Picking up again...

Well, it's been months since my last posts...

I'm still in the game, with a more finely honed vision for what I want to see happening with skateboard facilities in the city I live in.

In short, to be elaborated later on, I'd like to see skateboarding facilities embedded in "at risk" neighborhood as a positive alternative to the "Big Three Options" that face most kids I know here in Northside:

1. Pro Basketball Player
2. Rap Star on BET
3. Dealing Drugs on the corner with my cousins

Let's face it. There are parks available in the Cinci Area, but how many of them are even on the bus lines? Those that are are not within an hour of these kids. Skateparks are going up like wildfire in the midwest, but they are a SUBURBAN, AFFLUENT, PHENOMENON.
Adding insult to injury, most of these fine skateboard companies and people who push for parks are drawn in by some amalgam of "hardcore", "outlaw", "urban rough" cultural trappings. Dressed as something revolutionary, yet truly available to only the richest americans.

You have to have access to a CAR to use the Skateboarding Facilities around Cincinnati.

So let's do something really cool. Let's get grants and scrape together philanthropic donations to get high-quality, durable, low-maintenance, concrete skateboarding facilities incorporated into the city-scape of Cincinnati. We can do this in neighborhoods and properties that would otherwise breed crime.

Frankly, skateboarding will provide "Option 4", plus exposure to people from all walks of life. Skateboarding will become a vehicle of exposure for people from all over to meet and interact with kids and people in the inner city.

Racial Barriers
Social problems
will be exposed and eroded...

Potential Help
will be discovered
as people come to enjoy the park and meet children there who exist on social programs...

advocacy can be generated by such exposure...
crime can be reduced in neighborhoods as higher human traffic "hardens the target". And Skateboarding is a perfect vehicle for it, as skateboarders tend to be willing to take small risks lightly... a park in a difficult neighborhood will be heavily trafficked, provided that it is high-quality.

Some thoughts with more to come.

Anyone want to coalesce? drop me a comment.

Philosophical Question:

In this month's (May) issue of SLAP Magazine, a skateboarding publication, there is an article on p.12 that is worth considering. It is a short piece that simply asks:

Why is it acceptable, even commendable, to receive injuries in school sports? Why is it Okay for my young friend Cliff to blow out his Knee in football? Nobody minded.

And in juxtaposition:

Why is it so unacceptable, almost universally condemned, to receive injuries while skateboarding?

Please comment.

Skateboarding Injuries

Does anyone know what perspective a comparison of injury rates between skateboarding and school sports?
You will be surprised!

I will give you some anecdotal material right now, and will supply more stats, as time allows:

On Saturday, I enjoyed the Grand Opening of the brand new Delhi Skatepark. a Great park, well-designed, and worth the gas money for Cincy residents...

600 people showed up! Packed in, skating together, there were somewhere between 2-400 people participating at once! It was incredible.

There were two injuries!
one-a head injury--a little boy, about 8 years old riding a bike. Looked like a bruised orbital.
the other--a typical ankle twist--probably a break. More time for homework...

There was a twisted shoulder and a bruised palm as well.

600 people.
NO FIGHTS

600 people.
2 injuries worth mentioning...

All while SKATEBOARDING!!!!

2 visits from the paramedics!

Meanwhile, the Women's softball league had 3 visits from the paramedics! That day! yet one person had the perspective, "This skatepark was a big mistake. A big mistake." Upon the second call to paramedics...

Pish Posh. That's what I say.
I confidently assert that, after seeing the stats, you'll agree that Skateboarding is healthier and safer than School sports!
Prepare to be surprised.

500+ skateboarders packed in like sardines, taking turns, sharing, helping each other out... and we're surprised at a couple of injuries!
Why is it that wen a kid gets injured in a football game he's a hero?
...and when he (or she--girls are allowed on the skateboarding team) gets hurt skating, he or she is an IDIOT?

This mentality will be destroyed by simple facts.

Skateboarding Saved My Life

Skateboarding, and the diversity of its practicioners, has expansive potential to affect inner city youth. Please enjoy this little clip that shows how Skateboarding positively affected one young man.

Positive Aspect:

The McKee Center's dude, Don, called me the other day, asking if I was interested in helping with the youth leadership programs. (I have a ton of experience and background in that stuff)

Yes.

I'll start an initiative that will get at least one great skatepark built in Northside. Then, I'll be available to work with tons of youth in that skatepark. There, they will discover alternatives in life that they would never have, outside the power of skateboarding to bring together people from all walks of life.

Artists
Accountants
Lawyers
...not too many doctors...

There are skaters who will be there whose lives are easily shared over the waits between runs. The kids of our neighborhood will be exposed to PEOPLE. Good people. there are so many.

Besides that, the facility will be a wide open opportunity for camps and classes!

Think about that and leave comments.

Northside Community Council: April 16th

Here are the notes I spoke from at the council meeting.
A motion to send a letter to the City of Cincinnati, urging them to give "Sector A" to skatepark use, was passed unanimously (with a LOT of members present).


What a Skatepark is:

Concrete

Prominent

Open


Where they go:

Skate-able terrain

Neighborhood SkateParks

World Class City SkatePark

Proper placement for maximum positive impact....



What good they are:

enrichment
-local business (food, gas)
-Neighborhood


popularity and Reputation
-establishment of new levels of commerce (tattoos, Punk Rock, Hip-Hop)



Crime prevention

-a properly placed Skate Presence will run out crime.






OUR PROPOSAL:


"Northside: The First Skate-Friendly Neighborhood in Cincinnati/The Midwest/America/The World"




1. Skate-Able elements/areas incorporated into strategic areas
-American Can
-Children's Park
-Streetscape
-Not marginalizing, but embracing the 40+ year art/sport phenom of skate culture



2. Establishment of a Quality Local Park in "Sector A"
-secure neighborhood
-impact crime
-create great reputation



3. Nurture and Development of Skate Culture/Art in Northside
-Skate Shop
-increase visibility of Northside as a "Skate Mecca"



De-marginalizing Skateboarding in Cincinnati, starting in Northside, can't help but enrich our community way beyond the costs.





Practical Action Points for Northside Community council:

1. N-Side CC to get behind it and push!
-guide fund raising
-press
-politics

understand value versus cost:
Positive
supportive
"can-do" attitude


2. Secure Sector A




3. Interface effectively with CRC.

We want this.

We don't buy into the "Liability" misunderstanding.

We push through "conservinertia".



Thanks to every member who voted (unanimously) for Sector A to be given to SkatePark use. We know that the city will hear you, and we will soon (=er or later) have a great park for the betterment of our youth and community.

Skatepark Profile: Sessions