Tompkins Square Park Skate Spot Saved, Officials Say

EAST VILLAGE, NY — A beloved skate spot in Tompkins Square Park is now saved from synthetic turf, the Parks Department said Friday afternoon.

All summer, skateboarders and other East Villagers have been fighting to save an asphalt patch from being turned into synthetic turf as a part of the city's mitigation efforts under a sweeping flood protection plan that will close East River Park for three and a half years.

But after a petition against the asphalt-to-turf plan drew tens of thousands of signatures — and on the eve of a rally expected to be attended by Council Member Carlina Rivera — the city announced it will leave the park as is.

"Tompkins Square Park has served as the epicenter of NYC skateboard culture for decades, as such, we have decided to leave the area previously proposed for synthetic in the park as is, and will not move forward with creating a synthetic turf area there," Parks Department spokesperson Crystal Howard said.

The decision comes after the city met with a skateboarding group in early July and more than 32,000 signed a petition started by local skateboarder Adam Zhu.

The Parks Department had planned to build out five new synthetic turf sites throughout the neighborhood, including at St. Vartans, Tanahey, and Robert Moses parks, and a new turf site where the derelict LaGuardia Bathhouse is sited.

The department will now search for a new fifth site — saving Tompkins's decades-old skate spot known as the "Training Facility" on the northwest corner of the park.

"We remain committed to supporting the hundreds of children who play baseball and soccer on the East River Park fields when the park is closed for reconstruction, and will identify a location to replace our initial selection of Tompkins Square Park to ensure that five sites will receive synthetic turf fields where local youth can play," Howard said. "Planned enhancements are part of a holistic plan to provide alternative recreational space for the community at large during the reconstruction of East River Park."

Zhu, who launched the petition, wrote on Instagram: "WE WON. The city called and announced they are NOT going to install AstroTurf at Tompkins. It's not a coincidence they made the decision the day before the rally. We organized, made our voices heard, and made a difference."

"I'm overjoyed," Zhu told Patch. "It's totally not a coincidence that they decided to make this decision the day before our rally."

Skateboarding companies, including SUPREME with 13 million followers, had posted on social media about the rally to millions of followers. East River Action, a group opposed to the storm protection plan that will shutter the park, was also supportive of the skateboarders and planned to join the rally.

"Our voices were heard," said Zhu, 22, who grew up in the East Village and has been skating at Tompkins for more than a decade. "What the community wanted was undeniably clear and for them to go forward with their plan would just be too blatantly disregarding the interests of the community."

Local skateboarder Ted Barrow, who first started skating at the Tompkins lot in 2002 when he first moved to New York in his 20s, welcomed the news.

It is "gratifying to see a Parks Department official recognizing that this is an important spot of what it is to skateboarders for generations," said Barrow, who runs a popular skateboarding Instagram account. "Hopefully, this is a sign of better things to come."

Rivera said in a message to Patch she was "happy to hear good news" the skate spot would be saved.

"But we need more of this respect for the community and improved communication from our city's agencies when it comes to other matters related to the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project," she added. Rivera has been advocating for staged construction for the resiliency project to avoid a full closure of East River Park, and emphasized protecting vulnerable communities from future storms.

Organizers said the Tompkins Square Park rally would be turned into a celebration Saturday afternoon.

This article has been updated with additional comments.