Skate park coming to Goldsboro
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on January 17, 2015 10:32 PM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Josh Lancaster, 14, watches as his friend Kevin Gillespie, 14, does a wheelie on a half pipe. Josh and Kevin went before the City Council in hopes of getting a skate park, and plans are now in place to have one built.
It was an uncommon duo with an uncommon method of accomplishing their goal.
Two 14-year-old boys wanted a skate park -- so they stood in front of the Goldsboro City Council in December and laid out the pros, cons, economic benefits and safety issues surrounding skaters that don't have a skate park.
And in a display of citizen participation in local government -- and government acting quickly -- Goldsboro will soon have a skate park on East Ash Street after Josh Lancaster and Kevin Gillespe petitioned council members for one in December.
It will be located between O'Reilly Auto Parts and Stoney Creek Park.
The effort began in November when Lancaster contacted Parks and Recreation Director Scott Barnard and asked what the boys needed to do to get a skate park in the city.
Then Lancaster and Gillespe went door-to-door asking people to sign a petition for a skate park. They left a petition at Bicycle World and posted one online.
They collected hundreds of signatures before approaching Barnard.
"Scott spent about an hour talking to Josh to get him ready to speak in front of the City Council," said Josh's mother, Pam.
Barnard knew the city had already bought a modular skate park from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base about a year and a half ago, and coached Lancaster on how to present the matter to city officials.
Gillespe said the experience was "nerve-wracking."
But both said they felt well-prepared because of Barnard's guidance, however nervous they may have been.
"I want to make sure people know that this was totally organic," Barnard said. "Josh came to me with this idea and it gave it the kick in the rear it needed because we've had that skate park in storage for about a year and a half now. I told him, you know, going to City Council is going to be intimidating, but here are the angles you can come at it from, and he knocked it out of the park."
Lancaster and Gillespe also got a little help from a local skateboarder turned professional, Josiah Gatlyn, who is sponsored by Zero Skateboards.
"We asked him to post a shout out about it on his Facebook page and he did," Lancaster said.
After Lancaster and Gillespe's presentation at the City Council, O'Reilly Auto Parts contacted Barnard and donated the property adjacent to its store.
Barnard said he will complete a line item transfer from Parks and Recreation's sidewalk budget for $15,000 to pay for laying concrete on the site. Minor repairs will be done on the modular skate park before it is installed.
Lancaster and Gillespe currently skate on the street or at Lancaster's house. A park, they said, will give them much more freedom to hone their skills.
"I like quarter pipes, but not so much huge bowls," Gillespe said. "We street skate."