Skate park should help alleviate youth board-om

The opening of South Brunswick's new skate park promises to alleviate the headaches caused by classic cases of generational disconnect.

Skateboarding has become a huge sport in America since its roots as sidewalk surfing in the 1950s, and it has grown dramatically in recent years with the exposure brought to it by organized competitions like the X-Games. Still, skaters feel they never seem to get the same respect as those who take part in the traditional mainstream sports. Kids playing basketball, football or baseball don't get the police called on them for doing what they love, nor do they get moved around from one place to another until the next property owner complains.

But while a hoops player's ideal playground is a court with new nets and forgiving rims, skaters tend to gravitate toward paved parking lots and busy public areas. The merchants who own these places are understandably far from thrilled about the potential liability for injuries, property damage or the aggravation all of the activity causes to their customers.

Unfortunately, kids don't understand insurance liability laws any more than adults know why a fresh coat of yellow paint makes a curb better for a railslide.

The impatience that develops between both parties often leads to arguments, police intervention and hurt feelings. By giving skaters a legitimate place of their own to go, many of those problems should hopefully become a thing of the past.