Rec sites leave lasting impact from Cromer

The memory from Slidellians of former Mayor Greg Cromer’s six years heading the city may be fading in the sunset after he resigned the job early to pursue an opportunity with Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration in Baton Rouge.
But the impact Cromer left in Slidell, even after starting his new job in January, is something that will remain for many years to come.
That was quite evident last week when the Slidell Skatepark officially opened in John Slidell Park, and well over 200 adults and kids turned out for the event.
The skatepark marked the third major recreational upgrade for the city since Cromer made that a focus in his first term. Also now completed are the new pickleball courts in John Slidell Park, and the beautifully rebuilt tennis courts on Second Street in Olde Towne.
All total, the City Council backed Cromer’s vision with over $4.2 million in funding for the three sites, all monies that were showing up many years in a row from a city budget surplus, thanks to conservative budgeting by the city leaders, and a strong economy that had sales tax numbers busting at the seams with record-after-record.
It was coincidental that the skatepark was the final new site completed out of the three since it might be the most important for Slidell when considering the impact it could have for our younger population.
As one 50-year-old skateboarder at the grand opening said, after skating at over a hundred parks around the country, the Slidell park is one of the best he has ever seen and will draw young people to a place they feel accepted and part of something special.
He said that skateboarding was important to him as a young person since he didn’t feel he had a lot of friends, but found a common connection to other young people through the sport.
Additionally, the site is a great location for families to bring young kids since others can use the setup with BMX bikes, roller blades, regular skates and even small scooters.
Cromer took some heat when he first began proposing the list of recreation projects, especially since it wasn’t cheap to get them done. The usual cries of “we need more money for drainage and roads” was heard, but those are things that will never go away, and always be here.
Cromer took a step of faith in his determination to bring something truly special for Slidell, and there is no doubt it was a great achievement for himself, thanks additionally to the backing of the City Council.
Cromer may be headed off for new adventures, but we applaud his risk and passion to leave Slidell a better place than he found it.
Now, it might be nice to see if there is a way to at least have one of these parks eventually be named for him since he was the first mayor in over 20 years to have a real vision for Slidell improvement, and then to make it happen.