Newtown is a land of opportunity for athletes. From the proud tradition of scholastic sports programs and parks and recreation youth leagues, to the free-spirited spontaneity of Lake Zoar's water sports and the peace and beauty of Newtown's state

By CURT CLARK

Published: Jul 25, 2008 12:00 am

Newtown is a land of opportunity for athletes. From the proud tradition of scholastic sports programs and parks and recreation youth leagues, to the free-spirited spontaneity of Lake Zoarâs water sports and the peace and beauty of Newtownâs stately country club golf courses, athletes of every stripe have a place to practice and compete. The opportunities to have fun and keep fit seem to be endless â except for skateboarders. They are far more likely to be chased from their pick-up practice sessions by merchants and police than acknowledged and even admired the way other local athletes are.

Their biggest problem may be that their dedication to their chosen sport tends to be extreme, so lacking the sanctioned, safe, and legal facilities to hone their spectacular skills, they improvise, taking on the hurdles and challenges presented by the pavement, curbs, railings, and stairways in parking lots and other public and commercial areas where they grind up against other peopleâs patience and laws against trespassing and loitering. (How understanding would we be of court-deprived tennis players who decided to serve and volley in the supermarket parking lot?) Itâs time for Newtown to bring the skateboarders in from the cold.

Newtown and its school district have spent millions on soccer fields, baseball diamonds, basketball courts, and, yes, tennis courts. For the past five years, skate park advocates have been trying to scrape together the money and town support they need to get a rudimentary facility started. They have about $11,000 now and a promise from the town to provide a site on the grounds of Fairfield Hills. The skate park advocacy group, Donate To Skate, ultimately hopes to raise $65,000 for a facility.

This Saturday, July 26, they are inviting the entire community to become a part of that effort at a Skateboard Park Fundraising Festival from 11 am to 6 pm at Dickinson Park. The main event at the festival will be a skateboarding competition supported and equipped by commercial skate parks in Brookfield and Bridgeport, featuring competitors in a range of age and skill levels. There will be food and live music to divert the crowd, but the big draw will be the skateboarders themselves. Their grace, coordination, and skill places many of them among the best athletes in town.

If you cannot attend Saturdayâs event, support the cause anyway. Donation forms and instructions are available at DonateToSkate.com.

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Reservoir Rd. does indeed appear to have an interesting history that I often ponder as I hike the Rochambeau Trail. Early on it was apparently part of a main route from the center of the Borough to Taunton, which went up Mt. Pleasant Rd. and then roughly followed a watershed boundary from Mount Pleasant to Taunton Hill. When the current switchback road was built from West St. to Castle Hill in the 1800s, replacing the indirect route through the campground that Rochambeau used, the part of that original route to Taunton now known as Reservoir Rd. became redundant. But on an 1868 town map and topographic maps from 1892 and 1915, it looks like both routes were still maintained as roads. By the time of the 1934 aerial survey of CT, the connection to Mount Pleasant Rd. (maybe called Reservoir Rd. by then since the reservoir is visible) even had two outlets onto Castle Hill Rd. Since it is only shown as a partial dashed line on a 1953 topographic map, it may have stopped being maintained as a passable through road by then. But on a 1963 topographic map, where the section down to Knollwood Dr. had become a normal road again, the other end is shown as a dashed-line road, still with two connections to Castle Hill Rd., and a structure on the east side where one can still find remnants of a house today. Maybe a longtime resident can add comments about what it looked like in the 1950s and 1960s?

Clarity on Reservoir Road and the Rochambeau Trail

Please stop referring to your fellow Newtowners as the Mob. I was at the Legislative Council meeting where Mr. Pisani insulted the intelligence of a room full of Newtown voters; twice, and not in a satirical way. Plenty of new projects have been given the green light - the repurposing of the Taunton Press property is a welcome addition to Town, a new retail center is under construction on Church Hill Rd there are ongoing plans for the existing Fairfield Hills campus. Newtown is a wonderful place to live. Kudos to the Town officials who have managed to grow Newtown and maintain a small town feel, which may mean saying no to development more often than you would like. There will always be two sides to any proposal - different points of view are welcome and essential - name calling adds nothing to the conversation.

Who is Calling Newtowners Stupid?

Appreciate your perspective. Rather than litiate all of your opinions expressed here, here....I would like correct your opinion about the BOS having the final authority on road discontinuance decisions. State statute (CT GS 13a-49), requires the BOS' decision to be approvate by a majority vote at a regular or special town meeting (just like the one Newtown had a few years back to decide to spend the money to build an addition onto the High School). In towns that no longer have any town meetings, that responsibility would fall on the town's representaive government, or legislative body....in Newtown's case, our Legislative Council. Failure to follow this statutory process is but one of the reasons the town/the BOS is being sued.

There are many private roads in Newtown where they property owner owns right to the center line, for example this is often true in the lake communities. Many of these roads predate and do not conform to the Town's roads standard and therefore the Town never accepted them into the Town road system. Does the Town actually own this road?

It’s important to clarify the tone and context of Derek Pisani’s remarks, particularly the satirical line about suing Newtown for "Gross Stupidity." This was clearly a tongue-in-cheek jab at the exhausting culture of legal threats that’s become a staple on the local Facebook Group forums. It was a reflection of frustration over endless regulatory hurdles and obstructionism, and the desire to avoid common sense solutions not an insult aimed at residents. Satire, is meant to provoke thought and highlight the absurdities. If we are unable to distinguish between satire and literal threats, perhaps the comment hit closer to the truth than we’d like to admit. Rather than focusing on Pisanis style, we should be discussing the substance of what he’s pointing out: that Newtown’s progress is being routinely blocked by a small but vocal contingent who seem intent on saying “no” at every turn. They are saying no to any development, no to common sense solutions to crowd control, etc. Newtown deserves leaders who are willing to call things as they see them, even if their language ruffles feathers. That doesn’t mean they lack respect for constituents—it means they care enough to challenge the Mob and push for solutions. Isn't that what we elect people to do? I applaud Pisani's dedication, he certainly has earned my vote. Regardless, let’s not reduce conversation to tone-policing and outrage. Let’s focus on the issues that matter.

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Newtown is a land of opportunity for athletes. From the proud tradition of scholastic sports programs and parks and recreation youth leagues, to the free-spirited spontaneity of Lake Zoar's water sports and the peace and beauty of Newtown's state

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