Parks commissioner sees opportunity in what skaters began on their own.
View full sizeCity of Syracuse Department of Parks, Recreation and Youth Commissioner Patrick Driscoll talks with Syracuse University graduate student Brandon Gomez, one of the skateboarders who uses the tennis court at Ormond Spencer Park. After Driscoll met with the skaters and said he supported their use of the park, they hopped on their boards. Victor Guilfoil, of Syracuse, is skating behind them. Syracuse, NY -- In July, some local skateboarders cobbled together the structures they needed to perform tricks and they set them up in an underused tennis court in Ormond Spencer Park, just east of downtown.
For two weeks or so, skateboarders from nearby neighborhoods, around the city and even from the suburbs used the unauthorized, make-shift skate space pretty much all day long. The skaters say they range in age from maybe 12 to men in their 20s, some even older than that.
But the fun didn’t last too long. Skateboarders said police came by more than once to chase them off. Barbara Stanley, from the neighborhood park association, appeared to express her concerns to them, too.
She said she is worried skaters will damage the tennis court and about their safety. She said she told them they needed to talk to the parks commissioner about using the space, and Nick Wnorowski, 22, of Manlius, took her up on that suggestion.
Wnorowski, who has a skateboarding website and does freelance video production, said he knew that if the skateboarding was to continue, skaters would need city permission. He called city parks Commissioner Pat Driscoll’s office and the commissioner agreed to meet Tuesday at the park.
About 20 skateboarders showed up, too, as did Stanley, near the end of the meeting.
Driscoll had lots of questions. He wanted to know where the skateboarders lived, what they wanted to do with the space, where they got the structures for the tricks and asked them to put back a park bench that had somehow ended up on the tennis court.
View full sizeBarbara Stanley, a member of the volunteer association that supports Ormond Spencer Park, unlocks the tennis court that skateboarders have been using. She locked the court to try to keep skaters out, but city Parks Commissioner Pat Driscoll asked her to open it. He told them of Stanley’s concerns and that he would meet with her next week. The park association needs to be in the loop, Driscoll said. He also told the skateboarders to give him a written proposal about what they want to do with the space. He said he would speak with the city’s legal staff and the mayor’s office to find a way to keep the skate space open.
“I want to make this work,” Driscoll said. “We just want to make sure it’s done in the proper way.” He sees opportunity in what the skateboarders began on their own.
Business owners downtown complain about skateboarders there and the damage they can cause to city monuments, Driscoll said. The underused tennis court at Ormond Spencer Park could resolve that issue, he said.
Thirty years ago, families from the new defunct Kennedy Square apartment complex and people from the university and hospitals used the tennis courts, but they don’t get much use now, he said.
“You’ve got a group of skateboarders that want to get together and just kind of test their skills, show their skills, share a passion for what they really enjoy. You know, it could be a very positive activity,” Driscoll said.
Stanley isn’t so sure. She said the association has 25 members and she’ll talk to them before she meets with Driscoll.
Skateboarders Alton Lawson, 16, who lives near Ormond Spencer Park, and Kevin Darcy 15, who lives in Eastwood, felt good about the meeting. They say they need a place to skate that’s closer to home and less expensive than the county skate park in Liverpool.
There’s a skate park proposed for Eastwood, but construction on that won’t begin until fall. "We can’t wait. That’s like coming next year, so what are we going to do for this year, just get kicked out of downtown or something?” Lawson asked.
Contact Maureen Nolan 470-2185 or mnolan@syracuse.com.