‘Friends of skatepark’ planning food drive
Manna on Main donations to be collected at park
LANSDALE » As the borough’s new skatepark continues to get more finishing touches, the skaters are looking to use the park for a good cause.
Lansdale officials heard details last week of a food drive being planned at the park on Nov. 21 by longtime skater Dan Pancoast.
“It’s from noon to four (p.m.), nothing super formal — we want to try to keep it as something that people can pull up and drop off food,” Pancoast said.
“We’re appreciative that you guys are entertaining it, and that we can hopefully make it an annual event,” he said.
A f ter years of public talks, debate, and bidding attempts over the 2010s, the skate park opened in late July adjacent to Fourth Street Park. In mid-August council named it after late Parks and Recreation Director Carl Saldutti, in September authorized a repair of a drainage problem, and in October
heard updates about added pavers and the planned installation of trees surrounding the park.
Council’s parks and recreation committee heard another update on the park on Nov. 4, including the event request from Pancoast, the first official member of the “Friends of the Skatepark” group meant to allow older skaters to help younger ones learn how to use the park properly.
“We really want to do it on behalf of, not only the friends of the Lansdale skatepark, and the skatepark itself, but also in memory of Carl. Without him, we wouldn’t be here,” Pancoast
said.
The food drive is planned to collect donated items for local nonprofit pantry Manna on Main Street, and those who donate will get a cooked snack, like a hot dog or burger, from a private chef helped by volunteers, Pancoast told the committee. Councilman Bill Henning asked if the planned event would conflict with a similar drive being done by his Boy Scout troop for Manna earlier that day, and councilwoman Meg Currie Teoh, who works at Manna, said the timing will be perfect.
“We’ll already be staffed up to process donations that day,” she said.
Parks and Recreation Director Karl Lukens said he’d work with the skater group to make sure the chef has the proper permits and in
surance, takes the proper COVID-related safety precautions, and avoids having groups congregate at the site.
“They’re not going to park in the parking lot and get out and hang out with us. We want to make it as no-contact as possible,” Pancoast said.
Henning said he was glad to see the skater group “willing to do more than just ride around the skate park, you’re willing to reach out,” and committee chairwoman Mary Fuller agreed.
“I appreciate this effort, from you and all of the friends of the skate park, and all the positivity you have brought to the Lansdale skate park,” she said.
Pancoast added that he and skaters are thankful that parks staff have added picnic
tables and extra trash cans around the park, and said he’s been working to encourage skaters to keep it clean.
Lukens said staff have recently installed 38 new trees around the edges of the park, which can be seen in an aerial drone video taken by borough employee and BMX rider Kevin Kissinger and posted on the parks department’s Facebook page.
Signs to carry Saldutti’s name are still being developed, and Lukens said anyone with suggestions or other signs they’d like the borough to emulate are welcome to submit feedback, ideally by early 2021 so a sign can be fabricated in time for a naming ceremony that spring. Borough communication coordinator Tracy Flynn suggested
Saldutti’s birthday of April 10 could be an ideal date for a ceremony, and Lukens said he’ll keep the committee and public updated as sign designs are finalized.
Another item, for discussion only at this point: a private vendor has asked if the borough would be interested in allowing a vending machine at or near the skate park, Lukens told the committee. That vendor would keep the machine supplied, pay for the electricity, would not share any proceeds, Lukens told the committee, and members said they would rather wait until the nearby pool snack stand can reopen in a postCOVID world.
“If the snack bar opened up again, I wouldn’t want to create competition for that,” Teoh said.
And regarding the drainage repair, Lukens said recent rains have proven the drainage problem was not limited to summer’s tropical storms, and suggested the committee approve a roughly $10,000 repair as soon as possible.
“I hate to say it’s an insignificant sum, but in the scheme of things percentage wise, it really is,” compared to the roughly $715,000 total project cost, Fuller said. “My recommendation is to move forward, get it done, make sure it’s right, and move on.”
The parks committee voted unanimously to do so, and full council could do so when they next meet at 7 p.m. on Nov. 18. That meeting will be held online; for more information visit www.Lansdale.org.