SOUNDVIEW, The Bronx (PIX 11) — The Bronx community gathered at P.S. 107 Wednesday to shape the future of a new skate park in Soundview at a community input meeting.
Construction has not yet started, but when it does, the skatepark will be completed within the next two years. Right now, the city hopes to hear from the community and get input on their vision for the project. Ashton Smith, 9, has been skateboarding for four years.
“You know how there’s a lot of skateparks in Brooklyn and Manhattan,” asked Smith. “I think it would be really cool if the Bronx were included as a borough to go skate.”
Smith is one of dozens of skateboarders who attended the meeting. The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation has been working with the nonprofit ‘The Skate Park Project’ to bring the new plaza to life.
“There’s just an incredible skate community here, and there aren’t enough parks to service them, and if your community doesn’t have a skate park, then kids are out skating the street, and sometimes that’s great, and other times that’s dangerous,” said The Skate Park Project CEO Ben Bashein.
There are currently eight city skate parks in the Bronx. The new project is part of the city’s effort to bring four new skateparks to the Bronx and Brooklyn. Avid skateboarders came to the meeting to share their hopes for the project — even using clay to sculpt what they wanted the park to look like. Destiny Balisage lives in New Jersey but comes to the borough to skateboard with the organization ‘Bronx Girls Skate.’
“I think I want to see a pump track,” Balisage said. “I don’t really see enough pump tracks in most parks, so this would be nice. It would be nice to have one here.”
Councilmember Amanda Farias said the $7 million project will revitalize a dilapidated section of Soundview Park and provide a necessary outlet for the youth, reimagining the space for future generations of Bronxites.
“Instead of having a ponding water with sewage or with mosquitos building over the spring and summer, we’re now going to have real investments to create proper sewage to have a recreational spot to invite a new form of recreation for young people and adults.”
Farias said she hasn’t heard from anyone who opposes the skatepark so far, adding that measures will be in place to minimize potential noise concerns. She hopes the skatepark will be a space the entire community can embrace.
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