Silver Spring plaza instantly becomes de facto skatepark

Public Spaces

Silver Spring plaza instantly becomes de facto skatepark

by Dan Reed • July 12, 2010 12:38 pm

Fresh off its inaugural weekend, the new Veterans Plaza in downtown Silver Spring appears to be a success, mobbed with people despite the ongoing heat wave. But residents who protested a deal giving much of the adjacent Civic Building to Round House Theatre might be equally surprised to find their new town square's become a de facto skatepark.

Designed by Boston-based architecture firm Machado and Silvetti Associates, the building and adjoining plaza put a fresh, modern face on two very traditional functions: a community hall and town square.

On a visit Saturday evening, it's clear that Silver Spring residents have taken to the space as they had to "the Turf" before it was ripped up in 2008 to make room for the plaza.

Instead of plastic grass, people lounge on fresh sod covering the wide steps that lead down from Fenton Street. I saw couples and friends alike eating on concrete benches with wooden slats matching the Civic Building's cladding, and walking down an allée of nice, leafy trees. Little kids run across the ice rink with its striking canopy just as they did on "the Turf" five years ago. (Of course, the rink has been decked over for the summer months.)

Left: Veterans Plaza today. Right: "The Turf" in 2006.

Up on an elevated walkway between Fenton Street and the Whole Foods parking lot, a row of shoppers-turned-spectators admire the whole scene. Their eyes are fixed on the Civic Building, where a dozen teenage boys are making the skatepark Silver Spring has yet to give them. They line up in the wide portico holding their skateboards, taking turns as they did jumps off a couple of steps a hundred feet away.

"Looks like they've already turned it into a skatepark," I hear a middle-aged couple grumble as they walk past.

Skaters line up to do tricks in the plaza and spectators gather to watch.

A block away on Ellsworth Drive, it's business as usual: people are crowded around a stage for the weekly summer concert series, and a security guard is lecturing a kid on rollerblades. Except ten minutes later, I see him in Veterans Plaza, making a slalom course out of a line of benches.

The Downtown Silver Spring complex on Ellsworth Drive has always had a tortured relationship with skaters, who flock to the street despite being harassed by security guards. Are they directing skaters off their property and into the public plaza? If so, would Montgomery County kick them out as well?

"Definitively an issue," writes Reemberto Rodriguez, director of the Silver Spring Regional Services Center, in an e-mail. "It is a balancing act between how to be welcoming of all activity that brings the Plaza alive with the charge to keep it clean, safe, and in good condition." He notes that he's seen a "very positive reception" to skaters from other people in the plaza.

Looking south through the plaza towards Ellsworth Drive.

The need for a skatepark in downtown Silver Spring has been known for years. Kids are often kicked out of otherwise-unused pocket parks and on Ellsworth Drive and elsewhere, though planning for a temporary skate spot in Woodside Park is underway. It's not surprising that they've taken to Veterans Plaza with their skateboards. The question is how they'll get along with everyone else who'd like to use the space and how to handle potential conflicts between them.

On his blog, Rodriguez has drafted a "code of conduct" for the plaza - what he calls a "statement of our desires, expectations, and commitment for public behavior." He's looking for suggestions from the community to make it better.

For now, at least, the county wants to make everyone welcome in Veterans Plaza. "I am in conversation with the skaters—and many others—to see that we do this in a way that is respectful of all," writes Rodriguez.

24 comments

Tags: Maryland, Montgomery, public spaces, Silver Spring, skateparks

Overregulation of Silver Spring plaza harms vibrancy (Aug 13, 2010)
Downtown Silver Spring needs a large skatepark (Nov 25, 2009)
Veterans' Plaza in Silver Spring worthy of The Turf's legacy (Aug 12, 2010)
Silver Spring Civic Building takes shape (Apr 29, 2010)
Fenton Street Market moves to Veterans Plaza (Nov 17, 2010)

A planner and architect by training, Dan Reed is interested in suburban retrofits. Dan works for the Friends of White Flint, writes his own blog, Just Up the Pike, and serves as the Land Use Chair for the Action Committee for Transit. Dan lives in Silver Spring.

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I love the benches. The advantage of simple slat benches like that is that the user can program them any way he or she likes--it can be a table for your lunch, a study desk, you can sit facing any direction depending on where the sun is or where the friend you are talking to is sitting. A user can even lie flat and soak up some rays. It is ideal.

I had almost given up hope of ever seeing these kind of great benches again. It seems like someone always objects that "homeless will sleep there," and bingo, you get dividers and pointy things sticking up and anything else it takes to make sure people are sitting up, ideally all facing the way the architect programmed the space.

by Trulee Pist on Jul 12, 2010 12:50 pm • link • report

I see one huge issue: Those skaters are blocking the entrance to the building. That won't go over well with the community.

I'm also really surprised there are no anti-skate devices on the benches.

by andrew on Jul 12, 2010 1:33 pm • link • report

@Trulee

I love the benches, too. The fact that they don't include any anti-skater or anti-homeless devices says a lot about the county's faith in the public - and it means that the benches are more useful to everyone, as you described.

@Andrew

The main entrance is actually to the left of the portico, meaning that skaters aren't blocking anyone.

by dan reed! on Jul 12, 2010 1:48 pm • link • report

Wow, from those photos, it looks like they designed it to be a skatepark on purpose. The flat, unobstructed brick leading up to a comically short and wide set of stairs? With multiple railings? And an abstract statue at the bottom to help the rider pivot and relaunch? Plus there's all the crazy stuff you could do with those benches. It's PERFECT.

by tom veil on Jul 12, 2010 1:54 pm • link • report

That sounds very familiar. Here in Waterloo, Ontario, a parking lot in the center of town was just last year turned into a concrete-heavy public square. It immediately became a favorite skateboarding spot, getting all kinds of bad press for it. The city tried to set a schedule for when skateboarding was allowed, and even had rails set up for those times. But it immediately got to work on an actual skate park, and already set up a temporary one elsewhere. There's a lot fewer skateboarders and a lot more pedestrians now.

by Michael D on Jul 12, 2010 3:24 pm • link • report

I love the new civic building, plaza and canopy. Unfortunately it won't take long for the turf to be completely trashed because there are no barriers to foot traffic. I hope MoCo has some landscape repair/replacement funds because it won't be long before any of the areas that have turf will be mud. I have no problem with skateboarders in general, but the space/finishes were not designed for them and it won't be long before they space is trashed from damage. There just isn't another place in DTSS in such a visible location for them to go.

by Woodsider on Jul 12, 2010 4:00 pm • link • report

One more thing you wouldn't notice from the photos taken in daylight. At night, the interior of the civic building has a really cool orange glow!

by Woodsider on Jul 12, 2010 4:04 pm • link • report

It is ridiculous that no anti-skater measures have been implemented. Brand new county property will soon be destroyed by a group of irresponsible and destructive teenagers from the bottom of society. Unfortunately we have people like Dan Reed and immature adults like "Sk8ter Mom" that advocate a voice for the skating community when we should be discouraging such distruptive lifestyle. I will be going to inspect the damage myself this weekend and will surely let county officials know that this activity is not permissable.

by Cyrus on Jul 12, 2010 6:28 pm • link • report

The need for a skatepark in downtown Silver Spring has been known for years.

Need? Give me a f***ing break. People need food, air, water, housing. People don't need to skate. It's a luxury they appreciate.

Whether or not they would like to have a skate park, the city should take action to prevent them from wrecking public property.

by David desJardins on Jul 12, 2010 7:11 pm • link • report

Recreation is a need. With childhood obesity increasing, shouldn't we be providing opportunities for young people to get exercise?

Whether or not you think skateboarding is an appropriate activity - and it's a little f***ed up to assume anyone who picks up a skateboard is automatically a thug - people do it and they deserve to be accommodated like anyone else in Silver Spring.

by dan reed! on Jul 12, 2010 8:55 pm • link • report

Recreation is a need.

Sure, but not any particular form of it. Obviously public amenities should seek to match the demand, as much as possible. But should we expend more public resources on skateboard parks than on other public amenities that would be more widely used, just because the skateboarders are more aggressive and will damage public property if we don't?

by David desJardins on Jul 13, 2010 1:22 am • link • report

No other form of recreation is as destructive to public property. Glorifying immature adults such as "Sk8ter Mom" in Mr. Reed's blogging is a huge disservice to the Silver Spring community as these destructive thugs are vandalzing public property. This is not a legitimate activity and the county should not condone this. Skateboarding encourages young people to become involved in drugs and other illicit activities. If we legitimize skating these drug addicts will seek their own facilites to conduct their illicit activities. Hence the County will be condoning drug use. We must stop this destruction of our community.

by Cyrus on Jul 13, 2010 3:18 am • link • report

Skateboarding encourages young people to become involved in drugs and other illicit activities.

OK, give me another f***ing break. This is even more ridiculous than, "Kids need a skateboard park." It's a skateboard, not a syringe or a bong.

by David desJardins on Jul 13, 2010 3:28 am • link • report

Who cares about skateboarders, we got a first class public space. Is it perfect? No, but we have it and it rocks. One spends years drawing and dreaming of such a traditional public space in the US, and we finally got it. It also shows that you don't need medeaval architecture, just good urban architecture of any style to make it work. Oh yeah, a little density goes a long way too.

by Thayer=D on Jul 13, 2010 7:30 am • link • report

Skateboarders are "destructive thugs" and "from the bottom of society." Really? Most skateboarders I know are pretty easy-going guys.

by aaa on Jul 13, 2010 8:41 am • link • report

"Brand new county property will soon be destroyed by a group of irresponsible and destructive teenagers from the bottom of society."

"Skateboarding encourages young people to become involved in drugs and other illicit activities. If we legitimize skating these drug addicts will seek their own facilites to conduct their illicit activities."

Did you really just make misinformed, grossly generalizing classist comments about skateboarders, in 2010? What antiquated era has science ressurected you from?

You must actually senator Joseph McCarthy, raised from the dead with the singular purpose of unleashing your outdated, cloistered and remarkably sad opinions upon the world.

If you're not trolling, answer me this; what does skateboarding encourage that using the internet, watching television and listening to rock music does not?

by MikeS on Jul 13, 2010 8:44 am • link • report

The new building is a wonderful addition to Silver Spring. I think it's great that kids can skate there. Those that skate there are members of our community, this area is for them also. This place was built for the community to use and spend time in, I highly doubt that kids skating there will deter use by other community members. Everyone seemed to enjoy soccer that was played on the turf that was there before, it was nice to watch and no one seemed to think that it encouraged drug use or vandalism. I'm sure that with proper monitoring by the appointed authority shared use can occur successfully.

by ed on Jul 13, 2010 1:08 pm • link • report

At Woodsider-

I noticed that Orange Glow too and used it in this photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chip_py/4781215775/

You can see more of my photos from the Civic Center at Skater Plaza here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chip_py/sets/72157624453896174/

Chip Py

PS I don't go down to DTSS much, but in the hour that I was there Saturday evening taking this photo I did see two fights on the corner of Fenton and Ellsworth. One of them spilled out into the new plaza.

by Chip Py on Jul 13, 2010 5:48 pm • link • report

this is absolutely hilarious this generalization about skateboarding being a gateway to drugs.

but seriously you know 90% of skaters smoke a bowl on the hour.

by poncho on Jul 13, 2010 9:30 pm • link • report

I find this sweeping generalization about skateboarders ridiculous and offensive, if anything skateboarding helps kids steer away from drugs for anyone who is doing anything besides drinking or occasional smoking has little to no interest in skateboardingÂ… also we donÂ’t destroy the property, maybe we scratch it up a little bit but im sure your seats will still be able to be used for what they were primarily meant for sitting and that should be all that matter, be glad any of us got this nice new plaza at all

by nice guy on Jul 22, 2010 10:48 pm • link • report

As an older Skater who teaches kids to skate a summer camps I find these stereotypes of Skateboarders very disturbing. What kind of example are you being to your kids calling out everyone who participates in our sport as drug addicts. Skateboarding gets a bum rap because it's an individual sport not some team sport that you can practice doing lay ups all day in a gym. You need to be outside moving across different terrain to make up new tricks and push yourself to the next level. Public plazas are made for the public saying someone use the public space to the way they want to is discrimination. As long as everyone using the space is not infringing on the rights of others what authority can tell a person they are not using their public space "correctly".

by chris on Jul 23, 2010 12:47 pm • link • report

What kind of example are you being to your kids calling out everyone who participates in our sport as drug addicts.

That is just one nutty poster. It's not representative of the comments here.

As long as everyone using the space is not infringing on the rights of others what authority can tell a person they are not using their public space "correctly".

Doesn't damage to public property, or tricks that endanger the safety of those around you, infringe on the rights of others?

I also think that if I were a public official, I'd be very concerned about liability. Looking at the video that was posted here, all it takes is one child with brain damage from a fall to leave you with a multi-million dollar settlement. At least at a designated skate park you can post rules and perhaps enforce them.

by David desJardins on Jul 23, 2010 1:25 pm • link • report

No one can be held liable for any sort of injury on public property that's not due to a design malfunction. It's not private property so there's no specific person that can be held accountable for someone doing something at their own risk in a public place. That's like saying a parent can sue the state if their kid falls off a swing, when in reality the kid was probably doing something stupid that they shouldn't have been doing in the first place, which led to the injury. The plaza is big enough where skateboarders can see other people using the area and vice versa. Let the skateboarders be liable for their own actions.

On that note, if the county really wanted to make their plaza "new age" they should have used recycled plastic for their benches. Not only do they last longer, it makes the county looks eco-friendly and they're also amazing to skate on. They don't chip up or look older with time like typical wooden benches.

by Captain Falcon on Jul 23, 2010 7:21 pm • link • report

No one can be held liable for any sort of injury on public property that's not due to a design malfunction.

Wow, I wish I could move to your universe. In mine, the drunk guy who climbs atop an electrified train and electrocutes himself (duh) settles for $5 million.

by David desJardins on Jul 25, 2010 7:50 pm • link • report