The city recently-announced a plan to turn the nook’s asphalt to synthetic turf, making it impossible to skate
The northwest corner of Tompkins Square Park is an unassuming topographical nook most might not be familiar with unless they’ve spent time in Manhattan's East Village and its park, an eclectic harbor for the storied neighbourhood. Situated on Avenue A and East 9th Street, the paved court is a hyperlocal treasure, particularly for the diverse, many-aged skaters, who use the flat, asphalt-paved democratic terrain to casually skate and socialise and, adjacently, for the park-goers who consider the decades-spanning skater haunt a rich and permanent backdrop to an otherwise unpredictable cityscape.
New York City, a shapeshifter, has a way of changing right under you; the ground you step on tomorrow will be different from the one your heel scrapes against today. Literally: coffee ground runoff from that new Starbucks’ trash, unfamiliar reflections from the glass face of a luxury condo, no flicked butts outside your bar because it shuttered the night before.
“New York City, a shapeshifter, has a way of changing right under you; the ground you step on tomorrow will be different from the one your heel scrapes against today”
This is why the city’s recently-announced plan to turn that nook’s asphalt to synthetic turf next year in 2020 is problematic for the Lower East Side community. The plan, which is part of a $1.45billion, 3.5-year flood-protection renovation for the East River Park, is a solution to herd the baseball and softball players to other newly-turfed sites while construction happens, one of those sites being Tompkins.
The issue is that synthetic turf is unskateable and would dislodge its current habitué, a youthful mix of skate kids, their peers, the blacktop Hockey league and others on wheels. Condemnation came quick, spreading across social media, with many who use or appreciate the space vocalising their disapproval in Instagram posts. Quickly a petition against the planned “improvements” was started on Change.org by Adam Zhu. “Save Tompkins Square asphalt!” has since amassed nearly 25,000 signatures, “This plan was approved without support from the community. The area of the park they would be renovating has a historical and sacred importance to skateboarders and other community members who would be excluded from the new facility,” the petition states.
Amidst the ongoing dispute, the park’s department’s assistant commissioner for communications, Crystal Howard, posted a statement to her Instagram, writing, “The decision to install the turf here in 2020 wasn’t made lightly,” saying it was part of “neighbourhood-wide enhancements.” The sentiment of enhancements is complex and nuanced, especially in the eyes of the skatepark’s current users.
While there are other places to skate in the city, Tompkins Square’s area provides a unique ecosystem that many argue is impossible to relocate. “Regardless of the current bounty of skateparks the five boroughs have to offer, nothing compares to the skateboard community that Tompkins has provided for me. It was the saviour of my first winter, my opportunity to meet the beautifully diverse cast of New York skateboarders, and my peace and quiet during my stress,” said Isaac Bjorke, one of its regulars. “Replacing the skateboarders with an area designed for corporate sports events and tourist convenience is ignorant of the current communal value of the square,” he says.
Brendan Burdzinski, a filmmaker, photographer and skater, says “Tompkins has influenced me by connecting me with multiple generations of new friends, people I admired and grew up watching in skate videos, all the way to kids from the nearby middle school just learning the basics. We share knowledge in the park. I also meet a lot of people from around the world who come to visit the park because of they had seen it in a skate video or film that had a big impact on them.”
“I’ve noticed how skateboarding has been an activity for people who see the world differently, and many who feel disenfranchised by pop culture and organised sports” – Brendan Burdzinski
If the plan to add synthetic turf were to move forward, Burdzinski worries that “it would disintegrate a part of my social circle and deactivate a space I use for exercise and meditation. I’ve noticed how skateboarding has been an activity for people who see the world differently, and many who feel disenfranchised by pop culture and organised sports. Ripping up the asphalt would also tear the social fabric that has been a part of NY culture and history, it'll contribute to the general white washing and displacement of the lower east side.”
Ahmed Alramly, a student and writer living in the East Village, laments the possibility of the change. “It’s sad that the fight should be so hard to maintain the balance and charm of the neighbourhood. This argument is far from what the supposed ‘best’ use for the space is – it’s about tearing down a symbol, that would only subsequently continue to result in a complete loss of what it is that makes us who live here happy to live here.”
The petition started by Zhu and large volumes of word-of-mouth appeals from much of the Lower East Side have since helped spark meetings to address the situation, which is still unfolding. The first meeting was held at Tompkins Square Library on July 9th without conclusion, and its follow up meeting is tonight July 18 at 6:30PM at La Plaza Cultural Community Garden.
If you live in New York, attend the meeting if you feel you would be impacted by such a change.
If you can’t attend the meeting, you can help by contacting your representative, Councilwoman Carlina, on district2@council.nyc.gov, by phone (212 677-1077) or visit 209 E 3rd Street.