Concept For Downtown Skatepark Approved

The Hartford city council has approved a plan to turn a concrete platform over I-84 into a downtown skate park.

 

Formally, the park is called New Ross, County Wexford Park.  Informally, it’s called Heaven.  And for years, young people on skateboards and bikes have used heaven for fun.    

 

“A skateboarding mecca and a BMXing mecca for a lot of people.”

 

That’s Hartford City Councilman Luis Cotto.  He says the park has been used for over a decade as an informal skate park.  But on Monday, the Hartford city council decided to take it a step further – approving the recommendations of a skateboarding task force established last year.  Those recommendations include building the new, bowl-style park.  Cotto says it could take the city destination and make it a regional draw.

 

“We’re encouraging something that has taken the inner cities by storm.  They’ve identified the space, and through non-traditional means this has become the informal home for the skateboarding community. So we’re saying, hey, if this is where these youth are going to come and recreate, let’s help them out and give them a place that’s official.”

 

Cotto says the park that's just a few blocks away from the XL Center could take $300,000 to build, and the fundraising begins now.