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January 29, 2007
Rank and File
by Nova Stubbs, insurgent49

Anchorage Residents Reject “Hooligans”

    It’s funny that we still live in a society that often views teenagers as hooligans unless they are football players and cheerleaders. Those teens who aren’t interested in the basic sports or clubs available at their high schools often get the reputation that they are aimless youths with no interests what so ever. They do have interests, of course, interests that are outside the mainstream.

    For instance, many of these teens like music … not the marching band or top forty kinds, but alternative punk type music. And for a time they were able to go to the one venue in town to either play or listen to their style of music. As many know this music venue, Bitoz, is no more.  Public complaints about noise and the overall uneasy feeling people felt with teens hanging out outside was enough to get it shut it down.

    Another hobby that many of these young adults also enjoy is skateboarding. And unfortunately, many Anchorage residents consider skateboarding a hooligan activity. We have three skateboard parks in the municipality; one of them resides in Girdwood. The others are in Anchorage; one is near the Sullivan arena and the other is in the Dimond area. Despite the three skate parks, there continues to be a demand from the skateboarding community for more “skate-able” areas.

    Last year, a skate park located in Minnesota Park was permanently shut down because of frequent fights and partying. Residents had had enough of these hooligans causing a commotion in their neighborhood. Forget about the young people who just liked to go there in order to skate, they’ll have to find another place to have fun.

    The city is aware of this demand for another legal skate park considering areas outside many public buildings, especially those with railings and curbs, often have little metal fittings bolted onto them in order to deter skateboarders. Hell, there is even a series of different types of these metal fittings called Stop-A-Grind.

    The best way to stop a grind is to build a skate park that is convenient for teens that may not have transportation. Isn’t that really a no-brainer? You’d think so, but unfortunately, nobody really wants a skate park in his or her neighborhood. And these are the same people who are constantly complaining about gangs, and other related teenage crimes.

    Well, if we can’t give these teens a healthy outlet, then of course they will turn to unhealthy outlets like violence and drugs. And don’t tell me about the opportunities they have at their high school to join various clubs and sports teams, because maybe these teens would rather spend their free time outside of the grips of an institution. This is their right. After all, teens deserve respect.

    The city wants to build a new skate park at the Spenard Recreation Center, and of course residents oppose its construction. They don’t want hooligans in their neighborhood despite the fact that there would be limited park hours and it would be well supervised.

    Do these opponents of skate parks really want a better community? Or would they like to see all teenage “hooligans” be institutionalized? What they really need is a dose of reality.

   

     


     

      Nova Stubbs is a freelance writer and activist, and is co-founder of Insurgent49. Nova resides in an undisclosed location in downtown Anchorage and may be contacted at nova@insurgent49.com.

     'Rank and File' appears on insurgent49.com every Monday.
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in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership.