February 7, 2018, by Thomas Breen- "Parks Director Becky Bombero asked the dozen skaters, skateboarders and bikers assembled before her what day of the week they would be available to come to help pull weeds as their sweat equity contribution to a new skate park. “Almost everyone has Sundays off,” BMX rider Justin Kearney said, “since a lot of us in retail have to work on Saturdays.” “OK, what time on Sunday?” Bombero asked. “Probably not too early,” the group responded in unison. Thus was the latest round of negotiations between local skaters and the city parks department as the city finalizes its plans to rebuild and expand the Edgewood Skate Park, a 20-year-old public amenity that sits behind Edgewood Park’s Coogan Pavilion near the intersection of Whalley Avenue and Fitch Street. On Tuesday night at the Coogan Pavilion, Bombero and city landscape architect David Moser held a public meeting with a small, dedicated group of local skaters to review the final designs for the new skate park. They also hammered out the details around the sweat equity that will be required of the skaters in order for the new park to come to be. Earlier this year, the City Plan Commission approved the designs for the expanded park as submitted by Bombero, Moser and David Peterson, whose Bridgeport-based Rampage Skate Equipment company has contracted with the city to design and build out the new park. The city has allocated $70,000 in capital funds for the current fiscal year towards the first phase of the skate park rebuild, which could begin as early as the first week of May. Bombero said that she has put in a request for another $70,000 in capital funds for next year’s budget that would be put towards completing the second phase of the project..."

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