WILMINGTON — After 31-year-old Alec Chambers, a Wilmington pro skateboarder, passed away in a DWI incident last month, a petition immediately started to change the name of the skate park he frequented in his honor. Locals are banding together to take an additional, formal step to ask the city to act.
The petition to “Rename Greenfield Grind Skate Park to Alec Chambers Skate Park” had a handful of signatures the morning Port City Daily first reported on it last month. Since, the petition has ballooned to almost 6,500 in less than two weeks.
READ MORE: Funeral planned for victim in fatal bar crash, petition to rename skate park launched in his honor
“And they’re still coming in — even this morning,” Andrew Bell said Friday, expressing pleasant surprise by the community’s overwhelming response. Bell officially filed the renaming application and paid the fee to the city this week, along with sending the link to the petition.
Bell said he launched the petition on Dec. 31, knowing there would be support — “just not to this extent.”
He met Chambers shortly after moving to the South Front area of Wilmington in 2022. He said Chambers was often his bartender at Satellite Bar and Lounge, also the location where Chambers died in a tragic accident on Dec. 30. An impaired driver, 34-year-old Michelle Lane Masiello, struck and killed Chambers, who was at Satellite that night as a patron, just after midnight. She has been charged with death by vehicle, driving while impaired, reckless driving to endanger, and injury to real property. Masiello was given a $255,000 secured bond, which was posted on Jan. 2, according to court documents.
Bell called Chambers “the kindest, gentlest soul you could meet, always willing to strike up a conversation with anyone.” Chambers also was an artist, commissioned to do some work for Bell.
Though Bell doesn’t skate, he said he often walks his dog near Greenfield Grind Skate Park at Greenfield Lake and would run into Chambers there frequently.
“He was the de facto mayor of Greenfield Grind,” Bell called Chambers. “This has always been Alec’s skate park. We are just trying to make this official with the petition; everyone I’ve talked to has said he dominated the place. And he really defied gravity on a skateboard.”
A memorial was held for Chambers at Greenfield Grind, which opened in the early 2000s, the day after news spread of his passing. His funeral was held Friday afternoon as well.
Mark Houdeshell, a 51-year-old who skated with Chambers since his days living in Sunset Park, said the funeral was packed with more than 150 people. Friends flew in nationwide from California, others flocking from Raleigh and Asheville, as Chambers’ talent on a skateboard spread far and wide.
Houdeshell said it was an emotional outpouring of support for such as genuine person. More so, it was a well-deserved send-off.
“He was just so selfless,” Houdeshell said.
Houdeshell ran skate shops throughout the years and once managed Skate Barn in Hampstead. He called Chambers a “skateboarder’s skateboarder” — whose passion for the sport superseded competitions. Though he could compete with the best of them worldwide, Houdeshell added.
“A few years back at Christmastime,” he remembered, “it was cold as heck and he was trying this 360 flip to noseblunt slide, down this really steep bank. And he must have tried that thing for 30 minutes — tirelessly just kept trying and when he made it, we all rejoiced like we had just found out we were millionnaires. It was insane. … He was effortless in his skating — he would hop on a board and right into a ramp that most people couldn’t get any tricks on at all, and he would destroy it.”
Houdeshell described Chambers as a person who wanted to have fun with his friends, running lines and making videos for “Welcome to Mystery Skate,” but also helping others. No matter the most severe ramps and tricks Chambers nailed, he tried to inspire skaters to want to be better and always leaned on inclusivity.
“He never went out there to shut the ramp down,” Houdeshell said, “which he could easily do.”
Years ago, Houdeshell said he hosted a travel youth skate camp for Skate Barn — to Fayetteville and Raleigh — and Chambers tagged along to give demonstrations.
“And he gave the kids so much respect,” Houdeshell said, adding some of those kids were at the service for Chambers Friday.
Houdeshell has been helping Bell collect funds to pay the $200 filing fee the city requires to complete the name-change application. A community fund jar is set up at Satellite Bar and Lounge, collecting $100 within the first hour of posting earlier this month. The bar also has a memorial on display for Chambers in shadowboxes hung on the wall near the doorway.
Other local businesses, like Leaf and Barrel and Family First Turf Care in Hampstead, have donated to the fund. So far Houdeshell said $350 has been collected in total. If Bell’s application is accepted by the city’s Naming Facilities Committee, another $500 will be required to cover costs associated with public outreach.
Bell and Houdeshell said it would be great if the city considered waiving the fees.
“Then we would donate the money to Alec’s mom,” Bell said.
Houdeshell agreed: “She can spend it to honor Al in whatever way she finds appropriate.”
The city’s Renaming Facilities Committee considers changing the moniker of buildings, facilities and streets during even-numbered years. A city spokesperson said the committee — made up of Chakema Clinton-Quintana (chair), JC Lyle and Salette Andrews — meets on an as-needed basis.
According to emails PCD viewed in the city terminal, multiple correspondence was sent to city council members over the holidays to recognize Chambers in the park. Council member David Joyner — who expressed support on the petition, according to Bell — brought up the renaming at this week’s council meeting.
“I want to signal to the community we are aware,” Joyner said of the petition and call to action.
Joyner further explained the council has been advised by the city clerk on navigating the process to ensure all “appropriate channels are followed”: “To everyone who has reached out: You have my concerns and my sympathies and my colleagues’ as well.”
The committee verifies all information provided on the application and could ask Bell to amend it, if needed, after review. Should that happen, the application wouldn’t be subject to a bi-annual review but could be taken up again at any time.
If the application passes muster, public notice will go out to support feedback from the community before the committee’s final recommendation. If it’s a go, council will execute a final vote.
The application explains how anyone prompting the city to change a name is “encouraged to collect signatures from community members impacted by the facility name change, provide letters of support from community organizations, or utilize online petitions to connect with community members.”
While Bell turned over the 6,500-signed petition, support goes beyond that, he said, with Friends of Wilmington Skateparks backing the move. The International Association of Wilmington Firefighters Local 129 also is in support; Chambers’ brother, Chandler, works for the fire department.
Local 129 sent a letter to the city advocating for the name change. 129 President Jordan Pettid wrote on Jan. 1 the loss was “deeply personal” to the chapter and fire department and changing it to Alec Chambers Skate Park would stand as a reminder to the importance of public safety.
“Alec was known not only for his talent on a skateboard, but for his kindness, humility and the positive influence he had on those around him, especially younger skaters who looked up to him as a mentor and role model,” the letter indicates. “Greenfield Grind Skate Park was a central place in Alec’s life, where he spent time developing his skills, building friendships, and contributing to the strong sense of community that exists there today. Renaming the park would serve as a meaningful and lasting tribute to Alec’s life and legacy. It would honor his contributions to Wilmington’s skateboarding community, preserve his memory in a place that held great significance to him, and stand as a visible reminder to the real human cost of impaired driving.”
Pettid told Port City Daily Friday the chapter is also looking at a donation, scholarship, or a memorial in honor of Alec.
According to a city spokesperson, Greenfield Grind Skate Park’s name was decided from former Parks and Recreation Director Gary Shell. Shell passed away in 2011 from brain cancer and the city has named its cross city trail in his honor.
There are at least 30 parks and facilities in Wilmington that bear the name of varied locals, from Hugh Morton Amphitheater at Greenfield Lake — named after the Wilmington-born photographer, conservationist, and tourism developer who also was the steward of Grandfather Mountain.
Althea Gibson Tennis Complex located in Empie Park is named after the first Black athlete to win a Grand Slam tennis title, as well as score Wimbledon and U.S. Nationals wins. Gibson is regarded for breaking racial barriers in sports in the 1950s. She lived in Wilmington in the 1940s and trained and mentored under physician and tennis player Dr. Hubert Eaton. Eaton Elementary bears his name and an historic marker is also erected at the New Hanover County Courthouse honoring his civil rights activism.
Though he hasn’t heard back from the city yet on receipt of the application, Bell remains hopeful for a positive outcome.
“It’s just an awful, awful thing,” he said of Chambers’ death. “But, hopefully, some good can come out of this, and I think he deserves to be remembered.”
“Al was a special kind of dude — a force of light,” Houdeshell added, noting if the city does approve the name-change, he hopes more can also be done to resurface the city’s skate park. “Make it smooth again for Al in his name — just a revitalization.”
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