Newallo
HEMPSTEAD — CSEA activists and Village of Hempstead officials recently gathered together for a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the official opening of the Jarred A. Newallo Memorial Skate Plaza.
Newallo, 25, a CSEA member who was employed as a laborer at the village, died on the job on June 20, 2014, while doing sanitation duties.
The Jarred A. Newallo Memorial Skate Plaza will be maintained by CSEA members working in Village of Hempstead Parks and Recreation Department.
Knowing his love of skateboarding, CSEA members, Newallo’s father and the Village of Hempstead Superintendent of Parks and Recreation decided it would be a fitting tribute to create a skate plaza in Newallo’s memory.
“Jarred loved to skateboard and it was his dream to have a local plaza where people can go to enjoy the sport,” said Village of Hempstead Unit member Chauncey Nedd.
A true labor of love, it took two years from concept to completion to bring the skate plaza to fruition.
Funding for the project came from a state grant.
Before the Jarred A. Newallo Memorial Skate Plaza was built, there were no such skate facilities in Hempstead, or the surrounding area, that skateboarders could enjoy.
“The feedback has been overwhelming,” said Nedd. “We don’t just get people from Hempstead; we’re getting people coming in from as far as Staten Island.”
Reminders of Newallo can be found around the skate plaza, including footprints in the cement at the plaza’s entranceway that symbolize Newallo leading people into the plaza. There is also a small black disc toward the back of the skate plaza, symbolizing Newallo’s love for deejaying.
CSEA members who knew Newallo are very proud of the new structure.
“Jarred would love this,” said Nassau County Municipal Employees 1st Vice President Edwin McDowell. “I know he’s looking down on us smiling.”
— Wendi Bowie
