Well.. Kiss Mastic Beach skatepark goodbye.. A shot at getting a legit, free, no-helmet/pad skateboard park on Long Island is out of the question yet once again.. According to inside information and solid information here, it looks like it's going to be the same rules/regulations as the Northport Skatepark.
For some more pictures of the recently broken into park, check out Frank Podesta's blog. Looks like kids are real hungry to get in there and shred before the town starts charging an arm and a leg to use this facility while uneducated pad nannies/jocks are getting paid up to $25,000 - $30,000 to sit there and "monitor" us. Awesome....
The park looks hassle free according to Site Design Group.
People need to get their shit together..
4 comments:
According to the Supervisor there will be no charges to use the park.
This is from his speech.
But I must start by saying that we began the year with a heavy heart. Because one of the seven seats behind me was empty as we had just lost Councilman Keith Romaine. And I would ask that we please take a moment of silence to remember Keith, who will not be forgotten.
Thank you. And I would note that we recently completed the construction of one of Keith’s dreams, a skate park in Mastic, and I’ll start today by announcing that, at the request of Keith’s father Ed, we will not be charging fees at that skate park in Keith’s memory.
Thank you for responding to this post. We were aware of Keith's passing a few years back, but were not aware of this information that was given in this speech.
Do you have a copy of this speech by any chance?
Hearing about the fees being waved is great news but we feel that the strict pad regulations and possibility of the park being monitored is going to turn a lot of people away rather than attract them to this great new skatepark.
There aren't any rules in skateboarding. Most people that are capable of riding a skateboard correctly should be aware that they are responsible for their own actions and assume full responsibility if they injure themselves. So, it's really up to them if they feel if they have to wear pads or not.
People are just scared of lawsuits and uneducated about how skateparks work. It seems like people are just trigger happy to sue in situations where skateboarding is involved.
Perhaps you can look at it like this; on a baseball field the catcher, batter and umpire wear helmets/protective gear. Right? But what about everyone else in the field? They are at risk just as much as the 3 people wearing protective gear. There's no way you can really monitor or perdict when an injury is going to happen. There's no way to control the outcome of where that ball is going to be hit.
On a second note, people aren't charged to just go play baseball/softball on a field, play basketball on a random net in a park or use tennis courts. It goes deeper than this though; people try to make money off of skateboarding nowadays rather than donate something to the community that is free of charge, creates a positive vibe and keeps kids off the streets.
Guess what? It's Long Island. Things are not cheap here. We are overcrowded, and land is at a premium. Don't like having to pay for skateparks? Stay in the streets. No street spots left? Travel. The more we rely on town goverments and the likes to build us places to skate, the more we will constantly be let down. All we can hope is that they staff the place with some decent people, who maybe even skate themselves.
Other than that, it's seeming like a better idea every day to get off this island.
“Fil”, completely agree with you, you have a very valid point. We’ve known this for years now. Long Island sure does have its’ ups and downs, but we’re still in the streets and we travel a shit ton. I guess you might be new to following this blog, but we skate almost every type of obstacle wherever we can (either in or out of Long Island). We were just in Miami for a week and didn’t hit one skatepark, we were in the streets the whole time. A bunch of us in this crew have been traveling together for the last 8 years or so on various trips to do demos, filming trips, skatepark/camping trips so we’re no strangers to getting out on the road to do the same thing we do out here on Long Island.
All we’re trying to convey is that they “want us off the streets” and give us this place to go.. but we have to pay for it? That doesn’t make sense. They aren’t charging people to use basketball courts, tennis courts or baseball fields.. It shouldn’t be this difficult. Again, it all comes down to a money issue which is unfortunate because kids just want to have fun and get on their skateboards (which should be free all of the time unless it’s a privately owned skatepark).
It just seems like everywhere else in the greater New York area has these free parks (Astoria, Maloof, Bronx, Chelsea and North Moore). Long Island is only a few more miles east, so what gives? Why can’t we have what they have?
Skateparks are great because they boost morale and positive actions within the community, it becomes a meeting spot for the locals to interact with one another and it’s a place to go and “practice” tricks (as corny as it sounds). I guess all we can do is wait and hope until someone gets it right.
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