One Mom Sees Need

For Skate Park

By Kendra Bobowick

Less visible than summer’s tennis matches or the traffic of a soccer game rushing back and forth on the Treadwell Park field is another sport without an official place to practice in Newtown.

Skateboarding.

Skaters run their scuffed boards through parking lots and private homes and were visible hitting mobile ramps and performing jumps during the Labor Day Parade. They have no designated spot in town to call their own, but they do have advocates.

Resident Lori Capozziello intends to help raise funds for a skate park, and approached the Parks and Recreation Commission with her thoughts this week.

She began her conversation with the recreation board members by saying that she knew of a prior stalled effort to establish a park.

“I want to continue,” she said, naming her campaign “Donate to Skate.” She can be reached at donate2skatelc@aol.com.

Already she has contacted local businesses to enlist help. She anticipates that soon paper cutouts of skateboards will be on sale for $1 apiece. The skates can then hang on the wall with a contributor’s name.

“I hope local businesses will get involved,” she said, hopeful for community support from a town where skating is popular with teens.

“We don’t have anything and we need a park for the kids,” she said. Ms Capozziello has often driven her sons Thomas, 14, and Patrick, 12, to skate parks established in Ridgefield and Norwalk, where they can practice their moves.

“They are in my garage all the time,” she said, and along with friends they may be there skating for hours.

With her “Donate to Skate” campaign just beginning, Ms Capozziello is looking for her own support in moving ahead with her fundraiser. She is seeking volunteers to help in her push to raise money, seek grants, and contact sponsors.

Recreation Chairman Edward Marks welcomed Ms Capozziello’s efforts Tuesday evening during a Park & Recreation Department meeting.

“I think we’re glad to see someone stepping forward,” he said. Mr Marks also explained that the Parks and Recreation Department’s budget contained no money for a skate park.

Ms Capozziello was not looking for money, however.

She replied, “I would like to get enough fundraising to [be able] to donate [the park] to the town.”

Surprised by her comment, Mr Marks said, “That would be wonderful.”

Motivating Ms Capozziello are those directly involved in skating including her sons.

“They are really into it, it’s a sport just like any other sport and it keeps them away from drugs because they need to be healthy,” she said. “I think it’s up to us to help them do it.”

She also realizes that misconceptions may taint a skater’s image. The clothes, for example, might indicate a teen that is inclined to get into trouble, she explained. Based on her own experience, she knows otherwise.

“A lot of people think skater kids are troubled kids, but they’re not,” she said. Their health is important to the sport of skating, she added.

Mr Marks recalled that finding a suitable location for a park had been a problem in the past. Possible sites discussed included Dickinson Park, and some old tennis courts. He also mentioned approaching the Fairfield Hills Authority to discuss possibilities at the former state hospital site that might serve temporarily as a skate park home.

“We should indicate that it’s temporary and we will move some time down the road,” he said.

Again remembering the details that thwarted the skate park effort several years ago, he said one problem was funding, and the other concerns were determining how to make the park work, whether or not it would be staffed, and liability issues.

“Those would be our biggest hurdles,” he said, adding that he hoped skaters would work with Parks and Recreation to say where the park would go and what the park might look like.

Mr Marks ended the discussion with a positive comment saying, “We’ll work with you from a budget standpoint,” explaining that next year the park can be among recommendations.