October 17, 2004
THE CITY OF ERIE
"ROLLS OUT SKATE PARK IDEA"
Mayor Rick Filippi's administration is applying for an $80,000 grant through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
(Times News Headline)

June 19th, 2009
Dear Family, Friends, Advocates, & Sponsors...........
Nearly 5 years has passed since the inception of this project . I remember when I first began researching the whole “Builld A skate park” idea. I had read somewhere it will consume you, be prepared for battle and that the average community skate park can take YEARS to build. Poppy cock I thought, how difficult can this be when there is such a clear need. Foolish was I…………..

Nevertheless, Skate Erie is pleased to announce June 23rd at 2:30pm shovel will finally hit the dirt!!!
We cordially invite you to join us at Columbus park located between W15th& 16th and Cherry & Poplar for the groundbreaking of Phase I.

Clearly this will be a most triumphant dig, yet I remind all we are not finished. Fundraising still continues for Phase II, the transitional part of the park. Through your continued support I’m positive we will see the total vision. Donations will still be graciously  accepted and all interested parties my contact us through erieskatepark@yahoo.com.

While there are so many folks to thank for getting us this far I’d like to extend a very special thank you to Councilwoman Jessica Horan Kunco  & Marc Buccigrossi for sticking behind me all these years and to my husband Chris and the kids for following me on this crazy journey.

Sincerely,
Kim Berdis
President Skate Erie Association



To my Skaters:
Following the official groundbreaking we will be hosting a competition. There will be 3 different events.
Game of SKATE, Highest Ollie and Best trick on a ¼. 5 bucks gets ya into all 3 events (proceeds benefit phase II) Prizes awarded courtesy of Wheels, Midtown and Suburban blend!
Hope to see you there!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Once again I must apologize for gaps in updates...just nothing wonderful but behind the scenes paper work...until now...

Last Tuesday we opened bids and are most pleased to announce that Grindline has in fact won the bid...coming in as the lowest QUALIFIED bidder....

Our situation still remains the same and the park will be built in phases with phase I being the street section.

HOWEVER.... we are still off by about 10 grand  and still are in  need of help...any one out there with any brilliant ideas.... or who may like to host a benefit...or perhaps a dress down at your school...it would be greatly appreciated....

As it stands now we are hopeful to begin digging in June...but if we do not raise the existing 10 grand the scale of the street course will have to be made smaller...this my friends would be no good...as I see it...with the amount of skaters we have in Erie to the size of the park we are looking at a potential cluster F&@%.

Please keep in m ind every little bit helps...10 grand is nothing in comparison to what we have already accomplished!

10 bucks 20 or even 5.....Folks can send a check to:

Skate Erie
PO box 1514
Erie PA 16507
Make checks payable to Skate Erie
or
For larger donations and a tax write off make check out to:
LERC
(Lake Erie Region Conservancy)

Also once again....United way's Day of caring is fast approacing...April 25 at 10:00 am we will be at our future home of Columbus park to help in the annual cleaning of the park....

We have had a successful showing for the past 2 years ...
PLEASE DONT LET ME DOWN NOW...
ALL THOSE WHO PARTICIPATE AND HELP WILL RECIEVE A FREE SKATE ERIE SHIRT!!!

One more thing....
If you are one of the skaters who usually hits NORTHWEST savinbgs bank...
be respectful...clean up your stuff!
Ya dont appreciate what ya got till its gone!

Be well...Happy Spring ....
Kim

Greetings all,

Apologies for such a long gap in updates, but our hands are a bit tied at this time. The project lies in the hands of others at this current juncture. For those of you who may have read the recent article in the times news from earlier this month here are some current updates and for those who may not have, you may wish to visit this link

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080903/NEWS02/809030376/-1/ETN

A formal request to the DCNR was sent off early last week and Sarah Galloway should be in touch with them soon in regards to a response, my gut says we should be ok with the extension and should they say no, that is a fight I'm prepared for. I think for them to say no at this point would be unreasonable. If all we had at this point was there grant I could understand, but that is not the case. With other grants and donations available I feel they would be hard pressed to say yes. Another important issue is the weather, it simply is not feasible to build now with impending winter.

We still are awaiting the construction documents. One of the DCNR requirements was that we have PA seal …meaning we needed a certified architect to put his seal of  approval on the documents. So in around about by we are being held up by a state requirement.

The cost of the overall project has in fact gone up much like everything else these days which does mean, should we not get a big chunk of change in the near future we will be building in phases. Phase I consisting of the street section and Phase II the transitional section. We currently have enough money for Phase I.

We are still plugging away at fundraising and donations. Jessica and I are currently working on another grant and Marc and I recently met with the Great Lakes building trade and got a most positive response to help with labor!

If all goes well with the DCNR we should be putting something in the ground this spring!

Be well, stay positive,

Kim

 

Hosted By: SKATE ERIE ASSOCIATION
When: Saturday May 17, 2008
at 9:00 AM
Where: CITY OF ERIE
1800 BLOCK OF STATE ST.
ERIE, PA 16502
United States
Description:
SKATE ERIE ASSOCIATION

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