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San Francisco's Skateboarding Options Grow As City Promotes Outdoor Activity

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— A fourth skateboard park is now open at the east end of Golden Gate Park and another will be built next Spring.

The city of San Francisco is touting skateboarding as a major sport and as a way to get kids outside to play.

It wasn't  long ago that skateboarders had virtually no city-sanctioned areas to practice their sport.

KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:

The city has worked over the past decade to change that. On Friday, The Rec and Park Department's General Manager Phil Ginsberg cut the ribbon on a new skateboard park at Stanyan and Waller.

"We've got skateboard camps now during the summer; we've got skateboard clinics at Richmond and Joe DiMaggio. Our program is called 'Shred N' Butter'," Ginsberg said.

Rec and Park will break ground on the City's fifth skateboard park at Market and Octavia next spring thanks in part to a donation by the Tony Hawk Foundation.

Ginsberg said skateboarding is growing in popularity and in recognition.

"It's the third most favorite outdoor activity for American Youth between the ages of 6 and 17," he said, adding that nearly 10 percent of the U.S. population had tried skateboarding at least once in 2009— a statistic he called "pretty amazing".

Promoting skateboarding is part of the city's strategy to get kids to be more active in general, to prompt healthy living and reduce childhood obesity.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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