venice beach. photo by ringo h.w. chiu.
via apnews, 18.06.2021.
“While skateboards can be just another way people get around, in some places, commuting on a skateboard can result in a trip to a courthouse. Skateboard travel regulations are challenging—they can be colored by existing, often negative perceptions of teens at skateparks, and from a planning standpoint, skateboard travelers introduce another unique user into the competition for travel space between drivers, bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit users. These issues make skateboard travel an interesting test case of the bounds of the concept of “complete streets.”
Skateboard commuters, and data about skateboard commuters, are particularly prevalent at college campuses. In 2016, skateboarding slightly eclipsed driving alone rates to campus among students at UC Santa Barbara, 8% versus 7%. At San Jose State University, skateboard commuting has increased by 3,500 percent since 2005. Skateboarders now outnumber motorcyclists—considered to be much more conventional travelers—by more than two-to-one. At Arizona State University, approximately 4% of students skate for intra-campus trips. In observations at San Diego State University, skateboarders made up 6% of people on one pathway despite the activity being illegal at the time.
skateboard lane at uc santa barbara. flickr/hannahsloan
“The current popularity of skateboard travel appears to be at least partially an echo of the boom in recreational skateboarding seen in the 1990s and early 2000s. At the peak between 2003 and 2005, there were an estimated 13 million skateboarders in the United States. Whether or not those individuals still skate, that experience means a significant number of people have the skill to ride.
Skill matters: Surveys of skateboard commuters at UC Davis found that most began skateboarding initially for recreation as teenagers or pre-teens. There are also indications of growing adoption of skateboard travel by those without past experience, particularly among women. A majority of female skateboarders at UC Davis reported less than two years of skateboarding experience while the majority of skateboarders as a whole had more than four years of previous experience.
skateboarding parking rack at uc davis. flickr/techieshark
“Our research at UC Davis, which included in-depth interviews with skateboard commuters, questions in the annual campus travel survey, and general observations of skateboarders, suggests skateboard commuters enjoy skateboarding more than other types of travelers typically enjoy their modes. However, skateboarding is not just for fun, or to look cool, or to be part of a subculture. The mode’s convenience is equally important.
This convenience manifests itself in different ways. Skateboarding is clearly faster than walking: Our observations at UC Davis found that skateboarders travel between 6 and 13 miles per hour, with an average of 9.7 miles per hour. At two- to four-times the speed of walking, skateboards can extend the range of destinations reachable under human power. Bicycles, of course, can provide that same benefit, at even greater speeds. But skateboarders are closer in speed than one might think. Bicyclists on the same facility traveled between 6 and 19 miles per hour, with an average of 11.6 miles per hour. Most skateboarders are faster than at least some bicyclists.
walking dogs. flickr/selmerorselnec
“The ability to carry skateboards easily also makes them convenient for multimodal trips. Data from Los Angeles and some college campuses show that many skateboarders use their boards in combination with other modes rather than for entire trips. A rider can easily carry a skateboard onto a transit vehicle or car. Skateboarders need not worry about the availability of limited bicycle racks on the front of a bus or in a train, or prohibitions of bicycles on some transit systems during rush hours.
In California, about 90% of cities regulate skateboarding in some way, and most regulations either overtly or implicitly respond to negative perceptions of recreational skateboarding—that it is unsafe, damaging to property, noisy, or caters to an unseemly class of people. One California city goes so far as to call skateboarders “aggressive and abusive to the elderly” in its municipal code.”
read more: transfersmag, spring 2018.
thrasher at 40: SF magazine still skates and destroys.
read more: sfchronicle, 13.02.2021.
downhill skateboarding at red mountain pass, colorado. photo: max dubler.
Source: maxdubler.com
twin peaks, san francisco.
Source: Flickr / sirgious
skaters bomb twin peaks for black lives, 11.06.2020. photos by david hiltbrand.
“It reminds me of the fight we’re all fighting. You can’t just stop—you have to keep reigniting that light and reminding people of what we’re fighting for. It wasn’t just about us skating down that hill today, it was about the movement and the awareness we’re trying to bring. We’re doing this for our brothers and our sisters. Even if we’re rowdy, we’re a group that cares about the city and our future.” –Jonathan Brooner-Contreras
read more: sfgate, 12.06.2020.
no skateboarding dogs allowed at sylvia mendez (fka le conte) elementary school, berkeley.
via ymisb.
"when the homie slides through.”
embarcadero, san francisco.
Najari Smith, Josue Hernandez, and Roshni “Tay” McGee have opened a worker-owned cooperative in Richmond called Rich City Rides. The bike repair shop opened in 2015, but the organization responsible for community rides and outdoor activities, has been around for five years. The goal is to have a space where people can come in and buy a bike, get a bike fixed, or learn more about bike repairs. The three put on free Friday bike repair workshops, weekly community rides, a youth “Earn a Bike” program, and many other events to engage the community.
“We’re here for the community. We really want people to stop in even if they aren’t trying to buy a bike,” McGee said. “We really want the community to know that we’re not here as a for-profit business to take from them, but to give them something that’s been missing from this area.”
McGee, whose family has been in Richmond for at least three generations, recounted times where a flat tire would take a week to repair, which meant being without transportation.
Doria Robinson is the founder of Urban Tilth, a nonprofit that runs urban farms and community gardens. She is also a board member of Cooperation Richmond, an organization that helps fund worker-owned cooperatives. “I think we need more democratic governance in the workplace. The goal is to figure out how to make sure that the profit stays in the community,” said Robinson. With the help of Cooperation Richmond, Rich City Rides is working on getting a loan to expand the space and potentially bring on new worker-owners.
read more: richmondconfidential, 23.12.17.
boston’s first skatepark.
“It's pretty remarkable that a city the size of Boston didn't have a public skatepark until 2015. There aren't even any scattered around the surrounding jurisdictions. It's a rad spot but it's far from transit lines or residential hubs.
Out west I’d wander through tiny tiny itsy bitsy little towns that managed to find a spot on main street for a little park setup. There seems to be a serious lag out here in creating inclusive and multi-functional public spaces. It’s all lawn and exclusionary signage.”
—a planner friend
“San Francisco may soon have an opportunity to transform up to 10 gritty, weed-choked plots of land beneath elevated freeways into public parks and recreation spaces, thanks to a state bill now awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.
The parcels are among 75 in the city owned by Caltrans, which makes about $9.2 million each year by leasing them out, mostly to private companies that use them as makeshift parking lots or as storage space.
Once those leases expire, the bill directs Caltrans to give San Francisco the first opportunity to rent each plot at a 70% discount to develop into public spaces.
“I think this is a creative way to utilize this mostly vacant land underneath freeways and make them available for San Franciscans to play and recreate,” said San Francisco Assemblyman Phil Ting. “We have such little space for kids and families to go to. Every space not utilized is a waste.” Ting worked with Mayor Ed Lee’s office in crafting the legislation.
the lot at 325 san bruno ave., between 16th and 17th streets, is a candidate for conversion into a park. photo: santiago mejia
“The City would have to foot the bill for building and maintaining the new parks, and the cost of renting the parcels themselves would be about $1 million per year, city officials said. That may turn out to be a bargain for both San Francisco and for Caltrans, considering the amount of money spent on cleaning and maintaining the debris-strewn lots, many of which, in their current state, have become magnets for homeless camps and crime.
Last year, Caltrans spent $7.5 million to clear encampments beneath highways statewide last year, according to data from the transportation department. There were around 2,800 encampments beneath or adjacent to freeways cleared in San Francisco last year, and roughly 2,000 crimes were reported.
the soma west skate park, with artwork by jovi schnell, titled "there slipped saturn a perpetual tock— aka the saturn clock”. photo: ethan kaplan.
“The City already has had some success transforming underused parcels beneath freeways into public spaces, including a skate park and dog-walk area South of Market and a volleyball court in Mission Bay.
Those are just the types of recreational areas that Julie Christensen would like to see more of. Christensen, a former city supervisor, now serves as executive director of the Dogpatch and Northwest Potrero Hill Green Benefit District. She said she’s been lobbying the city to create more community recreational spaces in that neighborhood as a way to reunite an area cleaved by Interstate 280 and Highway 101 that’s “starving for space.”
“The negative impact of underutilizing that land is so great,” Christensen said. “Not only would we be adding good things, we’d be mitigating some pretty miserable conditions.” As they are now, the lots in the neighborhood have had “enormous problems with camping and fires and dumping,” she said.
read more: sfchronicle, 18.09.17.
playland at 43rd avenue, in the outer sunset, sf. 09.05.16.
“Located at 43rd Avenue between Irving and Judah streets, the temporary park transforms what was largely a parking lot for the Francis Scott Key Annex into a community center while the SFUSD, which owns the parcel, explores more permanent options.
Spearheaded by a consortium of city departments, including Supervisor Katy Tang, Pavement to Parks, SF Unified School District, and SF Planning, the park was built largely by volunteers in the neighborhood, who came out for multiple work days to build the community garden, paint ground decorations, and construct the skate park.”
Source: Flickr / sfplanning
new single by the Bachelors of Science [SF]! - Don't Hold Back (Ft. Dylan Germick)
i will definitely be at stamina sunday in sf on 28.12.14. any other dnb lovers, see you there.
Levi's Skateboarding - Spring '14 Collection featuring Del the Funky Homosapien, directed by Jon Humphries
behind the scenes vid here.
set in Oakland!