Joseph Poole, 16, just wants to skateboard. But skateboarding on public streets can be problematic. Not only does he have to worry about dodging cars, but he also has to worry about upsetting the Baltimore Police Department.

Poole said he has been stopped and cited by police several times for skateboarding in Hampden.

It wasn't always that way. When he was 13, he and his grandfather built two ramps, called grind boxes, bought three "rails" from area skate parks and installed the rails at the Roosevelt Recreation Center. They paid $1,600 out of their own pockets.

However, when renovations on the center started in 2005, work crews threw out the ramps, even though a skateboard park was promised as part of the renovations, and is included in the park's master plan.

That forced Poole and at least 20 other skateboarders to use a post office parking lot or take their chances in the streets. Poole says it's unfair.

"If someone loves gardening, it would suck if they took it away from them," he said.

At a meeting of the Hampden Community Council on July 28, Poole and Stephanie Murdock, president of Skatepark of Baltimore Inc., asked community leaders to help them establish a formal skatepark at the recreation center.

The nonprofit Skatepark of Baltimore is trying to get a skatepark built in the city and is looking at the Roosevelt Rec Center as a possible site.

Skatepark of Baltimore donated three ramps to the center this spring in celebration of the group's third anniversary.

The ramps were part of a "skateable sculpture" exhibit that was on display at Load of Fun on North Avenue.

Now, the ramps are sitting in the recreation center, while skaters await permission of the city to use a 10,000-square-foot asphalt pad behind the center.

But Murdock said the Department of Parks and Recreation has nobody to inspect the ramps to see that they are installed correctly.

Murdock said she's still confident the ramps will be put up soon. She is seeking the help of City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, whom she called one of the group's biggest supporters.

The project also has the support of the Hampden Community Council.

"I think it's a great idea," president Everett Noe said. "The kids in this neighborhood need something to do. If these kids are back there skating, they're not causing trouble on the Avenue."

Murdock also sees the rec center as a possible location for a full, 35,000-square-foot concrete skatepark, known as a "bowl," which would be bigger than a pad with ramps.

The group has been working with the city to find a suitable location for a skatepark. Currently, there's only one in the city, in Carroll Park in southwest Baltimore.

More than 30 sites have been looked at, and Hampden is one of the top five locations, Murdock said. Druid Hill Park and Morrell Park also are being seriously considered, Murdock said. Morrell Park is also in southwest Baltimore.

Skatepark of Baltimore wants to set up meetings in September with communities to gauge public interest in building a skatepark in their neighborhoods.

The group already has raised $11,000 for the project and has received a $30,000 grant from the Abell Foundation for planning.

Murdock said building a skatepark is the only way to defuse tensions between skaters and the public.

"If you don't have a skatepark, then your city is a skatepark," she said.

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