The Southbay has a problem; there isn't enough skateparks, let alone any indoor ones. 

Sure, there's skateparks at Alondra Park, Compton, San Pedro, Manhattan Beach and many more places around Torrance, but Torrance, specifically around the Lomita area, hasn't seen a skatepark since 2008. That shouldn't have to be the case. Skaters all around Torrance flock to local libraries, schools or even parking lots just to gap a few stairs or to grind down a railing, all of which is outdoors, where the blistering heat in the summer or the bitter cold in winter months all but can demotivate someone from going out and skating for the fun of it.

Enter, an indoor skatepark. 

This would not only benefit the city, but allow for skaters across multiple surrounding cities to go to, and hopefully would inspire others to do what I'm doing. 

But you might be asking, "What makes an indoor skatepark so much better than an outdoor one?" Well I'm glad you asked. You see, it has many benefits such as:

• Providing air conditioning for blistering hot months, especially with how bipolar California's weather can be, even in the winter
• Provide a safe space to accomodate every set of wheels, whether it's rollerblading, skating or even scooters
• A nice indoor area to get away from the noisiness of the city and chill with like-minded people
• Traffic wouldn’t pose a threat to skaters or rollerbladers, and vise versa
• If the ramps were made of wood, it wouldn’t hurt as bad to fall, the wood would absorb the impact compared to concrete

It doesn’t have to be big either, it can be something small and simple, maybe a few ramps, a bowl, railings and stairs. That’s all you’d need to keep a few hundred skaters happy.

I can go on and on about the pros to an indoor skatepark, but I think what’ll prove this to be a necessity is the statistics.

In the US alone, an average of about 40 skateboarders die every year when skating, mostly from collisions with vehicles and about 20% die from injuries to the head. In Torrance alone, using data from the 2020 Census, it’s estimated there are about 8.8% of people under 18 that identify as skaters that would be in need of an indoor skatepark. Those 40 people could’ve been saved not only with a helmet, but also access to a skatepark, even an indoor one. While 40 people many not seem like a lot, that’s 40 families affected by the death of their kid from something as simple as skating, which could branch off onto even more families.

As skating gets more and more popular with every coming year, there will be a rise in young people’s deaths from cars while skateboarding. This should give people some incentive to stand with me on something that can and will be life saving, especially for younger skaters. 

As of January 25th, 2022, I’m not looking for donations. What I am looking for, however, is change and an incentive to push for action among the skating community, a community that often goes overlooked as outcasts or “kids up to no-good” when that’s far from the truth. Most of these kids want to be free and have some sort of escapism, and by having no skatepark in sight, this could be a dilemma for many teenagers just wanting a way to leave home, school or whatnot to be themselves, to express themselves, to be free. That’s what they want, and they’re being heard in this petition. A silent community finally standing up for change. 

photos in the thumbnail are not taken by me, and are simply just images I found online as a way to show my point