Steve Roberts (above right, below with co-creator J. Joseph) checks out the contours of the new Scantlebury skatepark.
Paul Bass Photos
Steve Roberts found the flow just where he’d always pictured it — at a new skatepark in the neighborhood where he grew up, and where he can now teach other young people to hone their moves.
Roberts was demonstrating his skateboard flow Monday along the sloping half-pipes and quarter-pipes comprising the new brick-and-concrete skatepark built in Scantlebury Park, hard by the Farmington Canal trail in Dixwell.
City officials are scheduled to formally inaugurate the skatepark at a ribbon-cutting Thursday.
Word has already gotten out about the new facility, drawing devotees from near and far to hone and demonstrate their skills.
Roberts dreamed up the idea for the skatepark. Before he got a chance to ride on it, he and his skateboard buddy J. Joseph navigated the slopes, twists and turns of New Haven democratic decision-making and grant making to turn the idea into a reality.
Now young people in Dixwell and Newhallville have the same opportunity Westville and Edgewood kids have in Edgewood Park, to share the joys of skateboarding in a safe public space in their own neighborhood.
“They had a dream. They made a dream a reality. They believed so strongly that skateboarding brings people together and teaches life lessons,” said Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison, who shepherded the project through sometimes-stormy community meetings and commission hearings, said of Roberts and Joseph. “I’m so happy they chose Dixwell as the neighborhood to give this gift to.”
Morrison said she heard support for the idea from an overwhelmingly majority of her neighbors from the start, but faced off against a vocal group of neighbors who were concerned about increased noise in the park — and who were more inclined to show up at public meetings. New Haven’s legal aid organization backed those neighbors, so the process dragged on for more than a year and a half.
Since Bridgeport-based Rampage skateboard company finished building the park this month, Morrison has seen people of all backgrounds using it. “They love it from morning to night,” she said.
Roberts (pictured), who is 26 and grew up on Gibbs Street, originally got the idea for the skatepark while studying at Rhode Island College in Providence. He saw Providence officials go from cracking down on skateboarders to working with the community to create a spot for young people to practice their craft safely without bothering others. He lived by a second skate park adjacent to a biking path.
“Yo. There’s a bike path in New Haven. It’d be cool to have this” back home, Roberts recalled thinking.
After moving back home after college, he shared the idea with J. Joseph, a Yale student who grew up in the area. The two developed a friendship over skating. Roberts taught skateboarding to neighborhood kids in the Dixwell Plaza parking lot, where they had run-ins with drivers passing through in their cars.
They sketched a possible park design for Scantlebury. It would include a permanent stage for community groups to use for performances. They raised $75,000 from the Elm City Innovation Collaborative’s Could Be Fund and Yale’s Schwarzman Center.
The plan evolved during community meetings; the stage was dropped in favor of a pickle ball court, which some of the opponents preferred.
Roberts and Joseph, who is 23, learned lessons along the way about how public decisions are made. In the end, they marveled at the finished product.
“It came out even better than I had hoped,” observed Joseph (pictured).
The 3,600-square-foot space, tucked into the park’s northeast corner by the Farmington Trail and Webster Street, consists of a wall of sloping quarter-pipes …
… a series of waves leading to the eventual planned pickle ball court, a “China Banks” stretch (named after a legendary San Francisco spot) with a ledge embedded, and a middle “A Frame” section with steps and slopes.
The varied topography enables skateboarders to build up speed, go over or around obstacles, and test new moves safely, Roberts and Joseph said.
“The main thing is creating flow,” Roberts said.
Then he showed how, as he “found a line” through the skatepark. Click on the video to watch him do it.
Sean Smith (pictured) seconded Roberts’ and Joseph’s assessment of the design. Smith lives in Middletown. He and his pal Joe Vignone, who have been skateboarding for 15 years, learned about the new park on Rampage’s Instagram feed. So they came down Monday to try it out, and offered rave reviews.
“It’s great,” said Vignone, who lives in West Hartford. “It’s super mellow. It’s like a park for everyone. It’s done perfect; it’s got good flow.”
They shared tips with Lila Miller (pictured), a high schooler newer to the craft. After hearing about the new park in New Haven, she brought up her longboard Monday from her hometown of Westport, which has a “crappy” skateboard facility by the beach. “This is better; I think it’s awesome.”
Sarah Coldin (at left in photo) brought her 12-year-old daughter Annabelle to the park Monday as well. The family lives in the Lake George area in upstate New York. They decided to take a “recreation” road trip. Since Annabelle has developed a skateboarding interest, Coldin scoured the web, and found reference to the new New Haven park in a website comments section.
Meanwhile, neighborhood kids frolicked nearby at a previous addition to the park, the splash pad.
Now that the new skatepark is up, Roberts plans to revive his weekly lessons for neighborhood kids, beginning this week. Scantlebury is their park now, too.