Community has mixed feelings about skate park design
BY JASON COHEN
Three years ago plans to
create a skate park in Orchard
Beach were born, but now in
the design phase, it seems the
city Parks Department’s vision
doesn’t align with the community.
On Jan. 21, the Parks Department
held a meeting where
some people questioned why the
skate park was not coming to
their neighborhood and others
voiced concerns about proposed
features in the skate park.
Suggestions made for the
skate park included the desire
for multi-use including skaters,
bikers, roller bladders and
razor scooters, some ADA accessibility
features, clarifi cation
regarding the 3-foot height
rule, the size of the skate park
should be larger to allow for
more challenging skating, the
implementation of different
textures, boxes, rails shape and
copings and different fl ows and
directions.
In 2019 Blake Cottam
launched a petition to create
a skate park and Councilman
Mark Gjonaj has assisted
by funding the project with $3
million. Parks plans to demolish
three volleyball courts and
construct a new skate park at
Orchard Beach in Pelham Bay
Park.
“We went to Councilman
Mark Gjonaj with a dream, and
he led our group right to the people
who can make our dream a
reality,” Cottam said. As many
action sports enthusiasts in
the meeting agreed, if Orchard
Beach gets a skate park, it
should be the “fi eld of dreams”
of the local action sports community.
A city as spectacular
as NYC should have a beach/
boardwalk skate park that
draws a massive crowd just like
the one in Venice Beach, Calif.”
Cottam said besides the people
wanting the skate park in
their community he thought the
meeting went well. However, he
took issue with Parks’ desire to
have a skate park with features
smaller than 3-feet tall.
“If we are going to build a
skate park in the biggest and
best park in NYC, Pelham Bay
Park, it is only fi tting for the
park to be suitable for competition,”
he explained. “We
can’t have a “park contest” in a
skate park that only has 3-feet
tall ramps?”
He noted that Orchard
Beach already has the infrastructure
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BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 6 EBRUARY 5-11, 2021
A rendering of where the skate park will go. Courtesy of NYC Parks
to support such a facility.
It offers refreshments (in
season), parking and medical
and security in some form or
another.
The beach is always busy
during the summer months
and feels the skate park would
be an attraction year-round.
“The winter months will be
perfect for us northeast Bronx
locals and truly dedicated action
sport enthusiasts from
the tri-state to benefi t from
the smaller crowds that would
still utilize the facilities during
the offseason,” he stressed. “I
am confi dent that a skate park
in Orchard Beach of any size
would be satisfactory, but why
not build the best skate park
in NYC to complete the biggest
park in town, and truly offer locations
for all activities to be
enjoyed.”
Morris Park resident Matt
Caulfi eld and fellow skater
shared his sentiments. He
didn’t appreciate people from
outside of the community “hijacking”
the meeting and
hopes Parks listens to the concerns
that were raised about
the plans.
With a rich skateboard culture
in NYC and the fact that
a Bronx native Tyshawn Jones
was named Thrasher’s Skater of
the year in 2018, people should
want to skate here, he stated.
He noted that NYC is behind
the curve in terms of skate
parks, especially the Bronx.
“This needs to be the most
advanced skate park in the
Bronx in order for it to live up
to its potential to attract many
users,” Caulfi eld said. “Skate
park design is an art and you
can’t just start listing features
and slap them together. You
need an imaginative, technically
capable skate park builder
to pour their creativity into it.
Sadly, against early warnings
from the community, the designer
the landscape architect
chose to subcontract is Spawn
Ranch, who has a reputation for
cookie-cutter designs.”
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