Please don’t do to Fall Island what has been done to Ives Park. A place to BE - unbothered - in downtown Potsdam is as much an attraction as anything else. We need to preserve our free, accessible, peaceful, natural spaces. A skate park is a unique idea, and I am in favor of it. But not in this location.

Please consider that there are very few places left for our residents that are 100% free for unlimited time periods, and that Fall Island offers one of the only “blank slates” in town. Consider the fact that not everyone is a property owner, and not everyone has their own yard. Consider that not everyone has access to a car to get out of town on the weekends. Our public parks offer a no-cost destination and are blank slates for a reason - so that we don’t have to own that river view ourselves, so we can get lost in a private-feeling public space for a while, so that we can get away from it all without having to go too far. 

This isn’t to say that a skate park located on Fall Island would prevent these other pursuits per se, but that a skate park would be an attraction to the space that it is better off without. There isn’t a need for events, parades, or recreational activities in every last location… sometimes a bench and a book is enough. 

Here is a suggestion for how the skate park plan can be altered: Move it right down Maple Street to the corner across from Kinney’s and Clarkson. It would improve an empty lot at the forefront of downtown; a spot that sets the tone for everybody driving in. In this location, the art part of the park would have lots of visibility. There would be much more space for parking while maintaining easy pedestrian/skate access from downtown. It’s already well-lighted and would even have room for a shuttle stop. 

Moreover, the perfectly wonderful and sparsely-populated green space we have on Fall Island (that needs nothing more than an occasional shine-up) would be left alone. Thank you for investing in our town. Let’s be sure to recognize the gems that already exist here and let them be as they are.

Robert V. Crum, 

Potsdam