It's going to take thousands of dollars to get an area skate park back up and running after the one in Poughkeepsie was shut down because it was rundown. But as our Michael Howard explains, it's become a community effort to make sure the park doesn't get forgotten.
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- It's been weeks since the City of Poughkeepsie closed the skate park in Waryas Park due to poor conditions.
“Just like any other recreational thing, this needs to be here,” said Brian Powers.
This park has been here for 10 years and the people of the community have enjoyed it for that long,” said Thomas "Monster" Lamoree, Make American Skate Again Organizer.
Skaters that use the park got the community involved this weekend at their event called "Make America Skate Again." They reminded people there how important parks like this are to the community.
What are the kids going to do without skateboarding? I mean, what else is there to do?” said Neil Curri, skateboarder.
“I think you need to keep the sports in the city. There's no baseball, no soccer, no nothing,” said Mark Pagano, Poughkeepsie resident.
Especially with skateboarding set to join the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020, the organizers said it's a sport just gaining in popularity.
“Our committee is hoping that the next gold medal skateboarder will be trained at this park right here in Poughkeepsie,” said Lamoree.
So now they're starting to raise the thousands of dollars it would take to get the park back open.
“The company that built the skate park originally gave us an estimate of $18,300 to repair the park so that's our target goal right now,” said Lamoree.
“We're just doing everything that we can and maybe we'll raise more. As we've been talking and getting the word out to people, all kinds of people have been expressing support. Business owners have been saying oh we want to contribute; we want to be part of this somehow,” said Curri,
They are confident with the support from the people around them; they'll get it back up and running soon.
“It's going to be up to community to save this place,” said Lamoree.
“100% confident it will be back,” said Powers.