AC SKATE PARK GETS PHASE 1 APPROVAL FROM CRDA

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ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY — At the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority's (CRDA) Tuesday, Feb. 19, board meeting in Atlantic City, the state entity approved plans for a skate park to be built in Atlantic City.

The CRDA has been discussing the possibility of a skate park since the fall of  2012, with the intention of bringing another non-gaming attraction, as well as providing more family-friendly options, to the resort.

In a January interview with Atlantic City Weekly CRDA head John Palmieri said the skate park could be completed by "late summer."

On Tuesday, according to NBC-40, Palmieri said: "We think we have the money set aside. We've identified the funding. We believe we have a good site but we may determine that there are other sites that we need to review as well."

Palmieri's personal choice for the skate park site is near The Walk, in a vacant lot adjacent to the new "Wave" parking garage (pictured in the Jan. 17 cover of Atlantic City Weekly; see below) in the Ducktown section of the city and near the entrance to the Atlantic City Expressway.
 

Board members ultimately will decide where the skate park will be built, which would have to get under way soon if a late summer grand opening is to be achieved.

As "non-gaming attractions" have become the buzz phrase in Atlantic City over the last couple of years or so, with the intention of offering more of a diverse entertainment palette for visitors and locals in Atlantic City to enjoy in conjunction with the city's Tourism District and Master Plan, the skate park, which already has local and regional — as well as national and professional — skaters and surfers "stoked," is on the right track towards that mission. 
 
Jason Forslund, a local resident, surfer, founder of the Skate AC movement and president of the Atlantic City Skateboarding Association, says that he's excited about the swift progression of his skate park idea.

"This project is exciting for me because it's in Atlantic City," Forslund told Atlantic City Weekly following the CRDA board meeting. "It wasn't phoned in from New York or California or whatever, it's not being done by people who don't live here. It was born here, and now through a strong community of advocates and a forward-thinking CRDA board we are seeing it come to life.

"I am really excited for the youth of Atlantic City to have something to call their own, something that people from their own community created for them to enjoy. I started the Atlantic City Skateboarding Association to get us a skate park in Atlantic City, but now we hope it will turn into something bigger, something that inspires the youth of A.C. and surrounding communities to get involved in their own communities — to work together toward a common goal no matter what that goal is."

Forslund says that almost anything is possible as far as the skate park goes and what it can do to enhance the city and bring in events to the city.

In January, he also told Atlantic City Weekly he believes that the project has a lot of potential to help bring A.C. a new attraction and serve as a new cultural hub for the city.

“If the park is well received by the people who come to skate it, like we anticipate it will be, the sky is the limit,” he says. “Atlantic City needs something that the younger generations can identify with and a celebrated skate park is a perfect catalyst to get their attention. If promoted and programmed correctly, the A.C. skate park will be a hotbed of creativity, athleticism, expression and culture. So much of A.C.’s image is the casinos and all the preconceptions that come with them. [Skateboarding] culture is the exact opposite.”

Greg Simmons, 28, one of the founders of the R.A.D. (Renaissance and Discovery) movement in Atlantic City in 2009, and a resident of Mays Landing, helps kids in Atlantic City learn how to skateboard — currently in an empty school lot. He thinks it’s a perfect time for Atlantic City to have its own skate park as other cities do around the world. (Most recently, rap star Lil’ Wayne opened a skate park in New Orleans, while world-famous skater Tony Hawk announced he would be joined by musicians such as Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Ben Harper and others to build skate parks across the country.)

“Everything’s happening organically; it’s coming together the way it should,” says Simmons.

Also at Tuesday's CRDA Board Meeting, on the same day Revel announced it was filing for bankruptcy, the CRDA made moves with regard to the planned city marketplace ala Philly's Reading Terminal Market, new facade improvements for the Tropicana as well as funding for a Chickie's & Pete's eatery at the Tropicana to open on the Boardwalk this summer.