Hawai'i Kai skateboard ban criticized

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau

HAWAI'I KAI — Before the city built a temporary skateboard ramp at Koko Head District Park, police looked the other way when they saw skateboarders illegally skating at the underused Park and Ride Facility on Keahole Street.

•	Information The Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board Park and Recreation Committee will hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. April 20 at the Koko Head District Park meeting room to talk about skateboarding and other park issues. For more information, call the Neighborhood Commission at 527-5749.

Skateboarding is banned in most public places, including the Park and Ride. If someone calls to complain, the police will respond, said police Capt. Scott Foster.

The city installed a half-pipe ramp for skaters at the Koko Head District Park in December. It plans to put in a second ramp by the end of April.

The ramp, the skaters say, is good for kids who like that kind of skateboarding. But there is another kind of skating done at the Park and Ride — street skating, said Sean George, a 14-year-old eighth-grader.

"The police say we're not allowed to skate here," George said. "People think we're just punks. One day we got kicked out of five places."

The need for a place for skateboarders to go was acknowledged last year, when the city rolled out its master plan for Koko Head District Park. The plan, a 10- to 20-year vision for the 59-acre park, includes an in-line skate facility and a skateboard park.

Last summer, the mayor promised the throng of Hawai'i Kai skateboarders and in-line skaters that the city would build a place to skate at the district park.

During the interim, members of the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board and the skaters thought it was understood that the Park and Ride would be used for skating. Since an alternative for some skaters now exists, police say they will enforce the law. There are signs posted at the Park and Ride banning skateboarding and in-line skating.

"We get complaints all the time, so we have to react," Foster said. "Some kids don't want to go to the district park, but the Park and Ride is not an authorized skateboard riding area."

This hasn't been sitting well with street skaters, many of whom are in middle school and just want to skateboard.

"They treat us like second-class citizens," said David Joseph, a 12-year-old sixth-grader. "It makes me so mad. Without this place we have no place to skate."

On O'ahu, there are few places for skateboarders to go, including a few city-run ramps and a skateboard facility at Hickam Air Force Base, which requires a military ID and $5.

"The skateboarders need a place to go," said Mary Houghton, a Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board member. "We have got to be clear where the kids can skateboard."

The skateboarders say the ramp isn't enough for street skaters and ramp skaters. And the ramp is crowded.

Parents like Terri Christine Peck want the city to move forward with the plans for the permanent skating facilities. While the new facility at the park is great, it doesn't address all the needs of all the skaters, she said.

"Most of the police allow the kids to skate at the Park and Ride," Peck said. "But a few of the officers want to do as much policing as they can. The kids call me when the police come. The kids are confused because they've been told they could skate there."