Citizens unite to build skate park in So. Bruns.

New committee will

meet with the town’s

recreation department

By charles w. kim

Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK — A newly formed citizens group is hoping for a skate park.

"We believe a skate park will add substantially to the quality of life," Beekman Road resident Al Kady told Township Council members Tuesday night.

Kady and four other community members formed their own committee recently to propose a skate park for Veterans Park.

Kady lives next door to the park and has been approached several times by the young people using the park about building skating facilities there.

Kady presented the council members with a petition a couple of months ago, signed by "numerous young people that feel under represented."

On behalf of the committee, Kady read a letter to the council requesting its assistance in making the park a reality.

"These young people want to skate, a sport that provides great exercise and promotes a healthy lifestyle," Kady said.

According to the committee’s letter to the council, more than 30 percent of the township’s young people are enthusiastic about in-line skating and skateboarding.

"As our youth mature, they drop out of team sports," Kady said, citing a study that said while 250 kids in kindergarten participate in baseball, only four to six still participate at the senior high school level.

"We need healthy alternatives, and a skate park will be great," Kady said.

The committee’s letter pointed to other neighboring communities that have either already built a park, or are in the process of building one.

Kady said that these communities were able to deal with insurance and liability issues to make the parks happen.

"Parks have been built in Hillsborough, Sayreville, South River, Old Bridge, Edison, Hamilton, and East Brunswick," Kady said.

According to Kady, many of the officials, community leaders, and businesses supported the parks as an alternative to the kids using the sidewalks and roads to skate on.

Kady asked the council for an action plan and timetable so that the community would know what is going on.

Mayor Frank Gambatese said that Kady and his committee should meet with the township’s recreational board to move the request forward.

"There is no money in this year’s budget for a park. The money would have to come [be requested] from the recreation department," Gambatese said.

Gambatese asked Kady to report back to the council once the committee has met with the board.

Kady said after the meeting that he and former Schools Superintendent Sam Stewart formed the citizens committee to try to get the council to move on the issue.

Along with Kady and Stewart, residents Donna Sichta, Scott Williams and Lew Schwartz are also members of the committee.

Kady said that the committee is looking for new members and ways to raise money for the project.