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Letters to the Advance about the skate park. Did you write one yet?

Posted by Ed on Apr 24, 2011 in News, Politrikkks | 0 comments

Here are some letters that were published in the Staten Island Advance. Did you write one yet?

By EDWARD POLLIO
PRINCE’S BAY

My name is Edward Pollio, and I am writing to you on behalf of the 300 kids who utilized the Benjamin Soto Skate Park here on Staten Island and their parents, who have looked to me as a resource in working with the New York City Parks Department to keep the skate park open for the past five years.

Since its opening in 2005, Benjamin Soto Skate Park in Midland Beach has been a refuge to Staten Island kids, where they can stay off the streets, off drugs, and out of trouble.

More than just its ramps and rails, this park is the heart and soul of our community – parents, children, and community activists alike have rallied behind the park as a place for neighborhood kids to come together and share in their love of skate sports.

Despite our continued initiatives to bring attention to the Parks Department’s ongoing neglect of the space, which has fallen into disrepair in recent months from its constant use, the park was closed last October due to the unsafe condition of the equipment.

This catalyzed a unified effort from the Staten Island community to get funding from the Parks Department to have the equipment resurfaced and repaired.

You can imagine our shock when a group of neighborhood boys rode over to the park on the first day of their spring break only to find bulldozers tearing apart their favorite hangout.

After all our efforts to get the park cleaned up for the warmer months, how could it have been demolished without warning? The Skate Park community was not given notice, nor the chance to raise funds for the park’s repair.

Moreover, I cannot express our disappointment that this youth community keystone is being torn down to make way for a “streetscape” park.

As it stands, the Parks Department’s future plans for the space are a far cry from what Benjamin Soto Skate Park seeks to provide – a permanent place for Staten Island’s extreme sports community to practice their sport, teach one another and hone their skills.

As the originators of the space’s concept, we would have been more than happy to put in the volunteer labor required to bring the park up to code.

Benjamin Soto Skate Park must be reinstated. Not only to provide the kids with a safe place to ride, but also because it is a pillar of the community, a cherished memorial to Benjamin Soto.

Benjamin always dreamed of returning from his Marine service to open a place just like our skate park, but he didn’t live to see his dream come to fruition.

I hope you won’t let his dream die.

WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please help us keep this safe haven alive.

http://www.silive.com/opinion/letters/index.ssf/2011/04/communitys_support_needed_to_s.html

By RAYMOND RUSINAK
WEST BRIGHTON

Today’s kids are supposedly consumed by video games, TV and the computer. Today’s parents are supposedly over-involved in organizing our children’s lives through a myriad of sports leagues and organizations. This is not the case with at least one group of kids: those involved in skateboarding, BMX biking and other so called extreme sports.

The kids who take part in these activities aren’t tied to their couches, TV’s and computers. Nor do they rely on their parents to organize their activities and games for them. They go to the park and do their own thing. The older kids help the younger ones with tips and encouragement. They share equipment and tools among each other. The kids get along, they teach each other, they learn from each other, they bond with one another. Most importantly they grow as individuals with one another.

For anyone who has spent any time at all at the former Benjamin Soto Skate Park in Midland Beach, you know exactly what I am talking about. Unfortunately, if you have not had the pleasure to have seen these kids skating and riding at Ben Soto you may never have the opportunity to do so again. Last Monday, the Parks Department brought in bull dozers and leveled the park.

It had fallen into a state of disrepair, something the kids themselves have been quite aware of. Many of them pursued the official and proper channels in order to get repairs done. Nothing happened until the bulldozers leveled Ben Soto. “Officially,” the park had become dangerous largely due to vandalism.

Sure there was graffiti on some of the ramps, but the park had become a hazard not due to vandals or misuse. No, the park had become hazardous because it was such a success. Skateboarding and BMX riding can be very rough on its environment. The ramps needed resurfacing, the rails needed work, etc.

The park could very easily have been repaired without destroying what was already in place. But no, the Parks Department felt the need to take it all down. They now say that it will be rebuilt in three weeks time with “modern streetscape elements, including reinforced steel picnic tables, granites steps, cement planters and a single pipe rail.”

Even to the uninitiated, this certainly doesn’t sound much like a skate park. The Benjamin Soto Skate Park should be rebuilt as a skate park with at least the same amenities it had when it was first opened in 2005. The skaters and rider should also be given input in its design.

It is a shame that all of this had to come to pass because it could very easily have been avoided and as such could have saved the city a good amount of money. But that moment has passed and it is time to move on. Let’s just hope that the powers that be don’t forget that this small amount of space was and should still be about the kids.

http://www.silive.com/opinion/letters/index.ssf/2011/04/rebuild_skate_park_demolished.html

By CAROLINE BJORLING
GRANT CITY

First we get a clueless New York City schools chancellor, Cathie Black

Now it’s a clueless Borough Parks Commissioner, Adena Long.

Her authorized destruction (instead of repair) of the Benjamin Soto Skate Park shows she is unaware (or uncaring) of the importance of this only skate park on Staten Island.

The teen years go quickly, and a couple of years make a huge difference in development of skills needed in this sport.

Ms. Long, in effect, has stolen that time from our teens for the sake of a few picnic tables and planters which she claims are “what kids like to play on.”

Oh, really?

http://www.silive.com/opinion/letters/index.ssf/2011/04/demolition_of_skate_park_shows.html

By KIMBERLY PAPANIER
NEW DORP

I just wanted to thank the Parks Department and Staten Island politicians for keeping up the trend of making empty promises.

That was a stellar job Monday of dismantling the Ben Soto Skate Park in a matter of hours. How quickly you can get things done when it suits you.

For the last two years, the kids who use the park have been asking for the park to be renovated, but there hasn’t been money for it.

What was the point of all the civic meetings, then? The Parks Department went about things in a sneaky way and I refuse to believe the Staten Island politicians had no knowledge.

Once again, the other four boroughs can provide better services to the people who live there while we remain the “forgotten borough.” Thanks for nothing!

http://www.silive.com/opinion/letters/index.ssf/2011/04/surprise_dismantling_of_popula.html

Here are some other address’s you may want to email also.