MANSFIELD: Skaters request space

Youth petition Township Committee

By David Kilby, Special Writer
   MANSFIELD — Teens are looking for a safe place to freely skate in town.
   A few friends have gotten together and petitioned the township to build a skate park in Mansfield. According to the teens, they do not wish to skate on properties that are off limits.
   ”It would be a lot safer,” Spencer Sibert, 13, said at last week’s Township Committee meeting. “We would all have a (better) place to ride our scooters, skateboards and bikes — if you built a skate park,” noting it would also be more fun.
   He handed Linda Semus, township clerk, a petition with approximately 30 personally signed names requesting the creation of a sanctioned skate park.
   Joining Spencer at the Feb. 13 Township Committee meeting were Ryan Haviland, 14; Kenny Pullen, 14; and Keegan Tindale, 12. They are students at Northern Burlington County Regional Middle School. The skaters asked the committee for help in building the potential skate park.
   ”They do get a lot of backlash wherever they go,” said Stacy Rooney, Spencer’s mother, adding that the businesses in town never let the kids skate in their parking lots.
   ”We’ve always been threatened by other people that they’re going to call the cops,” Spencer told the committee.
   Michael Magee, township attorney, said there may be liability issues if the township builds a skate park.
   ”These young people, they jump up and they come down and land on their (heads) and the next thing you know there’s a lawyer knocking at my door,” Mr. Magee said.
   He suggested going to the Recreation Committee and if its members thought it was a good idea they could present skate park plans to the Township Committee.
   Committeeman Sean Gable, a member of the Recreation Committee, said the Recreation Department is responsible for mainly just programs. For instance, if the kids wanted to start a skating team, the skaters could go to that department.
   ”If we were going to have a facility for them to utilize it might need to come from us (the Township Committee,” he said.
   ”There are a lot of kids (interested in a skate park),” Ms. Rooney said. “They’re all buddies. They all hang out together. I see all the boys all the time hanging out near my house on Locust Avenue. There are also older kids who park in the school parking lot and that’s where they all skate.”
   She said they really need a place where they can go that is made for skating, and said all of their mothers would be interested in such a park as well.
   Spencer said he and his friends also often go to the local school to skate.
   However, “(The school) said we’re not allowed to ride there until 6 o’ clock when everything closes, but nowadays (in the winter) it gets dark at 6 o’ clock,” he said.
   ”I think you should talk to the Recreation Committee,” Committeewoman Janice DiGiuseppe said. “Plead your case with them and if they think it’s a feasible thing they’ll bring a recommendation to us.”
   Ms. Rooney said parents wind up driving their children to Robbinsville and Hamilton just so they can hang out for a little bit pursuing their shared passion — skating.
   The committee acknowledged that a skate park would be a good idea, and the skaters, along with Ms. Rooney, said they would be asking the Recreation Committee for help.