Louisiana is one of the luckier states that has had legislation passed allowing public property to be used for skateparks (and other activities in the same vein) with little to no fear of liability as long as that property has been defined for that use by the governent in question (city and town councils).
This legislation is called Act 1199, of the 2001 regular session (formerly known as House Bill 1917). The act and bill history can be downloaded here:
http://www.legis.state.la.us/bills/byin ... doctype=BT
As it stands, Louisiana currently has three public skateparks... two of which take full advantage of the bill, one of which does not (I'll explain that shortly).
The skateparks:
1. Baton Rouge's Velodrome:
The Velodrome is just that... one of those really huge bicycle tracks with large inclined curves. The center of the track hosts a small and unimpressive array of ARC ramps, as well as some weathered home built stuff donated by local shops and skaters. This is the park that doesn't take advantage of the bill I linked to earlier. Because of the location of the park inside the walls of the track, the Baton Rouge Park and Recreations agency requires staff to be present (they lock and unlock the gates, rent pads, and manage the park while sessions are active). The presence of the park employees are what hinder them... when you have staff on hand, you assume a level of responsibility for the people using the facility. Because of that responsibility, this park requires full pads. One other issue as it related to this liability is that the skating in this park is limited to certain session times... bikes aren't allowed to use the track the same time skaters use the section reserved in the middle, and vice versa (even though the odds of contact are extremely slim). The park is used, but never packed. Considering the size of the skateboardign community in Baton Rouge, it's a loss. When you consider that Baton Rouge is the capital of the state, it's a shame... sort of a testament to the city's crippling beuracracy.
2. Hammond's Dreamland Skatepark:
Our park was the result of numerous best-case scenarios coming together, resulting in what amounts to a perfect place to skate. No park nannies, no pad rules, a park designed and built by skateboarders, with input from the local skateboarding community. It goes without saying that Dreamland is known for building some really great parks. The quality of our concrete is very high compared to other concrete parks that I've skated, and with our half street/half bowl design, it caters to everyone's tastes. To our benefit, we have a small government, an accessible Mayor, and a city council that simply isn't hampered by the political red tape that many larger cities deal with.
3. Shreveport's Skate Plaza:
Well intentioned, poorly executed. Like Hammond, Shreveport's plaza allows skaters to roll freely without being monitored, or with any pad requirements. Shreveport's major problem is the fact that it was designed by a non-skateboarding city staffer. The park design was "inspired" by Rob Dyrdek of DC fame, but the design itself is utterly horrible... there are huge seams where you don't want them, the concrete has a brushed finish, and there isn't room to carve out after landing off of some of the obstacles (straight to the grass).
Some of the obstacles simply don't make sense:
Anyway, these are the three public parks here in the state... hopefully we have more on the way. My wish is that anyone reading this in Louisiana use this as a reference... the legislation we have is excellent for developing public skateparks, but as illustrated above (in the case of Baton Rouge and Shreveport), that good legislation is a waste when the local government shoots itself in the foot via bad management or design.
