Andres_Raygada

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SKATEBOARDING IS NOT A CRIME

WRITTEN AND DESIGNED

BY ANDRES RAYGADA 1

Dedicated To...

All the interviewees; Harry Simmons(skater), Kevin Paida(Skateworks Employee), Jake Nunley(public interviewee) Also for all the skaters of the world that try to “push� themselves around the cities, sharing their form of art with society.

To the people against skateboarding who kick skaters out for trying to skate.

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Taro Walther filming a trick at a spot in San Jose.

“Filming+Skateboarding=Art”.

Taro’s Nose Mannual at a spot in De Anza Shopping center.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all the freestyle teachers for teaching me how to make a documentary.

Ms. Parkinson for teaching me how to design this book.

Mr. Greco for teaching me how to write a well written essay.

Mr. Florendo for teaching me how to create a slideshow to put on my website.

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Spot in San Jose, Sean Rapp does a 5050 to 5-0 on the ledge drop to ledge.

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Table of Contents...

DEDICATION.................................................................................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................................................4 FORWARD.........................................................................................................................8 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................10 SOCIETY VS. SKATEBOARDING................................................................................12 FREEDOM OF SKATEBOARDING.............................................................................16

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FOREWORD Skateboarding is a passion of mine. I became addicted in seventh grade. Ever since, skateboarding brought me to a state of mind that I can do anything, but you’ll have to try. If you really want it, go for it! Skateboarding has become more and more popular each year. But, society is usually against skateboarding in general. In this documentary project, I hope to reveal the effects that society has on skateboarding, and how it should be treated with more respect. The purpose for writing this book is to show everyone that skateboarding is not a crime, because people sometimes tend to treat it like it is. Also it is to show everyone who reads this book, on what skateboarding is actually like and how it makes people feel.

The book was organized through a program called “In Design”, which is an application for designing books.

We created our books in Design class with Ms. Parkinson’s help. In order to make this book a possibility, I had to do research on what really affects skateboarding the most, and also what society does to eliminate skateboarding as much as possible. I did researches online, as well as interviewing skaters, and public to prove how not everyone in public thinks skating is wrong. I know there are many people out there who really dislike skateboarding, and some of those people really try to do something about it, while others don’t have a chance to argue against skateboarding.

If you want something to happen, you have to try to make it happen. What I want to happen, is to have society stop trying to go against skateboarding, and let skaters enjoy their freedom, which is why I chose the topic “Skateboarding Is Not a Crime”.

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Sean Rapp does a front side 5-0 on the bank in San Jose

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INTRODUCTION NO Skateboarding sign at a skate spot in De Anza

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kateboarders are often looked down upon because of all the damage they have occasionally caused to public property. These skaters don’t have any intention to destroy property on, they just want to skate! Skateboarders don’t hate on anything, but people who hate on them. Skateboarders really dislike people who overreact negatively when they see a skater skating on something that the person thinks shouldn’t be skated on. “Skater haters”.

Skateboarders always just want to have fun, and for most skaters out there, it is their passion. Skateboarding to me, is definitely not a crime, it shouldn’t be threatened by saying police are coming. Imagine having a passion for something, and only being able to do it in the same place or spot every time. Pretty boring right? That’s how skaters feel about having to skate in the same lame park that the city provides.

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The skateboarding population is growing every single day. Little kids wanting to skate usually because of how cool it looks. Adults still skate since their childhood because they know they will never be able to quit.

Adults get into skateboarding because they stepped on a board, and was addicted right away.

There is nothing negative about skateboarding, besides the fact that property is sometimes ruined.

But skating in the streets is a way of showing your creativity. The ledges are really the only thing damaged in the cities. The skateboarders say sorry for that, but it’s a sign that there should either be less stricter rules on skateboarding, or spend money on better skate parks.

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People are always hating on skateboarding. What did skateboarding ever do to them?

Well, skateboarding really didn’t do a single thing to them. Being realistic, everyone can get annoyed.

“Skaterhaters” usually “hate” because of the noise skateboarding makes, or because it destroys property at times. The point here is, that people should just let skateboarders skate, and skateboarders will let the haters do their own thing. Skateboarders just want to skate! They don’t destroy property on purpose. They just skate whatever looks skateable.

They don’t want to get in trouble, or get run over in the streets. They are smart enough to control their skating cravings. But they can go nuts when they are trying to land a trick, and once they are about to get it, somebody ends up kicking them out. Skaters should be able to skate, wherever they want as long as it is a reasonable spot. By that I mean as long as it is safe to skate, it will be ridden.

Skate spots are everywhere... Literally. Everything is skateable. But apparently, the rules on the streets are all against skateboarding. Nothing against biking, roller blading, smoking...Every “rule” sign says “NO SKATEBOARDING” in big black letters, with a picture in the middle including a skateboarder with a red crossed out circle around it. Even the signs that include other activities other than skateboarding, it is always the first one listed on the list. Why is that? Why is skateboarding disliked so much? If skaters get hurt, they will not sue the building hosting the spot. That is the biggest problem buildings are worried about. Skateboarders don’t want your money, they want to skate! My point here is that people are worried about safety and reliability issues.

The city spends large amounts of money on objects to help prevent skateboarding on the streets. They purchase things like skate stoppers, which are little pieces of metal that are put on the edge of ledges so that they are not “grind-able”. In my opinion, putting skate stoppers on ledges that have already been waxed up and turned black, is really pointless for many reasons.

First, it costs money. That money can be spent on better things for the city. Second, it’s not going to make the ledge look nicer to the public. The main idea for putting skate stoppers on ledges is to stop skateboarding from happening on those ledges. If they are already waxed up, why would they want to waste money on something that has already been skated? If it has already been skated on, and it’s been waxed up, they should just let the skateboarders keep skating it. Skateboarders sometimes try to remove skate stoppers. That gets them in lots of trouble because it is considered vandalism. Putting skate stoppers on some13 thing that has already been waxed up, is pointless. All it does is make skateboarders upset, and it wastes money.

Clay Lambertson whipping out a back smith on his ramp

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Sean Rapp does a Front side ollie on Clay’s ramp

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There is nothing negative about skateboarding, besides the fact that property is sometimes ruined. But skating in the streets is a way of showing your creativity. The ledges are really the only thing damaged in the cities. The skateboarders say sorry for that, but it’s a sign that there should either be less stricter rules on skateboarding, or spend money on better skate parks.

Freedom is the biggest way to describe skateboarding. Skaters skate for the freedom they get; when they skate and land their tricks...”...it’s just such a wonderful feeling”, said by one of my interviewees Harry Simmons. “I don’t think you can compare the feeling you get when you go out and skate, to anything else”. That should be enough to describe the feeling skateboarders get when they skate.

Sean Rapp tries a wallie board slide on a ledge in De Anza

“I skate because of the feeling of the mass gratification that you get when you land a trick and really succeed. I would really rather skate in the streets because it’s kind of like skating in the heart of a man, because when you are in the city, it is like a man built infrastructure. As for a skate park there is a more set guideline, which slightly takes away the freedom of skateboarding in society”-Harry Simmons 17

In West Oakland there was a situation where skate parks were non existing. Skaters in Oakland took action and made their own Skate park under the freeway I-580 where it was completely empty and nobody ever went down there besides homeless. Skaters had nowhere to skate in Oakland, besides the streets. If cities don’t want skaters skating on the streets for any reason, then why don’t they build more skate parks for skaters? When skateboarders take action, and build their own, it gets taken down. Why would a city take down a skate park that costed them no money at all, and where the location was a non-bothering environment? Would the city rather have homeless sleeping and littering on public property, or have skaters have fun and keep the place clean? When skaters want to skate, they skate and leave. They do nothing wrong. This situation happened in 2005, when Caltrans took down the skatepark that skaters built themselves. Still today, in all of Oakland, there is only one main skate park, but hidden ones that skaters built aside. This proves that cities do not support skateboarding at all. They give us skateparks, but they give it to us “just because”. If they don’t want skaters in the streets, they should think about putting more skateparks around the areas.

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lOwner of skateworks cleaning ramp, preparing it to be ridden

Having fun skating the new ramp that was built in skateworks.

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In the city of Mountain View, there is one skate park, that is always “dead”. People mostly only skate it on weekdays. The skate park is fun, but it is often crowded by little kids on their scooters and tricycles that come from the playground right next to it. The only skate spots around mountain view are in downtown mountain view. Skateboarders will skate anything possible if they get the chance. In downtown Mountain View, skaters often get kicked out of every spot. So really, the skate scene in Mountain View is really non existent. No matter how hard skaters try to create a scene for skateboarding, society will always deny us.

“Storff is only fun on the weekdays...it’s a weekday spot” 20

Trying to spark the skate scene in downtown Mountain View by skating an eight stair behind a business building

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In Sunnyvale, the skateboarding scene is pretty popular. That is because it is an accepting environment, with a wonderful skate park and skate shop, with many spots that are enjoyable for skating. Skate parks bring skaters together, and everyone becomes friends with everyone. It is a very friendly environment.

The stereotypes on skateboarders are pretty negative, and I believe that is a big reason on why cities do not want skate parks, because they do not want to attract skateboarders to their environmental society. If sunnyvale can have a safe, clean, friendly and positive skateboarding environment, why can’t Mountain View do the same, rather than have skateboarders destroy property, and discriminate against the skaters?

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CONCLUSION Skateboarders get in trouble because of skating street spots that have “NO SKATEBOARDING� signs. If there were more skate parks around town, there would be less of trouble making in the streets coming from skateboarding.Those signs should be taken out so skaters can enjoy the natural habitat, and skate with peace and freedom. Skaters should have the right to express their feelings for skating through anything, including the streets. Skateboarding is a form of art, that everyone should respect. It is all we ask for.

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“I’d much rather skate in the streets because it’s like skating in the heart of a man” 24

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“This would be a crime...if it were wrong...”

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Thanks

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Bibliography “Skateboarding.” Bordertownskatepark. Web. 05 Apr. 2012. <http://bordertownskatepark.wordpress.com/about/>.

“About”. Bordertownskatepark. Web. 05 Apr. 2012. <http://bordertown skatepark.wordpress.com/about/>.

Harry Simmons...... interviewee/skateboarder Kevin Paya.....interviewee/skateworks employee/skateboarder

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