Nathan Lazarus Skatepark

History:

Nederland can be a great place to live, but let’s face it; if you’re a teen, possibilities for fair-weather leisure time activity are pretty limited. In November of 2003, a group of Teens and older supporters began meeting under the guidance of the staff of a local non-profit organization Tees, Inc., to do something about this situation; their goal was the construction of a free public skatepark in Nederland. In April of 2004, the teens and their supporters packed a meeting of the Nederland Board of Trustees, where they gave a multimedia presentation and convinced the Board to support the project and to site it on town-owned land adjacent to the Teen Center (owned and operated by Teens, Inc.). Unfortunately, the town had no money, so the land, and a later commitment of some fill dirt and landscaping help from the Public Works Director, was all the support that would come from that quarter. The advocates hadn't really thought beyond making their case to the town board, and the effort stagnated for a few months, until the facilitator, Kevin Brazanskas, quit to move out of state, and attempted to recruit some additional community members to the cause and to reengage the group before leaving. He reconvened the group in late August of 2004, inviting additional community members to take part.