By Helen Klein
There’s good news for Canarsie skateboarders. Ongoing plans to revamp Canarsie Park now include a facility where they can enjoy their sport, according to City Councilmember Lewis Fidler, who has been promoting the large scale rehab of the park and finding funding to make it a reality. “There always was roller skating as part of the renovated park design,” noted Fidler during a phone interview. However, he went on, “I asked the Parks Department to change that after a request came from United Canarsie South Civic Association to change the design to include a skate park. “They have redesigned the redesign to include it,” Fidler said. “I knew it was something they could do. They just completed one on Seba Avenue in Gerritsen Beach, which is very popular. They can use the same design and plop it down here.” Many communities have been asking for skateboarding facilities, Fidler noted. “It’s kind of the modern-day equivalent of putting in a basketball court,” he remarked. Phil Abramson, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Parks & Recreation, said that the agency was, “Supportive of Councilman Fidler’s idea of a skate park within Canarsie Park. There is space available in the northwest section of the park. We have not yet done a cost-out for it but $1 to $1.5 million is probably in the ballpark.” Abramson confirmed that skateboard facilities have become increasingly popular in city parks. The first one in the city was built at Owl’s Head Park, in Bay Ridge, several years back. There are now eight in New York City, according to Abramson, with two more on the way, including one at Brooklyn’s McCarren Park. Timing for the skateboard facility is still up in the air. Fidler said that the Parks Department was working on portions of the park rehabilitation as funding for them becomes available. “If I’m able to get money into the budget, this year, for the skate park, it will become part of the next phase (phase three),” Fidler noted. “If not, it goes to phase four. I told them that, based on the community’s request, I’d moved the skate park up near the top of the priority list.” As to how much funding he will be able to allocate this year, when city budgets are tight, Fidler said, “I’ve done it every year I’ve been in the council. I will do it this year, one way or another. Capital money is not as hard as expense money. The expectation is that there is money available for park and other infrastructure improvements. Hopefully, I’ll go out and get more than my fair share.” The groundbreaking for phases one and two of the park rehabilitation took place in April, 2006. The first funding for the park project was allocated in 2003. Canarsie Park, which stretches south of Seaview Avenue from Paerdegat Avenue North past East 93rd Street, is 132 acres in size, making it the fourth largest park in the borough.
