Sterling, VA... Washington Post Article

[SteveJefferson]

Scott Shinn's letter to the editor was printed today.

http://observernews.com/stories/current ... etr4.shtml

Unhappy With DelGaudio's Skate Views
To the editor:
Thanks for your coverage of Steve Jefferson's emerging efforts to build a free public skate park under the banner of Loudoun County Skate Project ("Skater Continues Pursuit," The Loudoun Observer April 13). This type of story has been told in many cities throughout the United States, and I applaud what's going on in Sterling.
However, I was deeply concerned with Sterling Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio's comments regarding the apparent lack of space and support for such a facility. Mr. Delgaudio's assumptions that skateboarding is an "extreme sport with extreme risks" and that the skate park would be more successful if it were based on a pay-to-play model were not made from an understanding of this popular sport.
In addition to its relatively low injury statistics, Virginia's limited liability laws, like those in my home state of Washington, make skateboarding a great choice for public recreation in Sterling. Further, one need only review California's lengthy track record with supervised, for-profit skate parks to discover that free public skate parks are a much better investment of public dollars.
I was saddened to read DelGaudio's claim that "To get from where he is now to where all the other sports leagues in less than at least 10 years is impossible, and it is not even proper to be a public interest." Skateboarding has been an intrinsic part of American culture for more than 40 years, and the fact that it does not readily organize itself into leagues with teams is an asset, not a disadvantage.
In an era where fewer and fewer youth participate in team sports, skateboarding offers a great alternative to the type of recreation that Mr. Delgaudio may have grown up with. The fact that there is a constituency in his community that supports this sport, and that is willing to organize and petition the government to build proper facilities for it, should be evidence enough that skateboarding is certainly a public interest—one that would make a positive impact in the lives of the people he serves.
Scott Shinn
Director, Parents for Skateparks

[John Bracken]

Thanks for writing the letter, Scott!

[Scott Shinn]

Happy to help. I will probably never be in Sterling, but I am thankful that you are trying to build a skatepark there. Keep up the good work, never quit, and don't let the man get you down.