Author: Duksauce

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Where to park

We appreciate that everyone is as excited as we are for the new park! But with all of our safety in mind, we ask that you follow all traffic laws, crossing signs, etc, and park only in designated areas.

The official way to enter the skatepark is from the Genesee Riverway Trail, which can be accessed from Woodbury Boulevard, Court Street, and Mount Hope Avenue.

There is a parking lot at Court St, just one block North of the park, and there is plenty of on-street pay parking nearby.

DO NOT park on the medians or on the side of the roads! You will be ticketed or towed!

PLEASE do not park in the lot near Bivona Child Advocacy Center (off Mt. Hope). That is a private parking lot and your car will be towed if you park there! They are super cool and trying to help out children, and we want to help keep those kids feeling safe and protected.

Where to park for Roc City Skatepark

Skatepark Wayfinding Map

Thank you very much!

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What’s happening. What’s taking so long/update….

Things may seem quiet, but the Roc City Skatepark is still moving forward!
 
We are currently working towards becoming a stand alone Not-For-Profit organization by securing official 501c3 status. In the past, we were working under what is a called a fudiciuary agent or fiscal sponsor. In other words, another Not-For-Profit took us under their wings to help us raise funds and structure our board to be more efficient. However, after many discussions with potential donors and skatepark organizations, it makes more sense to operate independently, allowing us to more actively seek relevant grant opportunities and donations.
 
 
As some know, a big hold up has been securing an actual home to build the park. We have been pushing to build under the The Fredrick Douglas/ Susan B Anthony bridge (aka 490 Bridge) between Time Warner office and Dinosaur B-B-Q. Over the years, we have explored other locations, sometimes as suggested by our partners, other times of our own intent. We have encountered pushback on some of those locations due to others’ preconceived notions, bad match with the offered location, or the City’s plan for an intended parcel of land. Ultimately , our goal is to have the park  be centralized in downtown so that EVERYONE can feel welcome and  that the park will benefit local businesses. 
 
After a few of these sidetracks in our efforts, we have come back to focus our efforts on the land under the bridge. However, this location still poses some big challenges, but ones that we feel are worth the effort. This requires coordinating with future neighbors, the Rochester city government, the New York State Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) and the Federal Highway Department. Each of these agencies comes with their own requirements.
 
All of these hoops can be jumped through, but they take time and considerable effort. Eventually, of course, it is going to take money. For a sense of scale, that means hundreds of thousands of dollars before we can even break ground. A properly vetted skatepark building plan costs $50,000 to $100,000 dollars. The site also requires soil studies and other expenses we simply cannot get around. No matter what size park we build, there will be substantial preparation costs. 
 
Some of you are wondering where all the money we raised and received in the past has gone. It has all gone to furthering this project. The conceptual design and study we did cost us $50,000 to hire local architectural/engineering firm Stantec to create. This price may seem like a lot, but this was a very low figure for the plans that were created). All other funds have gone to things like supplies and promotional materials to getting understanding/awareness of the skatepark effort out to the public through events, outreach, etc.  Promotional items we created to raise awareness like T-shirts and signs cost money. And we cannot forget certain basics like office supplies still come with a price.  We have created a document that you can download to get an idea of what we have done and how things have broken out at the following link:
 
 
Our board is 100% volunteer. Nobody takes a salary, and no money has ever gone missing. Our fundraisers unfortunately only raise a small amount of money that we channel back into our efforts. Ultimately, no matter if we build a small park or a giant football-field-sized park, this effort would still cost more money to create than one would imagine. Believe us, we’ve learned this fact firsthand.
 
We are aiming for a world-class, high quality large park because Rochester deserves a facility that will be fun for participants of all ages and skill levels and bring pride to the community for many years to come. We will probably only get the chance to build this park once. I feel that we need to do it right the first time, or we will all suffer in the future. This is a park for all the progression-sports enthusiasts to enjoy from the Greater Rochester area and beyond. That covers a lot of people. Imagine playing football, baseball, field hockey and soccer on one parcel of land all at once. It would be dangerous and very unpleasant for all. This one park will be a home for BMX, skateboarding, rollerblading, scootering, roller skating and more, so we want to make sure that we can accommodate as many people as possible.
 
We also cannot forget that all of the aforementioned activities (except roller skating after 6pm) are banned in downtown Rochester. Once we have a park, the police and security guards will be cracking down tenfold of what we currently experience. Long term, do you want to all be forced onto a tennis-court sized park with poorly designed ramps, or into a beautiful, awe-inspiring park that provides challenges for all these athletic pursuits and the diverse opinions on what is fun to ride?
 
I totally feel everyone's frustrations. Everyone on our board shares your frustrations! I also just want this park built now, and at first I didn't understand fully what it takes to achieve this goal,(timewise, effort, and cost) ,but I have learned a lot in this process and honestly feel if we stay positive and keep plugging away, this park WILL happen. 
 
Feel free to ask me any questions and deliver comments, constructive criticism, and suggestions my direction. You can reach me at roccitypark@gmail.com.
 
Thank you for your continued support!
 
Alan Presutti
President 
Friends of the RocCity Skatekatepark
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Status report – January 2017

The City of Rochester has set aside $100,000 out of there 2017 budget for the Roc City skatepark effort.

The City’s goal is to have the site selected and a consultant on board this Fall and to install some temporary/portable skate features in an area in or close to downtown by summer 2017 as we continue planning for the permanent site.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

It DOES NOT mean that the board gets a check for $100,000 to spend on what ever it feels best.

It DOES NOT mean we get to spend money on concrete for a DIY skatepark.

It DOES NOT mean we can buy t-shirts and pay for fundraising materials needed to raise money for the park.

It DOES mean we can ask the City to spend it on things like design plans, soil studies, feasibility studies, and construction of temporary and permanent skate obstacles.

We are very thankful for this gift and see it as a solid sign of further commitment from the city towards our end goal. (With this latest designation, they now have dedicated over $150,000 of tax payer money to the project.)

Trust us, we understand that people are confused and frustrated by this process, but this is how things work when working with ANY city government. It is normal for any city to take this long when building a skatepark on the level we are aiming for. (FYI, Boston took 15 years to get their park!), but we’ve seen a lot of progress with the City this year. Let’s keep this moving forward!

Alan Presutti,
President,
Friends of the Roc City Park