This Fountain Looms Over SF's Skateboarding Scene. A Growing Few Are Trying to Save It
SFPD Spent Nearly $250K in Overtime During Failed Attempt to Halt Dolores Hill Bomb
Police Close Off Dolores Street, Skaters 'Bomb' Church Street Instead
At 64, Santa Cruz Slalom Skateboarding Mom Trains for World Games
SFPD Releases Video Footage From Skateboarding 'Hill Bomb'
'A Step Backward': SF Police Commission Questions Mass Arrest at Skateboarding Event
Teen Rediscovers San Francisco's Enduring Skate Spot: EMB
Jake Phelps, Skateboarder and Editor of Thrasher, Dies at 56
At Oakland's Queer Skateboarding Meet-Ups, Everybody Can Shred
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"title": "This Fountain Looms Over SF's Skateboarding Scene. A Growing Few Are Trying to Save It",
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"headTitle": "This Fountain Looms Over SF’s Skateboarding Scene. A Growing Few Are Trying to Save It | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Karl Watson remembers the rush of excitement he felt the first time he set eyes on San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/embarcadero\">Embarcadero\u003c/a> Plaza in 1988.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Skateboarding teenagers and obstacles that looked designed just for them filled the expanse of concrete and red brick, now faded and pockmarked after years of failed tricks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was like a new world I was entering for the first time,” said Watson, a Bay Area-based professional skateboarder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He jumped on his board, went for a trick that he now admits he didn’t have the skills to pull off, and fell hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Kelch, whom Watson described as the leader of the famed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.thrashermagazine.com/articles/emb-30-year-reunion/\">Embarcadero crew,\u003c/a>” approached him, picked him up and sat him on a concave concrete wall the skaters knew affectionately as the “wave.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoHm1g02iIg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was my initiation,” Watson said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wave itself was torn down decades ago, and now, the city is planning a multimillion-dollar renovation that would destroy another of the plaza’s most iconic features: the Vaillancourt Fountain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watson is among a growing cohort of skaters, architecture historians and the artist himself who are pushing to preserve the brutalist tangle of boxy concrete pipes that was featured in the background of so many famous skating video parts filmed at the plaza. The fountain, they say, is a part of the city’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A touchstone of street skating\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Embarcadero Plaza — or “EMB” to skaters — is already almost unrecognizable from the spot where Watson spent long days as a teenager in the 1980s and ’90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The public square across from the Ferry Building once featured blocky concrete steps and ledges, a playground for street skateboarders. It’s since been renovated to add uneven cobblestones, grassy patches and metal skate-stoppers on railings. Two pop-up padel courts tower in the center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055236\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Vaillancourt Fountain in the Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco on Sept. 8, 2025. The 40-foot concrete fountain was designed by artist Armand Vaillancourt and installed in 1971. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The controversial Vaillancourt Fountain has been fenced off since it was deemed a safety hazard in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EMB hasn’t been as prominent a skate spot for years, Watson said, since the city cracked down in the ’90s and renovations at the turn of the century made the landscape less enticing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And aside from a drop-in stunt by famed skater Zachary Kovacs for the cover of \u003cem>Thrasher Magazine\u003c/em>, the Vaillancourt Fountain wasn’t actually skated in — or even too close to — by most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If our board went in the water … we’d either leave it in there, or fish it out reluctantly,” Watson said, adding that the recycled water turned from blue to green to brown as it grew algae, was peed in and worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055234\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055234\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Henry-Sanchez-left-and-John-Cardiel-right-at-Embarcadero_1992_Photo-by-Tobin-Yelland.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"786\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Henry-Sanchez-left-and-John-Cardiel-right-at-Embarcadero_1992_Photo-by-Tobin-Yelland.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Henry-Sanchez-left-and-John-Cardiel-right-at-Embarcadero_1992_Photo-by-Tobin-Yelland-160x105.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Henry Sanchez and John Cardiel at the Embarcadero, 1992. \u003ccite>(Tobin Yelland; Courtesy Thrasher magazine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But since city officials began to talk of removing the Vallaincourt Fountain to make way for a \u003ca href=\"https://sfrecpark.org/1819/Embarcadero-Plaza-and-Sue-Bierman-Park-R\">new waterfront park\u003c/a> last year, historical preservationists, landscape architects and art enthusiasts opposed to its teardown have found an unlikely alliance in a skate community that said the fountain is a touchstone of the sport’s history in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That plaza … and the fountain ended up becoming the epicenter of street skateboarding in the late ’80s and early ’90s,” said Ted Barrow, a San Francisco skate and art historian. “At this moment, when the next generation of the best skateboarders in the world were filming video parts and shooting photos at this plaza, all of the surrounding buildings showed up in the background.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those landmarks made that spot really easy to find for skateboarders who were visiting San Francisco, and skateboarders started to visit San Francisco because of the videos,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A controversial history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Canadian artist Armand Vaillancourt debuted the public art piece in 1971 to serve as a sort of counterweight to the towering Embarcadero Freeway that cut off the Financial District’s high-rise apartments and office buildings from the city’s eastern waterfront.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 30,000 gallons of rushing water that circulated through the fountain every minute distracted from the din of horns and speeding cars, and its brutalist design brought together the freeway and cityscape, Barrow said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055238\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Vaillancourt Fountain in the Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco on Sept. 8, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The fountain has always been mired in controversy — flyers passed out at its opening called it a “\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20250305215947/https:/www.newspapers.com/image/460183168/\">loathesome monstrosity\u003c/a>” and crowds cheered when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/u2-s-bono-cited-as-graffiti-artist-4023631.php\">Bono defaced it\u003c/a> during an impromptu public concert in 1987 — but since the freeway was torn down in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, many have deemed the piece obsolete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the fountain’s water was shut off during California’s energy crisis from 2001 to 2004, then-Supervisor Aaron Peskin introduced a resolution to remove it, saying it looked out of place without the freeway and was too expensive to operate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Questions about its purpose reemerged when it was again drained for years, along with the rest of San Francisco’s public fountains, in 2014 during California’s severe drought.[aside postID=news_11871628 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/05/GettyImages-1032968632-1-1020x794.jpg']Now, it seems plans to demolish the fountain, which ran dry again in June 2024 after its final working pipe gave out, might finally come to fruition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, then-Mayor London Breed announced that Embarcadero Plaza would undergo a $25 million transformation, connecting it to the adjacent Sue Bierman Park and creating a 5-acre public square across from the Ferry Building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The news spurred speculation about the fate of the fountain, which wasn’t included in any of the drafted renderings. Vaillancourt, 96, traveled to San Francisco to advocate for his work’s restoration in the spring, but last month, the Recreation and Parks Department confirmed his supporters’ fears, formally requesting permission to remove the fountain from the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/our-role-impact/about-commission/policies-guidelines/Public-ArtCivic-Art-Collection\">Civic Art Collection\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter sent to multiple departments last month, Vaillancourt demanded the city cease and desist all efforts to remove his work, and his attorneys say that they — along with a coalition of preservation groups — will take further legal action if needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also ready to jump into the fight are skaters such as Barrow, who said the fountain is integral to a history the city shouldn’t be so quick to forget.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The EMB Crew\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Barrow remembers watching skate videos featuring Embarcadero Plaza with Vaillaincourt Fountain looming in the background.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I fell in love with San Francisco through those videos, and I’m not alone,” he said. “Every city has these great attractions, and they’re not always what they were intended to be. I think this is one of those things, and it’s kind of appalling to me that they’re even considering destroying this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055235\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1118px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055235\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Skaters-at-Embarcadero_January-1992_photo-by-Kevin-Thatcher_419.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1118\" height=\"739\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Skaters-at-Embarcadero_January-1992_photo-by-Kevin-Thatcher_419.jpg 1118w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Skaters-at-Embarcadero_January-1992_photo-by-Kevin-Thatcher_419-160x106.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1118px) 100vw, 1118px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Skaters at the Embarcadero, 1992. \u003ccite>(Kevin Thatcher; courtesy Thrasher magazine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Barrow explained that before the late ’80s, people mostly skated in empty backyard pools, skate parks or on wooden half-pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Street skating as a style was developed at EMB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is factual,” Watson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Skaters who had popularized “sidewalk surfing” in the 1950s were aging and retiring. Meanwhile, a younger generation — galvanized in part by \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2syroSQTs\">Michael J. Fox’s skateboard chase in \u003cem>Back to the Future\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> —\u003c/em> were arriving on the scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79rvMDarQ_E\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Towards the end of the 1980s, street skating as a way of skateboarding started to develop,” Barrow told KQED. “It embraced the non-purpose-built urban environments — so stairs, ledges, what we call gaps, [or] spaces between two blocks of concrete, and smooth surfaces all started to appeal to skateboarders in a certain way. And Embarcadero had those obstacles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacob Rosenberg, who describes himself as a more talented filmmaker than skater, spent his teenage years at EMB with a camera, recording young skaters as they invented new tricks and nailed elaborate \u003ca href=\"https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ON+THE+LINE&page=6\">lines\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many Bay Area kids at the time, he said, he didn’t feel connected to mainstream culture of the ’90s. But in skating’s “EMB crew,” he found a sort of unique, welcoming fringe community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was really where I felt a sense of purpose with my camera for the first time, where I kept coming back and I kept filming the same people, and I watched the culture and the tricks of skateboarding transform right in front of me … in the lens of my camera,” he said. “Those of us who were a part of Embarcadero in the late ’80s and early ’90s … we felt so connected to each other and to skateboarding there, maybe more than any other time in our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055271\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1838px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055271\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/JOVONTAE_TURNER_1990_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1838\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/JOVONTAE_TURNER_1990_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED.jpg 1838w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/JOVONTAE_TURNER_1990_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED-160x174.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/JOVONTAE_TURNER_1990_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED-1412x1536.jpg 1412w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1838px) 100vw, 1838px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Javonte Turner skates at Embarcadero Plaza in 1990. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jacob Rosenberg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Vaillancourt’s brutalist fountain, he said, was the backdrop. Now it’s a relic of that era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fountain is this anchor,” he told KQED. “You can’t skate the fountain, but if you were telling someone about the Embarcadero, you’d say, ‘It’s the place with the bricks, with the fountain.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was featured in the \u003cem>Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater\u003c/em> video game, and inspired a movement of urban skating that spread as far as Barcelona and Berlin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People from all over the world came to San Francisco to skate the iconic wave, and in the years since, generations of skaters have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11871628/teen-rediscovers-san-franciscos-enduring-skate-spot-emb\">returned to the plaza\u003c/a> where spots like Mark Gonzalez’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/espnw/news-commentary/story/_/id/7360682/history-lesson-embarcadero-gonz-gap\">The Gonz Gap\u003c/a>” were made famous.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘That’s the skateboard experience’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite the fountain’s storied history, the skaters say they aren’t really surprised it seems overlooked in the plans for the new plaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s kind of the skateboard experience,” Rosenberg said. “They’re not taken seriously, they’re sort of looked down upon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the city to take something that really is an incredible place to celebrate, a very rich and unique history that San Francisco should really own … to treat that in a dishonest way is a real irony,” he continued. “As a skater, you’re like, ‘Of course that was what was going to happen.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1852px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055270\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/FOUNTAIN_1991_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1852\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/FOUNTAIN_1991_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED.jpg 1852w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/FOUNTAIN_1991_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED-160x173.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/FOUNTAIN_1991_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED-1422x1536.jpg 1422w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1852px) 100vw, 1852px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Vaillancourt Fountain in 1991. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jacob Rosenberg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s Arts Commission is expected to consider the Recreation and Parks Department’s request to remove the Vaillancourt Fountain this fall. Rec and Parks officials estimate that to restore it would cost $29 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the commission does approve the teardown, it could still be stalled by legal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaillancourt’s son Alexis told KQED his father’s attorneys have gotten no response to the cease and desist letter sent to multiple city departments, as well as BXP, the private development company handling the renovation, on Aug. 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He believes further litigation, like a request for an injunction, will likely be necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city attorney’s office said departments are still reviewing their next steps and no final decision has been made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2Djapy5BkA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in an email, office spokesperson Jen Kwart called the fountain “a structurally unsound, hazardous structure with no viable path forward short of a multi-million dollar renovation. That’s before considering its long-term maintenance and seismic vulnerability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to high renovation and restoration costs, it’s also been maligned as a place unhoused people have used to rest or bathe and is seen by many as an eyesore synonymous with the city’s struggling downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barrow pointed out that that’s not too dissimilar from the context in which it rose to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOZwbgbCc-3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=bDJramY4eTdxcGZ4&hl=en\">now-nostalgic fame\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The early ’90s was a pretty fraught time — just like ours — when it came to fear of cities and fear of youth subcultures,” he said. “Street skating in San Francisco … showed a very diverse group of skateboarders skating in an urban place. Skateboarders had kind of figured out how to be in a city and how to create a community in this era when there was a lot of fear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Karl Watson remembers the rush of excitement he felt the first time he set eyes on San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/embarcadero\">Embarcadero\u003c/a> Plaza in 1988.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Skateboarding teenagers and obstacles that looked designed just for them filled the expanse of concrete and red brick, now faded and pockmarked after years of failed tricks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was like a new world I was entering for the first time,” said Watson, a Bay Area-based professional skateboarder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He jumped on his board, went for a trick that he now admits he didn’t have the skills to pull off, and fell hard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Kelch, whom Watson described as the leader of the famed “\u003ca href=\"https://www.thrashermagazine.com/articles/emb-30-year-reunion/\">Embarcadero crew,\u003c/a>” approached him, picked him up and sat him on a concave concrete wall the skaters knew affectionately as the “wave.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/NoHm1g02iIg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/NoHm1g02iIg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“That was my initiation,” Watson said, laughing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The wave itself was torn down decades ago, and now, the city is planning a multimillion-dollar renovation that would destroy another of the plaza’s most iconic features: the Vaillancourt Fountain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Watson is among a growing cohort of skaters, architecture historians and the artist himself who are pushing to preserve the brutalist tangle of boxy concrete pipes that was featured in the background of so many famous skating video parts filmed at the plaza. The fountain, they say, is a part of the city’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A touchstone of street skating\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Embarcadero Plaza — or “EMB” to skaters — is already almost unrecognizable from the spot where Watson spent long days as a teenager in the 1980s and ’90s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The public square across from the Ferry Building once featured blocky concrete steps and ledges, a playground for street skateboarders. It’s since been renovated to add uneven cobblestones, grassy patches and metal skate-stoppers on railings. Two pop-up padel courts tower in the center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055236\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-05-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-05-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-05-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-05-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Vaillancourt Fountain in the Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco on Sept. 8, 2025. The 40-foot concrete fountain was designed by artist Armand Vaillancourt and installed in 1971. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The controversial Vaillancourt Fountain has been fenced off since it was deemed a safety hazard in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EMB hasn’t been as prominent a skate spot for years, Watson said, since the city cracked down in the ’90s and renovations at the turn of the century made the landscape less enticing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And aside from a drop-in stunt by famed skater Zachary Kovacs for the cover of \u003cem>Thrasher Magazine\u003c/em>, the Vaillancourt Fountain wasn’t actually skated in — or even too close to — by most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If our board went in the water … we’d either leave it in there, or fish it out reluctantly,” Watson said, adding that the recycled water turned from blue to green to brown as it grew algae, was peed in and worse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055234\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055234\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Henry-Sanchez-left-and-John-Cardiel-right-at-Embarcadero_1992_Photo-by-Tobin-Yelland.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"786\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Henry-Sanchez-left-and-John-Cardiel-right-at-Embarcadero_1992_Photo-by-Tobin-Yelland.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Henry-Sanchez-left-and-John-Cardiel-right-at-Embarcadero_1992_Photo-by-Tobin-Yelland-160x105.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R) Henry Sanchez and John Cardiel at the Embarcadero, 1992. \u003ccite>(Tobin Yelland; Courtesy Thrasher magazine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But since city officials began to talk of removing the Vallaincourt Fountain to make way for a \u003ca href=\"https://sfrecpark.org/1819/Embarcadero-Plaza-and-Sue-Bierman-Park-R\">new waterfront park\u003c/a> last year, historical preservationists, landscape architects and art enthusiasts opposed to its teardown have found an unlikely alliance in a skate community that said the fountain is a touchstone of the sport’s history in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That plaza … and the fountain ended up becoming the epicenter of street skateboarding in the late ’80s and early ’90s,” said Ted Barrow, a San Francisco skate and art historian. “At this moment, when the next generation of the best skateboarders in the world were filming video parts and shooting photos at this plaza, all of the surrounding buildings showed up in the background.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those landmarks made that spot really easy to find for skateboarders who were visiting San Francisco, and skateboarders started to visit San Francisco because of the videos,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A controversial history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Canadian artist Armand Vaillancourt debuted the public art piece in 1971 to serve as a sort of counterweight to the towering Embarcadero Freeway that cut off the Financial District’s high-rise apartments and office buildings from the city’s eastern waterfront.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 30,000 gallons of rushing water that circulated through the fountain every minute distracted from the din of horns and speeding cars, and its brutalist design brought together the freeway and cityscape, Barrow said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055238\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055238\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250908-VAILLANCOURTFOUNTAINREMOVAL-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Vaillancourt Fountain in the Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco on Sept. 8, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The fountain has always been mired in controversy — flyers passed out at its opening called it a “\u003ca href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20250305215947/https:/www.newspapers.com/image/460183168/\">loathesome monstrosity\u003c/a>” and crowds cheered when \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/u2-s-bono-cited-as-graffiti-artist-4023631.php\">Bono defaced it\u003c/a> during an impromptu public concert in 1987 — but since the freeway was torn down in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, many have deemed the piece obsolete.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the fountain’s water was shut off during California’s energy crisis from 2001 to 2004, then-Supervisor Aaron Peskin introduced a resolution to remove it, saying it looked out of place without the freeway and was too expensive to operate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Questions about its purpose reemerged when it was again drained for years, along with the rest of San Francisco’s public fountains, in 2014 during California’s severe drought.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now, it seems plans to demolish the fountain, which ran dry again in June 2024 after its final working pipe gave out, might finally come to fruition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In November, then-Mayor London Breed announced that Embarcadero Plaza would undergo a $25 million transformation, connecting it to the adjacent Sue Bierman Park and creating a 5-acre public square across from the Ferry Building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The news spurred speculation about the fate of the fountain, which wasn’t included in any of the drafted renderings. Vaillancourt, 96, traveled to San Francisco to advocate for his work’s restoration in the spring, but last month, the Recreation and Parks Department confirmed his supporters’ fears, formally requesting permission to remove the fountain from the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfartscommission.org/our-role-impact/about-commission/policies-guidelines/Public-ArtCivic-Art-Collection\">Civic Art Collection\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter sent to multiple departments last month, Vaillancourt demanded the city cease and desist all efforts to remove his work, and his attorneys say that they — along with a coalition of preservation groups — will take further legal action if needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also ready to jump into the fight are skaters such as Barrow, who said the fountain is integral to a history the city shouldn’t be so quick to forget.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The EMB Crew\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Barrow remembers watching skate videos featuring Embarcadero Plaza with Vaillaincourt Fountain looming in the background.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I fell in love with San Francisco through those videos, and I’m not alone,” he said. “Every city has these great attractions, and they’re not always what they were intended to be. I think this is one of those things, and it’s kind of appalling to me that they’re even considering destroying this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055235\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1118px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055235\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Skaters-at-Embarcadero_January-1992_photo-by-Kevin-Thatcher_419.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1118\" height=\"739\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Skaters-at-Embarcadero_January-1992_photo-by-Kevin-Thatcher_419.jpg 1118w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Skaters-at-Embarcadero_January-1992_photo-by-Kevin-Thatcher_419-160x106.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1118px) 100vw, 1118px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Skaters at the Embarcadero, 1992. \u003ccite>(Kevin Thatcher; courtesy Thrasher magazine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Barrow explained that before the late ’80s, people mostly skated in empty backyard pools, skate parks or on wooden half-pipes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Street skating as a style was developed at EMB.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That is factual,” Watson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Skaters who had popularized “sidewalk surfing” in the 1950s were aging and retiring. Meanwhile, a younger generation — galvanized in part by \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2syroSQTs\">Michael J. Fox’s skateboard chase in \u003cem>Back to the Future\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> —\u003c/em> were arriving on the scene.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/79rvMDarQ_E'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/79rvMDarQ_E'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“Towards the end of the 1980s, street skating as a way of skateboarding started to develop,” Barrow told KQED. “It embraced the non-purpose-built urban environments — so stairs, ledges, what we call gaps, [or] spaces between two blocks of concrete, and smooth surfaces all started to appeal to skateboarders in a certain way. And Embarcadero had those obstacles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jacob Rosenberg, who describes himself as a more talented filmmaker than skater, spent his teenage years at EMB with a camera, recording young skaters as they invented new tricks and nailed elaborate \u003ca href=\"https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ON+THE+LINE&page=6\">lines\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like many Bay Area kids at the time, he said, he didn’t feel connected to mainstream culture of the ’90s. But in skating’s “EMB crew,” he found a sort of unique, welcoming fringe community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was really where I felt a sense of purpose with my camera for the first time, where I kept coming back and I kept filming the same people, and I watched the culture and the tricks of skateboarding transform right in front of me … in the lens of my camera,” he said. “Those of us who were a part of Embarcadero in the late ’80s and early ’90s … we felt so connected to each other and to skateboarding there, maybe more than any other time in our lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055271\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1838px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055271\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/JOVONTAE_TURNER_1990_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1838\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/JOVONTAE_TURNER_1990_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED.jpg 1838w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/JOVONTAE_TURNER_1990_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED-160x174.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/JOVONTAE_TURNER_1990_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED-1412x1536.jpg 1412w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1838px) 100vw, 1838px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Javonte Turner skates at Embarcadero Plaza in 1990. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jacob Rosenberg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Vaillancourt’s brutalist fountain, he said, was the backdrop. Now it’s a relic of that era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fountain is this anchor,” he told KQED. “You can’t skate the fountain, but if you were telling someone about the Embarcadero, you’d say, ‘It’s the place with the bricks, with the fountain.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was featured in the \u003cem>Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater\u003c/em> video game, and inspired a movement of urban skating that spread as far as Barcelona and Berlin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People from all over the world came to San Francisco to skate the iconic wave, and in the years since, generations of skaters have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11871628/teen-rediscovers-san-franciscos-enduring-skate-spot-emb\">returned to the plaza\u003c/a> where spots like Mark Gonzalez’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.espn.com/espnw/news-commentary/story/_/id/7360682/history-lesson-embarcadero-gonz-gap\">The Gonz Gap\u003c/a>” were made famous.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘That’s the skateboard experience’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Despite the fountain’s storied history, the skaters say they aren’t really surprised it seems overlooked in the plans for the new plaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s kind of the skateboard experience,” Rosenberg said. “They’re not taken seriously, they’re sort of looked down upon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the city to take something that really is an incredible place to celebrate, a very rich and unique history that San Francisco should really own … to treat that in a dishonest way is a real irony,” he continued. “As a skater, you’re like, ‘Of course that was what was going to happen.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055270\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1852px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055270\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/FOUNTAIN_1991_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1852\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/FOUNTAIN_1991_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED.jpg 1852w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/FOUNTAIN_1991_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED-160x173.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/FOUNTAIN_1991_JACOBROSENBERG-KQED-1422x1536.jpg 1422w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1852px) 100vw, 1852px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Vaillancourt Fountain in 1991. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Jacob Rosenberg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Francisco’s Arts Commission is expected to consider the Recreation and Parks Department’s request to remove the Vaillancourt Fountain this fall. Rec and Parks officials estimate that to restore it would cost $29 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the commission does approve the teardown, it could still be stalled by legal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vaillancourt’s son Alexis told KQED his father’s attorneys have gotten no response to the cease and desist letter sent to multiple city departments, as well as BXP, the private development company handling the renovation, on Aug. 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He believes further litigation, like a request for an injunction, will likely be necessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city attorney’s office said departments are still reviewing their next steps and no final decision has been made.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/k2Djapy5BkA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/k2Djapy5BkA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>But in an email, office spokesperson Jen Kwart called the fountain “a structurally unsound, hazardous structure with no viable path forward short of a multi-million dollar renovation. That’s before considering its long-term maintenance and seismic vulnerability.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to high renovation and restoration costs, it’s also been maligned as a place unhoused people have used to rest or bathe and is seen by many as an eyesore synonymous with the city’s struggling downtown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Barrow pointed out that that’s not too dissimilar from the context in which it rose to \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOZwbgbCc-3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=bDJramY4eTdxcGZ4&hl=en\">now-nostalgic fame\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The early ’90s was a pretty fraught time — just like ours — when it came to fear of cities and fear of youth subcultures,” he said. “Street skating in San Francisco … showed a very diverse group of skateboarders skating in an urban place. Skateboarders had kind of figured out how to be in a city and how to create a community in this era when there was a lot of fear.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "sfpd-spent-nearly-250k-in-overtime-during-failed-attempt-to-halt-dolores-hill-bomb",
"title": "SFPD Spent Nearly $250K in Overtime During Failed Attempt to Halt Dolores Hill Bomb",
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"headTitle": "SFPD Spent Nearly $250K in Overtime During Failed Attempt to Halt Dolores Hill Bomb | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Local law enforcement spent more than a quarter million dollars in overtime last month to crack down on an annual downhill skateboarding event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The skaters had a backup plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On July 6, skaters attending the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11993120/san-francisco-police-set-up-barricades-ahead-of-dolores-hill-bomb\">Dolores Park Hill Bomb\u003c/a>, an annual event that draws hundreds to watch skaters speed down a steep hill near the Mission District park, were met with dozens of officers, along with barricades and other means to deter skating on Dolores Street, where the event has taken place in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The skaters simply walked across the park to Church Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can never stop a skater’s pride, bro. This s— is never going to stop,” skater Mark Urbieta told KQED at the event. “Every single day. We’re going to do it regardless. We’re going to do it from Twin Peaks all the way to downtown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11999434\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11999434\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An individual skates down Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. The event, in which skateboarders race down Dolores Street at high speeds, resulted in over 100 teenagers and adults being arrested last year. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Hill Bomb has become controversial in recent years. Paramedics are often required for skaters who wipe out, and complaints from neighborhood groups have mounted. In 2023, the event ended with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956110/sfpd-releases-video-footage-from-skateboarding-hill-bomb\">arrests of 113 people\u003c/a>, including more than 80 minors. This led to outrage and a lawsuit from parents, who sued the city on behalf of their children for alleged civil rights violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the San Francisco Police Department held a press conference before the event, warning the public that it would have a heavy presence at Dolores Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It cost more than $247,000 in overtime for SFPD officers to attempt to stop the hill bomb. In addition, roughly $6,400 was spent on barricades rentals, according to\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/dizz_h/status/1821374367584096343\"> public records\u003c/a> obtained by Hazel Williams, a homeless rights advocate, and shared with KQED. The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, which assisted SFPD, estimated that it spent another roughly $29,000 on overtime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11999438\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11999438\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SFPD stood guard during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last year’s event cost the police department $143,000 in overtime costs, \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2023/08/overtime-dolores-hill-bomb-sfpd-civil-rights-lawsuit/\">\u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em> reported.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evan Sernoffsky, SFPD’s director of strategic communications, said the department’s investment in policing at the event yielded significant results, adding that last year’s arrests were related to vandalism of city property, alleged violence and other property destruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year, thanks to our community outreach and public messaging, there were dramatically fewer people at the event,” he said in an email. “Importantly, there was no widespread violence and property damage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jlara\">Juan Carlos Lara\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "It cost more than $247,000 in overtime for San Francisco officers to attempt to stop the Hill bomb. In addition, it cost roughly $6,400 on barricades rentals, according to public records shared with KQED.",
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"title": "SFPD Spent Nearly $250K in Overtime During Failed Attempt to Halt Dolores Hill Bomb | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Local law enforcement spent more than a quarter million dollars in overtime last month to crack down on an annual downhill skateboarding event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The skaters had a backup plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On July 6, skaters attending the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11993120/san-francisco-police-set-up-barricades-ahead-of-dolores-hill-bomb\">Dolores Park Hill Bomb\u003c/a>, an annual event that draws hundreds to watch skaters speed down a steep hill near the Mission District park, were met with dozens of officers, along with barricades and other means to deter skating on Dolores Street, where the event has taken place in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The skaters simply walked across the park to Church Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can never stop a skater’s pride, bro. This s— is never going to stop,” skater Mark Urbieta told KQED at the event. “Every single day. We’re going to do it regardless. We’re going to do it from Twin Peaks all the way to downtown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11999434\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11999434\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-24_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An individual skates down Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. The event, in which skateboarders race down Dolores Street at high speeds, resulted in over 100 teenagers and adults being arrested last year. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Hill Bomb has become controversial in recent years. Paramedics are often required for skaters who wipe out, and complaints from neighborhood groups have mounted. In 2023, the event ended with the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11956110/sfpd-releases-video-footage-from-skateboarding-hill-bomb\">arrests of 113 people\u003c/a>, including more than 80 minors. This led to outrage and a lawsuit from parents, who sued the city on behalf of their children for alleged civil rights violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the San Francisco Police Department held a press conference before the event, warning the public that it would have a heavy presence at Dolores Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It cost more than $247,000 in overtime for SFPD officers to attempt to stop the hill bomb. In addition, roughly $6,400 was spent on barricades rentals, according to\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/dizz_h/status/1821374367584096343\"> public records\u003c/a> obtained by Hazel Williams, a homeless rights advocate, and shared with KQED. The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, which assisted SFPD, estimated that it spent another roughly $29,000 on overtime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11999438\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11999438\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-33_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SFPD stood guard during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last year’s event cost the police department $143,000 in overtime costs, \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2023/08/overtime-dolores-hill-bomb-sfpd-civil-rights-lawsuit/\">\u003cem>Mission Local\u003c/em> reported.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evan Sernoffsky, SFPD’s director of strategic communications, said the department’s investment in policing at the event yielded significant results, adding that last year’s arrests were related to vandalism of city property, alleged violence and other property destruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year, thanks to our community outreach and public messaging, there were dramatically fewer people at the event,” he said in an email. “Importantly, there was no widespread violence and property damage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/jlara\">Juan Carlos Lara\u003c/a> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "san-francisco-police-set-up-barricades-ahead-of-dolores-hill-bomb",
"title": "Police Close Off Dolores Street, Skaters 'Bomb' Church Street Instead",
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"headTitle": "Police Close Off Dolores Street, Skaters ‘Bomb’ Church Street Instead | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update: 10 p.m. Saturday\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco officials succeeded Saturday night in stopping large numbers of skaters from riding down Dolores Street by setting up scores of barricades and stationing dozens of law enforcement officers in the planned path of the “Dolores Hill Bomb.” But skaters weren’t too disappointed, they just shifted their antics to Church Street on the opposite side of Dolores Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Skater Mark Urbieta said moving to Church was always part of the plan given that police interference on Dolores was expected, even though Church is, in his words, “gnarlier and narrower” than Dolores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can never stop a skater’s pride, bro, this s*** is never going to stop,” Urbieta said while resting after a nasty fall. “Every single day. We’re going to do it regardless. We’re going to do it from Twin Peaks all the way to Downtown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from using one police vehicle to stop traffic from crossing 18th Street at the bottom of Church Street, police made no effort to interfere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urbieta added that if the police had moved to block off Church Street, attendees would have just found another hill to bomb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993149\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993149\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1274\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-800x510.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-1020x650.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-1536x978.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-1920x1223.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An individual skates down Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gigi Basilio successfully rode to the bottom of the hill on her second attempt after a fall on her first try. She embraced her friend as the crowd cheered her on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People were dapping me up, saying ‘You got this! You got this!’ and deep down inside, I felt like I had it, and I did it! And I’m so proud of myself because that’s the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced,” Basilio said, clearly emotional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Basilio said she felt the large police presence was unnecessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993150\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993150\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1327\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-1536x1019.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-1920x1274.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Skaters walk back up Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re not doing nothing wrong. We’re just trying to skate, trying to bomb, have fun, make memories, be with friends, family, with each other. Why are they trying to ruin our day?” Basilio said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one person was taken away by paramedics after falling at the bottom of the hill. On-site volunteer medics attended to others who suffered minor scrapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 6 p.m. Saturday: \u003c/strong>San Francisco’s Mission Dolores Park was filled Saturday afternoon with crowds reveling in the summer heat wave. But among the revelers were police setting up metal barricades, blocking Dolores Street. The big question in the neighborhood: Will the “Dolores Hill Bomb” happen this year?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993148\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993148\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Skaters ride down Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The “hill bomb” is an annual, informal event organized by the Bay Area skateboard community where hundreds of skaters ride down a steep section of Dolores Street adjacent to the city’s Dolores Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C82r59Hy9R3/\">Instagram post\u003c/a> by user vellskiiii set the time for 7 p.m. Saturday, but following messaging by the San Francisco Police Department strongly discouraging people from taking part, vellskiii posted that the event was canceled. “Event CANCELED!!! Police will be waiting at Dolores!!!” But it is unclear how many will receive that message — or heed it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993134\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993134\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1231\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-800x492.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-1020x628.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-160x98.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-1536x945.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-1920x1182.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A skater rides down Church Street seated on a skateboard during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024 \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year’s hill bomb comes almost exactly one year since last year’s, which ended in San Francisco police mass-arresting 113 people, most of them minors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents of those arrested have since criticized the police response, detailing how their children were detained in the cold for hours without access to food, water or restrooms. Some of the parents have since sued the city and police on behalf of their children for alleged civil rights violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But despite the condemnations from parents and other community members, along with the looming specter of a costly class action lawsuit against the city, the San Francisco Police Department appears poised to use a similar approach this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993136\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993136\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SFPD stationed nearby during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The plan is almost the same ask as last year’s event,” wrote Mission Station Sgt. Jeff Aloise in a late June email to a Department of Public Works employee. “Dolores St will need to have enough barricades starting at 21st St stretching from building to building in an East/West direction, all the way down to 18th St/Dolores.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993132\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993132\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">18th and Dolores streets in San Francisco were closed on July 6, 2024, in an attempt to prevent the annual Dolores Hill Bomb. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those emails were uncovered in a \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/dizz_h/status/1808705494623596549\">public records request\u003c/a> and shared with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event draws large crowds of people who come to watch the skaters ride down the hill at high speeds. Not everyone makes it. Many skaters sustained injuries and one died in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993133\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993133\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1410\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-800x564.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-1020x719.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-1536x1083.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-1920x1354.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A skater rides down Church Street during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some have criticized the event for being unsafe for both skaters and neighbors alike. Residents of the area say participants vandalize both public and private property during and after the event. Police said last year’s arrests began in response to attendees assaulting officers and vandalizing a MUNI light rail train.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the hill bomb is an organic gathering and, with no designated sponsors or organizers, canceling the event is not as simple as making an announcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hasn’t stopped city officials from attempting to discourage attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993129\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993129\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Omar Arroyo crashes while riding down Church Street as part of the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re here to say officially, we do not intend to allow a hill bomb tomorrow,” Police Chief Bill Scott said during a Friday news conference. “We’re going to do everything we can to keep our community safe, to prevent that from happening. And as far as we’re concerned, there is no hill bomb tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the area, has echoed similar feelings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked in late June what he had to say to those planning to attend, he responded, “I would encourage them not to this year. I think this event has been unsafe for a number of years. I am eager and willing to partner with folks in the community who want to try to do a safe and fun hill bomb in 2025. But I think in 2024, the infrastructure is not there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993130\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993130\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Omar Arroyo shows his injury after skating down Church Street during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mandelman and Scott also led a community meeting on Monday, inviting community members to share their thoughts and recommendations for the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several attendees who identified themselves as members of the skateboarding community said the city leaders should have begun outreach months ago, not days before the anticipated event, and they should have been proactive instead of waiting for an organizer to step up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aaron Breetwor, a downhill skater, said he applied for a city grant to host similar downhill skating events, only for the grant program to be canceled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993143\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993143\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A spectator shows support during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There were people who were prepared to put together the community engagement necessary to do things like this safely,” Breetwor said. “There is no lack of city interest in this event. There’s a lack of goodwill and good intent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11956110,news_11955479,news_11955465\"]Naomi Lopez, a Dolores Street resident and a parent of a then-15-year-old spectator who was arrested at last year’s Hill Bomb, is among those suing the city and police department for last year’s mass arrests. She called the situation a missed opportunity “to turn an event that has become ugly and has become us-against-them into a community event that could show teenagers, especially Black and brown ones, who are not represented in this room, that they belong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other attendees pushed back, expressing skepticism that any organization would agree to take on the liability of holding such an injury-prone event with a reputation for lawlessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, the hill bomb has attracted bad actors who do not have a peaceful intent,” said Carolyn Kenady, chair of the Dolores Heights Improvement Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993144\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993144\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An individual skates down Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even detractors of the hill bomb criticized city leaders for not being more decisive and proactive in efforts to stop the event from occurring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One person said that they had to push through the crowd with their toddler to reach their home and that their calls to 911 after hearing gunshots went unanswered. Another expressed disbelief at seeing children directing traffic. Another questioned why the city has stood by while the event proceeds in similar fashion year after year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993131\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993131\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paramedics assist a skater after a fall during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When dealing with this or any event that poses challenges, the City must change its approach to one that truly protects our community and keeps it safe,” said Rachel Lederman, senior counsel with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, the firm representing the arrested teens in a lawsuit. “That will not happen through increasingly aggressive and militarized policing. Civilian agencies should be managing this event collaboratively with the skateboard community and engage in de-escalation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lederman said legal observers will be there on Saturday and her organization is prepared to take legal action if any further civil rights violations occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Despite Police efforts to stop the 'Dolores Hill Bomb,' skaters moved one block over to a narrower street.",
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"title": "Police Close Off Dolores Street, Skaters 'Bomb' Church Street Instead | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update: 10 p.m. Saturday\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco officials succeeded Saturday night in stopping large numbers of skaters from riding down Dolores Street by setting up scores of barricades and stationing dozens of law enforcement officers in the planned path of the “Dolores Hill Bomb.” But skaters weren’t too disappointed, they just shifted their antics to Church Street on the opposite side of Dolores Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Skater Mark Urbieta said moving to Church was always part of the plan given that police interference on Dolores was expected, even though Church is, in his words, “gnarlier and narrower” than Dolores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can never stop a skater’s pride, bro, this s*** is never going to stop,” Urbieta said while resting after a nasty fall. “Every single day. We’re going to do it regardless. We’re going to do it from Twin Peaks all the way to Downtown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aside from using one police vehicle to stop traffic from crossing 18th Street at the bottom of Church Street, police made no effort to interfere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Urbieta added that if the police had moved to block off Church Street, attendees would have just found another hill to bomb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993149\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993149\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1274\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-800x510.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-1020x650.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-1536x978.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-21_qed-1920x1223.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An individual skates down Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gigi Basilio successfully rode to the bottom of the hill on her second attempt after a fall on her first try. She embraced her friend as the crowd cheered her on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People were dapping me up, saying ‘You got this! You got this!’ and deep down inside, I felt like I had it, and I did it! And I’m so proud of myself because that’s the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced,” Basilio said, clearly emotional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Basilio said she felt the large police presence was unnecessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993150\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993150\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1327\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-800x531.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-1020x677.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-1536x1019.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-19_qed-1920x1274.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Skaters walk back up Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re not doing nothing wrong. We’re just trying to skate, trying to bomb, have fun, make memories, be with friends, family, with each other. Why are they trying to ruin our day?” Basilio said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one person was taken away by paramedics after falling at the bottom of the hill. On-site volunteer medics attended to others who suffered minor scrapes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 6 p.m. Saturday: \u003c/strong>San Francisco’s Mission Dolores Park was filled Saturday afternoon with crowds reveling in the summer heat wave. But among the revelers were police setting up metal barricades, blocking Dolores Street. The big question in the neighborhood: Will the “Dolores Hill Bomb” happen this year?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993148\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993148\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-27_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Skaters ride down Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The “hill bomb” is an annual, informal event organized by the Bay Area skateboard community where hundreds of skaters ride down a steep section of Dolores Street adjacent to the city’s Dolores Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/C82r59Hy9R3/\">Instagram post\u003c/a> by user vellskiiii set the time for 7 p.m. Saturday, but following messaging by the San Francisco Police Department strongly discouraging people from taking part, vellskiii posted that the event was canceled. “Event CANCELED!!! Police will be waiting at Dolores!!!” But it is unclear how many will receive that message — or heed it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993134\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993134\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1231\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-800x492.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-1020x628.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-160x98.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-1536x945.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-22-KQED-1920x1182.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A skater rides down Church Street seated on a skateboard during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024 \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This year’s hill bomb comes almost exactly one year since last year’s, which ended in San Francisco police mass-arresting 113 people, most of them minors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents of those arrested have since criticized the police response, detailing how their children were detained in the cold for hours without access to food, water or restrooms. Some of the parents have since sued the city and police on behalf of their children for alleged civil rights violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But despite the condemnations from parents and other community members, along with the looming specter of a costly class action lawsuit against the city, the San Francisco Police Department appears poised to use a similar approach this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993136\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993136\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-33-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SFPD stationed nearby during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The plan is almost the same ask as last year’s event,” wrote Mission Station Sgt. Jeff Aloise in a late June email to a Department of Public Works employee. “Dolores St will need to have enough barricades starting at 21st St stretching from building to building in an East/West direction, all the way down to 18th St/Dolores.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993132\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993132\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-15-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">18th and Dolores streets in San Francisco were closed on July 6, 2024, in an attempt to prevent the annual Dolores Hill Bomb. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Those emails were uncovered in a \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/dizz_h/status/1808705494623596549\">public records request\u003c/a> and shared with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event draws large crowds of people who come to watch the skaters ride down the hill at high speeds. Not everyone makes it. Many skaters sustained injuries and one died in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993133\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993133\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1410\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-800x564.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-1020x719.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-160x113.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-1536x1083.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-18-KQED-1920x1354.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A skater rides down Church Street during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some have criticized the event for being unsafe for both skaters and neighbors alike. Residents of the area say participants vandalize both public and private property during and after the event. Police said last year’s arrests began in response to attendees assaulting officers and vandalizing a MUNI light rail train.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the hill bomb is an organic gathering and, with no designated sponsors or organizers, canceling the event is not as simple as making an announcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That hasn’t stopped city officials from attempting to discourage attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993129\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993129\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-3-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Omar Arroyo crashes while riding down Church Street as part of the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re here to say officially, we do not intend to allow a hill bomb tomorrow,” Police Chief Bill Scott said during a Friday news conference. “We’re going to do everything we can to keep our community safe, to prevent that from happening. And as far as we’re concerned, there is no hill bomb tomorrow.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who represents the area, has echoed similar feelings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked in late June what he had to say to those planning to attend, he responded, “I would encourage them not to this year. I think this event has been unsafe for a number of years. I am eager and willing to partner with folks in the community who want to try to do a safe and fun hill bomb in 2025. But I think in 2024, the infrastructure is not there.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993130\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993130\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-6-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Omar Arroyo shows his injury after skating down Church Street during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Mandelman and Scott also led a community meeting on Monday, inviting community members to share their thoughts and recommendations for the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several attendees who identified themselves as members of the skateboarding community said the city leaders should have begun outreach months ago, not days before the anticipated event, and they should have been proactive instead of waiting for an organizer to step up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aaron Breetwor, a downhill skater, said he applied for a city grant to host similar downhill skating events, only for the grant program to be canceled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993143\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993143\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-31_qed-3-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A spectator shows support during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There were people who were prepared to put together the community engagement necessary to do things like this safely,” Breetwor said. “There is no lack of city interest in this event. There’s a lack of goodwill and good intent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Naomi Lopez, a Dolores Street resident and a parent of a then-15-year-old spectator who was arrested at last year’s Hill Bomb, is among those suing the city and police department for last year’s mass arrests. She called the situation a missed opportunity “to turn an event that has become ugly and has become us-against-them into a community event that could show teenagers, especially Black and brown ones, who are not represented in this room, that they belong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other attendees pushed back, expressing skepticism that any organization would agree to take on the liability of holding such an injury-prone event with a reputation for lawlessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, the hill bomb has attracted bad actors who do not have a peaceful intent,” said Carolyn Kenady, chair of the Dolores Heights Improvement Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993144\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993144\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DoloresHillBomb-28_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An individual skates down Church Street during the annual Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even detractors of the hill bomb criticized city leaders for not being more decisive and proactive in efforts to stop the event from occurring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One person said that they had to push through the crowd with their toddler to reach their home and that their calls to 911 after hearing gunshots went unanswered. Another expressed disbelief at seeing children directing traffic. Another questioned why the city has stood by while the event proceeds in similar fashion year after year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11993131\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11993131\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/20240706_DOLORESHILLBOMB-13-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paramedics assist a skater after a fall during the Dolores Hill Bomb on July 6, 2024. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When dealing with this or any event that poses challenges, the City must change its approach to one that truly protects our community and keeps it safe,” said Rachel Lederman, senior counsel with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, the firm representing the arrested teens in a lawsuit. “That will not happen through increasingly aggressive and militarized policing. Civilian agencies should be managing this event collaboratively with the skateboard community and engage in de-escalation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lederman said legal observers will be there on Saturday and her organization is prepared to take legal action if any further civil rights violations occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "At 64, Santa Cruz Slalom Skateboarding Mom Trains for World Games",
"headTitle": "At 64, Santa Cruz Slalom Skateboarding Mom Trains for World Games | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Judi Oyama weaves a skateboard through small, white cones lined up on a bike path in Santa Cruz. She’s training to compete internationally as a slalom skateboarder. It’s a sport she’s mastered over the past 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they see me with a skateboard, they think it’s my kids or my grandkids,” Oyama says, adding that she doesn’t have grandkids. “They don’t expect someone my age to be skateboarding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 64 years old, Oyama is faster than she’s ever been. In fact, she’s one of the best in the country. At the World Skate Games in Rome this fall, she’ll race against riders from all over the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slalom skateboarding, as opposed to traditional skateboarding, doesn’t involve fancy tricks or style points. Slalom skaters compete based on speed and accuracy while weaving through obstacles — usually cones. Riders typically launch off a ramp to generate speed, and on some courses, skateboarders reach above 30 miles per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11981072\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11981072\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A skateboarder with a red helmet slaloms through a line of white cones on a road.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judi Oyama weaves through cones on a bike path in Santa Cruz on Feb. 19, 2024, while preparing for the 2024 World Skate Games. \u003ccite>(Erin Malsbury for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve gone on these giant slalom courses where sometimes I’ll just scream as I’m going because I’m scared and happy at the same time,” Oyama recalls with a laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of her recent races was a bank slalom — where riders weave up and down walls in a concrete ditch — in the middle of the Nevada desert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was new and challenging and scary,” Oyama says. “There were metal rung ladders that were on each bank, and you had to time it to go around the cone and go in between the metal ladders. I did crash a couple of times and tweaked my ankle, but I kept doing it because it was fun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Judi Oyama\"]‘Don’t let anyone tell you you’re too old or it’s just a toy. If you enjoy it, keep skateboarding.’[/pullquote]Competitions are nothing new to Judi. She did her first downhill race at 15 in Capitola in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s been part of the local skate scene ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of her first jobs was packing and shipping skateboard parts and putting bearings in wheels for the Santa Cruz skateboard company NHS, or NHS Skate Direct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I silkscreened skateboards for them,” Oyama says. “That’s kind of where I learned how.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The job at the Santa Cruz skateboard company helped launch her career in graphic design. She started airbrushing surfboards and creating window displays at a shop owned by NHS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For about 20 years, there weren’t many slalom skateboarding races to go to, but Oyama kept skateboarding for fun and to get around town.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcHpec4qy4k\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a friend called her in 2001 and told her that official races had started back up, she jumped at the chance to get back into it. Her hands were full with two young children at the time, but she didn’t let that slow her down. The kids came to her races.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were in diapers,” Oyama remembers. “I was still breastfeeding when I started racing in my early 40s again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she jumped back into the game, she started winning and never stopped. In 2018, she was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On the world stage and in museums \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When the NHS Skate Museum opened in a large warehouse in Santa Cruz, Oyama helped curate it. During a tour of the museum, she points out a glass display.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Inside this case is my original Santa Cruz skateboard team bag,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The museum is full of photos and videos of old competitions, colorful skateboards and vintage skate art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11981073\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11981073\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-scaled.jpg\" alt='A pile of gear and a bag with \"Santa Cruz\" written on it, with old photos on a wall behind it.' width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judi Oyama’s team bag is displayed with other skateboarding gear from the ’70s at the NHS Skate Museum. \u003ccite>(Erin Malsbury for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first display is one of Judi’s early skateboards — an original Santa Cruz brand board. It’s made of deep red fiberglass with red wheels, and “Santa Cruz skateboards” is printed in yellow block letters on the bottom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Oyama’s helmets from her early skating days is in the Smithsonian Institution Archives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know you’re old when your stuff’s in a museum,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oyama hadn’t planned to skateboard at all anymore, let alone professionally. When, earlier in her career, one of her racing friends suggested they would still be skating in their 60s, Oyama laughed and told them it was “crazy talk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oyama raced at the last World Skate Games in Argentina in 2022. After qualifying again — this time for Rome — she immediately began training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To keep in shape, she goes to 6 a.m. CrossFit classes five times a week — lifting weights, doing box jumps and cardio — and pays close attention to nutrition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11981075\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11981075\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-scaled.jpg\" alt='The bottom of a skateboard hanging on a wall reads \"Santa Cruz Skateboards.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Judi Oyama’s first skateboards is now displayed in the NHS Skate Museum. \u003ccite>(Erin Malsbury for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of Oyama’s longtime skating buddies, John Ravitch, who’s also a slalom coach, says her commitment to the sport isn’t new.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the time I’ve known Judi, she’s always been a very focused and intense competitor and very focused on self-improvement,” he says. “On top of being a full-time professional creative director and working another job and also raising two kids. It’s pretty incredible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A mentor to new slalom skateboarders \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oyama is known as both a force to be reckoned with and an encouraging advocate in the skating world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Isa Ruiz, a 31-year-old who is also on the USA national team, says Oyama has always been uplifting to new women in the sport, “giving them socks and making everyone feel super welcome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"arts_13931352,arts_13951732,arts_13916267\"]Ruiz was a junior racer when the two first met around 2005, and Oyama became an inspiration to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She’s always really been a mentor to me,” Ruiz says. “She’s always cheering me on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oyama encourages them even when they compete against each other, like at the World Skate Games two years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually beat her for the first time in the giant slalom at the World Skate Games. And so that was a huge accomplishment for me,” Ruiz says. “And she was just so happy for me and encouraging. … We can all be really competitive in the sport, but she really felt joy and was really proud of me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judi also inspires other moms through her skating apparel line. She created a line of stickers and clothing called “Badass Skatemom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friends encouraged her to start selling shirts, socks, and sweatshirts with designs and phrases like “be brave” and “fearless.” The profits help sponsor her races and other skateboarding moms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have a couple silk screens that have different graphics on it,” explains Oyama. “One says ‘badass,’ or it has the mermaid or my dog standing on a skateboard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11981074\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2489px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11981074\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG.jpg\" alt=\"A young woman skateboarder with helmet and knee pads skates a ramp in an old photo.\" width=\"2489\" height=\"1811\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG.jpg 2489w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-800x582.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-1020x742.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-160x116.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-1536x1118.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-2048x1490.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-1920x1397.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2489px) 100vw, 2489px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judi Oyama skateboards at Winchester skatepark on a striped board that she silkscreened and hand-painted. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Michael Smiley Goldman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The tagline for Badass skate mom is “Be Badass every day.” And she tells people to keep pursuing things that they love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t let anyone tell you you’re too old or it’s just a toy,” Oyama says. “If you enjoy it, keep skateboarding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oyama says she’ll keep skating for as long as it still brings her joy, whether that’s from slalom races or from the ramp in her backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says if the joy ever wears off, she may pick up another passion. “I want to get back into riding horses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Judi Oyama weaves a skateboard through small, white cones lined up on a bike path in Santa Cruz. She’s training to compete internationally as a slalom skateboarder. It’s a sport she’s mastered over the past 50 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they see me with a skateboard, they think it’s my kids or my grandkids,” Oyama says, adding that she doesn’t have grandkids. “They don’t expect someone my age to be skateboarding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At 64 years old, Oyama is faster than she’s ever been. In fact, she’s one of the best in the country. At the World Skate Games in Rome this fall, she’ll race against riders from all over the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Slalom skateboarding, as opposed to traditional skateboarding, doesn’t involve fancy tricks or style points. Slalom skaters compete based on speed and accuracy while weaving through obstacles — usually cones. Riders typically launch off a ramp to generate speed, and on some courses, skateboarders reach above 30 miles per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11981072\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11981072\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A skateboarder with a red helmet slaloms through a line of white cones on a road.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_1762-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judi Oyama weaves through cones on a bike path in Santa Cruz on Feb. 19, 2024, while preparing for the 2024 World Skate Games. \u003ccite>(Erin Malsbury for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve gone on these giant slalom courses where sometimes I’ll just scream as I’m going because I’m scared and happy at the same time,” Oyama recalls with a laugh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of her recent races was a bank slalom — where riders weave up and down walls in a concrete ditch — in the middle of the Nevada desert.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was new and challenging and scary,” Oyama says. “There were metal rung ladders that were on each bank, and you had to time it to go around the cone and go in between the metal ladders. I did crash a couple of times and tweaked my ankle, but I kept doing it because it was fun.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Don’t let anyone tell you you’re too old or it’s just a toy. If you enjoy it, keep skateboarding.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Competitions are nothing new to Judi. She did her first downhill race at 15 in Capitola in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s been part of the local skate scene ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of her first jobs was packing and shipping skateboard parts and putting bearings in wheels for the Santa Cruz skateboard company NHS, or NHS Skate Direct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I silkscreened skateboards for them,” Oyama says. “That’s kind of where I learned how.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The job at the Santa Cruz skateboard company helped launch her career in graphic design. She started airbrushing surfboards and creating window displays at a shop owned by NHS.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For about 20 years, there weren’t many slalom skateboarding races to go to, but Oyama kept skateboarding for fun and to get around town.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/fcHpec4qy4k'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/fcHpec4qy4k'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>When a friend called her in 2001 and told her that official races had started back up, she jumped at the chance to get back into it. Her hands were full with two young children at the time, but she didn’t let that slow her down. The kids came to her races.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were in diapers,” Oyama remembers. “I was still breastfeeding when I started racing in my early 40s again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When she jumped back into the game, she started winning and never stopped. In 2018, she was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>On the world stage and in museums \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When the NHS Skate Museum opened in a large warehouse in Santa Cruz, Oyama helped curate it. During a tour of the museum, she points out a glass display.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Inside this case is my original Santa Cruz skateboard team bag,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The museum is full of photos and videos of old competitions, colorful skateboards and vintage skate art.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11981073\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11981073\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-scaled.jpg\" alt='A pile of gear and a bag with \"Santa Cruz\" written on it, with old photos on a wall behind it.' width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2257-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judi Oyama’s team bag is displayed with other skateboarding gear from the ’70s at the NHS Skate Museum. \u003ccite>(Erin Malsbury for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The first display is one of Judi’s early skateboards — an original Santa Cruz brand board. It’s made of deep red fiberglass with red wheels, and “Santa Cruz skateboards” is printed in yellow block letters on the bottom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of Oyama’s helmets from her early skating days is in the Smithsonian Institution Archives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You know you’re old when your stuff’s in a museum,” she says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oyama hadn’t planned to skateboard at all anymore, let alone professionally. When, earlier in her career, one of her racing friends suggested they would still be skating in their 60s, Oyama laughed and told them it was “crazy talk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oyama raced at the last World Skate Games in Argentina in 2022. After qualifying again — this time for Rome — she immediately began training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To keep in shape, she goes to 6 a.m. CrossFit classes five times a week — lifting weights, doing box jumps and cardio — and pays close attention to nutrition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11981075\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11981075\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-scaled.jpg\" alt='The bottom of a skateboard hanging on a wall reads \"Santa Cruz Skateboards.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1709\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/DCS_2234-1920x1282.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One of Judi Oyama’s first skateboards is now displayed in the NHS Skate Museum. \u003ccite>(Erin Malsbury for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>One of Oyama’s longtime skating buddies, John Ravitch, who’s also a slalom coach, says her commitment to the sport isn’t new.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For the time I’ve known Judi, she’s always been a very focused and intense competitor and very focused on self-improvement,” he says. “On top of being a full-time professional creative director and working another job and also raising two kids. It’s pretty incredible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A mentor to new slalom skateboarders \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Oyama is known as both a force to be reckoned with and an encouraging advocate in the skating world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Isa Ruiz, a 31-year-old who is also on the USA national team, says Oyama has always been uplifting to new women in the sport, “giving them socks and making everyone feel super welcome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ruiz was a junior racer when the two first met around 2005, and Oyama became an inspiration to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“She’s always really been a mentor to me,” Ruiz says. “She’s always cheering me on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oyama encourages them even when they compete against each other, like at the World Skate Games two years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I actually beat her for the first time in the giant slalom at the World Skate Games. And so that was a huge accomplishment for me,” Ruiz says. “And she was just so happy for me and encouraging. … We can all be really competitive in the sport, but she really felt joy and was really proud of me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Judi also inspires other moms through her skating apparel line. She created a line of stickers and clothing called “Badass Skatemom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Friends encouraged her to start selling shirts, socks, and sweatshirts with designs and phrases like “be brave” and “fearless.” The profits help sponsor her races and other skateboarding moms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have a couple silk screens that have different graphics on it,” explains Oyama. “One says ‘badass,’ or it has the mermaid or my dog standing on a skateboard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11981074\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 2489px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11981074\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG.jpg\" alt=\"A young woman skateboarder with helmet and knee pads skates a ramp in an old photo.\" width=\"2489\" height=\"1811\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG.jpg 2489w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-800x582.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-1020x742.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-160x116.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-1536x1118.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-2048x1490.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/03/JudiOyama_Winchester-cropped-FSG-1920x1397.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2489px) 100vw, 2489px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Judi Oyama skateboards at Winchester skatepark on a striped board that she silkscreened and hand-painted. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Michael Smiley Goldman)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The tagline for Badass skate mom is “Be Badass every day.” And she tells people to keep pursuing things that they love.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Don’t let anyone tell you you’re too old or it’s just a toy,” Oyama says. “If you enjoy it, keep skateboarding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oyama says she’ll keep skating for as long as it still brings her joy, whether that’s from slalom races or from the ramp in her backyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She says if the joy ever wears off, she may pick up another passion. “I want to get back into riding horses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "SFPD Releases Video Footage From Skateboarding 'Hill Bomb'",
"headTitle": "SFPD Releases Video Footage From Skateboarding ‘Hill Bomb’ | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s Department of Police Accountability and SFPD’s internal affairs division are separately investigating SFPD’s response to a youth-led skateboarding event that took place on Saturday, July 8, law enforcement officials said at a police commission meeting on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this year’s Dolores Park “hill bomb,” more than 110 people — 83 youth and 34 adults — were detained for inciting a riot, as well as for remaining present at an unlawful assembly and conspiracy, after the annual skateboarding event was shut down by police. Most were cited for misdemeanors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Kevin Ortiz, co-president, San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club\"]‘They never had any justification in the first place to charge these youth.’[/pullquote]“If there’s one group that the police should be trained to deescalate, it’s with the youth, and there is no excuse,” said Kevin Ortiz, co-president of the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hill bomb is an unsanctioned skateboarding event where skateboarders test their tricks down San Francisco’s steep hills. It is not permitted by the city and is organized mostly through word of mouth and social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many parents on Wednesday expressed outrage over the militarized police response to the annual skateboarding event this year. Video footage from July 8 shows officers in riot gear pointing less-lethal rifles at teenagers in an attempt to close down the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956080\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11956080 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man with glasses and wearing a police uniform speaks into a microphone.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police Chief William Scott speaks during a police commission meeting at City Hall in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nearly half of all youth arrested were Latino, according to demographic data shared by Chief Bill Scott at the police commission meeting on Wednesday. Scott says his department is reviewing its policies for detaining juveniles in response to the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officer body camera footage shows San Francisco police telling youth to disperse before the event spiraled into chaos. The videos show a can, a glass bottle and a firework launched toward officers. They also show an officer firing a less-lethal weapon at people climbing a Muni vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers discharged these “less-lethal” foam rifles 15 times that day, and used physical force to take down someone three times, Scott said. Only a small portion of the available video footage has been released. Footage of the juveniles’ arrests could not be shown due to state and local privacy laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents and youth who spoke before the meeting described the youth waiting for hours with their hands zip-tied without access to bathrooms or the ability to call their parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11955479,news_11955465\" label=\"Related Posts\"]One parent named Lisa E., who asked not to use her last name to protect her son’s privacy, said she was sitting with her son at home around 8 p.m. when he left to take a scooter to a friend’s house near the skateboarding event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They asked the policeman, where should we go? And the cops said, go that way. So they went that way right into the riot cops, where the riot cops grabbed the three kids,” she said to reporters before the commission meeting. “They were detained. They were told to stay. They were not allowed to call us. They were zip-tied and he was forced to stay with a group of kids, this very large crowd of kids, until 1:00 in the morning. No jacket.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Lisa E. said, she received a call from the Juvenile Probation Department saying her son’s case had not been dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Blanco, a trustee for the San Bruno Park School District, said that seven youth from her district were caught up in the arrests, including her own daughter’s friends, who spoke at the commission meeting on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of her daughter’s friends included 16-year-old Lesley, whose last name is omitted for privacy concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just remember when they were trying to close down the event, they were getting really aggressive. And when they closed the street they kept saying we are under arrest but not why,” Lesley told KQED. “Then they zip-tied us and put us on the busses. A bunch of people needed to use the bathroom and I got pushed into a seat and my elbow was bruised. The zip-ties were really tight. I don’t know why we were treated that way. There was a 12-year-old on our bus and she didn’t know why she was there. We had to wait until after we got processed to get a phone call. Probably like 12 to 1 in the morning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956078\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11956078\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people seated in an official looking building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members attend a police commission meeting at City Hall in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lisa E. said the event has warped her son’s ideas on policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s a good kid. He gets straight A’s. He volunteers at the rec center and his perspective is changed now,” she said. “It’s been altered of how he thinks about law enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charges against the majority of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11955479/a-step-backward-sf-police-commission-questions-mass-arrest-at-skateboarding-event\">teenagers swept up in the mass arrest following the skateboarding event\u003c/a> at Dolores Park will likely be dropped, \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2023/07/hill-bomb-sf-to-dismiss-almost-all-charges-against-teens/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Mission%20Local&utm_campaign=2f38168f69-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_17_12_00&utm_term=0_-2f38168f69-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=2f38168f69&mc_eid=e089857c8e\">Mission Local reports\u003c/a>. Some families have already been told they won’t need to show up to a court hearing and the cases will be dropped, according to Ortiz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many parents at the commission meeting said they had not yet received that guidance. Many are still confused about the status of their cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They never had any justification in the first place to charge these youth,” Ortiz told KQED. “For the majority of cases to be dropped like that, it clearly shows SFPD overreached.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department did not confirm the exact number of people whose cases will be dropped. Officials from the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office also did not confirm the number of youth whose cases would be cleared when asked by KQED on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one case involving an adult has been discharged, KQED confirmed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Each case will be assessed individually to determine if it can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Randy Quezada, communications director for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. “All avenues to ensure there is appropriate accountability will be explored.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youth probation officials said they are still awaiting results of the police department’s investigation into the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956084\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11956084\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Several people stand behind a person speaking at a podium.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members hold a rally in front of City Hall before the Police Commission meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We are in the process of contacting all parents/guardians to let them know that we will reach back out to them when we have more information,” said Katherine Weinstein Miller, chief juvenile probation officer for the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One attorney is exploring a lawsuit on behalf of the youth and families who believe they were wrongfully detained at the skateboarding event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel Lederman, senior counsel at the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, told KQED she had heard from multiple parents whose children were not even at the event but got swept up in the mass arrest when they were walking, or in one case riding a scooter, through the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just appalled by this,” said Lederman. “I’m talking to kids who were simply passersby or were trying to go home, just in the general vicinity of where the event had been when they were trapped between police lines, not allowed to leave, [[arrested] and detained in appalling conditions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the police crackdown on the event said that it has been problematic in the past. Injuries are common, and one death took place in 2020 when a cyclist collided with the hill bomb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were correct to try to bring it to a speedy end,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes Dolores Park. SFPD, he said, “will continue to need to do police work and I don’t think they could allow an event like this to go on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s hill bomb caused public transit vehicles to come to a halt as participants and onlookers crowded streets. Photos show one group of teenagers climbing on top of a Muni train and spray-painting graffiti on its outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There needs to be healing,” Ortiz said. “But there is a silver lining, and this kind of experience can lead to organizing that can push for more resources for young people”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "'They never had any justification in the first place to charge these youth,' said Kevin Ortiz of the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s Department of Police Accountability and SFPD’s internal affairs division are separately investigating SFPD’s response to a youth-led skateboarding event that took place on Saturday, July 8, law enforcement officials said at a police commission meeting on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At this year’s Dolores Park “hill bomb,” more than 110 people — 83 youth and 34 adults — were detained for inciting a riot, as well as for remaining present at an unlawful assembly and conspiracy, after the annual skateboarding event was shut down by police. Most were cited for misdemeanors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“If there’s one group that the police should be trained to deescalate, it’s with the youth, and there is no excuse,” said Kevin Ortiz, co-president of the San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hill bomb is an unsanctioned skateboarding event where skateboarders test their tricks down San Francisco’s steep hills. It is not permitted by the city and is organized mostly through word of mouth and social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many parents on Wednesday expressed outrage over the militarized police response to the annual skateboarding event this year. Video footage from July 8 shows officers in riot gear pointing less-lethal rifles at teenagers in an attempt to close down the event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956080\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-11956080 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man with glasses and wearing a police uniform speaks into a microphone.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-800x534.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED-1920x1281.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67115_20230719-cityhallrally-10-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Police Chief William Scott speaks during a police commission meeting at City Hall in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nearly half of all youth arrested were Latino, according to demographic data shared by Chief Bill Scott at the police commission meeting on Wednesday. Scott says his department is reviewing its policies for detaining juveniles in response to the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officer body camera footage shows San Francisco police telling youth to disperse before the event spiraled into chaos. The videos show a can, a glass bottle and a firework launched toward officers. They also show an officer firing a less-lethal weapon at people climbing a Muni vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officers discharged these “less-lethal” foam rifles 15 times that day, and used physical force to take down someone three times, Scott said. Only a small portion of the available video footage has been released. Footage of the juveniles’ arrests could not be shown due to state and local privacy laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Parents and youth who spoke before the meeting described the youth waiting for hours with their hands zip-tied without access to bathrooms or the ability to call their parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>One parent named Lisa E., who asked not to use her last name to protect her son’s privacy, said she was sitting with her son at home around 8 p.m. when he left to take a scooter to a friend’s house near the skateboarding event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They asked the policeman, where should we go? And the cops said, go that way. So they went that way right into the riot cops, where the riot cops grabbed the three kids,” she said to reporters before the commission meeting. “They were detained. They were told to stay. They were not allowed to call us. They were zip-tied and he was forced to stay with a group of kids, this very large crowd of kids, until 1:00 in the morning. No jacket.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Lisa E. said, she received a call from the Juvenile Probation Department saying her son’s case had not been dismissed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Blanco, a trustee for the San Bruno Park School District, said that seven youth from her district were caught up in the arrests, including her own daughter’s friends, who spoke at the commission meeting on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of her daughter’s friends included 16-year-old Lesley, whose last name is omitted for privacy concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just remember when they were trying to close down the event, they were getting really aggressive. And when they closed the street they kept saying we are under arrest but not why,” Lesley told KQED. “Then they zip-tied us and put us on the busses. A bunch of people needed to use the bathroom and I got pushed into a seat and my elbow was bruised. The zip-ties were really tight. I don’t know why we were treated that way. There was a 12-year-old on our bus and she didn’t know why she was there. We had to wait until after we got processed to get a phone call. Probably like 12 to 1 in the morning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956078\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11956078\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A group of people seated in an official looking building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67117_20230719-cityhallrally-11-JY-KQED.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members attend a police commission meeting at City Hall in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lisa E. said the event has warped her son’s ideas on policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He’s a good kid. He gets straight A’s. He volunteers at the rec center and his perspective is changed now,” she said. “It’s been altered of how he thinks about law enforcement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Charges against the majority of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11955479/a-step-backward-sf-police-commission-questions-mass-arrest-at-skateboarding-event\">teenagers swept up in the mass arrest following the skateboarding event\u003c/a> at Dolores Park will likely be dropped, \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2023/07/hill-bomb-sf-to-dismiss-almost-all-charges-against-teens/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Mission%20Local&utm_campaign=2f38168f69-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_07_17_12_00&utm_term=0_-2f38168f69-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=2f38168f69&mc_eid=e089857c8e\">Mission Local reports\u003c/a>. Some families have already been told they won’t need to show up to a court hearing and the cases will be dropped, according to Ortiz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many parents at the commission meeting said they had not yet received that guidance. Many are still confused about the status of their cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They never had any justification in the first place to charge these youth,” Ortiz told KQED. “For the majority of cases to be dropped like that, it clearly shows SFPD overreached.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department did not confirm the exact number of people whose cases will be dropped. Officials from the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office also did not confirm the number of youth whose cases would be cleared when asked by KQED on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one case involving an adult has been discharged, KQED confirmed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Each case will be assessed individually to determine if it can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Randy Quezada, communications director for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. “All avenues to ensure there is appropriate accountability will be explored.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Youth probation officials said they are still awaiting results of the police department’s investigation into the incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11956084\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1.jpg\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11956084\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Several people stand behind a person speaking at a podium.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/07/RS67118_20230719-cityhallrally-13-JY-KQED_1.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members hold a rally in front of City Hall before the Police Commission meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We are in the process of contacting all parents/guardians to let them know that we will reach back out to them when we have more information,” said Katherine Weinstein Miller, chief juvenile probation officer for the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One attorney is exploring a lawsuit on behalf of the youth and families who believe they were wrongfully detained at the skateboarding event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rachel Lederman, senior counsel at the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, told KQED she had heard from multiple parents whose children were not even at the event but got swept up in the mass arrest when they were walking, or in one case riding a scooter, through the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just appalled by this,” said Lederman. “I’m talking to kids who were simply passersby or were trying to go home, just in the general vicinity of where the event had been when they were trapped between police lines, not allowed to leave, [[arrested] and detained in appalling conditions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters of the police crackdown on the event said that it has been problematic in the past. Injuries are common, and one death took place in 2020 when a cyclist collided with the hill bomb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They were correct to try to bring it to a speedy end,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes Dolores Park. SFPD, he said, “will continue to need to do police work and I don’t think they could allow an event like this to go on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year’s hill bomb caused public transit vehicles to come to a halt as participants and onlookers crowded streets. Photos show one group of teenagers climbing on top of a Muni train and spray-painting graffiti on its outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There needs to be healing,” Ortiz said. “But there is a silver lining, and this kind of experience can lead to organizing that can push for more resources for young people”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'A Step Backward': SF Police Commission Questions Mass Arrest at Skateboarding Event",
"headTitle": "‘A Step Backward’: SF Police Commission Questions Mass Arrest at Skateboarding Event | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The San Francisco Police Commission tonight will likely probe Saturday’s mass arrests of primarily youth at a skateboarding event at Dolores Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 110 people were detained on Saturday night after an annual “hill bomb” skateboarding event in the Mission District was shut down by police. Many people have since criticized the forceful police tactics used to respond to the youth-led event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Kevin Benedicto, San Francisco police commissioner\"]‘I think there’s a consensus that events like this need to be made more safe. But I question whether what we saw made this more safe.’[/pullquote]A total of 81 juveniles and 32 adults were arrested for “inciting a riot” according to police, as well as for remaining present at an unlawful assembly and conspiracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials tasked with reviewing the city’s police department are questioning the force tactics officers employed, including pointing less-lethal rifles at teenagers to deter the activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One San Francisco police commissioner said the police response was “troubling, to say the least.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s a consensus that events like this need to be made more safe. But I question whether what we saw made this more safe,” said Kevin Benedicto, a San Francisco police commissioner, who said \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/meeting/july-12-2023/july-12-2023-police-commission-meeting\">he plans to discuss the actions at tonight’s commission meeting\u003c/a>. The police commission oversees police department policy and disciplinary hearings on police misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The department has made a lot of progress in recent years on sort of modernizing the way it deals with juveniles and with youth,” Benedicto said. “And this seems a little bit like a step backward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The annual hill bomb, which is not city-sanctioned, attracts hundreds of people to watch skateboarders of all ages fly down Dolores Street, and resulting injuries are not uncommon. But at this year’s event, scenes of a blocked Muni train covered in graffiti, small fires and teenagers running from police in riot gear overshadowed the gravity-defying runs down Dolores Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one attorney is exploring a lawsuit on behalf of the youth and families who believe they were wrongfully detained at the skateboarding event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of interest in suing and challenging this police misconduct to prevent something like this from happening again,” said Rachel Lederman, senior counsel at the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund. “Parents in particular are outraged at how they were treated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lederman said she has spoken with children as young as 13 and adults in their 30s who were swept up in Saturday’s mass arrest. She plans to hold a meeting next week with the affected families, and didn’t have a timeline for when a lawsuit could be filed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some parents waited four to six hours to reconnect with their children after they were detained at the event, Lederman said. “They were held as it became dark and cold. A lot of kids said they were freezing. They weren’t allowed to go to the bathroom, their phones were taken.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju echoed some of the concerns in a public statement Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The militarized police response to a youth-led skateboarding event was a tremendous overreach that escalated tensions, endangered young people and onlookers, and violated people’s rights,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raju said his office has heard from several parents of kids who were detained on Saturday for hours, and some were transported to San Francisco General Hospital “for unknown reasons” before reuniting with their parents. One child who was detained was not attending the skate event at all, but got swept up in the arrests while riding a scooter to his friend’s house, \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2023/07/teens-trapped-injured-by-sfpd-in-dolores-arrests-parents-say/\">Mission Local\u003c/a> reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have heard from at least one family whose child was detained on their way home despite having no skateboard or any affiliation with the event,” Raju said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event was organized largely through word of mouth and social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To many participants and onlookers, the hill bomb is a celebration of the city’s skate culture, youth and daredevil spirit. But it’s no doubt dangerous: Bruises and broken bones are a common occurrence. In 2020, a cyclist died in a collision with one of the skateboarders at the hill bomb event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pointing to violent outcomes in the event’s history, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said that this year’s event was “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RafaelMandelman/status/1678098260114944000\">safer than last year\u003c/a>” and said that the overall approach by police to shut down the event was warranted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There may be individuals who got caught up in it who should not have been. But overall, this was a mob engaged in destructive and dangerous activities,” Mandelman told KQED. “I believe that they were provided significant advance notice that arrests were going to happen if the crowd did not disperse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He suggested another approach the city could take would be to create a city-sanctioned event for skateboarders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, police reported that some teenagers threw glass bottles and fireworks at the officers. SFPD was aware of the event beforehand and placed barricades on Dolores Street for traffic safety. Additional officers were also assigned to the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to police, an officer was assaulted while attempting to detain a 16-year-old after he spat at the officer’s face. The officer was taken to the hospital, and photos show he had a cut on his forehead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, a Muni vehicle on Church and 17th streets was blocked by the crowd, and some youth began climbing on top of the vehicle and spray-painting the sides of the car, video footage and police reports show. Shortly after, the park was ordered to close and the fire department arrived on scene to extinguish fires caused by fireworks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mass arrests began around 8 p.m. when the crowd did not comply with orders to disperse, and police kettled a large group of teenagers in the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This dangerous and unlawful behavior put members of the public and our officers at risk of serious injury or worse,” said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott. “This behavior will not be tolerated in our city and I thank our officers for taking action to hold those accountable who brazenly engaged in reckless and dangerous behavior and violated the law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor London Breed also backed the police response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was an unpermitted event that has led to serious problems in the past, including property destruction and physical injury. The last time it was held, someone died. In San Francisco, we welcome public events that are conducted safely. This event was not that. People assaulted police officers, set fires, and vandalized property, including Muni vehicles,” a spokesperson from the Mayor’s office said in an email to KQED. “No one at this event was arrested for skateboarding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But others criticized the militarized approach police took to try to control the activity, saying it escalated frustration and violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is posturing from Mayor Breed to appear tough on crime, and these kids were used as pawns in a political game to make it seem like they are doing something about crime,” said Lederman, who lives in the Mission District. “These are children and skateboarders, not criminals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED reporter Alex Hall contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The San Francisco Police Commission tonight will likely probe Saturday’s mass arrests of primarily youth at a skateboarding event at Dolores Park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 110 people were detained on Saturday night after an annual “hill bomb” skateboarding event in the Mission District was shut down by police. Many people have since criticized the forceful police tactics used to respond to the youth-led event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A total of 81 juveniles and 32 adults were arrested for “inciting a riot” according to police, as well as for remaining present at an unlawful assembly and conspiracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials tasked with reviewing the city’s police department are questioning the force tactics officers employed, including pointing less-lethal rifles at teenagers to deter the activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One San Francisco police commissioner said the police response was “troubling, to say the least.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s a consensus that events like this need to be made more safe. But I question whether what we saw made this more safe,” said Kevin Benedicto, a San Francisco police commissioner, who said \u003ca href=\"https://sf.gov/meeting/july-12-2023/july-12-2023-police-commission-meeting\">he plans to discuss the actions at tonight’s commission meeting\u003c/a>. The police commission oversees police department policy and disciplinary hearings on police misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The department has made a lot of progress in recent years on sort of modernizing the way it deals with juveniles and with youth,” Benedicto said. “And this seems a little bit like a step backward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The annual hill bomb, which is not city-sanctioned, attracts hundreds of people to watch skateboarders of all ages fly down Dolores Street, and resulting injuries are not uncommon. But at this year’s event, scenes of a blocked Muni train covered in graffiti, small fires and teenagers running from police in riot gear overshadowed the gravity-defying runs down Dolores Street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least one attorney is exploring a lawsuit on behalf of the youth and families who believe they were wrongfully detained at the skateboarding event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot of interest in suing and challenging this police misconduct to prevent something like this from happening again,” said Rachel Lederman, senior counsel at the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund. “Parents in particular are outraged at how they were treated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lederman said she has spoken with children as young as 13 and adults in their 30s who were swept up in Saturday’s mass arrest. She plans to hold a meeting next week with the affected families, and didn’t have a timeline for when a lawsuit could be filed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some parents waited four to six hours to reconnect with their children after they were detained at the event, Lederman said. “They were held as it became dark and cold. A lot of kids said they were freezing. They weren’t allowed to go to the bathroom, their phones were taken.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju echoed some of the concerns in a public statement Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The militarized police response to a youth-led skateboarding event was a tremendous overreach that escalated tensions, endangered young people and onlookers, and violated people’s rights,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raju said his office has heard from several parents of kids who were detained on Saturday for hours, and some were transported to San Francisco General Hospital “for unknown reasons” before reuniting with their parents. One child who was detained was not attending the skate event at all, but got swept up in the arrests while riding a scooter to his friend’s house, \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2023/07/teens-trapped-injured-by-sfpd-in-dolores-arrests-parents-say/\">Mission Local\u003c/a> reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have heard from at least one family whose child was detained on their way home despite having no skateboard or any affiliation with the event,” Raju said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event was organized largely through word of mouth and social media.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To many participants and onlookers, the hill bomb is a celebration of the city’s skate culture, youth and daredevil spirit. But it’s no doubt dangerous: Bruises and broken bones are a common occurrence. In 2020, a cyclist died in a collision with one of the skateboarders at the hill bomb event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pointing to violent outcomes in the event’s history, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said that this year’s event was “\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/RafaelMandelman/status/1678098260114944000\">safer than last year\u003c/a>” and said that the overall approach by police to shut down the event was warranted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There may be individuals who got caught up in it who should not have been. But overall, this was a mob engaged in destructive and dangerous activities,” Mandelman told KQED. “I believe that they were provided significant advance notice that arrests were going to happen if the crowd did not disperse.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He suggested another approach the city could take would be to create a city-sanctioned event for skateboarders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, police reported that some teenagers threw glass bottles and fireworks at the officers. SFPD was aware of the event beforehand and placed barricades on Dolores Street for traffic safety. Additional officers were also assigned to the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to police, an officer was assaulted while attempting to detain a 16-year-old after he spat at the officer’s face. The officer was taken to the hospital, and photos show he had a cut on his forehead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, a Muni vehicle on Church and 17th streets was blocked by the crowd, and some youth began climbing on top of the vehicle and spray-painting the sides of the car, video footage and police reports show. Shortly after, the park was ordered to close and the fire department arrived on scene to extinguish fires caused by fireworks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mass arrests began around 8 p.m. when the crowd did not comply with orders to disperse, and police kettled a large group of teenagers in the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This dangerous and unlawful behavior put members of the public and our officers at risk of serious injury or worse,” said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott. “This behavior will not be tolerated in our city and I thank our officers for taking action to hold those accountable who brazenly engaged in reckless and dangerous behavior and violated the law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor London Breed also backed the police response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was an unpermitted event that has led to serious problems in the past, including property destruction and physical injury. The last time it was held, someone died. In San Francisco, we welcome public events that are conducted safely. This event was not that. People assaulted police officers, set fires, and vandalized property, including Muni vehicles,” a spokesperson from the Mayor’s office said in an email to KQED. “No one at this event was arrested for skateboarding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But others criticized the militarized approach police took to try to control the activity, saying it escalated frustration and violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is posturing from Mayor Breed to appear tough on crime, and these kids were used as pawns in a political game to make it seem like they are doing something about crime,” said Lederman, who lives in the Mission District. “These are children and skateboarders, not criminals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"disqusTitle": "Teen Rediscovers San Francisco's Enduring Skate Spot: EMB",
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"headTitle": "The California Report Magazine | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This piece was written and produced by Nate Dolan, a student at El Cerrito High School, for KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/youthtakeover\">Youth Takeover Week\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been skateboarding since elementary school. One of the biggest things I’ve missed during the pandemic has been going to one of my favorite skate spots, the EMB at Justin Herman Plaza* in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11871661\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 160px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11871661 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-160x162.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"162\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-160x162.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-800x808.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-1020x1030.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-1521x1536.jpg 1521w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-2028x2048.jpg 2028w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-1920x1939.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nate Dolan, a student and skateboarder at El Cerrito High School. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of subject.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last year, I took my recorder out to capture the sounds of the Embarcadero skaters. It’s been pretty quiet over there recently, but with the state opening back up, the skateboarding community is bringing it back to life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1972, Justin Herman Plaza was built by Don Carter at the East end of the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. This plaza contains the Vaillancourt Fountain, an ice skating rink in the winter months, and a nice open space for nearby workers to congregate while on breaks. A visitor I spoke with at Justin Herman Plaza said, “You get to be in the middle of the action downtown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Justin Herman Plaza is also home to San Francisco's most famous skate spot. “EMB,” as skaters call it, is full of ledges, stair sets and gaps. The spot first gained popularity in the early '90s, and as skateboarding began to grow, people from all over the world came to the Embarcadero to show off their skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to another skater visiting the EMB, “It’s a legendary spot to come and skate.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11871659\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11871659 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nate performs a 'manual' on his skateboard. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nate Dolan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Through the '90s, EMB remained popular, and new spots in the plaza were discovered. Mark Gonzales, a famous pro skater, created “\u003ca href=\"http://www.xgames.com/action/skateboarding/article/7360682/history-lesson-embarcadero-gonz-gap\">The Gonz Gap\u003c/a>” there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The objective of this trick was to go from the top of one particular wall, ollie off and over a 10-foot gap, and land. There was also the “Hubba Hideout,” a set of six stairs with ledges on either side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These spots were so legendary in the skate world, that they even appeared in Thrasher’s 1999 video game \"Skate and Destroy.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://youtu.be/PEbFaOW0EQg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the skate scene at the plaza has changed since the '90s, you can still find skaters of all ages skating the plaza. Another EMB skater said, “I think it’s just as popular today as it ever has been.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The famous Embarcadero skate spot is a huge part of skateboarding culture, but for skaters, it’s just one part of San Francisco's massive skate scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*In a November 2017 vote, San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/SF-parks-commission-strips-Justin-Herman-s-name-12363778.php\">voted 4-2 to remove Justin Herman’s name from the plaza\u003c/a>. It is currently known as Embarcadero Plaza.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "Teen Rediscovers San Francisco's Enduring Skate Spot: EMB",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This piece was written and produced by Nate Dolan, a student at El Cerrito High School, for KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/youthtakeover\">Youth Takeover Week\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been skateboarding since elementary school. One of the biggest things I’ve missed during the pandemic has been going to one of my favorite skate spots, the EMB at Justin Herman Plaza* in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11871661\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 160px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11871661 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-160x162.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"160\" height=\"162\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-160x162.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-800x808.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-1020x1030.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-1521x1536.jpg 1521w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-2028x2048.jpg 2028w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Close-up-2-1920x1939.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nate Dolan, a student and skateboarder at El Cerrito High School. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of subject.)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last year, I took my recorder out to capture the sounds of the Embarcadero skaters. It’s been pretty quiet over there recently, but with the state opening back up, the skateboarding community is bringing it back to life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 1972, Justin Herman Plaza was built by Don Carter at the East end of the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. This plaza contains the Vaillancourt Fountain, an ice skating rink in the winter months, and a nice open space for nearby workers to congregate while on breaks. A visitor I spoke with at Justin Herman Plaza said, “You get to be in the middle of the action downtown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Justin Herman Plaza is also home to San Francisco's most famous skate spot. “EMB,” as skaters call it, is full of ledges, stair sets and gaps. The spot first gained popularity in the early '90s, and as skateboarding began to grow, people from all over the world came to the Embarcadero to show off their skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to another skater visiting the EMB, “It’s a legendary spot to come and skate.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11871659\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-11871659 size-large\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-1020x765.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2021/04/Manual-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nate performs a 'manual' on his skateboard. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Nate Dolan)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Through the '90s, EMB remained popular, and new spots in the plaza were discovered. Mark Gonzales, a famous pro skater, created “\u003ca href=\"http://www.xgames.com/action/skateboarding/article/7360682/history-lesson-embarcadero-gonz-gap\">The Gonz Gap\u003c/a>” there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The objective of this trick was to go from the top of one particular wall, ollie off and over a 10-foot gap, and land. There was also the “Hubba Hideout,” a set of six stairs with ledges on either side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These spots were so legendary in the skate world, that they even appeared in Thrasher’s 1999 video game \"Skate and Destroy.\"\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/PEbFaOW0EQg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/PEbFaOW0EQg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Though the skate scene at the plaza has changed since the '90s, you can still find skaters of all ages skating the plaza. Another EMB skater said, “I think it’s just as popular today as it ever has been.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The famous Embarcadero skate spot is a huge part of skateboarding culture, but for skaters, it’s just one part of San Francisco's massive skate scene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*In a November 2017 vote, San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/SF-parks-commission-strips-Justin-Herman-s-name-12363778.php\">voted 4-2 to remove Justin Herman’s name from the plaza\u003c/a>. It is currently known as Embarcadero Plaza.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Skateboarder Jake Phelps, longtime editor of the San Francisco-based skateboarding magazine Thrasher, has died at age 56. Tony Vitello, the magazine's publisher, confirmed Phelps' death in an \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/BvAo67FAIQz/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram post\u003c/a> on Thursday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"I never met anybody who loves anything more than Jake worshiped skateboarding,\" Vitello wrote. \"Just as we need food and water to survive, Jake needed skateboarding to keep his blood pumping. It was more than a hobby or form of transportation or way of life - it was his oxygen.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/BvAo67FAIQz/\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His uncle, Clark Phelps, \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/clark.phelps/posts/10217297117275279\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">posted on Facebook\u003c/a> on Thursday that his nephew \"died suddenly and easily today.\" Further details on his death have not yet been made public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phelps became the editor of Thrasher in 1993 and was one of the most well-known figures in the skateboarding world. The magazine is known as \"the bible\" to skaters, and according to a 2016 \u003ca href=\"https://story.californiasunday.com/jake-phelps-thrasher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Sunday Magazine profile\u003c/a> on Phelps, he liked to consider himself as the \"brand personified\":\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>Phelps is an unreconstructed punk rocker in a city that has little need or space for them anymore. He refuses to pay his Muni fare, instead slipping through the rear doors. He bums cigarettes everywhere he goes; he calls kids blood. He barks at strangers and screams at drivers. He sails through lights with an unearned confidence, directing traffic with cryptic hand gestures. He shoplifts candy bars just to see if people are paying attention.\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>He was known to brag about his violent close calls while skateboarding, including in 2017 when he suffered a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Skateboarder-Magazine-Editor-Recounts-Wipeout-at-SF-Event-From-His-Hospital-Bed-434425463.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">serious head injury\u003c/a> skating on Dolores Hill in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upon learning of Phelps' death, fans and fellow skateboarders took to social media to mourn his passing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"He was a true skateboarder to the end, a fan of diverse styles and a passion for the history of skating,\" \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/tonyhawk/status/1106551549730287618\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tweeted\u003c/a> skateboarding legend Tony Hawk.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/tonyhawk/status/1106551549730287618\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many fans cited Phelps and Thrasher as important parts of their lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/hiimdxr/status/1106642897141747713\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/CaseyyMarleyy/status/1106377563021234177\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/DanSena/status/1106365223575785472\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/ShowYouSuck/status/1106399149770137606\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/DanteRoss/status/1106475196620275712\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phelps' brash attitude and use of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MadDublier/status/1106935634977914884\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">homophobic slurs\u003c/a> made him a divisive figure for some in the skating community. In 2016, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.teenvogue.com/story/justin-bieber-thrasher-editor-jake-phelps-stop-wearing-thrasher-tees-rihanna\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lashed out\u003c/a> when celebrities including Rhianna and Justin Bieber started wearing Thrasher apparel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phelps spent the first 11 years of his life in California before his parents divorced. He moved to Massachusetts with his mom, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://story.californiasunday.com/jake-phelps-thrasher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Sunday Magazine profile\u003c/a>. That's where he first learned to skate and was briefly sponsored by Pepsi in the late 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He returned to San Francisco in the 1980s, working at a skate shop in the Haight before starting to write for Thrasher and boxing the brand's hats and T-shirts at its Hunters Point warehouse. Phelps would give editorial input on the magazine while working the warehouse before eventually being tapped to take over the publication in 1993.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Jake Phelps was 100% skateboarder, but that label sells him way too short,\" Vitello wrote in his Instagram remembrance, \"because beyond his enormous influence in our world, he was truly an individual beyond this world.\"\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Phelps' brash attitude and use of \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MadDublier/status/1106935634977914884\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">homophobic slurs\u003c/a> made him a divisive figure for some in the skating community. In 2016, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.teenvogue.com/story/justin-bieber-thrasher-editor-jake-phelps-stop-wearing-thrasher-tees-rihanna\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lashed out\u003c/a> when celebrities including Rhianna and Justin Bieber started wearing Thrasher apparel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phelps spent the first 11 years of his life in California before his parents divorced. He moved to Massachusetts with his mom, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://story.californiasunday.com/jake-phelps-thrasher\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Sunday Magazine profile\u003c/a>. That's where he first learned to skate and was briefly sponsored by Pepsi in the late 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He returned to San Francisco in the 1980s, working at a skate shop in the Haight before starting to write for Thrasher and boxing the brand's hats and T-shirts at its Hunters Point warehouse. Phelps would give editorial input on the magazine while working the warehouse before eventually being tapped to take over the publication in 1993.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Jake Phelps was 100% skateboarder, but that label sells him way too short,\" Vitello wrote in his Instagram remembrance, \"because beyond his enormous influence in our world, he was truly an individual beyond this world.\"\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Growing up in Oakland, Jeffrey Cheung felt like he lived in two different worlds: in one, he was gay, and in the other, he was a skateboarder. It was clear to him that the two didn’t mix. Nobody else knew he was gay, but when he went to the skatepark, other skaters threw around the word ‘gay’ as an insult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would get called like ‘faggot’ a lot, or like ‘that’s so gay’ and like ‘you’re gay’,” Cheung tells me. “It’s very homophobic. And not very welcoming. And I remember feeling very ashamed about myself and sexuality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when Cheung was 18, he decided to stop skating. It was just too hard to live in both worlds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653059\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11653059\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"598\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-160x159.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-240x239.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-375x374.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-520x518.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Unity founder Jeffrey Cheung is also an artist. He paints skateboard decks with inclusive images of genders and sexualities. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Unity Skateboard)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gabriel Ramirez grew up in Southern California, but he also lived in those two worlds. In high school he \u003ci>wanted\u003c/i> to try skateboarding, but says he was “too afraid to experience what would happen” if anyone found out he was gay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramirez remembers the day he met Cheung at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Finding out that he was gay and skateboarded, my mind was blown!” Ramirez laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramirez and Cheung started dating. They moved to Oakland, where they skated, played music and made ‘zines. At the end of 2016, their worlds were rocked: first by the presidential election. And then they lost a friend in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire. As their queer and artist communities grieved, they felt pushed to act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cheung pulled out a sharpie and made a flyer for a queer skateboarding meetup at a parking lot. It was low-tech and low-expectations, just bring your board and show up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653056\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 586px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11653056\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"586\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer.png 586w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-160x164.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-240x246.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-375x384.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-520x532.png 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-50x50.png 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A flyer for one of Unity’s queer skate days. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Unity Skateboards)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The first one was just amazing, so many people came,” Cheung recalls. “And it was just a space where everyone could just feel welcome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It went so well, they decided to do them monthly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a year later, this monthly meetup has a name: Unity Skateboards. Ramirez and Cheung continue to organize queer skate days in the Bay Area and up to 60 people show up each month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653042\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 599px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11653042 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut.jpg 599w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut-160x146.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut-240x218.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut-375x341.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut-520x473.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Unity’s queer skate days draw up to 60 people each month. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Unity Skateboards)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cheung stresses how unique the Unity atmosphere is compared to other places he has skated. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes it’s just like ridiculous how positive and supporting it is. I’ve never been in a place where everyone is just so happy and just supportive. People are like bringing food, like ‘here’s water’, and…it’s unbelievable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What started as a casual meetup in a parking lot is now a community of people — skaters and non-skaters, queer and straight — who all want to shred.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.instagram.com/p/BWqPkXYDwUp/?taken-by=unityskateboarding\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And now, they actually have a place to come together indoors. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With money earned from their full-time jobs, Jeffrey and Gabriel are renting the top floor of a bookstore downtown Oakland. Jeffrey says it’s important to have a permanent safe space for their community. The walls of the wooden loft are covered with skateboards and artwork. There’s a printing press in one corner, a couch in the other. It reminds me of a clubhouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653052\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11653052\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People crowd into Unity Skateboards’ new loft space for the opening party. \u003ccite>(Nadine Sebai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The tiny shop is packed for the opening party. Louise Alban has been skating with Unity for almost two years, and she says it has helped her learn to love all of her identities: “I’m a skateboarder and I’m a queer, and then I’m also female and… I can do all of those things and there’s other people like me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alban started skating when she was 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom like hated it,” she says. “She thought girls shouldn’t be skating and I was like that young defiant little kid, and I was like ‘I’m going to skate anyway.’ So I did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653053\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11653053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Louise Alban started skating she was 11. Her mom didn’t think that girls should skate. \u003ccite>(Nadine Sebai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alban found out about Unity Skateboards on Instagram. She sent Cheung a video of herself skating. He mailed her back a skateboard, an invitation to come skate with them. Louise moved from her home in Yucaipa a few months later to attend her first queer skate day, and she’s been in Oakland ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unity’s founder, Jeffrey Cheung, says now, he has the most queer friends he’s ever had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also says that if there was something like this when he was younger, it would have changed his life entirely. He wouldn’t have felt so alone and ashamed of being gay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, with Unity Skateboards, Cheung says he hopes he’s making it a little easier for the next generation of young people to find acceptance — at school, at home, and at the skatepark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>On March 4, 2017 Jeffrey Cheung and Unity Press will be hosting a \u003ca href=\"https://bampfa.org/event/riso-printing-unity-press\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">zine making workshop\u003c/a> at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Growing up in Oakland, Jeffrey Cheung felt like he lived in two different worlds: in one, he was gay, and in the other, he was a skateboarder. It was clear to him that the two didn’t mix. Nobody else knew he was gay, but when he went to the skatepark, other skaters threw around the word ‘gay’ as an insult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would get called like ‘faggot’ a lot, or like ‘that’s so gay’ and like ‘you’re gay’,” Cheung tells me. “It’s very homophobic. And not very welcoming. And I remember feeling very ashamed about myself and sexuality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So when Cheung was 18, he decided to stop skating. It was just too hard to live in both worlds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653059\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 600px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11653059\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"598\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut.jpg 600w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-160x159.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-240x239.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-375x374.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-520x518.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29716_skateboards-qut-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Unity founder Jeffrey Cheung is also an artist. He paints skateboard decks with inclusive images of genders and sexualities. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Unity Skateboard)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gabriel Ramirez grew up in Southern California, but he also lived in those two worlds. In high school he \u003ci>wanted\u003c/i> to try skateboarding, but says he was “too afraid to experience what would happen” if anyone found out he was gay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramirez remembers the day he met Cheung at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Finding out that he was gay and skateboarded, my mind was blown!” Ramirez laughs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ramirez and Cheung started dating. They moved to Oakland, where they skated, played music and made ‘zines. At the end of 2016, their worlds were rocked: first by the presidential election. And then they lost a friend in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire. As their queer and artist communities grieved, they felt pushed to act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cheung pulled out a sharpie and made a flyer for a queer skateboarding meetup at a parking lot. It was low-tech and low-expectations, just bring your board and show up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653056\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 586px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11653056\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"586\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer.png 586w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-160x164.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-240x246.png 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-375x384.png 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-520x532.png 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/queer-skate-day-flyer-50x50.png 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A flyer for one of Unity’s queer skate days. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Unity Skateboards)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The first one was just amazing, so many people came,” Cheung recalls. “And it was just a space where everyone could just feel welcome.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It went so well, they decided to do them monthly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a year later, this monthly meetup has a name: Unity Skateboards. Ramirez and Cheung continue to organize queer skate days in the Bay Area and up to 60 people show up each month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653042\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 599px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11653042 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut.jpg 599w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut-160x146.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut-240x218.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut-375x341.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29715_Unity-qut-520x473.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Unity’s queer skate days draw up to 60 people each month. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Unity Skateboards)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cheung stresses how unique the Unity atmosphere is compared to other places he has skated. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes it’s just like ridiculous how positive and supporting it is. I’ve never been in a place where everyone is just so happy and just supportive. People are like bringing food, like ‘here’s water’, and…it’s unbelievable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What started as a casual meetup in a parking lot is now a community of people — skaters and non-skaters, queer and straight — who all want to shred.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>And now, they actually have a place to come together indoors. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With money earned from their full-time jobs, Jeffrey and Gabriel are renting the top floor of a bookstore downtown Oakland. Jeffrey says it’s important to have a permanent safe space for their community. The walls of the wooden loft are covered with skateboards and artwork. There’s a printing press in one corner, a couch in the other. It reminds me of a clubhouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653052\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11653052\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29192_P1022357-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">People crowd into Unity Skateboards’ new loft space for the opening party. \u003ccite>(Nadine Sebai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The tiny shop is packed for the opening party. Louise Alban has been skating with Unity for almost two years, and she says it has helped her learn to love all of her identities: “I’m a skateboarder and I’m a queer, and then I’m also female and… I can do all of those things and there’s other people like me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alban started skating when she was 11.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My mom like hated it,” she says. “She thought girls shouldn’t be skating and I was like that young defiant little kid, and I was like ‘I’m going to skate anyway.’ So I did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11653053\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11653053\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/03/RS29166_P1022327-qut-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Louise Alban started skating she was 11. Her mom didn’t think that girls should skate. \u003ccite>(Nadine Sebai/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alban found out about Unity Skateboards on Instagram. She sent Cheung a video of herself skating. He mailed her back a skateboard, an invitation to come skate with them. Louise moved from her home in Yucaipa a few months later to attend her first queer skate day, and she’s been in Oakland ever since.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unity’s founder, Jeffrey Cheung, says now, he has the most queer friends he’s ever had.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also says that if there was something like this when he was younger, it would have changed his life entirely. He wouldn’t have felt so alone and ashamed of being gay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, with Unity Skateboards, Cheung says he hopes he’s making it a little easier for the next generation of young people to find acceptance — at school, at home, and at the skatepark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>On March 4, 2017 Jeffrey Cheung and Unity Press will be hosting a \u003ca href=\"https://bampfa.org/event/riso-printing-unity-press\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">zine making workshop\u003c/a> at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"radiolab": {
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"reveal": {
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},
"rightnowish": {
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"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
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},
"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
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