Plea For Skateboard Park In Morristown Brought To Council 

MORRISTOWN, NJ — As part of an ongoing petition for a long-desired skateboard park within Morristown, several residents from both Morristown and Morris County gathered on Tuesday night to address the council.

The first speaker was Cultivate Skate Shop owner Daniel Arias, who highlighted the growing number of skateboarding-interested children who come to his store for advice on where to skate.

"I keep seeing more and more kids wanting to skateboard, but every time they come into the shop, they don't know where to go, there is really no safe place for them to go," Arias said. "We want the backing from you guys (the council) and see what we can do to get this moving forward. We can do fundraisers, we can talk with the Tony Hawk Foundation, and I'm sure we can get some grants from there."

Arias also previously spoke to the council in August, where he discussed the popularity of skating within the community, recalling a previous skate show that was formally held at the Hyatt about ten years ago.

In front of the council, Juan Ramirez, a Frelinghuysen Middle School student, echoed those statements, saying that other sports are given the resources they need to play, so why isn't skateboarding?

"I feel like skateboarders have nowhere safe or comfortable to practice their sport, and many popular destinations in Morristown for skateboarding are prohibited and you get kicked out by security guards and yelled at," Ramirez said.

Dimitri Darche, co-owner of Cultivate Skate Shop, said he grew up skateboarding in Morristown and faced the same difficulties as a teenager trying to practice around town.

"At this point in our lives, we still really love skateboarding and our first step was to open up the skateboard shop and now our next step is to get some sort of DIY skate park open. That way we can have a better environment for skateboarders so that they can feel safe and focus on their discipline," Darche said.

In response to the speakers, Morristown Council Vice President Nathan Umbriac praised the group's efforts and commitment to their craft, saying that there is a need for a dedicated skating space within Morristown.

"The fact that you guys don't have dedicated space, that you're constantly being kicked out of places, that the police are coming or security guards are coming and kicking you out, that there isn't a safe space that's dedicated to a skate park is worth a conversation," Umbriac said.

Council member Stefan Armington stated that the town had looked into a dedicated space, but it was difficult to find a piece of property that they could purchase.

One potential solution, Armington said, would be a DIY or hybrid park, which would essentially function as a traveling skate park that could be moved around to different parks.

"There are a lot of unknowns about putting a skateboard park in one community and potentially impacting that community. So the idea was, there are neighborhood parks all around town that have tennis courts and basketball courts.... We could come up with a program whereby for a year or six months, we'd take this trailer of equipment and set it up on a Saturday in one park, and then move it to another park," Armington said.

The council agreed that this was something that should be looked into further.

Sandi Mayer, Council President, warned the skateboard community to keep going about getting a skate park "the right way," saying that any unsavory actions on their behalf could turn away potential skate park donors.

"Just to say, there's a lot of people in town that feel you guys sort of abuse some of the properties, so now they are putting up these metal things on the sidewalks, so that turns people off and you're not going to get funding from somebody who might support you," Mayer said.

The council did not make a decision on the skateboard park last night, but they did express a willingness to continue discussions and look into the idea.