
California has the largest prison system in the western industrialized world and houses more prisoners than Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Great Briton combined.

How does that affect skateparks? Well it means that for profit prisons have to answer to their investors / stockholders and they need to show profits. To have profits they must stay full. The people who make the laws also are the people who tend to have stock portfolios. This might be one of the reasons there is little incentive to build skateparks in low income areas, the main resource for the prison system and now stock performance. Many skateboarders are dyslexic, ADD or ADDHD or do poorly in school even if they are above average intelligence. There are a multitude of laws prohibiting skateboarding and BMX which include but are not limited to; trespassing, vandalism, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, public nuisance, riding without a helmet or pads, riding a BMX bike in a skatepark (mainly in CA.) and of course giving false information to the police when arrested for any of these crimes. It is easy for a young skateboarder to have over $1000 in unpaid tickets which end up as a bench warrant. Once in the system it is difficult to get out. One of our BMX bikers in Apple Valley CA. was set for a jury trial for riding his bike in the skatepark. At the last minute the courts gave him a plea bargain (he plead guilty).
By providing a well designed and planned skatepark you can reduce the number of youth on the streets who are being drawn into a system that is increasingly difficult to exit from.
For many young people the skatepark is the first place they experience success. Whether they ride a BMX bike, a skateboard or inline skates they can find a safe place to hang out at their local park. By being in control of what they are doing, they can progress at their own rate with no one judging them, pushing them or holding them back. Success is contagious and other youth see it and join in. Once children experience success they will seek it in other areas of their life. Many cities are building multiple skateparks to keep up with the demand for their youth. The city of Santa Monica calls their concrete bowl the “senior citizens” program because so many of the regular users are over 40 years old and many well into their 50’s. Keeping young people off the streets and tired will help to keep them out of trouble. If your park is well designed, people of all ages will use it and it will be a safer park.

Urban youth are at the greatest risk and are incarcerated at a higher rate
Incarceration rates by race: June 30, 2005:

White males: 709 per 100,000
Latino males: 1,856 per 100,000
Black males: 4,682 per 100,000

The prison system is designed to pick up the population with the lowest income. This puts many African American and Latino youth at an even greater risk.

Examples of “For Profit” Prison Systems listed on the NY Stock Exchange

Wackenhut Corrections Corp. was founded by George Wackenhut, a former FBI Official, in 1954. Wackenhut is a diverse company with many forms of security divisions. Private “corrections” facilities account for a small portion of their business but it is so much more profitable than the other divisions that they are working hard to grow this area. The other divisions show a profit of 1.8% while corrections pulls in a 10% profit.
Wackenhut is listed on the NY Stock exchange under GGI and was purchased by the Danish Company Group 4 Falck.

*********************
CCA, the largest private prison corporation in the world was one of the top 5 performing stocks listed on the NY Stock Exchange from 1995 - 1998. Founded by the investors of Kentucky Fried Chicken CCA is almost entirely dependent on prison revenues and they have plans to expand into INS detention centers. After reviewing their use of prison labor combined with prison contracts, the Wall Street firm Pain-Webber concluded “Crime Pays”. CCA is buying cheap real estate to build prisons on speculation. According to West Coast regional president of CAA, David Myers “If you build it in the right place prisoners will come.”

skategeezer · 03-29-2007, 06:19 PM

continued...
Pricor & GRW Corporation
Once # 3 Pricor was sued by investors who claimed to have bilked out of more than $70 million in a scheme to build for profit prisons. In 1991 they were named as an “un-indicted co-conspirator by a Texas grand jury. Not to be deterred Gilbert Walker, then president of Pricor and David Arnspiger (named in the Texas Lawsuit) joined forces to start GRW Corporation. GRW Corporation manages 27 facilities and has been awarded many lucrative state contracts.

SPAUSA Skateboard Demo Team (Picture of Team riders)
They skate, demo, teach and produce events for SPAUSA. The team has produced events and competed all over the USA and have traveled to Canada to compete and they are currently working on a documentary about the SMP Skatepark in Shanghai China.
Photo:Left to right
Jose Garcia, Lamonzo Coleman., Willie Harris, Andres Caro, PJ Harris
These young men have beat the system. According to statistics they should be in jail, in a gang or dead by now. They were raised in the toughest, gang infested neighborhoods of Los Angeles and have not only survived and graduated High School, they are thriving.
Jose Garcia 21 – South Central Los Angeles. He started skating when he was 15 years old and his dream was to be a Pro skateboarder. Jose realized that dream in Jan.07 when Anthony Mosley’s Black Sheep Company picked him up for their skateboard team. He is also on flow for Dogtown skateboarding legend Skip Englom (SMA), Five Four Clothing and Non Factory skateshop. Jose thinks skateparks are a good idea and they help to keep kids out of gangs. “Without skateboarding I would be in trouble by now.”
Lamonzo Coleman 21- Watts and Compton. Lamonzo started skating when he was 14. After graduating HS he worked at the SPA office and then took a job in Moreno Valley (50 miles east) as skatepark director and instructor. He started to pick up sponsors and compete and eventually moved back to Los Angeles taking a job at the Santa Monica Skatepark so he could skate everyday. Lamonzo works 2 jobs so he can afford to travel and skate and is sponsored by Grind King, Dog Poo Wax, Flypaper, Arbor and Nine Star. His goal is to be a pro skateboarder. “Skateboarding is my drug”.
Willie Harris 20- S. Central Los Angeles. Willie grew up playing Pop Warner Football and by middle school he was All Star Quarterback. He had been watching the X Games and liked the skateboarding. One day at a school he saw some skateboarders and later ran into them at the corner store. They let him use their board and he did his first trick a “shuvit” and was hooked. He dropped football by the time he was 15 and became a full time skateboarder. “ With football I had to depend on everyone else and it was very hard to achieve the level of play that I wanted.. Skateboarding was just me and my board and I am all the positions on my team. Skateboarding keeps me happy and without it I am not myself. It allows me to set daily goals and accomplish them.”Willie was accepted into 19 universities and ended up at Cal State so he could stay in town to skate with us. He is on a scholarship studying engineering, teaches skateboarding and is sponsored by Five Four Clothing and is on flow with SMA.

Andres Caro 25 – Watts. Andres started skating when he was 17. He lives in Watts and skates at the inner city skateparks. “Skateparks will help keep kids out of trouble but also the gangs come to the skateparks to recruit.” Andres goal is to be a pro skateboarder. He won the Butterfingers Breakout Contest 3 years ago, appeared in the BAKER video, the Element video and is sponsored by Skillz, SMA, Evolution & Warning Skateshop. In addition to demos and riding he teaches skateboarding and works full time in the construction industry. Andres goals are to skate professionally, own his own business and be a positive role model for young skaters coming up.

PJ Harris, 19, was born and raised in Watts. He started skating when he was 11 and has not missed a demo or event in 6 years. He is also a talented basketball player but always put skateboarding first. After he graduated HS, PJ took a job as the skatepark director for the Salvation Army in S. Central Los Angeles. In his spare time, he skates and records music. He attended the Elemental Awareness camps a couple of years and is on flow with Element Skateboards and clothing and Grind King trucks. “Skating comes first.”

************************************************** *****************

Resources:

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wackenhut_Corporation
www.prisonsucks.org
http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2005/01/03/daily39.html

http://www.correctionscorp.com/
www.macfound.org

http://www.plp.org/pamphlets/prisonpamphlet.html
THE DOME ON ABC NEWS
Judge Judith Sheindlin discusses the many benefits of The DOME Project on ABC News' feature, American Agenda. The Juvenile Justice Program continues to be a money-saving, and hopefully lifesaving, venture for taxpayers in New York City.
On September 13, 2005, the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) announced that the average cost to incarcerate a young person in a NYC DJJ detention facility has increased to $410 a day. In other words, the annual cost to incarcerate one youth in a New York City youth detention center is $149,650 a year, a $9,000 increase from last year. The DOME, in lieu of incarceration, spends a mere $2,000 per kid, each year to educate them, advocate for them in court and get them on the right track through comprehensive counseling.

Download/Watch:
Windows Media (320x240)
Real Media (320x240)

skategeezer · 03-29-2007, 06:19 PM

more...

Stanford will build 2 soccer fields for Palo Alto for $2.5 million (Palo Alto Weekly Dec 15 / 2004)
Kansas City Star reports a plan to build 12 tournament Caliber soccer fields at a cost of $33 million - $38 Million or between $2.75 million and $3.16 million for each soccer field. They may have to move or rebuild the existing skatepark which cost $224,000.The new soccer fields will cost between $2.75 million and $3.16 million each.
*The plan, which could cost between $33 million and $38 million, counts on the City Council increasing the tax on hotel rooms from 6 percent to 9 percent. The increase would bring in $3 million a year.http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/16218337.htm

www.macfound.org
We also know as a practical matter that jailing young people with adults is counterproductive and costly. The Network has shown that get-tough remedies have little or no impact on juvenile crime. In fact, harsh punishment and inadequate rehabilitation services are more likely to increase recidivism. Adolescents processed in adult court for felonies are nearly twice as likely to be rearrested for a violent offense within six years and they are 25 percent more likely to be incarcerated. At a cost of about $160,000 per inmate per year, locking up juvenile offenders is an expensive proposition. And of those young people who are incarcerated, over 80 percent go on to commit crimes as adults.

Consider these data points:
• Black youth are referred to juvenile court at twice the rate for white youth.
• Of all juvenile arrests for violent crimes, 55 percent involved white youth, 42 percent involved black youth. Following arrest, however, blacks are detained eight times more often than whites.
• Overall, black youth are incarcerated at five times the rate of white youth. For every 100,000 juveniles arrested, 1,018 blacks are serving time; for whites, only 204.

http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.1142281/apps/nl/content3.asp?content_id=%7BCC3F891E-5EF2-4138-89F7-0F0BF3001EBE%7D&notoc=1

http://mediafilter.org/MFF/Prison.html
Corrections Corporation of America
Pricor

http://www.grwcorporation.com/experien.html

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Oct/03/ln/FP510030361.html
march 4 2007 hawaii

SteveC · 03-29-2007, 06:31 PM

Good Grief...I bet that that makes the prisons really interested in rehabilitation.....not.

Ah. the land of the free....

skategeezer · 03-29-2007, 06:41 PM

From Wikipedia...

Comparison with other countries
Compared with other countries, the United States has among the highest incarceration rates in the world. More people are behind bars in the United States than any other country. As of 2006, a record 7 million people were behind bars, on probation or on parole. Of the total 2.2 million were incarcerated. China ranks second with 1.5 million followed by Russia with 870,000. The United States has 5 percent of the world's population and 25 percent of the world's incarcerated population. [2]
As of 2006, the incarceration rate in prison and jail, in the United States was 737 inmates per 100,000 or 1 of every 136 adults. [3]. For the most part, the U.S. rate is three to eight times that of the Western European nations and Canada. The rate in England and Wales, for example, is 139 persons imprisoned per 100,000 residents while in Norway it is 59 per 100,000. In many countries, it is common for prisoners to be paroled after serving as little as one third of their sentences. In the US, most states strictly limit parole, requiring at serving of at least half of the sentence. For certain heinous crimes, there is no parole and the full sentence must be served.
The prison population in China was 111 per 100,000 in 2001 (sentenced prisoners only), although this figure is highly disputed. Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu, who spent 19 years in forced-labor camps for criticizing the government, estimates that 16 to 20 million of his countrymen are incarcerated, including common criminals, political prisoners, and people in involuntary job placements. Even ten million prisoners would mean a rate of 793 per 100,000. [8]