Long Story Short

The Montgomery County Planning Board's Sector Plan for the Silver Spring Central Business District calls for a downtown skatepark. The Sector Plan, created in 2000, acknowledges the popularity of East of Maui, a former downtown skatepark that was built in the late 1990s and that used to sit where the Silver Plaza (the fountain, etc.) is now.

The Sector Plan also acknowledges the need for a downtown skatepark in order to reduce damage to redevelopment properties from skateboarders. It's in the county's economic interest to build a skatepark. Areas that have skateparks have much less damage to surrounding properties. We've seen this dynamic here in Silver Spring — when skaters had a legal place to skate, (and not even a skatepark but a half-block's worth of flat pavement to skate), no one skated Discovery and there was no damage to Discovery Plaza, or to it's marble ledge. Both were trashed after that skate spot was taken away. This was not done out of vengeance or a desire to destroy property. It happened because skaters had no place to go.

The East of Maui skatepark was interim from its start. It was intended as a temporary amenity to give kids downtown something to do before DTSS was fully developed. The reference in the 2008 Status Report, "replace interim skateboard facility", is specifically referring to replacing East of Maui.

Park & Planning came up with plans for a "skate spot" (too small to be called a skatepark) in Woodside Urban Park. At a November community meeting they told us that they asked a skatepark company for the smallest possible park they could build. Experts in this field say a skate spot this size can only support 20 skaters. The project has been delayed because Woodside Civic Association wants a lot of questions answered before they support it, but even if it actually does get built, The Woodside Skate Spot is also intended to be interim. So, they want to replace an interim park...with an interim park?

In 2005 parks had plans for a 14,000 square foot skatepark in Fenton Gateway Park. Our need for a real skatepark is much greater today than it was in 2005. So why are we moving backwards rather than forward? Where's the commitment to these kids — to keeping them out of trouble and helping them to engage in healthy activities?

The most important reason for building a downtown skatepark? Of the 42 US skateboarding-related fatalities in 2006 (that's about 1 per week), 40 happened outside of skateparks. Skateboarding is statistically safer than playing basketball, and the vast majority of these fatalities involved motor vehicles. And sadly, one of them happened right here in Silver Spring.

Woodside Too Small for Downtown Skatepark (According to Park & Planning in 2005)

Based on the explosion of growth in extreme sports, we likely have hundreds more skateboarders in Silver Spring today than we did in 2005. And yet, in 2005, Park & Planning said that Woodside Urban Park was too small to accommodate a skatepark, and that even Jesup Blair Local Park, (where the available space was 5,000 square feet), was too small.

So why, at the end of 2009, when all available data suggests we have many more skateboarders than in 2005, would Park & Planning intentionally plan for the smallest skatepark possible in Woodside Urban Park?

"Other sites considered for skateboard parks but deemed too small were Woodside Urban Park and Jesup Blair Local Park. The Jesup Blair Facility Plan approved by the Montgomery County Planning Board includes a small skateboard park; however, the available space is only 5,000 square feet, which is too small to accommodate this type of facility. Therefore, staff is no longer recommending its construction." (pp. 26-27) The staff report also included a memorandum from Councilmember Silverman to the Planning Board encouraging the Planning Board to include a skate park in the next CIP.

And if Jesup Blair was deemed too small at 5,000 square feet, how on earth could a 3,000 square foot "skate spot" possibly meet the needs of local skaters?

Skateparks Save Lives (or One More Reason Why Silver Spring NEEDS a Large Skatepark)

I found this report on skateboard fatalities from Skaters for Public Skateparks' Executive Director John Leizear, on a Concrete Disciples forum. One of the writers of this report, SPS Publishing Director Peter Whitley, recently left a very eye-opening comment on Dan Reed's blog Just Up The Pike, in which Dan makes a slam-dunk case for having a large skatepark in downtown Silver Spring. In his blog post Dan points out that a tiny skate spot in Woodside cannot, and will not clear downtown streets of skaters, and Whitley's comment clearly explains why a "skate spot" is not a miniature skatepark, and why the concept of skate spots was never meant to replace community skateparks, but to augment them.

This report adds even more weight to Dan's argument in support of a downtown skatepark — and shows the potential cost of not providing a safe and legal place for Silver Spring skateboarders to pursue their passion. Sadly, number 28 on the list of 2006 skateboarding fatalities, is 44 year old Bob Wooldridge of Silver Spring, who was hit by a car while riding a skateboard in the street. (Bolding emphasis in the following report is mine.)

Throughout 2006 Skaters for Public Skateparks (SPS) tracked several aspects of skateboarding activity, including skateboard-related fatalities, as reported in the media, online sources, and other publishing sources. On average 2006 had nearly one person killed per week while skateboarding; a total of 42 skateboarding youth died while recreating. Of these 42 deaths, 40 occurred outside of skateparks.

Skateboarding in the United States is increasing in popularity. At SPS we believe that accessible skateboarding facilities are the best way to encourage this healthy activity safe. Public parks and areas without vehicular traffic, such as plazas and city squares, are the safest places for skateboarders to recreate yet increasingly skaters are kicked out of these environments and must find new places to recreate. This can lead to consequences that every person in the community should find unacceptable. Skateboarding youth are being killed in the streets at an alarming rate, because they lack appropriate places to recreate. Skateboarders need skateparks. At SPS, we hope that these figures illuminate the gravity of this tragic problem.

2006 saw a broad range of Skaters lose their life. The youngest was Seven Year old Ian Campbell from Soulsbyville, California who was struck by a truck while skating in front of his house on March 15, 2006. Our Brother, Ian was the 17th victim of 2006. In contrast, 2006's oldest skater to die was Mr. Steve Helton of Buhl, Idaho. Mr. Helton was 49 at the time of the accident, and was the 38th fatality of 2006. Ian and Steve died doing something they enjoyed, and were separated by hundreds of miles and 42 years of experience, but they shared a love of skateboarding.

The research supports a view that most skateboarders share through personal observation. In itself skateboarding is not dangerous, but when it's combined with vehicular traffic it can be deadly. In 2006, 27 skateboarders were struck and killed by vehicles. Texas recorded seven fatal vehicular accidents involving skaters, while California had four. No state is immune from these tragedies. Maine, Alabama, Minnesota, South Carolina, and many others each faced this preventable tragedy.

The future looks bright for skateboarders everywhere. Communities across the nation are realizing the value of skateparks. Fearful, suspicious attitudes towards skateboarders are melting away as skateboarding advocates continue to present a vision where skateboarding is accepted as a healthy, positive recreational choice for our youth and young-at-heart. In a society that is seeing staggering numbers of children become overweight, and the fact that traditional sports have declined in participation, it is paramount we re-activate our communities with the desires of today's sporting and recreating youth. Support your local skateboarders, and lobby your Governments to build skateparks to keep our communities safe and active.


Fatalities by Age (in years):

12 and under: 6
13 – 18: 21
19 – 24: 12
25 and up: 3
*14 – 15: 12 Fatalities

By Gender
Male: 40
Female: 2

By Location
Within skatepark: 2
Outside skatepark: 40

Research: John Leizear
SPS Members
Writers: John Leizear
Peter Whitley

for more information contact:
John Leizear
john.leizear@skatersforpublicskateparks.org
skatersalliance@comcast.net
(540) 219-4096

This report may be reprinted without SPS consent, however SPS and the Research Author must be credited.


1.) Jason Rundell (23)
Hit by car street skating (ME)
Teen killed while skateboarding

2.) Clinton Kirby Roberts (13)
Hit by vehicle while street skating (AL)
Classmates remember teen killed in skateboard accident

3.) Travis Baldwin (14)
Hit by truck while street skating (Oildale, CA)

4.) Reid Menzer (14)
Hit by car while street skating (PA)

5.) Blake Hand (14)
Hit and run while street skating (BIRMINGHAM, Ala)

6.) Unnamed man (age unknown)
Struck by truck while street skating (WV)

7.) Dustin Wayne Prine (16)
Struck by truck while skating street (TX)

8.) Austin Sparks (13)
Struck by driver while skating street (TX)

9.) Michael Santos (19)
Struck and killed by car while skating street (HI)

10.) Albert Vasquez (1
Struck and killed by truck while skating street (TX)

11.) Tony Mitchell (1
Struck and killed by truck(NM)

12.) Dillon Meheut (9)
Struck and killed by car while skating street (TX)

13.) David Allen Hays (23)
Died after holding onto car (Rancho Penasquitos, CA)

14.) Travis Gracey (21
Struck and killed by motorcycle while skating street (Seattle, WA)

15.) Brian Samson (19)
Died after holding onto golf cart (FL)

16.) Josh Kilnger (19)
Died after falling while skating a hill (NV)

17.) Ian Campbell (7)
Died after struck by a car while skating (Soulsbyville, CA)

18.) Michael Goodman (15)
Died after falling from his board while skating street (Orlando, FL)

19.) Matthew Gallops (11
Struck and killed by a car while skating street (Savanna, GA)

20.) Austin M. Gagner (10)
Hit by a bus as he was crossing the street on a skateboard (Rice Lake, MN)

21.) Frank Russo (13)
Struck head while skating in a skatepark, not wearing helmet (Port Angeles, WA)

22.) Ashley Philips (16)
Struck by a car while riding in the street (Clearwater, FL)

23.) Jonathan Brock (17)
Struck by a car while riding in the street (Conway, SC)

24.) Brett Neeley (21)
Lost control rounding a corner while riding in the street and struck his head (Provo, UT)

25.) Joshua McSweeney (15)
Died after being in a coma due to injuries sustained when he was struck by a car while riding in the street (San Antonio, TX)

26.) Jeremy Best (15)
Died from injuries after being struck by an SUV while crossing a highway on a skateboard (West Islip, NY)

27.) Gabriel Guerrero (15)
Struck and killed while skating in the street, by drunk driver in a vehicle with headlights turned off (Harlingen, TX)

28.) Bob Wooldridge (44)
Struck by a car while skating in a neighborhood street (Silver Spring, MD)

29.) Bob Samson (23)
Fell from skateboard and died when dog ran in front of him (Alaska)

30.) Tommy Michalson (12)
Died while skating street (Crested Butte, CO)

31.) Jeremy Allen Suntken (20)
Died while skating prefab skatepark (Red Wing, Wis)

32.) Matthew Monroe (15)
Struck and killed by Amtrak train while skateboarding with headphones on (LANCASTER COUNTY, PA)

33.) Steve Helton (49)
Fell and died while skating longboard (Buhl, Idaho)

34.) Justin Freeman (12)
Struck and killed by auto while skating street (Everett, WA)

35.) Jack Pellicano (14)
Struck and killed by truck while skating street (Newport Beach, CA)

36.) Robert Jay Shenk (25)
Struck and killed by truck while skating street (BUENA PARK, Calif)

37.) Jonathan Tyler Litton (14)
Struck and killed by truck while skating street (Hiddenite, NC)

38.) D.J. Epperson (13)
Died while street skating (Omaha, NE)

39.) Christian Corneau (14)
Died while street skating, hit by an automobile. He was wearing a helmet at the time of death; his skateboard was broken in half. (Dallas, TX)

40.) Rebecca Mead (21)
died when she fell off her out-of-control skateboard and hit her head

41.) David Bruce Schleiden (15)
Stuck and killed by a car in traffic (Cape Coral, FL)

42.) Patrick Butler (20)
Died street skating in Aberdeen, MD

Darren Harper, Pro-Skater from DC

Coming from South East DC, Darren Harper changed his life and his future through skateboarding. Darren is a friend and supporter of many of our skaters in Silver Spring. The 2nd interviewer (wearing a green shirt) is Jimmy Pelletier, who's been skating for 21 years, and who attended the November 4th meeting in support of the proposed skate spot in Woodside Park.

Why Silver Spring Skaters Are So Frustrated

Here's a list of some of the things we've been told over the past year (since we lost lower Ellsworth Drive for skating):

• We were supposed to get an area behind whole Foods, and that was supposed to happen in early '09, weeks after we lost Ellsworth. Never happened.

• In February '09, we were told we could have the alley beside the DTSS security office. That DID happen...for all of two weeks, before it was taken away and they started kicking us out.

• We were told DTSS was working on getting us the pavement between Whole Foods and Hollywood Video. Never happened.

• In May AFI asked DTSS to host a skateboarding event, to promote a skateboarding movie AFI planned to screen. Never happened. (After a 3-month fiasco of trying to help DTSS plan this thing, with the date being changed from June 21st, to July 21st, to August 21st, we were finally offered such a low-budget tired-sounding event that no one would have bothered to come.)

• We were supposedly on track to get a skatepark in the space the library currently sits on, once that's torn down. Not gonna happen.

• We were supposedly going to have a tiny "skate spot" in Woodside Park this January. We were asked to support it. We did support it, asking skaters to send supportive emails, and asking skaters to attend the meeting (30 did), and I even attended a 'pre-meeting' that I initiated on November 4th, the day of the community meeting. Construction on that skate spot has now been delayed, and I'm not convinced it's actually going to be built.

Skaters for Public Skateparks: Response to Just Up The Pike

In response to Dan Reed's phenomenal post the case for a downtown skatepark (this time, with numbers), Publishing Director of Skaters for Public Skateparks Peter Whitley, commented on that blog post, making the point that "skate spots" are not meant to replace skateparks, but to augment them:

I was thrilled to see Skaters for Public Skateparks' material used so effectively. As the co-author, along with Kent Dahlgren and Miki Vuckovich (both of whom are with Tony Hawk Foundation, though Kent was SPS' founding Director) we couldn't be more delighted to see this information being used exactly how we intended.

When we began talking to communities about "skate spots" a few years ago we were concerned that some would see them as the "perfect solution" to their skatepark needs. While the idea of augmenting the neighborhood skateparks with satellite facilities is fundamentally sound, many budget-minded bureaucrats see the skate spot as a "miniature skatepark." They're not. They are meant to extend a skatepark's level of service into isolated or underserved pockets...NOT as a bedrock facility for a whole community.

What may happen is that the skate spot fails due to over-use; a victim of its own success. In their enthusiasm to use the spot, the skaters may spill out to the nearby parking lots or simply move back to those inappropriate spots that are popular now.

That can lead to two public reactions:

1. "Look at all those skaters trashing up the place. They don't deserve a better skatepark."

2. "The skaters are STILL skating on my ledges! That new skatepark apparently doesn't help at all!"

The losers here are the very people the skate spot was meant to benefit. The solution is for the local advocates to continue to push for a long-term plan that acknowledges the community need and sets into motion plans for meeting it. Thankfully you guys have some AWESOME advocates on that task.

Woodside Skate Spot Project Delayed

Yesterday I got confirmation from Park & Planning that construction on the Woodside Skate Spot project has been delayed. In a November 9th letter to Parks, sent as a follow-up after the meeting on November 4th, the Woodside Civic Association asked for the delay. I asked how long it's been delayed, but did not get a response.

In the email response to my question about the status of the skate spot, I also got this question and comment:

"Did you write the postings from a skateboard Mom? I don’t believe they are helping support a skatespot."

I replied saying that if any information on this blog is factually incorrect, to please let me know and I'll be happy to correct it.

But let's not change the subject here — I along with the rest of the Silver Spring skateboarding community were in no way involved with planning or designing this project. We found out about it completely by accident, when a former Silver Spring skater who now lives in West Virginia sent us a link to Park & Planning's web site. At that point I and several other skaters contacted Park & Planning, and I was asked to help to drum up support for the skate spot. But we had zero input on any decisions that were made.

I've been advocating for Silver Spring skaters for a year now, telling anyone who would listen that these kids need a legal place to skate. I contacted many people and organizations, telling them about how important skating is to these kids — how passionate they are about it, and about how strongly many of them feel about the positive impact its had on their lives. And I've also been talking about how unsafe it is for skaters to not have a legal and safe place to skate.

After all of these efforts, I was very surprised to find out that an actual skate spot was being planned in Woodside Park. And I was more than happy to do everything I could to support it.

I want so much for Silver Spring's skaters to have a legitimate skating facility. But the more I looked at the details, the more I questioned whether this particular project could resolve many of our issues — the idea of intentionally building the smallest skate spot possible in a skating community as huge as Silver Spring's, is in itself problematic.

And what I won't do, is stop posting facts and data that are completely relevant to this project, in order to further a scenario that could result in the following:

• We get a skate spot that that allows very few skaters to skate, and then face even more aggressive enforcement of skating prohibitions elsewhere in downtown
• We get a skate spot so tiny, and supporting so few of our skaters, that it results in intense competition over who's going to get to skate there, potentially causing fights and division in what is now a very peaceful, cohesive community
• We get an "interim" skating facility (as Woodside Skate Spot is intended to be) only to have it snatched back from the kids if things don't work out perfectly
• We get a skate spot with very little chance of succeeding because of issues like lack of a porta-potty (skaters tend to skate for hours and drink lots of liquids — where would they relieve themselves?)
• We get a skate spot that becomes way to crowded to be safe, particularly for younger skaters

When someone forwarded me the letter that Woodside Civic Association sent to Parks, my initial reaction was pretty bad. My feeling was that Park & Planning couldn't possibly provide the level of details they were asking for — such as any kind of accurate projection of potential users.

But after doing some research I discovered that a number of WCA's questions actually could be answered. For instance, the question they asked about how many skaters would be able to use this skate spot — Skaters for Public Skateparks uses a very logical formula for determining how much space a single skater needs to do a number of tricks (1,500 square feet), and then they look at how many skaters can use that same space concurrently (10 skaters).

Based on that SPS formula, the 3,000 square foot Woodside Skate Spot would only support 20 skaters. And the Silver Spring skateboarding community is huge.

There are critical issues to look at when considering the amount of space required to build a successful skatepark. Many tricks that skaters do require a lot of run-up space — and many other tricks require a lot of landing space. When jumping stairs, for instance, a skater is propelled forward with so much force that it's pretty much impossible to just stop cold when landing. You need space to ride after landing. There's one skatepark that has a trash can very close to the bottom of a set of stairs, and skaters have to be very careful to not crash into that. Things like that can cause serious safety issues.

It's because of issues like these that SPS highly recommends that skaters themselves be involved with the process of planning and designing skateparks. Park & Planning is responsible for facilities for many different sports, and they can't be expected to be experts on all of them. And skateboarding is fairly new and has undergone drastic changes in the past 5 years or so. Not many people outside of skateboarding are aware of those changes, or how they've impacted skaters and skatepark design. The simple answer is to just talk to skaters.

The overarching issue here is that we need to begin to engage young people in the process of community building. It's through engagement that we can begin to find out what they really need, rather than making assumptions about what we think they need. And it's through engagement alone that we can have a positive influence, and that they begin to feel like valued members of our community.

For a very long time now, skateboarders in Silver Spring have felt marginalized, which creates alienation — and nothing good ever comes from that.

Woodside Skate Spot Will Support 20 Skaters

Skaters for Public Skateparks says that 1,500 square feet of space can support 10 skaters, and the Department of Parks is planning for a 3,000 square foot park in Woodside.

If part of the intention in building the Woodside Skate Spot is to "clear downtown Silver Spring streets" as a recent Gazette article suggests — that's unlikely to happen with a skate spot that can only support 20 skaters, in a community that has about 100 avid skateboarders.

From the SPS presentation, 10 Things That Make a Skatepark Great, here's the right way to plan the size of a skatepark:

Foolishness

It was foolishness, even when viewed from a purely business perspective, to kick skateboarders out of lower Ellsworth Drive. And I wonder what that decision has cost this area, purely in terms of dollars and cents.

The Discovery ledge, built with handmade Jerusalem marble, in perfect condition before skaters were kicked off of Ellsworth, was trashed. How much did it cost to rebuild that? It now has big, ugly bumps on it — anti-skating devices, I'm sure. And how much other property was trashed after we lost Ellsworth?

In Baltimore, skaters walked around the city taking pictures of all of the skateboard-related damage, which city leaders later estimated to have cost about $1 million. That convinced the city the most cost-effective thing to do would be to just go ahead and build a real skate park.

One week after Ellsworth was shut down, I spoke with Gary Stith who was then head of the Silver Spring Regional Office. He told me he was trying to identify a new location for skaters, and that within two weeks from that point we were likely to have a new spot. It's almost a year later. No new spot.

And it's 5 years later than the day Silver Spring skater Lisa Jaeggi organized a skate-protest, encouraging skaters to take back Ellsworth, since it is, after all, public space.

While the cost of skateboard-related property damage is likely very high, the real cost to this town has nothing to do with money, and it has everything to do with losing the trust of so many kids in this community, and them losing the feeling of being a part of this community, when something so incredibly important to them was taken away without a second thought.

We are now told we'll be getting a "skate spot" in Woodside Park. But the Woodside Civic Association isn't happy with the information they've been given and they're asking for construction to be delayed until the Spring of 2010. That means if we do get it, we'll have yet another summer with no legal place to skate. And if it is built, it will only be a 3,000 square foot park.

At the meeting on November 4th a rep from the Parks Department told us their intention was to design the smallest park possible, in order to minimize the impact on the community. They said that they asked a skatepark company how small they could go, and still have a viable park.

So we're looking at the possibility of getting a tiny "skate spot" (not an actual skatepark), when there are approximately 100 skateboarders who skate in Silver Spring. And since skateboarding is the fastest growing sport in America, as teens are trending away from team sports and towards action sports, that number is likely to grow significantly.

According to Skaters for Public Skateparks, the organization for skatepark-related data, 1,500 square feet of skatepark space can support 10 skaters. That means the planned Woodside Skate Spot can be expected to support no more than 20 skaters. And I can tell you from lots of experience skating a 6,500 square foot park, that 20 skaters in a 3,000 square foot park will be seriously pushing it.

So if the intention is to give even half of the local skaters a place to skate — the Woodside Skate Spot isn't going to do that.

And each day that we continue this game of cat and mouse, of 'chase the skaters' from one illegal spot to the next, it costs this town more — more money because of property damage, and in more kids in our community feeling alienated and marginalized, and feeling like the adults in this community do not care about their needs.

Was the decision to shut down Ellsworth really worth all that?

Something Fishy Going On...

Why is it that people I don't even like or talk to, are suddenly trying to "help" and "encourage" me to push for the Woodside Skate Spot? Sending me secretive spy messages with information from the Woodside listserve, and making sure I know about various meetings, and sharing strategy tips, when these very same people won't personally speak up for skaters themselves?

To you listserve-Mata Haris — I don't trust you. Since you claim to care about these kids...then man up, or woman up, and SPEAK up. And quit the skullduggery, because right now you're not helping anyone.

From 2005 to 2009: Same As It Ever Was

Ineteresting. Richard Jaeggi is the first community leader I approached back in early 2008 when the Downtown Silver Spring Shopping District along with the Silver Spring Regional Office, stopped allowing skateboarding on lower Ellsworth Drive. I didn't get a lot of support, other than him strongly encouraging me to get skaters involved with Mixed Unity.

After attending my first Mixed Unity meeting, I told Richard I didn't believe I'd be able to interest skaters in those meetings. Our needs were more immediate — we had just lost the one legal place for skateboarders to skate in all of downtown Silver Spring.

I knew that skaters, almost all teens and many of them very young, would be roaming the streets of downtown in search of places to skate. I did not believe then nor do I believe now, that it's safe for them to do that. And I didn't believe they should have to attend meetings or be involved with planning a concert in order to get help and support in addressing such a pressing, immediate need.

The one thing — the only thing I was looking for then, was for someone in this community with a voice to have our backs and help us get skating back on Ellsworth Drive. Or at the very least, to help us to get an alternative location, particularly so that skaters wouldn't have to spend the entire summer without a legal place to skate.

Since that time, many of our skaters have reported being harassed and even physically attacked by security guards, and they've run into all kinds of safety issues, like when a skater was recently body-slammed to the ground near the Metro Station by a man carrying a fake badge and pretending to be a cop.

What I had no clue about when I went to Richard about skating on Ellsworth Drive, was just how much work he and his kids had done to speak up for skaters' rights in downtown. They did great work back then — amazing work. And just like his kids and other skaters in Silver Spring needed his support back then, they continue to need it today — not just for a tiny skate spot in Woodside Park, where the 100 or so Silver Spring skaters can't possibly all skate (and which the Woodside Civic Association has asked to have delayed) — but for the same thing he and Lisa fought for back in 2005, the right to skate on Ellsworth Drive, and any other public space in Silver Spring.

I just found the minutes for a Citizens Advisory Board meeting from April 2005, in which Richard Jaeggi spoke passionately about the need for skaters to have a skating facility in Silver Spring. He and his daughter Lisa did a video presentation of a skate-protest they staged in DTSS. The skate-protest set out to take back Ellsworth Drive, a public street, from a private company which had been denying kids the right to skateboard there.

Following are some of Richard's comments in support of skateboarding in Silver Spring.

Skateboard Park Video Presentation

Richard Jaeggi presented a video of his daughter's promotional piece focusing on the need for a Skateboard Park in downtown Silver Spring as follows:

• Mr. Jaeggi stated that the presentation was not taking any positions on the location but the need for a Skateboard Park.
  
• His daughter had interviewed skaters, security guards, businesses, Glenn Kreger at Park and Planning, and Gary Stith, Director of the Silver Spring Regional Center, to compile the presentation you are about to see.
  Skateboarders in the video said:
  
• Skateboarders are always being kicked out of places they skate. They look at skating as part of their life, not just a fad. It’s their way of experiencing freedom. “You can do what you want, when you want and how you want while skating. It‘s better than video games. You get to be outdoors, getting fresh air and be with friends.” Most skaters skate every day if they can.

Following are some of the comments that came after that presentation.

Discussion: Richard Jaeggi concludes that: We should make a commitment; these kids spend a lot of money in the downtown. Let's not just focus on adult needs. It's a really good chance to do something for the kids. There is a lot of energy here and it's a great way for the next generation of Silver Springer's to get inoculated into the County process. There are a lot of reasons not to do certain things, but I would encourage us to find a solution and a site that's good for neighbors and for Silver Spring.

Marilyn Seitz: I don't see many things for children to do. We need a place for them to go. Back when I was a kid a lot of churches had teen nights. We had places to go and they were safe. There are not many places for them to go.

Korey Hartwich: Only commercial places like movies and of course kids don’t have that much money so they don’t get to go to the movies that often. There are really not that many places to go.

All They Wanna Do Is Skate

Woodside says they're not against skateboarders...while looking for every possible reason to keep skaters out of Woodside Park. DTSS says they support skaters...while refusing to give even an inch to allow skateboarders to skate.

I ran into a bunch of skaters tonight, and they were SO frustrated -- getting kicked out from one spot after another. If DTSS supports skaters so much, why is it that kids can't even skate the alley shown in this photo? No one uses it on Friday nights. There are no deliveries going on.

People can say they don't hate skaters, and they can say they support skaters. But your actions speak louder. And the actions of many in this community shows that these kids, who are part of this community, and who want one simple thing -- a place to skate where they won't be kicked out, are just not important.

Say what you want -- these kids aren't buying it. They know what's up.