Brentwood Youth Group To Rally For Skate Park Construction

BRENTWOOD, NY — A Brentwood group who say that local officials are not keeping their promise to build a skate park is taking action into its own hands.

The Brentwood Youth Advisory Board, a youth advocacy board created by Councilmember Jorge Guadrón (District 1), is to hold a rally at Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood on Saturday at 1 p.m., to push for the construction of a skate park.

Joshua Chan, 20, president of the board, told Patch that the Brentwood community has waited four years for the park to be built.

"Our purpose of this rally is to say, 'Town Supervisor, Angie Carpenter, you constantly overlook Brentwood," said Chan.

In 2019, the Town of Islip approved contracts for a spray and skate park to be built, according to a report in Newsday.

A sign that reads "Future Site Town of Islip Skate Park" has hung on the skate park's construction site for years, Chan said. But But the location has been untouched.

"You've constantly said the north part of Islip doesn't deserve funding," Chan continued, in a statement toward Supervisor Carpenter. "They deserve to be seen as the bad side of Islip because we're brown, we speak different languages, we have different hair, whatever the case may be. And we're saying enough is enough."

In a statement to Patch, Supervisor Carpenter wrote:

“I have been unwavering in my commitment to make Roberto Clemente Park a jewel in the Town that all can be proud of. It has always been my goal to give this park back to the community with facilities and amenities where generations of families and friends can gather making lasting memories.”

Councilmemeber Guadrón, who was sworn into term this January, told Patch that with increasing costs of materials due to the pandemic and recent inflation, the Town of Islip no longer has enough finances in its budget to construct the park.

The Town's budget, he said, is short $452,000 to fund the project's total cost.

"I as a Councilmember requested to Supervisor Carpenter, 'Why not allocate funds from another account in the meantime, so we can start the construction on the skate park," Councilmember Guadrón said.

However Supervisor Carpenter wants to wait until the Roberto Clemente Advisory Board, an advocate group from the park, compiles a list of other intended projects in addition to the skate park, before allocating more funds, he said.

"That will put a big dent in the project because as the days go by, materials continue to get more expensive," Councilmember Guadrón said. "We are afraid there will be a point in which the entire project may be stalled indefinitely."

In a statement to Patch, the Town of Islip wrote that after a very "transparent process" involving the community, Supervisor Carpenter and the Town Board "fully supported engaging the necessary experts" to begin the required process.

In May 2021, the office of Attorney General Letitia James delivered $627,000 to the Town of Islip from eight companies involved in illegal dumping of toxic waste in the park. The funds were intended to "be used to improve public park facilities in the Brentwood community, including Roberto Clemente Park."

The illegal dumping took place between August 2013 and April 2014, James said, and left more than 40,000 tons of contaminated construction debris at the site.

In 2019, Islip Town’s former parks commissioner Joseph J. Montuori Jr., and his aide, Brett A. Robinson, were sentenced to conditional discharges for their roles in the illegal dumping at Roberto Clemente Park, Newsday reported.

Town of Islip representatives told Patch that the Supervisor and the Town attorney, along with outside counsel, requested that the joint settlement funds reserved from the lawsuits, be allocated to the skatepark.

"While the Attorney General’s office appears to support the funding of the skatepark, they are fostering a community engagement process before earmarking the needed funds for the skatepark," they said.

They continued to state that Roberto Clemente Park "has been a priority for Supervisor Carpenter since day one." To date, the Town has committed more than $7 million in the restoration of the park, including: a brand new state-of-the-art Olympic size swimming pool; a brand new parking lot with new sidewalks and curbing; new irrigation throughout the park; a new flagpole; new state-of-the spray park with the help of a $2 million grant from Assemblyman Phil Ramos, an ADA playground; re-landscaped and renovated pathways around the pool; installed security cameras; installed new sun shelters; updated the concession stand; upgraded lighting throughout the park and installed new stockade fencing around the utility area.

But Councilmember Guadrón said that the Town has not received all of the $627,000, and should consider other ways to finance the skate park, such as funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The Brentwood Youth Advisory Board said they have since created a physical petition in support of building the skate park. It has gained more than 1,000 signatures, Chan said, and will be shown at Saturday's rally.

"It's not just a skate park," said Chan. "It's also symbolic, the fact that we can come out of a situation where our town was literally considered the dumping ground of toxic waste."

With strength in numbers, Chan hopes that the rally will bring a new era for Brentwood.

"If all we know is garbage, that's how we're going to live," he said. "We're beyond that, and we need to build back our town way better than what we currently envision."