With a "No skateboarding" sign in clear view and a security guard lurking nearby, a young skateboarder rolled up to the corner of Georgia and Wayne avenues Saturday and immediately mounted a ledge in front of Discovery Communications and readied himself for a big jump.

Rather than cheer on the newcomer for defying authority and sticking up for his skateboarding brethren, most of the 20 or so teens already skating at that location — who had been reprimanded by that same guard—yelled and waved their arms to prevent him from skating off the ledge and drawing the guard's attention.

As they have been for more than a year, the skaters were under the watchful eye of Maryam Balbed, and the surprising act of courtesy from a group often described as "thugs" or "punks" could be attributed to her, the woman they call "Sk8er Mom."

But Balbed, 49, with her own skateboard at her side, said the community of skateboarders that refer to her as both "mom" and "dude" in the same conversation are far from the stereotype that her own peers like to perpetuate.

"It would surprise a lot of people that these scruffy teenage boys are doing something productive," Balbed, of Silver Spring, said Saturday wearing purple shoes, jean shorts, a backless black tank top, bright red lipstick and a bedazzled silver purse. "They have never made any conscious effort to do anything but treat people with kindness and respect."

In the past year and a half, since she began skateboarding to grow closer to her 14-year-old daughter, Yaya, Balbed has been a surrogate mother, an online marketer, a "bro" and a lobbyist to the 40 to 50 teenage boys who skateboard in downtown Silver Spring.

As the county begins construction on a temporary skate park in Woodside Urban Park next month and considers a permanent park, Balbed has emerged as the link between oft-ignored teenage skaters, county officials who have unsuccessfully provided viable skater hangouts and older residents who want their Silver Spring skater-free.

"We consider her another mom," said Chris Santis, a 15-year-old from Olney who attends Sherwood High School. "She understands where we are coming from, and we've never had anyone come to us and ask how they can help."

Balbed, who is greeted by most skaters with a hug and kiss on the cheek, has bought many of the teens lunch or stuck up for them when they were hassled by security guards. She organizes skateboard outings for their birthdays using her "Sk8er Mom" Facebook page, Twitter handle and blog. Most of the skaters see her as a parent figure because many have broken families themselves, Balbed said.

As a "mom," she has also reprimanded them for skating unsafely, not looking after younger skaters, acting in a way that might draw unwanted attention from security guards or police. (To not seem too imposing, she usually begins her directives with a colloquial "Yo yo," as in, "Yo yo, don't skate too close to the building!")

"My friends are the type of people who think it's really cool," said Yaya, who attends Silver Spring International Middle School. "She's so popular at my school that a whole lunch table of eighth-graders who I didn't know were talking about her one day."

Balbed, a single mother of two who works as a part-time web designer, began skateboarding in late 2008 after her daughter took up the sport. Yaya said she wasn't embarrassed by her mother's new hobby, even though she wasn't accepted right away.

"I thought she was just some lady that was trying to yell at us," Santis said. "But I got to talk to her, and she's a chill lady."

"I'm just one of the guys at this point," Balbed said.

Searching for skate space

Shortly after Balbed began skateboarding, an area of Ellsworth Drive between Fenton and Spring streets shut off on weekends for skateboarders was closed. Construction on the nearby Silver Spring Civic Building and Veteran's Plaza made it too dangerous for skateboarders, said Reemberto Rodriguez, director of the Silver Spring Regional Center.

Construction will be completed in July, but Rodriguez said it's unclear whether Ellsworth will be made available for skateboarders or if skateboarding will be prohibited at Veteran's Plaza.

In the absence of a legal place to skateboard, Balbed shifted her attention from kick-flips to activism. She said she's following in the footsteps of Lisa Jaeggi, a Silver Spring skateboarding advocate who tried to bring a skate park to Fenton Gateway Park before it was rejected by residents in 2005. Balbed hopes Woodside Urban Park doesn't suffer the same fate.

The Montgomery County Parks Department is conducting a facility-planning study for the complete renovation of Woodside Urban Park, a 2.3-acre park at Georgia Avenue and Spring Street. Because those renovations won't be completed for another seven to 10 years, a temporary, 4,000-square-foot "skate spot" will be installed by August of this year. Every year, the $75,000 skate spot will be evaluated and Parks will decide whether to keep it open.

Response to the skate spot has again been mixed. Skaters appreciate the efforts by county officials but said the skate spot is too small to be safe, doesn't cater to skaters and won't solve any long-term problems.

"If they make a permanent one, everyone will go there, and all the business owners will stop yelling at us," said Jack Wyles, a Silver Spring resident and freshman at Northwood High School. "It just has to be adequate, it's the easiest problem-solver."

In a meeting with Parks officials Monday, some residents said the skate spot would cause too much nuisance in a neighborhood park.

"It will attract all the lunatic 10-year-olds from [Washington,] D.C.," said Michael Blake, who lives across the street from Woodside Urban Park. "... If you put a skate park in there, you will drive people away."

Others said a skate park was a much-needed way to engage youth who have been treated as outcasts in downtown Silver Spring.

"The youth of the city has needs that must be met," said Brian Ditzler, who lives in nearby Woodside Park. "And I get tired of people who say, ‘Not in my backyard, go somewhere else.'"

Both state and county studies have called for a skate park in Silver Spring, said Ellen Masciocchi, the project manager for Woodside Park. There are skate parks in Rockville, Kensington, Olney and Gaithersburg. Silver Spring used to have a skate park, East of Maui, but it closed to make way for redevelopment along Ellsworth Drive.

For now, Balbed will continue being "Sk8er Mom," but she is skeptical whether her motherly love will result in a long-term solution for the skateboarders she now considers peers.

"I feel a moral obligation to speak up for them when they are ignored," Balbed said. "But the way things work in this county is if you are a person fighting for something, you are still just one person. They say, ‘There's that crazy lady.'"