Paul Bass Photo
In the end, only one tag remained on the pyramid where skateboarders soar to glory. “SCSU Helping Hands,” it read. And handprints surrounded it.
That was the scene at the skateboard park outside Edgewood Park’s Coogan Pavilion after a posse of volunteers from Southern Connecticut State University got through with an annual fall clean-up.
The students have been working with top Westville cop Marty Tchakirides on making the park nicer for the past four years during an annual day of community service. Saturday brought a “really, really good” turnout from the Southern students, he said.
They turned out in force to paint not just the pyramid, but the other physical temptresses of skating derring-do that dot the popular hang-out. They painted the ramps and half-pipes and quarter-pipes battleship grey, covering over the old graffiti.
On the pyramid they dipped their hands in paint to leave their colorful signature.
The next morning park regular Brian Jaser, who’s 21, was cruising and flying through the park. He praised the students’ paint job.
“It’s smoother” with the fresh paint, he said. And “less distracting” without the old graffiti.