Posted on: Tuesday, October 2, 2001

Hawai'i Kai skate park rolling

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Bureau

HAWAI'I KAI — The city is ready to start construction on two skate parks at Kamiloiki Community Park.

The news has area skateboarders and inline hockey skaters excited but skeptical.

They've been waiting since July 2000 when Mayor Jeremy Harris promised a group of skaters that he would build a place for them by this fall. In the meantime, Harris had two temporary outdoor skate ramps built at Koko Head District Park, and inline hockey players continue to use the basketball courts at Kamiloiki for their weekly practices.

The estimated $1.2 million contract calls for an inline rink and a skateboard facility that are about 10,000 square feet — the amount area skaters had requested. Construction should start this month, the city said. The contract was awarded to PER Inc., a recreational construction company.

The goal is to have the skate facilities finished by the end of the year.

"I'm happy to see it rolling," said Terri Christine Peck, the mother of two skateboard enthusiasts. "The kids would be more excited if they saw a tractor over there. Right now everything is just words and promises to them.

"They need something to manifest all their hard work."

The teens wrote letters and drafted plans of what the ideal skateboard park would look like. They met with the mayor, attended meetings and eventually secured his pledge to build the parks.

As far as the inline hockey skaters, a rink will allow them to hold games in their own community and will free up a basketball court that they have taken over for practices. There are about 170 members in the Hawai'i Inline Hockey League, with 40 kids from Hawai'i Kai.

"We've been playing in quite inadequate facilities for quite some time," said Wayne Giancaterino, Hawai'i Kai Ducks coach. "We had a hard time competing in rinks because we rarely get to play in them.

"A rink will help us increase the level of play and the interest in the sport."

Originally, both skating facilities had been planned for Koko Head District Park, but because building them there would have required an environmental study, heavily used Kamiloiki Park was selected.