A nice skate piece from the Guardian...

**skategeezer** · 03-31-2008 09:56 AM

Better skate than never

Building more skateboarding parks will be a really positive move - as long as it's not simply a way of corralling and policing youth

By Mark Forster

March 30, 2008 6:00 PM | Printable version

The wheel deal: skateboarding will henceforth be part of the government's 'community cohesion' strategy. Photo: Linda Nylind

This week's news about the plans for eco-towns represents a dramatic shift in rhetoric about the role of skateboarding parks in urban areas. Their inclusion in the plans for these developments marks a refreshing change in the way skateboarding is perceived by official channels, but it remains to be seen whether such schemes will benefit the skateboarding community as a whole - or serve merely as a dumping ground for groups of youths unwelcome in the city centres.
In the 12 years in which I was an avid skateboarder, I witnessed a number of dramatic shifts in almost all aspects of the sport. Despite radical changes in equipment, attire and public perception of skateboarding, though, the most surprising transformation of all is that the development of skateboarding parks is now being marketed by the secretary of state for communities as a means of developing "community cohesion".
Previously, such projects were only undertaken as the result of fierce lobbying of local councils by skateboarders and community leaders, with both sides arguing that the development of skateboarding facilities would lead to a reduction in antisocial behaviour and property damage as skateboarders are enticed away from the city streets.
In practice, however, this new official approval could prove something of a pyrrhic victory as far as skateboarders are concerned. As new skateboarding parks will attract skateboarders from a wider area, the majority of which are unlikely to remain in sanctioned parks, the common response of landowners is to introduce anti-skateboarding devices (where bolts are inserted into handrails, blocks and ledges used by skateboarders) in public areas. In our experience, the development of dedicated skateboarding facilities commonly also serves as a justification for the introduction of anti-skateboarding bylaws in city centres. With penalties ranging from on-the-spot fines, or the imposition of Asbos in some cases, local authorities' attempts to contain skateboarding within designated areas could well have a negative impact on the skateboarding community as a whole.
For my part, the beauty of skateboarding lies not in its status as extreme sport or cultural movement, but in the way that it encourages the skateboarder to re-examine the city environment and reclaim public spaces that are increasingly becoming private property.
If the secretary of state claims skateboarding parks function as a means to maintain cohesive communities, I can only offer my wholehearted support - provided that the municipal skatepark aims to develop an existing community, rather than articulate the media hysteria which increasingly demonises the congregation of young people in urban environments.