Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to build a 40,000-square-foot skatepark in partnership with renowned skateboarder Tony Hawk has encountered opposition from Brooklynites who do not want to see their greenspace covered in concrete.
In January, Adams announced plans to build or refurbish four skateparks for $24 million. The largest one is planned for Mount Prospect Park, a hilly park between the Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn’s central library. The Mount Prospect Park location will be one of the largest on the East Coast according to Hawk’s nonprofit the Skatepark Project, which is designing the parks.
The following month, a new group dubbed “Friends of Mount Prospect Park” expressed its disapproval in a letter to local politicians.
“We were shocked to hear of the plan to pave over a big swath of our beloved Mount Prospect Park, to replace it with a skateboard arena. We fully expected that our agencies and officials would consult before contemplating pouring concrete on green space that’s quite precious to us, for good reasons,” wrote the group’s Co-Chairs Benjamin Lowe and Hayley Gorenberg.
Adams previously said the four skateparks will be able to host major competitions as well as boost tourism and the economy.
“Most importantly, they’ll give New Yorkers, particularly our young people, a place to get outside, have fun and express themselves on four wheels,” Adams said.
Local pro skater Troy Gipson told Gothamist that more skateparks in New York City mean more opportunities for kids to get into the sport.
“It’s a bit harder to get into skating if you don’t really have access to a park or anything like that to learn,” said Gipson, 22. “The streets here kind of suck and they’re just rough so I think it gets people, at least kids, more opportunity to get more comfortable skating.”
But Gorenberg said the project had come as a complete surprise to Prospect Heights and Crown Heights residents who use the park.
“You would have to be living under a rock if…
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