WILLIAMSBURG — The slaps and bangs of skateboards hitting asphalt emanating from a new skate park are causing some sleepless nights according to residents, who are now calling for a 10 p.m. curfew.
Cooper Park's new skate park opened this December and is adjacent to about ten buildings with sixteen apartments along Sharon Street that directly face the skate park, a handful of whom have voiced noise concerns with leader of their block association Modesto Dia, he said.
"There's seniors, there's school children," Dia said, 80, who has collected around 50 signatures in a letter he sent to the Parks Department asking them to be stricter about a curfew along with other concerns at Cooper Park. "They need some quiet."
"Sometimes at 2 o'clock in the morning, they're still skateboarding," said Ganine Lim, who's lived across from the park since 1990, who said she can hear the rattle and bang of boards from her bedroom.
Modesto says the neighbors aren't trying to shut the skate park down; their mission is simple one.
"To impose the curfew, that's all," Modesto said.
Siding with the concerns of some neighbors, the community board voted Tuesday to push the Parks Department to enforce a 10:00 p.m. curfew three hours than the current 1:00 a.m. close of the rest of the park, though they only have an advisory role.
Technically the skate park is supposed to be off limits after dusk, according to Parks Department rules, though there are no gates that block it off from the rest of the park.
"We’re aware of concerns in the community and we will continue to monitor the situation with NYPD," said Parks Department spokeswoman Maeri Ferguson.
Skateboarder Louis Cooper, 30, resting on a bench in the park Wednesday afternoon, a board at his feet, was skeptical that an earlier curfew would prevent his fellow boarders from using the facility at night.
"Put a gate on this and then they can jump the fence and you can arrest them," he said. "You live in New York City — it's loud."
