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Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, September 28, 2016
City puts skateboard park on hold
the meeting with other skateboarders.
Wakely said a smaller skate park would
work fine, but the city needs to “hurry
up.”
Wakely is a good example of why
city residents like Royal lobbied for the
skate park, which, they insist, will keep
city youth safer and off the streets. “I
skate down Broadway almost every day,”
Wakely said.
“Skateboarding is the way I get around,”
said skateboarder Francis Saltwater.
“I skate to work. I skate home. I skate
everywhere.” While he agrees the city
needs surveillance cameras, “cameras
aren’t going to keep kids off the streets,”
Saltwater said.
“We don’t need anything elaborate, we
just need some ramps, some rails and
maybe some stair sets,” the skater said.
“We need a place to chill, where it’s not
dangerous. We’re not asking for much.”
The city is still working out exactly how
to repurpose Community Development
Block Grant (CDBG) funds for the
park, City Comptroller Katie Mack said
Tuesday.
Francis Saltwater gets air on his skateboard. The City of Newburgh skateboard park has
been put on hold this year. Park funding has been reallocated to expand the city’s video
surveillance program.
Continued from page 1
providing recreation. “We’re trying to
make those two visions a reality,” she
said, but a skate park costing more than
$500,000 is too expensive. Councilwoman
Regina Angelo suggested the council take
a look at a skate park in Walden, where a
park was built for much less.
The decision did not sit well with people
at the meeting. “You can’t play one against
the other,” said Barbara Smith, speaking
of the park and cameras.
Roxy Royal said it had been her idea
about four years ago to build a skate park
to give the city youth a safe place to skate.
“You know where I stand,” she said at the
meeting, clearly upset by the delay.
“For over three years, we have been
promising a skateboard park,” Mayor
Judy Kennedy said. “It breaks my heart to
take this away from them…. at same time
these cameras are extremely important.”
City Corporation Counsel Michelle
Kelson said a downsized skate park will
need to be redesigned and again put out
to bid. “I’m going to urge that we do this
in an expedited manner,” said Kennedy,
with a goal of a spring start date.
Skateboarder Sage Wakely, 18, attended
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Skateboarders attend a Newburgh City Council meeting on Monday. (From left: Sage Wakely,
Francis Saltwater and Trevor Cortes-Lozedo.)
Mon - Sat 10 - 7 pm
Sun 11 - 6 pm