has re-opened!
Call (908) 686-6838 for more info
Everyones' participation and vigorous support has paid off and we have our rink back!
The session schedule is as follows:
Mondays
7:00PM - 10PM Gospel Night Tuesdays
8:00PM - 12:00AM Adult Skate Wednesdays
8:00PM - 12:00AM Adult Skate Thursdays
Private Parties Adult Skate Fridays
7:30PM - 11:30PM Family Skate Saturdays
12:00PM - 3:00PM
4:00PM - 7:00PM
7:30PM - 11:30PM Open Session
Open Session
Family Skate
Sundays
12:00PM - 3:00PM
4:00 PM - 7:00PM
8:00PM - 12:00AM Open Session
Open Session
Adult Skate
The newspaper and TV news media, that flocked to cover the Skate 22 story as part of the homicide in December of 2008, failed to report on the re-opening of the skating rink.
We need your help Even after several of the reports back in 2008 and early into 2009 provided less than accurate information related to the rink, its history, clientele and owners.
Old media such as newspapers and TV are struggling to compete with online news today. This comes as little surprise as they arrogantly and carelessly present inaccurate, unfair, unbalanced and even untruthful information. The re-opening and the struggle of the community to get the rink re-opened was definitely a missed opportunity resulting in unreported news.
This is a great positive development in the whole story, which includes an arrest of a suspect in the homicide back in March. The silence of the media on the re-opening of the skating rink is unforgivable and shows their real lack of interest in the people who were unfairly impacted by its closing. It's a human interest story connected to a tragedy and describes a community's solidarity and fight to be heard, to get back something important unfairly taken away.
News media failed to cover both the course and success of the struggle and the many happy children, families, youth groups, employees and even the neighboring businesses that will benefit from the return of the rink to the community.
We're not surprised and also not very hopeful that they will figure out the level of disdain the public feels toward their arrogance and insensitive behavior. We're certain that altogether they don't fully serve the public interest nor themselves with this conduct, which may explain their struggle. On the other hand, we're pleased to take notice of the positive developments and trust that everyone enjoyed the opening night at Skate 22 on April 27th after the four month long successful campaign to re-open it.
Click here to see many comments from people signing the petition
Leave Comment Alleged Shooter Arrested Take note of "racist code" language indicating that the "rink attracted trouble" since the majority of customers are black. They also incorrectly name the rinks attorney as the owner of the rink. They also fail to report any viewpoint from the owner. (We've saved a "web archive" of this article, but this is not how journalists are trained to properly report news.) We're even learning that the victim was not in attendance at Skate 22. Shooting appeared to be gang related.Here is a link to a website that catalogs incidents including violent acts around sports that don't get blamed for "attracting trouble". This creates a double standard that needs to be addressed. Did these venues or facilities get shut down? Why are these sports measured differently when violence linked to the activity occurs? The governing body of Union needs to respond. NJ Township Fails Public Safety Mission, Closes Skating Rink
Union Scapegoats A Local Rink Owner
by Winston Jordan
Union Township closed down Skate 22 following the shooting death of Jean D'Haiti, a 16 year old African American youth. The shooting took place around the corner and several businesses away from the skating rink which is one tenant in a huge multi-tenant commercial building complex. The young man was slain closer to or in front of a Chinese Restaurant which remains open today.
Oddly enough, the rink owner is being punished for the shooting, while it was the skating facility that served as a safe haven, when several people who were outside of the rink sought safety there after learning that a gunman was shooting a gun in the area. The community's heart felt condolences go out to Jean D'Haiti's family and friends. The community is deeply saddened by the loss of this young man's life. This is a tragic and devastating loss of life.
We feel that the Township bears a great deal of responsibility for fostering a permissively violent atmosphere around a family recreational facility by witholding proper police patrols equal to the task of preventing such acts and safeguarding the public at a business location long known to the police to attract large numbers of customers. In Union Township as in many municipalities, the police department is part of the Office of Public Safety. Crime prevention tactics are well understood by these officials. The police should have been in place to help prevent this type of incident. We hope that they will consider using police force in a manner that will prevent these incidents in the future and safeguard the public. Unfortunately, the history of police activity around the rinks has been adversarial, rather than supportive. Police have harassed the clientele of the skating rink with excessive "pull overs" yielding very few actual traffic or motor vehicle citations. Additionally, the police have used their presence to intimidate the Skate 22 customers and police records do not show an unusual misuse of police services nor excessive citations describing Skate 22 as a nuisance to the business community. In fact, Skate 22 drew large numbers of customers on a regular basis, creating a boon to surrounding restaurants and other shops.
- We Have Contacted
- Al Sharpton - National Action Network
- Oprah Winfrey - Oprah
- Ellen Degeneres - Ellen
- ABC - The View
- Amy Goodman - Democracy Now
- Many regional skating bloggers and organizations
Discouraging illicit behavior and violence is largely the responsibility of the government and police. We are deeply concerned that the local government is scapegoating a business and rallying public support, using mainstream media, to blame a business owner for this tragedy. The members of the Township council, are misrepresenting the role of the rink's management in this tragic event, to build public support to shutdown the roller skating rink. The rink owners are themselves victims. The Township is wrong to believe that they can abdicate their responsibility through the creation of rules requiring the skating rink to provide their own security or quasi police force.
Skate22 complied with the rules and hired security staff. The shooting took place in front of a buffet restaurant around the corner from the roller skating rink's facility. Not "outside" of the roller skating rink as reported in the Star Ledger and other mainstream media. This places the responsibility squarely at the feet of the Township Officials, whose police force did not act to safeguard the public. It was not the responsibility of the Skate22 security staff to provide security or patrol around the entire perimeter of a multi-tenant commercial building. That's the job of the Police!
It is clear to us, that taxpayers, private citizens and businesses, have a right to proper police protection for their tax dollars. The primary purpose of government is to protect lives and property.
We will not stand for Union Township's "go it alone" and "do it yourself" law enforcement policy, which they have applied to the Skate22 facility leading to this tragic event, nor will we tolerate their neglect of the basic, fundamental public safety mandate of government.
We want all officials responsible for allowing the historical "stand down", "look the other way" policing policy, surrounding enforcing order and safety around the Skate22 facility held accountable for their actions or inaction. These politicians have been in office all too long, have an arrogant sense of entitlement and should be voted out of office as a reminder that they represent the public's interests.
Thank You
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