Brooklyn Banks No Match For Bridge Construction

Photograph by Urbanblitz on Flickr

The city has made up its mind. Come December, the Brooklyn Banks will be boarded up and transformed into a construction area for the Brooklyn Bridge rehabilitation project, Scott Gastel, spokesperson for the city Dept. of Transportation told Downtown Express.

While there is a chance the gritty street-style park may reopen in 2014 with a few new shiny touches, old school skateboarders are not psyched on the idea. Steve Rodriguez, the owner of 5boro Skateboards, said, “It’s like saying, ‘We’re going to remove the Statue of Liberty, why is that bad? It’s a spot that’s been skated since the ’60s and ’70s. It’s the historic center of skateboarding on the East Coast. It’s like a shrine, almost.” He also said he could easily get hundreds of people to turn out to a public hearing on the closure.

Then there are those who are already making their voices heard at Community Board 1 meetings. The Downtown Express reports that Una Perkins, a board member, said she was worried that the unsupervised teens were running across the Brooklyn Bridge ramps and could get hurt and John Fratta, chairperson of the board’s Seaport/Civic Center Committee, added the skateboarders were “way out of control.”

Even though the city says the decision is final, skateboard activists are hoping for a last-minute stay. But one younger skater said, "I don’t really care. It needs a cleaning…. There’s bird [crap] everywhere, and you can fall and trip over a goddamn rock. It’s dangerous."

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By Ellen T in News on October 23, 2009 4:15 PM

Comments [rss]

Art

Lets just say,,

out of every 100 kids that are there in one day 20 of those kids go there a couple times a week. Then 40 of them are just passing threw, 20 of them drove from out of nyc to get there, and 20 of them are learning how to skate there ,, well 80 of those kids will find somewhere else to skate and life goes on, but what about those 20 kids each day that now have nowhere to go because thats where they literaly are learning, i feel those 20 kids will most likely find other ways of being active and i can bet it wont be positive to the city, then they wonder why crime is up,, because theres no safe haven for the kids, the banks is a place and has been a place where the youth can do what they normaly are getting kicked out of everywhere they are there keeping out of trouble and minding there own buisness,if they are going to close down somthing that keeps 100+ kids occupied then at least build somthing for them to go afterwards,, next thing we are going to hear is people getting arrested for skating near the banks. shame on the city and there one way thinking.. they did the same thing to mually skate park, how you going to put a construction parking lot in place of the oldest running skate park in nyc, shows that in there office they dont think things out and definatly dont keep the kids in mind.

Spirit of 76

“It’s like saying, ‘We’re going to remove the Statue of Liberty, why is that bad?'"

No, it's like saying, "We need to do work around the Statue of Liberty, so we're going to close off the grounds and put up scaffolding. Sorry, but people won't be able to see the statue or go inside while we do this." Oh, wait, that's exactly what they did back in 1984-86. I don't remember anybody back then crying, "They're taking away our statue!"

bagelman

breaking news!!!

one younger skater said, "I don’t really care."

americaonline

The kid quoted is obviously a pussy and grew up in the mid 90's with his overprotective parents who sued teachers for giving him detention when he fucked up.