WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – For the past several years, options have been limited for skateboarders in the north country. That could change.
City Council Member Cliff Olney has been championing the construction of a state-of-the-art skate park.
“I promised in my campaign to do and build more for young people because there doesn’t seem to be a lot here right now,” he said.
Right now, the only option for skaters in Watertown is a park at the fairgrounds. According to skaters, it’s getting a tad outdated.
“A lot of it was made 20 odd years ago. It’s not quite up to the standards it should be,” said Tyler Drappo, skater.
How will the new park keep up with the times? For one, Olney says it’ll be made out of concrete instead of metal. This will allow it to withstand the cold better.
“It’s not going to wear down over the years with snow load like we get. We used to have more equipment than this but eventually, it started to wear out because of the winter,” said Drappo.
There would be other new features as well. Olney says he’ll be taking input from Watertown’s skating community on specific features and suggestions are already flowing.
“If we had a concrete park with bigger obstacles, better more challenging obstacles, the progression rate out of Watertown could rise higher,” said Easton Castor, skater.
How much higher? With skateboarding’s new status as of 2020, Castor hopes that the enhanced park prepares people in Watertown for the Olympic games. On the flip side, it may also draw people to the city.
“People will come in from out of town. They’ll come spend more money on the community. It’ll definitely be an impact and help people out,” said Alex Semione, skater.
While the project is still in its early planning stages, Olney says that an official work session will be taking place to discuss it in the future.
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