There ain't no love for Love

Kyle Arcomano
Persuasive Writing
First Draft
“There Ain’t No Love for Love”
All major cities have their own identity and are known world wide for that unique city trait. Las Vegas has gambling, Detroit has American cars, New Orleans has jazz, and Philadelphia has skateboarding. Skateboarding is a booming industry in America with a growing population of about 12. 5 million people in 2001, which is a 73% increase from three years before (LOVE Park FAQ’s). These numbers are greater then of the supposed American past time, baseball, which has only a population of about 11. 4 million and is on the decline (LOVE Park FAQ’s). Throughout the years of this growing sport, Philadelphia and its famed LOVE Park have been deemed as the mecca of skateboarding and the capital of street skating. Skaters and skateboard enthusiasts from all over the world continue to visit Philadelphia for this sole purpose. Although Philadelphia has been identified as a skateboarding city, it is not embraced by all its citizens, for the sport has been discriminated by stubborn government officials, including Philadelphia Mayor John Street, who banned skateboarding in LOVE Park in 2002. These bull-headed city councilmen and women have failed to see the overwhelming positive aspects that skateboarding brings to Philadelphia. Skateboarding and its culture benefit Philadelphia’s communities, youth, tourism, colleges, economy, and ultimately its future of being a hip, young, and exciting city. Therefore, Mayor John Street and the other city officials should embrace this exhilarating sport instead of committing sports genocide and ridding of skateboarding’s best concrete paradise, LOVE Park.
In the 1990’s, a full scale explosion of skateboarding occurred on the east coast, Philadelphia being made its capital. Males and a few females ranging from ages of twelve to thirty-five skateboarded to have fun, get exercise, make friends, express themselves, and sometimes use it as an exit from a hard home life. Whatever the reason was for these kids skating, it brought them together in the city of brotherly love. Local skate spots, such as LOVE Park, Franklin D. Roosevelt Skate Park, City Hall, and Temple University’s very own Cecil B. Moore Park was being immortalized on skateboard magazine covers and in articles. LOVE Park was ultimately singled out as being the “Wrigley Field of Skateboarding. ” The reputation of it being the mecca of skateboarding was soon amplified by such Philadelphia natives and professional skateboarders as Ricky Oyola, Stevie Williams, Kerry Getz, and MTV’s own Bam Margera. By identifying themselves with this park and the city of Philadelphia, these professional athletes established their names in the growing economical monster of the skateboarding industry. LOVE Park’s international popularity can also be seen by a parent with skateboarding children who wrote to the “Free LOVE Park” website saying, "My sons brought their skateboards along on a family trip to Ireland. The Irish boys they met had one question: ‘What's it like to skate LOVE?'” (Kerr). LOVE Park is clearly known world-wide and tourists have come from as far as China and Australia just to see its notorious concrete ledges, stair sets, and benches. So it comes to no surprise how enraged and frustrated skaters felt in 2002 when Mayor John Street renovated the park by minimizing the skate friendly features, enforced a skateboarding ban, appended a permanent police watch and a fine of three hundred dollars for skateboarding.
What were Mayor John Street’s reasons for renovating LOVE Park, which caused the banning of the skateboarders? There were no real positive reasons besides the possibility of revitalizing the old park. Frank Keel, Mayor John Street’s spokesmen, said of the LOVE Park renovation, "The mayor is just tired of looking at this battered, broken concrete shell. “(LOVE Park FAQ’s). Many believe the Mayor was not tired of looking at the battered park but yet just at the skateboarders in it. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, "The problem is the city's priorities. Its main goal was to get rid of skateboarders; it wasn’t to make LOVE Park a good urban space" (LOVE Park FAQ’s). Before the renovations of LOVE Park its problems consisted of rats and the homeless. Several hard-headed officials saw a third problem: the skateboarders. All three were seen as undesirable and were exterminated after the renovations. But why were skateboarders seen as a problem by Mayor Street and his colleagues? Was it because they bothered the business crowd who lunched at LOVE Park? Generally no, because most of the business crowd enjoyed and watched the entertaining skateboarders grind benches and land tricks (LOVE Park FAQ’s). The Philadelphia Weekly newspaper took an informal survey shortly after the LOVE Park renovations asking if the skateboarders disturbed or annoyed the lunch crowd. The survey was of forty people, in which twenty-nine of them said that the skateboarders did not bother them (LOVE Park FAQ’s). There are no liable reasons to rob the skateboarders of their precious LOVE Park and the urban phenomenon that appeared from all the different races, cultures, and people mixing at the park.
The debate of if LOVE Park should be reopened to skateboarding has been a heated and frustrating one since its ban in 2002. Such things as a ten thousand strong petition, celebrities giving their opinions, new plans for a skate and civilian pleasing park, and donations to reopen the park have been techniques in convincing Mayor Street to reopen LOVE Park. The skateboarding shoe company, DC shoes, has even stepped in to donate one million dollars over ten years to the city of Philadelphia in efforts of reopening LOVE Park to skating (Press Release). Ed Bacon, the man who thought of and conceived this park, has voiced his opinions of the Mayor being wrong. In attempts to call the Mayor out and protest, the ninety-two year old one eyed Ed Bacon carefully skateboarded across LOVE Park with a rebellious passion in October of 2002. "I want to ride a skateboard across LOVE Park and get arrested," is what Bacon announced before his twenty-five feet cruise across the park (Sullivan). People like Bacon, celebrities such as his son Kevin Bacon, and the thousands of skaters who have been letting their voices be heard through Free LOVE Park websites, letters, and petitions have given hope to the idea that skaters will once ride again on this holy ground of the sport. The topic of reopening LOVE Park to skaters has become so important that up and coming mayor candidates have made it one of their major campaign issues. Even the very architect, who built the park, Vincent Kling, states, “I built this place so that people could enjoy it. And that includes skateboarders” (View Points).
Philadelphia had the most well known and tourist attractive skate park in the world right in its back yard, but instead of taking advantage of it and embracing it, Mayor Street has put back the city of Philadelphia economically and with its youth. Skateboarding has shown a booming rise in popularity and is one of the biggest sports industries in America today. Not only that, but LOVE Park has been seen as skateboarding’s biggest stage by being in thousands of magazines, videos, and even such video games as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. The popularity of skateboarding and LOVE Park has brought over hundreds of millions of dollars to Philadelphia’s economy by hosting ESPN’s X-Games in 2001 and 2002, causing several small and large skateboarding related businesses to open locally, tourism, and college enrollment. Besides helping the city economically, skateboarding has also played the role of helping its community and youth by giving kids a healthy recreational activity to keep them off drugs, alcohol, and pressures of gangs. The thrilling and youthful culture of skateboarding was turning Philadelphia into one of the most exciting and cutting edge cities in America until skaters were banned from their prized LOVE Park. Skateboarding at LOVE Park brought no harm and made the city itself a better and more youthful place.




References


Kerr, Liz. “A park skateboarders love could be a tourist magnet.” ushistory.org. 21 March 2002. “28 November 2006.” .

“LOVE Park FAQ’s.” ushistory.org. 27 November 2006. .

Sullivan, Adam. “Old Man Makes LOVE.” Transworld Business. 12 February 2003. “28 November 2006.” < http://www.twsbiz.com/twbiz/industrynews/article /0,21214,707439,00.html>.

“View Points.” ushistory.org. 27 November 2006. .