A number of years ago, the village of Canastota took down its worn out, wooden World War II monument and put it in storage. In 1988, DiVeronica saw an old photo of the memorial and wanted to have a new one built, but there was little interest. However, over the past few years, service groups such as the VFW have worked with area residents to raise funds for the new monument. It will be entirely granite and will be built at a cost of approximately $100,000.
Tony and his crew have just completed the site excavation and preparation for the World War II memorial in Canastota's Clarks Park. They also were responsible for the completion of a 2,000-sq.-ft. expansion of the town hall.
"Tony and his crew do a great job for us. They were instrumental on jobs like preparing the site for the World War II memorial and doing all the site work for our expansion on the town hall," said DiVeronica.
In 2000 with the urging of the children and Tony along with the support of local businesses, Lenox built Lenox Skate Park for skateboarding and skating.
"The kids actually came to the town [board] and asked if something could be built for them to skateboard in. Initially, the request was met with some resistance," said Tony.
"One of the concerns that the residents had was the liability that the park would create. To work around this, every child that uses the facility signs a waiver, which the town keeps on file," he explained.
Tony, along with several other residents, became very involved in working with the kids and with local merchants to build the skate park.
"Our town offers very little else to help keep the kids off the street and this project was very important to me. I was able to work with Callahan Industries.
It donated all the asphalt and stone needed for the project. Rapasadi Fence in Canastota, donated all of the fencing to surround the park and Kimes True Value Hardware gave us all of the building materials," he said.
"The kids worked closely with the town in designing the project. We got that skate park built practically for free - between grants and donations. Today that dream is a reality and it's something I'm very proud of."
When school is in session the facility is open every day from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. On weekends, it is open from noon to 7 p.m. However, if Tony has his way, the skate park would be enclosed for use all year.
