newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JOSH CHAPIN

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Newark can definitely rule out its mayor for next year's X-Games.

"It's impossible to get me on a skateboard," Mayor Cory A. Booker said. "I'm a big believer in the impossible but you're never going to get me to do that. I'm going to stick to tennis — the worst I can get is a Wilson stamp on my forehead."

Despite Booker's reluctance to slide down the half-pipe, he did not hesitate in opening the first phase of three of Jesse Allen Park, named for the late Central Ward Councilman who served from 1974-78. The skateboarding area is the first of its kind in a Newark-owned park. It also contains eight tennis courts as well as space for volleyball and basketball.

"[Jesse Allen] never gave up on a great vision for the City," Booker said. "He would have been happy to see Newark's spirit elevated today with the opening of this beautiful green space. Thanks to our supporters, we are making Newark a better, stronger and prouder City."

Some of those supporters include The Trust for Public Land (TPL), members of the Newark Boys and Girls Clubs, United States Tennis Association (USTA) representatives and the Division East Skateboard Team, who joined the mayor, Newark council members and residents of the City in the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the eight-acre park.

Mayor Booker believes this park is in the perfect location. Around it is a public school, Boys and Girls Club, senior citizen development and an affordable housing complex.

"It's a glorious tribute to this community that never gave up on this space," Booker added. "There were some really dark days here when it was used for negative activity and it was allowed to go into disrepair. Now it is about the elevation of this community and it is symbolic of the larger elevation of the city of Newark as we build parks in every part of the city."

Jesse Allen Park, the second-largest City-owned park in Newark, is the second park TPL and the City have opened this summer. Along with the larger Nat Turner Park, the two parks combined will serve more than 25,000 people including 9,000 children within a half-mile.

Claire Warren, a public housing resident from the Central Ward, thinks the park will be something new and different for kids in the area.

"This is the central ward and we need this park," Warren said. "I live here and have raised kids here and I have seen the guns and drugs come into the city. It's dangerous. When you see our kids out here playing rather than selling drugs, it's going to uplift them and build them and their minds up."

Oscar James, a south ward council member who presided over Tuesday's ceremonies, described this park and others like it as place for "diverse populations to come together" and skate. He said the ultimate goal was to put a skate park in every ward.

"No matter your color, you're a skater," noted James, who is also chair of the recreation and cultural committee in the South Ward. "It breaks down barriers and these kids have communication with each other like, ‘How do you do this rail or this lift?' These parks are a place where our entire city comes together."

TPL has worked with the City of Newark over several years to identify the types of improvements needed for the park. Construction for the second phase of Jesse Allen Park will begin in spring 2010.

The USTA supported the construction of the tennis courts, which include four Quick Start courts — the only ones in all of New Jersey — that are designed to accommodate young children and built their interest in tennis.

Virgil Christian, director of community tennis development for USTA, said his organization is thrilled to be apart of this project. "We hope this is just the beginning. We really want to partner with Newark and with the mayor and grow tennis in the city of Newark."

Newark is in the midst of its biggest park expansion in more than a century behind Mayor Booker's efforts. The City, working with GreenSpaces, a public/private partnership and TPL, has committed $40 million to the effort.

While Booker insists the only machines with wheels he's comfortable in are cars, he is full speed ahead when it comes to his parks initiative and his agenda for the Brick City.

"We are at the beginning of a new era for the city of Newark," Booker said. "For every ward — from north to south, east to west and to those in the central ward — you see parks surging forward, communities coming together, changing the geography of our city and elevating the spirit of our community."