In 2009, teenager Cody David Rocamontes was hit and killed by a vehicle on the way to his favorite skate spot. The tragedy led to the formation of a non-profit organization dedicated to creating awareness about skateboard safety. The mission of Cody Rocamontes Inc. is to build a skate park in Arlington, TX, that will provide a safe and legal outlet for area skateboarders.
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I recently spoke with Cody’s mother Kim, who recounts her son’s love for the sport, and the need to create awareness and raise funds through the website. Show your support by visiting the Arlington Skate website, add them on Facebook, and follow on Twitter.
Tell us about Cody, and why skateboarding was so important to him.
Cody lived to skate, hence our logo on the first T-shirts we created to raise money in Sept 2009 – “ Live to Skate and Skate to Live”. Our recurring theme is the kid’s safety although Cody was actually carrying his skateboard when he was killed, not on it. But he was rarely without it, a means of transportation, his sport/hobby - he lived it, breathed it and propped it against the wall of whoever’s house he was visiting. He was ALWAYS trying to perfect the next trick, it gave him his self-confidence, always trying to do better than the day before but he liked the “sport” that was for individuals. He loved hanging out with other skaters but also loved the fact that he could skate alone. In groups, he never failed to learn something new but skating individually alleviated frustration and stress for him as well as just being FUN.
At this point, we have yet to break ground on a safe and legal place for people in Arlington to skate. Our non-profit status is written such (at this time) that we are solely dedicated to raising funds for the City of Arlington to build public skate park(s). We have been “given” Randol Mill Park but are now in the process of the design phase, all of which Arlington controls; design, build and construction. We simply are here to raise awareness AND funds to accomplish this. Long term we have some ideas with youth scholarships, helping other cities nearby to accomplish what we have, etc. but the primary goal to date has been fund-raising for Arlington – we need to have one skate spot / park finished before we regroup and determine the primary needs in the future.
Who are you working with to accomplish those goals?
We chose at the very beginning to work with the city of Arlington but never dreamed it would take us two and a half years. None of the members that initially formed CRI wanted the politics, nor did we want the liability of creating something on our own. We stood firm with the need for a place to skate to be public and FREE, maintaining that getting the kids off the street should be important in the public’s eyes as well. Arlington Parks and Recreation Dept has worked with us hand in hand since the very beginning, several folks within the Dept are very pro-skate and have seen the need. They have had public forums, neighborhood meetings, assisted us with our Tony Hawk Grant – truly partners in doing what they could within the realm of their political arena.
I will admit Arlington has a vision and actually prepared a 30-year master plan for skate spots / parks through their numerous city parks – they wanted to do it in a planned, organized way which will make Arlington a destination “skate” location in years to come. However the city council failed to pass the Master Plan so we are now working off of a “Skate Park Strategy” – as funding becomes available each selected location will have to be voted by the city council on before proceeding.
Describe the community's response to your initiative. What kind of support, if any, have you gotten from city officials?
I think we can actively show the support that we've received from Arlington Parks and Rec board based on the award we just won from Texas Recreation and Parks Society's Regional meeting, see our Facebook pages for more details. Matt Young of APRD submitted us for our region 2, quite an hoor for them as well as CRI. Within the community - always a mixed bag. One of our strongest supporters that has also spoken at City Council meetings manages a large shopping mall in north Arlington - she wants the kid to have a place to go and not deface and vandalize the business properties that she manages. CRI has done many things to change public opinion which can be very negative (we all know skateboarders are often viewed as outcasts, trouble-makers, youth up to no good, etc). We have participated in many community events to change the public perceptions; Lake Arlington Clean Up, EcoFest, participated in the July 4th parade twice, worked at Sonic for tips - in addition to our yearly fund-raiser, RocaSkatFest which we make family oriented with music, raffles, games, etc.
What obstacles is the organization facing?
POLITICS, POLITICS, POLITICS!!! Now that we have City Council approval for our first park ( they also approved the city-wide skate park so we hope to be building two almost simultaneously), our largest obstacle is raising more money to continue.
What's the status of the park?
Approved, bids out for design and hopefully to break ground this spring.
How can people get involved and help the cause?
Cody’s birthday was March 12th – in his honor we’ve held RocaSkateFest fundraisers around that date and seek large company donations, vendors and companies with similar interests to support us. We typically need 50+ volunteers to work the event as well as help in the background for the organization of the event. Anyone that has a skill set for organization and fund-raising is welcome. Word of mouth goes a long way to supporting these kids as well.
What's the first step other skaters should take to get a park built in their city?
From our viewpoint, becoming a 501C3 is extremely important, non-profit status assists in donations as well as large grants, such as the $10,000 Tony Hawk grant we were awarded last spring. We have forms created for tax write-offs, whether business or personal donation. Although the paperwork is daunting, a solid group of volunteers willing to put some time and effort into it is almost mandatory if you’re going to work with city officials.
What's the most important message you wish to convey to readers?
Skating is an individualized sport and skaters should have a right to practice their sport as other individuals get to without risking their safety from riding in the streets or shopping strips. Skating needs to be recognized for what it is – 62% growth in the last 10 years compared to traditional sports such as baseball and football yet many kids have nowhere to practice their sport of choice
