Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Originating in the United States, skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with 11.08 million active skateboarders in the world. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding would be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for both male and female teams.
A skatepark, or skate park, is a purpose-built recreational environment made for skateboarding, BMX, scootering, and aggressive inline skating. A skatepark may contain half-pipes, handrails, funboxes, vert ramps, stairsets, quarter pipes, ledges, spine transfers, pyramids, banked ramps, full pipes, pools, bowls, snake runs, and any number of other objects.
The Greater Richmond Transit Company, known locally as GRTC, is a local government-owned public service company which operates an urban-suburban bus line based in Richmond, Virginia. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 9,833,200, or about 31,400 per weekday as of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Monroe Park is a 7.5 acres (3.0 ha) landscaped park 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of the Virginia State Capitol Building in Richmond, Virginia. It is named after James Monroe, the fifth president of the United States (1817–1825). The park unofficially demarcates the eastern point of the Fan District and is Richmond's oldest park. It occupies the center of the Virginia Commonwealth University Monroe Park Campus.
The Mayor of the City of Richmond, Virginia is head of the executive branch of Richmond, Virginia's city government. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and enforces all city, state and federal laws within Richmond, Virginia.
Mount Trashmore Park, also known simply as Mount Trashmore, is a city park located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, which opened in 1974, Mount Trashmore is an example of landfill reuse, as its creation consisted of the conversion of an abandoned landfill into a park. The park spans 165 acres (67 ha) with hills larger than 60 feet (18 m) high and 800 feet (240 m) long. Facilities include three large, two medium, and six small picnic shelters, playground areas, four volleyball areas, parking, vending machines and restrooms. Mount Trashmore Park also has multiple walking trails — a Perimeter Trail that measures 1.95 miles (3.14 km), a Lake Trail that measures 1.45 miles (2.33 km), and a Mountain Trail that measures 1.30 miles (2.09 km). The Lake Trail and the Hill Trail may be combined for a trail measuring 2.75 miles (4.43 km). The park also features two lakes where fishing is permitted. Since its opening in the 1970s, it ranks as the most popular park in Virginia Beach, with attendance of over one million visitors a year.
Joseph Bryan Park, also known as Bryan Park, is a public park in the city of Richmond, Virginia. The park was a memorial to Joseph Bryan (1845–1908), the founder and publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper. It was given to the city in 1910 by Belle Stewart Bryan and her family.
Gabriel Park is a 90.65-acre (366,800 m2) public park in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features a baseball field, softball field, soccer field, basketball courts, tennis courts, skatepark, volleyball courts, disabled access play area, disabled access restrooms, dog off-leash area, paved and unpaved paths, reservable picnic sites, and WiFi. The park is located between the Maplewood, Multnomah, and Hillsdale neighborhoods of Southwest Portland at 45th Avenue and Vermont Street.
Reedville Creek Park is a municipal park in the Reedville neighborhood of Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Opened in 2003, the 9.6-acre (39,000 m2) park is along Cornelius Pass Road at Francis Street in the southeast area of the city. The park includes basketball courts, children’s play equipment, a picnic shelter, tennis courts, and sports fields among other amenities. Reedville Creek was the first and is the only park in Hillsboro with a skatepark.
Andrew Kessler was a Greek-born American skateboarder, skatepark builder, and prominent member of a loose-knit collective of skateboarders and graffiti artists called the Soul Artists of Zoo York. Kessler is featured in the documentary Deathbowl to Downtown.
Playground 52 is a 1.8-acre (0.73 ha) playground at 681 Kelly Street in the Longwood neighborhood of the Bronx, in New York City. The playground features basketball and handball courts, bathrooms, a spray shower, and a skate park. as well as an amphitheater with a large dance floor.
Texas Beach Skate Park, also known as Treasure Island Community Skate Park, is a DIY skatepark located within the planned Riverview Community Park in the Texas Beach riverside area on the north bank of the James River in Richmond, Virginia, United States.
The Commonwealth of Virginia has a spectrum of skateparks, from large parks with high budgets and designs that draw attention from the action sports community across the Mid-Atlantic to smaller DIY skateparks.
Golconda Skate Park, known as Fat Kid, is a public skate park in the Downtown Brooklyn/Fort Greene neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York City, that originated as a DIY skate spot. Built under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, the 18,000 square foot professionally built skate park was completed in 2016 and sits within Golconda Playground.
Martin "Marty" Maher is the Brooklyn Parks Commissioner for the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, assuming the office in 2017.
Andy Kessler Skatepark formerly Riverside Skatepark is a skatepark located in Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Riverside Skatepark is notable as the first full-sized public skatepark in Manhattan, designed and built by renowned skateboarder and skatepark builder Andy Kessler.
The Columbus Recreation and Parks Department manages parks, recreational facilities, and grounds in Columbus, Ohio. The department oversees 370 parks on about 13,500 acres (5,500 ha). The department also maintains 29 community centers, five athletic complexes, six golf courses, 120 miles (190 km) of trails, five splash pads and interactive fountains, eight pools, an indoor aquatic center, 14 nature preserves, three reservoirs, five dog parks, and a skate park.
NYC Skateboard Coalition, established in 2017, is a community organization that advocates for New York City's skateparks and hosts NYC-based skateboard events. The NYC Skateboard Coalition supports the skateboarding community of New York City through hosting skate jams and skatepark clean-ups throughout the city.
Richmond, Virginia, experienced a series of protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Richmond was the first city in the Southeastern United States to see rioting following Floyd's murder. Richmond, formerly the capital of the short-lived Confederate States of America, saw much arson and vandalism to monuments connected with that polity, particularly along Monument Avenue.
