PARK LOVERS FLIP
Peeved by B’klyn skate facility plan
Plans for a skate park in Brooklyn are shredding one community apart.
Residents who frequent Mount Prospect Park in Park Slope say they are furious about a proposal to fill part of the leafy green space with a massive skateboarding facility, which will be partly backed by skate legend Tony Hawk.
“It is our green space and it is well loved and it is well used. It is rare . . . and we don’t want any of it paved,” said Hayley Gorenberg, who along with Ben Lowe cochairs Friends of Mount Prospect Park, which is leading opposition to the plan.
The so-called Brooklyn Skate Garden, which was announced by Mayor Adams on Jan. 24, will be funded by the city in collaboration with Hawk’s The Skatepark Project as part of a $11 million program to put skate parks around the five boroughs. Adams said he hopes the parks can become skater magnets that are capable of holding world-class competitions.
But Gorenberg and Lowe were frustrated that their local representative, District 35 Councilmember Crystal Hudson, has backed the ambitious skate park without consulting the community.
“This plan has been in place for years, but we only just heard about it . . . when they released a press release a couple weeks ago,” Lowe explained.
Hudson told The Post in a statement that the BSG would reinvigorate the “underutilized” park.
“It will bring a much-needed revitalization of the park that will keep a majority of the existing open space completely untouched and available for use,” she said.
Some residents think that the 340,000-square-foot park is too small for the 40,000-square-foot facility.
‘Going to amputate’
“What Brooklyn needs is more green spaces, not more pavement,” Trevor Allen, 40, said.
“Grass and trees are our most precious commodity. Every square foot is precious to us. That’s why I chose to live here, to be close to nature. And now they’re going to amputate.”
Other parkgoers, however, were more open to the idea of the skate garden.
“I’m in favor of it. The park is underinvested,” attorney Ben Kabak, who walks his dog in the park daily, told The Post on Monday.
“It’s great for the youth. I think it’s a great idea,” former skater Rob Jenkins chimed in.
Although Hawk’s foundation will be putting up some funds, the main driving force behind the skate park is the Pablo Ramirez Foundation, which was created in memory of a young Brooklyn artist who was killed in a skateboarding accident in 2019.
“It’s not going to be a commercial skateboard arena, but will continue to be a free-to-use public green space and park,” said Ramirez’s mother, Loren Michelle.
“Skateboarding is just one part of the vision,” Michelle continued. “Space for public art and culture programming will be made available, and we intend for it to be a place where our youth can grow and learn.”