When it comes to a skate park project that hasn’t begun, the progress, or lack thereof, particularly miffs the Norwood Council Member who earmarked funds to build it more than three years ago.

“If I could build it myself, I would,” Councilman Andrew Cohen, who allocated $750,000 in capital funds to the New York City Department of Parks to build the skate park, told the Norwood News.

The proposal to build the skate park was hailed by neighborhood skaters who’ve longed for an appropriate space to perfect their skating skills. Indeed, a vision for the skate park stretches back to 2004, where clergy joined forces with neighborhood kids to lobby Community Board 7 for a skate park. A dog run was ultimately preferred, though 10 years later, local Community Board 7 came around and supported a skate park.

Save for Cohen’s allocation, nothing’s been built, leaving enthusiastic young skateboarders with no designated space for their activity and underscoring the lumbering and complex process of capital projects that take years to see through.

Richard Carrara, 18, was one of the first teenagers to initially get involved with the project and meet with the board. He has been skating at Oval Park since he was nine and offered input with the skate park’s initial design.

Carrara, who’s competed abroad and won several competitions in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx, is frustrated that he often has to commute to parks outside the Bronx to practice. “I personally feel like if it was another borough, the park would have been done a very long time ago,” Carrara said.

The holdup, it seems, boils down to contractors who’ve pulled out of the project during the bidding stage, with two contractors failing to adhere to procurement guidelines. This once again puts the project back to the beginning of step 3 of 4 in the capital project process. In the case of the skate park, the Department of Parks has given a winning contractor until August to accept the terms of the contract. If they withdraw, the process starts all over again.

When asked about the project, Cohen also expressed displeasure with its drawn out pace saying, “It was one of the first projects I funded as a councilmember.” He added, “My job is to get the funding. It’s the Parks Department’s job to deliver.”

Cohen has since introduced a bill that looks to increase greater transparency on city projects.

To reaffirm its commitment to stem any delays in projects, the Department of Parks made substantial hires to address these issues. For instance, 55 of the staff hired between 2014 and 2015 were primarily design professionals to clear the backlog of fully funded projects.  In 2016, 28 resident engineers were hired to help oversee the increasing number of projects entering construction. Presently, the agency is handling some 500 capital projects.

“New York City Parks has taken on more projects and finished them faster,” a spokeswoman said of the agency.

Many Norwood residents, despite waning confidence in the Parks Department’s ability to deliver, remain hopeful. Adolescents are not the only demographic who are waiting for the park to finally come to fruition.  A skateboarder who went by Phil, has been skating at the Williamsbridge Oval Park since he was 12 years old. That was 33 years ago.

Having recently undergone multiple surgeries to repair a damaged ACL (knee ligament), Phil knows his skating days are limited and so he hopes to profit from the park one day if he can. “I hope I get to skate at the park here before I am least, 50, maybe 55,” Phil said.