Politics & Government

Petition Seeks Signatures For Nyack Skatepark

On Feb. 28, the proposal for the skatepark will be presented to the village board.

 

A petition has been circulating for the creation of a skatepark in Nyack. The online petition was started in September 2010 by Sarah Anderson and according to the Facebook page Nyack Needs a Skatepark, they've "gathered over 750 signatures for our petition."

The online petition has about 200 signatures as of Tuesday. Next week on Feb. 28, they are asking the public to join them when they present their pitch for a "small public skate plaza in Memorial park," according to the Facebook page. "Nyack skateboarders have been pushing for a designated and well-constructed skate spot for almost 30 years and still have nowhere to skate! There are approximately 700 people in the combined Nyacks who have skated or continue to skate."

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They plan to meet at Nyack Village hall at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28. The village board meets that night.

They're looking for approximately 4,500 sq feet of land (the size of a tennis court) upon which to construct a state of the art skate plaza. This skate plaza would be aesthetically integrated into the park, and would be multi functional, serving several wheeled sports. There has been overwhelming public support for the plaza.

Find out what's happening in Nyack-Piermontwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On the online petition website, it lists seven reasons for building a skatepark:

"It is their goal to bring the Nyack and larger Rockland County public and business community together to support the designing and building of a state of the art public skatepark within either the Nyack or South Nyack Villages. The need for a park is indicated by the many skateboarders living within the community. This park will serve as a positive recreational outlet for local skateboarders of all ages and their families."

  1. On any given day, when walking through the villages of Nyack and South Nyack, one will see skateboarders riding about the streets. These skateboarders have no local public place to skate.
  2. Several parks within Nyack and South Nyack are underused by the communities who live there. 
  3. Skateboarding is the 3rd most popular sport among youth from ages 8-18. Sources: http://www.sgma.com/; http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4580013_rank-popularity-compared-other-sports.html; http://skateboard.about.com/cs/proskaters/a/why_so_popular.htm
  4. Skateparks have been reported to reduce crime by serving as a positive recreational environment for youth. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6577681.stm
  5. As of 2000, roughly 4.3% of the US population reported participating in skateboarding. Source: http://www.skatepark.org/chapter-1-vision.html
  6. A skatepark would bring adults and youth together from various backgrounds with a positive common interest.
  7. A skatepark would bring tourism and hence more business to the villages.


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