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Oval Skate Park Project Quietly Gets Under Way

Oval Skate Park Project Quietly Gets Under Way
RUBBLE FROM THE excavated dog run at Oval Park will soon be cleared to make way for a long awaited skate park.
Photo by David Cruz

Without much of a notice, the bulldozers came to the west side of Williamsbridge Oval Park to break ground on the long-awaited skate park. A large patch of soil blankets the area once used for a dog run, with crews ready to spend until winter of next year to complete the project.

But the council member who funded the project is planning a formal celebration. Councilman Andrew Cohen secured $750,000 in capital funding for the project in 2014, holding a news conference on the funding soon after. The price of the project eventually went up to $888,000. It was among the first major projects for Cohen representing Norwood. It’s also a project that residents have asked for since 2004 when clergy leaders teamed with neighborhood kids to get a skate park in the area.

The holdup stemmed largely from picking a contractor to perform the project. Parks had identified a bidder who eventually backed out. LC Construction Consulting, a Queens-based construction firm, finally agreed to construct the mini-arena, complete with steep banks, mounds and quarter pipes.

Miles Burnett, a spokesman for Cohen, told the Norwood News that a formal groundbreaking ceremony is expected on June 5 at 11 a.m.

Cohen has held groundbreaking ceremonies for other park projects in the past, notably a skate park in Van Cortlandt Park last year.

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.

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