Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2006 > March > 18 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDuluth teens campaign for own skateboard park
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
They just want a place to skate.
A public venue to perform their twists, turns, flips and dips. A concrete shell with ramps, pipes and stairs in Duluth, their hometown.
Thanh Le, a Duluth High senior, is spearheading a campaign to get a skateboard park. He and four friends are collecting signatures to present to city officials. He’s written City Hall as well as AJC Gwinnett News.
“We are tired of being chased out of parking lots, cited for trespassing and hit by cars,” he wrote.
Le began skateboarding three years ago, when he was a freshman. He likes the adrenaline rush the extreme sport gives him. He claims he loves the pain that comes from a spill.
And he has one other reason for loving the sport. “The girls dig it,” Le told me.
His campaign for a skateboard park arose out of an assignment in a political systems class. Students were told to write about something they’d like to change. Le took it beyond the classroom.
“I’ve always been taught to make a difference,” he said. “Now, it’s just become a habit. I feel strongly that this will bring the city of Duluth together. Maybe the city will give us some land. Help us out.”
Without an established venue, Le and his crew “catch air” wherever they can. The town’s curbs, sidewalks and parking lots become their playgrounds. Any place with concrete and edges. You might see street skaters in and around the Duluth Town Green. It’s fun. It’s also illegal. The cops show up and tell them to split.
My sense is that Le and his pals dislike being outlaws. If they did, they wouldn’t take such a diplomatic and democratic approach to finding a solution.
Last summer, some teens made sport out of spray-painting graffiti on buildings in Norcross and Lilburn. The taggers were brazen enough to contact me via e-mail to say their desecration served a purpose. It delivered a message, that they lacked a place to hang out. Odd thing, though: Their graffiti never said such a thing.
In Gwinnett, we have two skateboard parks. One is at Ronald Reagan Park between Lilburn and Lawrenceville. The other one is at Pickneyville Park in Norcross. Two other county-run parks are in the works in Suwanee and Dacula. And of course there’s the private facility — United Skate Park at Discover Mills. But skating there will cost you.
The location of the public parks and the expense associated with the private one keep Le and his friends away. They want something closer to home. Something free. Something they can call their own.
“Our effort in this is 110 percent,” Le said. “I would really like to see this become a reality.”
Then Le said something profound. If your city doesn’t have a skateboard park, he said, then your city IS a skateboard park.
That’s something for Duluth officials to ponder.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Deborah Lee
March 19, 2006 12:30 PM | Link to this
Tell Thanh Le that there are many tennis courts lying dormant that everyone built when it was the latest fad in the 1970’s. My subdivision has one. No one ever uses it. Maybe someone could start by donating it or leasing it to them and they could raise funds and build it themselves.
By Becca
March 20, 2006 08:23 AM | Link to this
I think that we should help out the kids and get them a place to skate. However, these kids seem to want things done for them for free. Nothing is free. I’m not sure if that lesson was taught in their political science class. Land, construction, upkeep, and insurance are just a few of the expences that will end up being the responsibility of the citizens of Duluth. A little more thinking needs to be done for this project.
By meme
March 20, 2006 08:25 AM | Link to this
Wow, his comment, “If your city doesn’t have a skateboard park, he said, then your city IS a skateboard park.”, almost sounds like a threat to the city of Duluth.
By Thanh Le
March 20, 2006 08:41 AM | Link to this
Mrs. Deborah Lee
This is thanh le contact me email or phone 404 824 8642
By thanh le
March 20, 2006 08:42 AM | Link to this
becca plz contact me asap email thanhle586@yahoo.com phone - 404 824 8642
By Thanh Le
March 20, 2006 08:43 AM | Link to this
MEME
its not just only a threat but its the truth
By meme
March 20, 2006 08:53 AM | Link to this
You do know that making threats is illegal, don’t you?
By Becca
March 20, 2006 08:56 AM | Link to this
Posting your phone number on a public forum is not a good idea. The nuts will come out of the woodwork and call you. Don’t expect a call from me. There isn’t anything I can do to help.
By THANH LE
March 20, 2006 09:44 AM | Link to this
well its not really a threat ya know you brought it to my attention so i just played along
By THANH LE
March 20, 2006 09:45 AM | Link to this
and oh well with the phone number thing
lol you are funny
By Becca
March 20, 2006 10:54 AM | Link to this
I wasn’t trying to be funny. If you want to do things the right way, go for it. I don’t live in Duluth so I couldn’t help you with getting any area to skate. Since, according to Mr. Badie there are already 2 areas in Gwinnett County for skateboarding and two more almost finished, that sounds like enough to me. Of course, I don’t skateboard so I don’t know. As for the private one costing money, get a job! You need to learn a little responsibility. The citizens of Duluth don’t owe you a skateboard park.
By Hick from the sticks
March 20, 2006 11:19 AM | Link to this
Becca,
Yes. Mr. Badie is correct with the locale of the two skateparks. The problem is that only one of them has actually been crated with the skateboarder in mind (Pickneyville Park)—the other one is a complete disaster. A few haphazardly placed transitions , one block ramp in the center, and a few mild banks that wouldn’t amuse a three year old on a Big Wheel.
Get this—not only is it all fenced in, but the area of the “park” can’t be over 10-20 yards in length. As you have stated, you have never skateboarded before, so allow me to elucidate:
Imagine trying to back a 30 foot SUV out of a space that’s only 25 feet long.
Not exactly a day at the beach?
Neither is attempting to skate at a place that was developed by those who have never set foot on a skateboard one day in their life.
To open a park designed by, and for, skateboarders with government assistance would be one crucial step for giving teenagers “a place to go”-from the planning to the finished product, it could be the shot in the arm that Duluth (and other places in Gwinnett for that matter) so sorely need.
I can assure you that Mr. Le’s comment on making a city a skatepark is far from an idle threat. Take it from a man who, in the 80’s, had no place available to skate. We did what we did, and often with unjust vandalism, crass attitudes, and anything else under the sun where we could skate before interference from the police.
Is a well-designed, free, place for these teenagers to skate such a detriment to taxpayers in order to potentially alleviate some of the anti-social behaviors some would indulge in?
I think not.
I should hope Gwinnett cares more about all aspects of youth, and not just the ones who put up good football scores on Friday nights.
By Julie
March 20, 2006 11:31 AM | Link to this
Thanh Le your city should be proud that you are being an active citizen in finding ways/places for youths to socialize.
I think that communities should try and develop more places/programs for youths. The solution for everyone may be a small fee (less than $5.00) for entry to a park for skateboarding. For insurance concerns the county can post disclaimers to reduce their laibility in the event of an accident or have an online registry for a waiver of liabilty.
Another thing everyone should consider is that we have multiple empty shopping centers that could easily be converted into a skatepark or youth recreational facility. You could add basketball court, pool, fuse or ping pong tables to a rec room. The city government could lease or buy these empy eyesores and make a diiference for the whole community.
The community and county as a whole should consider an idea like this as a way to give our youths healthy activities to keep them occupied.
By Becca
March 20, 2006 11:53 AM | Link to this
And who is going to suffer when the city is sued because someone injures themselves at the skateboard park?
I do appreciate your information about the problems with the skateboard parks that are in the county. Are the 2 under construciton just as unusable as the two already constructed?
I have been around long enough to know that many teenagers will do what they want and to hell with who it hurts or if it is breaking the law.
I know that this young man thinks that what he is trying to do is in the best interest of teenagers everywhere. Not so. Although most of his friends are probably skaters, that doesn’t make most teens skaters.
It is not that I object to a skateboard park. I don’t, if it is done correctly.
By Julie
March 20, 2006 11:59 AM | Link to this
Becca “And who is going to suffer when the city is sued because someone injures themselves at the skateboard park?”
You post disclaimers or have a manadory waiver like skateparks in the area that you pay. With waivers signed you cannot sue.
By Becca
March 20, 2006 12:02 PM | Link to this
Oh, you can still sue. You may not win, but you can still sue. And a waiver signed by anyone under the age of 18 isn’t worth the paper it is written on. How many 16-17 year old boys take their mommies to the park with them?
By Deborah Lee
March 20, 2006 12:20 PM | Link to this
Thanh Le, I will be leaving the Duluth area in a few weeks. If I ever visit again I will be looking for the Thanh Le skate park. I wish you the best of luck not only for your skateboard park but in your career and future. Whatever it is I am sure it will go far. THE SQUEEKY WHEEL GETS THE OIL. Julie’s idea of using an empty strip mall for all kinds of activites is excellent. I know for a fact the the mayor of Duluth likes to work with young people and get them involved in politics and P.R. hopefully she will give you a hand in who to contact.
By Becca
March 20, 2006 12:33 PM | Link to this
I think that using one or more of the many vacant mall and strip malls is an excellent idea!
By Julie
March 20, 2006 01:13 PM | Link to this
I’d like to help since I have teenagers that are skateboarders. We need safe places for our teens.
By Julie
March 20, 2006 01:17 PM | Link to this
If I had the money I would take one of the old empty Walmarts and convert it into a teen rec room. I’ve dreamed of doing so for years.
By meme
March 20, 2006 01:30 PM | Link to this
Yes, we do need places for the teens. I just object to the citizens being threatened if it doesn’t happen.
By Kathleen
March 20, 2006 04:49 PM | Link to this
If Duluth does consider building a skate park I suggest building it away from any area you’d like to have other activities. Skaters are among the rudest young people I’ve ever encountered. They will skate on anything, and don’t care who they skate through or annoy. I’ve been at one of the countys’ skate parks, sitting on bleachers watching another activity and skaters will come by, jump onto the lower aluminum bleacher and grind along it with no regard as to how it effects the people sitting on the higher rows there. Ask them not to do that please and they say “the * here for me to skate on”. The garbage cans are removed from their holders and crushed to use as obstacles for jumping over. In the evenings the skate park is full of foul mouthed, smoking and sometimes drinking young people. The picnic table benches are marked up from skaters grinding on them. My preteen who has a casual interest in skating and skate boarding feels uncomfortable around these older teens and would rather not skate than be around these rude people. Skate parks might be needed, but a community needs to think about where they’ll put one and what other activities might be going on in the park so that everyone feels welcome.
By thanh le
March 21, 2006 07:09 AM | Link to this
Kathleen : Skaters are among the rudest young people I’ve ever encountered.
unfortunately there are good skaters who just love to skate and there are those who just love destruction b/c they are either high on drugs or on somethign else, whatever the situation might be, those kids most likely didtn even know what they were doing and just wanted to break things, giveing the rest of the skateboarding community a bad name
as far as liability, Liability is not a problem… …skaters accept the risk of injury as part of the sport… …young people seem to understand that if there is trouble at the skate park, it could be taken away.
and for the whole get a job comment, this is strictly a community thing for both parents and kids to participate in, also i do have a job and my job is to see it that kids of all ages doesnt get tickets for skating on public property and hit by cars, i would know this b/c i myself was almost hit by cars skating
the mayor of duluth, i have contacted her every week and still no response now for at least 3 weeks
also talking abotu suing, when your sons hit the football fields under the friday night lights, and he breaks his arm on the tackle, do you go suing the school?
By thanh le
March 21, 2006 07:10 AM | Link to this
and for all those that support and understand the whole ideal of skateboarding, thank you b/c if it wasnt for yall, i wouldnt be putting my life on the line for this
By thanh le
March 21, 2006 07:12 AM | Link to this
all of my friends are jocks, preps, outkasts, brown black white green whatever, never judge a book by its cover
By meme
March 21, 2006 07:25 AM | Link to this
Thanh le, you may be the most wonderful person this world has ever seen. That doesn’t mean that what you think you know is the truth. Parents sue the school system all the time for student injuries on the playing field. Your parents would be the ones to sue the city because, unless you are 18, you are not old enough.
Kathleen is speaking from her own experience and the experience of many older adults.
By thanh
March 21, 2006 07:43 AM | Link to this
after thinking about it, i understand and of what kathleen was talking about, liability is a serious issue…
By Mark
March 29, 2006 03:17 PM | Link to this
Hey, I think public skateparks are an excellent idea. Here is one resource to check out as a guide to getting your park built right. www.skateparkguide.com Best of luck in the project…