Jerusalem to get new skatepark - Excerpts from news article - 8/31/2010  http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3942150,00.html

.7 acres - $1.3 millon (USD) 

According to plans, the new park will offer facilities that can serve up to 70 skaters at once, and will be suited for national and international competitions.

"Jerusalem will be joining leading cities around the world with a modern and professional skatepark that will attract many visitors," Mayor Barkat said on Sunday.

Discussion on skateboarding in Silver Spring grinds on.

"I'm hoping that we get what we've been asking for for going on two years now: an additional skate park, a parking lot, an alley, somewhere where we can go," she said. Previous calls for skate space in Silver Spring have fallen on deaf ears, she said.

Maryam Balbed, a Silver Spring resident and skateboarding activist.

Gazette.net - Silver Spring, MD  8/18/2010

"Youth (issues) will be one of my key points during the campaign," MacDonald said. "This skatepark stuff has been difficult. It's an outright shame the youth have had to wait months. They need it.

"We need to be challenging our youth both physically and mentally." MacDonald said the skatepark is a good first step towards the city doing more to directly engage this demographic.

Scott MacDonald is a candidate for City Councillor and sits on the Recreation advisory committee.

Quoted from The Sentinal -Review, Woodstock, Ontario, Canada 8/17/2010

Quoted 8/12/2010 from The Daily Herald -Springfield TN.   Parks Director- Kevin Fischer and Mayor - Michael Dinwiddie.

“(Skate parks) have a bad rap,” Fischer said. “Those people aren’t in the recreation field so they don’t see it from my standpoint.”

Mayor Michael Dinwiddie said he wants to see the city finally build the park.

“I get requests for that from our young kids in town. That’s one of the things that they want and so I’m fully supportive of it,” he said.

However, if the park does eventually get built, Fischer believes it will be the city’s most popular recreational attraction.

Quote from Forbes Advocate online news - England - 8/3/2010

“Our youth need opportunities for healthy physical recreation, and for positive social and psychological development. The Forbes Skate Park will provide these opportunities,” Forbes Shire Council’s General Manager Carissa Bywater said.