Amy,

Not all of us are being mean to the skateboarders, I seriously doubt that we
despise these  children and adults in some cases, instead of us getting
seriously annoyed at some of our experiences. Your friend owns a shop for
skateboarders and talks to young skateboarders everyday... I think that is a
great way to find out how they are feeling about this matter, but I used to
teach children, and I had numerous of chances of getting to know what is
inside their heads and hearts, but I also had to enforce rules in the class
and help them understand how one must handle themselves in this society. I
understood that they needed to have the guidance to know how to handle their
problems in a constructive way.

Now all of this is getting back to the huge problem that quite a few of the
listserv members have experienced in relation to topic at hand. It is a fact
that the museum employees, people who work there day after day, have dealt
with high possibilities of property damages and liability if a skateboarder
gets hurt, which can certainly happen while doing some of the types of
skating routines, and straight out disregard for the request of the museum to
not skate on the premises, which helps to preserve the grounds that they
operate on, which is part of the museum's responsibility. Museums do have
good  reasons why they don't want skateboarders on the premises. Quite a few
of these employees have experienced or have knowledge of damages done to the
museum property, that doesn't mean that the skateboarders are doing this to
be destructive, but these things happen because of them riding their boards
up and down and doing routines that bear hard on the surface.

I think that skateboarding is really cool, I used to try out riding
skateboards myself when I was younger (now 25), but I also had a mom who
would yank a knot in my head if I were to go to a place, like a museum, and
skateboard there, knowing that it isn't the right place to go and may cause
serious inconveniences. Fortunately, I had the guidance to show me to respect
the museum, as well as other public places and people. When I did that, I
usually automatically received respect back and I would have the favor of the
adults on my side too. I have experienced good children, who did not
understand that, who had to be taught by other community leaders,  if not
their parents.

Lobbying for skateboarding parks should be taught to the skateboarding adults
and teens who truly have the need for this, this would be a great opportunity
to be a good role model for the younger ones.  If they have a recreational
place to skateboard, then they need to learn to use that place. As an adult,
I know that there are a lot of things that I want to be able to do, but I
also know that people in hell want ice water too, but that doesn't mean they
are going to get it. Not all of these kids are spoiled, but there are good
kids who are spoiled, and some who show one side to some adults and show
another side of their personality to others (parents would be shocked if they
knew what sweet little Johnny did in class) for various reasons.

Even though skateboarding and grafitti may not be exactly in the same boat,
some artisitic graffiti can be looked at as a great artform, it can be quite
beautiful, but it can also get you in trouble. There have been programs to
offer a chance for kids to paint public outside murals; this is a great
idea,but still, in many places you will get in hot water if you do this.


My answer is lobby for a park for these people to skateboard and have fun,
but respect the needs of the museum and other buildings to handle their
business the way they need to handle them.

Sincerely,

Merri

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