In 2009, Skaters for Public Skateparks was recognized by Tony Hawk at a Stand Up for Skateparks event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Skaters for Public Skateparks had an excellent year in 2009. Some things stayed the same; SPS continued to deliver the best skatepark development information and advice to dozens, (if not hundreds), of communities across the world. We continued to remain entirely run by volunteers and kept our operational expenses limited to those professional services and products that we could not supply on our own. And we attended a number of high-profile events to advance skatepark awareness. All things considered, 2009 was a pinnacle year for skatepark growth.

Our volunteers hail from 20 different states...from Alaska to Delaware, Washington to Florida. These volunteers alone contributed over 2,000 hours to national skatepark activism—helping answer questions, participating on discussions of national interest, and generating reports or collecting data—and nearly 1,500 hours on their local skatepark efforts. The results of this work are evident everywhere; we have more skateparks in the works now than ever before.

It's not only skateparks that are hot. Communities everywhere are enjoying a greater understanding and appreciation of their skateboarding youth. Skate spots are emerging all over the place. Skateparks that were once supervised are increasingly realizing that maybe skaters don't need someone looking over them. Skatepark advocacy and stewardship groups are popping up all over the place to take ownership of their skateparks. It's a great time to be a skater!

Our 2009 accomplishments include recognition by the Tony Hawk Foundation, a continued invitation to speak at the National Recreation & Parks Expo, and many other Parks-related events. Going into 2010 we intend to capitalize on every opportunity to advance skatepark understanding and present skaters and skateboarding as the positive, creative, and healthy activity that we know it to be.

Our expenses were meager. With a generous donation from the Tony Hawk Foundation and money donated by SPS supporters we end the year with just over $3,000. The largest SPS expenses of the year were web hosting and necessary site upgrades totaling nearly $1,800. These upgrades provide a platform for some important new programs we'll be launching in 2010. All of our sundry office and travel expenses were borne by individual donation. We will continue this policy for as long as possible so that every penny can go directly to increasing skatepark awareness.

As always, we welcome your donations and volunteer hours. Thanks to all of you—readers and volunteers alike—for making SPS such a great organization! Here's to another awesome year!

Peter Whitley
Executive Director

In the past the town of Schifflange / Luxembourg had a place for skaters which was far from good. Through skate trips to the neighboring town Trier in Germany, the local skateboarders contacted myself, Axel Reichertz, and the landscape architect Stefan Jacobs. After we had seen their skatepark we had the chance to speak to the major of Schifflange 2006.

We decided to arrange three design workshops with local skaters. Our first challenge was that we did not know what size of park we would be designing so designed the park in three different sections composed of 30% transition and 70% plaza. The total space was about 1200sqm (about 13,000 sq ft). Our main target was to ensure that skaters and bikers will be accommodated within the whole concept.

Some ideas were frequently mentioned during the design workshops. This list included flood-lights, a water feature, a chill-area, and ramps. Every skater had different ideas of the ramp arrangement but most were inspired from videos and magazines. It was difficult to cater for everyone’s dreams. We contacted and got second opinions from Winnipeg and DC-plaza.