How the lifelong skateboarder is fighting to save a Staten Island skatepark in disrepair
Richard Rojas wants everyone to know that Ben Soto Park used to be the place to be for skateboarders on Staten Island. Decades ago, the community organizer and lifelong skateboarder used to flock to the Midland Beach skatepark to link up with skaters, BMXers and even scooter riders looking to spin their wheels. On pleasant days, he recalls, there was always music pumping from a collection of speakers, crazy ramp tricks being landed and forever bonds being formed. “We were a family,” he reminisced. “It was sick.”
Nowadays, the park is a ghost town — entrapped in a fenced-in, desolate area. The pavement is littered with bumps and cracks, and there isn’t even a half pipe anymore; just scattered, metal obstacles that look thin and dangerous. The community that used to find camaraderie and connection within the skatepark had scattered when Ben Soto was leveled by bulldozers in 2011— after the Parks Department claimed that it had become hazardous due to vandalism and misuse. The ramps that onced cradled the skater youth of Staten Island were demolished and paved over, as young skaters cried out and tried to stand in the way in protest, only to soon be gifted with the rusted metal obstacles built with recycled jungle gym parts from a playground on the Lower East Side.
Rojas was dismayed at how these unfit skating conditions had not improved over the years. He decided to take action through his organization Skate to Elevate to bring this issue to the attention of Staten Island officials. Since 2021, he’s attended board hearings, wrote petitions, created design and budget plans and hosted events and concerts with the goal of bringing connection back to the community. To him, Ben Soto was more than just a local skatepark to meet up with friends — it was home.
“Skateboarding has always stuck with me because throughout all the hardships in my life, it was the only thing that was constant,” he said. “That’s why this Ben Soto thing is so important to me. When I was homeless, the first place that I thought to go to sleep was Ben Soto — the pillow was my skateboard.”
It’s been over two years since Rojas’ first petition to restore Ben Soto went live, but the issue is over a decade long. The fight is long and stressful, as Rojas sees funding going into commercial and tourism-centered projects on the Island and the skatepark only gets neglected further. Counting Ben Soto, and a more up-kept park in the Port Richmond neighborhood — Faber Park, there are currently only two outdoor skateparks on Staten Island. In Brooklyn alone, there are 20 skateparks that, according to Rojas, have better upkeep. Commissioners have stated that the shutdown and long-pending repairs were for the safety of children, but he feels there needs to be some place for them to go in the meantime.
When a local block party reached out to him to host a teaching class for young kids, Rojas and his team reached out to the community for supplies and learned to build over 20 skateboards specially for the occasion — “every single nut and bolt.” After a successful turnout, Rojas wants to set up camps and scholarships for young skaters who don’t have access to proper resources, inspiring them to reach whatever pathway they choose.
Within Skate to Elevate, he sells shirts for skating communities in Ecuador who are affected by unsafe conditions and curfews. “I’m Ecuadorian, so I wanted to provide them with the same resources I was giving here. Everything I do has an intention; I’m reinvesting back into communities.” In October of last year, Rojas helped put on Female Centric Faber — a festival hosted in Faber Park — that platformed female-fronted rock, indie and punk bands and small businesses. As the band’s screaming guitars thrashed and reverbed throughout the afternoon, young riders parked their scooters and boards to watch — reminiscent of the times at Ben Soto where loud music backdropped the packed park on sunny days. Rojas is inspired by the budding cohort of young creatives of Staten Island’s present he’s met — who give him the inspiration he needs to keep on going in his mission.
Rojas and crew’s most recent effort started in January of this year, when Skate to Elevate proposed a plan for five new skatepark locations to open up on the island. In an Instagram post detailing the layout and metrics, they emphasize why an increase in the number — along with better designs and treatment of the ones that are open now — would be beneficial to the population. “We aim to provide safe spaces for marginalized communities & beginners by providing utilization of the skateparks here,” the post reads, and the comments are filled with community members happily agreeing. “Build a skatepark,” one commenter said. “It’s the safest place for kids to be!”
On a recent trip to Florida, Rojas wanted to meet people in the area. Upon landing, the first thing he did was head to the nearest skatepark. “I knew I would make friends. That’s just always how it works out at parks, and how sick the community is.” He aspires for the day where the officials decide to take action, when he no longer has to reminisce about Ben Soto Skatepark’s prime. “They don’t understand that this place is home to us,” he said. “That’s where we met all of our friends — our chosen family. Now that everyone’s gone their separate ways, we have left is memories.”
