The Jersey City SK8 Park Chronicles

William L. Benzon

222 Van Horne St., 3R Jersey City, NJ 07304 201.217.1010 bbenzon@mindspring.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Introduction
This document is about three skate parks. One real, but demolished, and one real, but still standing. The third one is not yet real. The document has two parts, both slightly revised from posts I put on the web at New Savanna and at Truth and Traditions. The first, and longer, section is about a skate and BMX park that some teens and young adults built on the Northern edge of downtown Jersey City. The second takes the form of an open letter to Diane Coleman, who was running for City Council at the time I posted it. Shes since won the seat. Its a plea for the city to build a proper skate park for its young (and not so young) people.

ONE: A Guerilla SK8 Park in Jersey City

Sometimes people just go ahead and create what they need without waiting for the government to act. Thats what a bunch of kids and young adults did in Jersey City a few years ago. At least, thats what I surmise after the fact. I dont actually know what they decided, when, and why. I just know what they did. I know, because I walked into it by chance. Heres that story. It was in November of 2006, about a month or so after Id become interested in photographing local graffiti. I was walking in the neighborhood, or perhaps I was in the car on the way back from my Sunday AM grocery run. One of the other, it doesnt much matter. Anyhow, I spotted some color:

Thats the stuff, says I, thats the stuff. When I got closer, I noticed a ramp against a wall:

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And then this:

Someone was obviously using this sitethe floor slab of an abandoned industrial building of some sortas a park for skateboarding and BMX bike riding. See:

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I took this in July of 2007. Notice that the art on the walls has changed. It seems that some local, and not so local, graffiti writers used this site as something of an experimental gallery even as the skateboarders and BMXers used it to hone their athletic skills. All off the books, so to speak. They were trespassing on this land. But no one cared. The cops certainly knew what was going on. Sure, it was a little off the beaten path, but only a little. The sites not particularly remote or hidden. Oh, they knew, the cops. But why hassle the kids. They werent hurting anyone; the land wasnt being used for anything. Let em use it; keeps em outa trouble. Then this appeared:

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Someone was hauling concrete back there and building mounds and ramps. Someone knew about construction. Someone was investing in improvements in this property that they didnt own. Call it crazy; call it initiative; call it real. Then, disaster struck in early November, 2007:

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The land had been sold and the surface broken-up, presumably in preparation for construction (construction which has not, post financial meltdown, happened yet). The skate park was gone. Investment wiped out. I suppose it was inevitable in one way or another. After all, they didnt own the land. Sooner or later the legal owner would exercise owners rights and the skate park would be gone. Squatters rights makes a nice movie-and wouldnt this make a really heartwarming little film? kids work hard, reclaim abandoned land, Simon Legree kicks them off, City Fathers get Legree on some criminal charge, kids are rewarded, city builds new park bigger and betterbut thats the movies. This is Jersey City. Jersey City is not the movies. Still, theres more to the story, and Ill get to it in a minute. But, I tell you now, that more doesnt include a happy ending for the kids and their park. At least not yet.

Where are we? The SK8 park was busted up. And the users were not happy:

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Someone shoot me, it says, used to be the fucking coolest place. Then, a few days later, another sign appeared:

Coulda knocked me over with an aerosol blast. Who in City Hall, I asked myself, gives a crap about these kids and their park? I was curious, and went to the meeting. Four skaters, one councilman, Steve Fulop, and me, that was the meeting. Fulop asked the skaters if they could
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get more skaters to come to a rescheduled meeting. They said they could. Fulop scheduled another meeting for Monday 19 November. I told the councilman that I would donate photos of the site Jersey Citys library so that there would be a permanent record of the park, which I did a week or so later. Monday 19 November rolled around and 30 or 40 skateboarders showed up along with a parent or two and the owner of a tea shop (now closed) who was sponsoring a skateboard team. Fulop said that we would be negotiating with the New Jersey Turnpike authority for park space under one of the Turnpike viaducts connecting downtown Jersey City to the turnpike. The school district had already made a deal for parking under one of the viaducts so there was precedent for such use. As far as Fulop was concerned, the park was a done deal. He asked the skate boarders for their input on the design and indicated that, once things got rolling, he would meet with them once a month until the park opened up.

Hooray! Score one for the people.

The kids though not only kids, some were young men in their 20s met on the City Hall steps after the meeting and organized an email list. I was having dreams of young folks getting a lesson in DEMOCRACY IN ACTION. It was glorious to stand there high on the steps and see sk8boarders fan out heading home into the cool downtown night. Black, Latino, White, East Asian, South Asian, young and younger, male and female, on sk8boards heading home, perhaps to dream of a REAL skatepark. Alasyou knew this was coming, didnt you?it was not to be. Fulop kept after the Turnpike Authority for a few months, and I kept after him. But the Turnpikers never came through with another meeting, much less an agreement on use of land under one of the viaducts. I doubt that anyone was surprised about this. Disappointed, sure, at least those of us whod hoped. But surprised, no. The sk8ers and BMXers constructed other obstacles at other places, including this spot under one of the Turnpike viaducts:

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They took over the ice-skating rink at nearby Enos Jones Park, no doubt to the displeasure of the ice skaters and hockey players who thought, not without reason, that it was theirs. This is, by default, become a semi-official SK8 park. It is better than nothing, but its not nearly so good as the park that was lost. And, flash! the company that took over that property has yet to build on it. Those plans, presumably, got swallowed in the financial disaster of 2008. Still, life goes on. Plants, not knowing and not caring about long-delayed construction plans, started filling in around the broken pieces of the old SK8 park, which is lookin kinda good, though not usable for skating or BMXing.

And who knows, maybe one day the City will wake up and do something for its children. Maybe.
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TWO: Our Kids Need a SK8 Park, an Open Letter to Diane Coleman
Diane Coleman was recently elected to the City Council to represent Jersey Citys Ward F. I wrote this piece before the election.

Let me tell you about some kids, Diane, and about some young adults as well. Skateboarding and BMX bicycle-riding arent just for kids, not anymore. As you know, kids become adults. Ive only met these particular kids once, and only talked to one of them. Theyve got their lives and I have mine. And mine includes taking photographs of interesting things in Jersey City, like guerilla skate parks. I know thesere good kids because Ive seen what theyve built. Though theyre probably not old enough to vote for anyone, and they know the worlds stacked against them, I figure theyd vote for someone like you because they know youve worked hard for the community.

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So, anyhow, they like to skateboard (they spell it sk8, fewer characters when texting) and to ride BMX bikes. But theres no place for them to do it. The citys too busy handing out construction contracts to friends and friends of friends so they can build high-rise apartment complexes for wannabe bankers and gofers to bankers and their wannabes. As Im sure YOU know Diane, this goes on because those bankers are swimming in so much cash that even the gofers and wannabes can afford to live in luxury. But these kids cant get one freakin recreation facility. So you know what they did, Diane, they built it themselves. Notice the URL painted into the concrete for all to see. Check it out.

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This parks in your ward, Diane, Ward F. Its just east of the light rail tracks between the Liberty State Park station and the Jersey Avenue station. Check it out the next time you ride the light rail. Chances are youll see kids sk8ing there. Anyhow, they hauled concrete and metal bar back there and built some obstacles:

If the kids can do this all on their own, without two dimes to rub together, think what they can do with your help. It boggles the mind. Boggles. And heres their clubhouse:

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Built it from an old shipping container. Repurposed it, as they say. Well, Diane, thats just what you want to do to city government, right? Repurpose it so it serves We the People not Them the Bankers and Developers and Lazy @&& Pols. Whos Hoder? youre asking. Mike Hoder, professional BMXer.1 He came to this park and rode with the kids. Signed his name on the clubhouse for them too. You could do that, Diane. If you come here, Ill give you an aerosol can myself. Nice silver. You can sign the clubhouse wall, too: Diane Coleman, Councilwoman! I like that. It becomes you. The doors wide open.

Like the man said...

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

http://www.sandmbikes.com/riders/mike_hoder
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