Hale'iwa finally gets skateboard facility

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer

The city is installing a temporary skateboard ramp at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach Park adjacent to the John K. Kalili Haleiwa Surf Center, partially fulfilling a 5-year-old request for a facility in this surfing community.

The half-pipe apparatus isn't what the community had expected, but it is a start, said City Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz.

In 1998, $350,000 was put into the city budget to finance a permanent structure, but the project stalled and the money eventually lapsed, Dela Cruz said, adding that the skateboard park had been a community priority.

When he took office this year, Dela Cruz said a group of people came to him wanting to know the status of the park. Mayor Jeremy Harris was also talking to constituents, he said.

"This is the solution he put forward," Dela Cruz said. "It's really a good-faith effort."

Dela Cruz didn't know the cost of the temporary fixture or whether a permanent facility would be built. Plans called for the temporary ramp to be installed by this week.

"That will be determined by the wishes of the community and what the city budget will allow," he said.

North Shore Neighborhood Board member Blake McElheny said the ramp was needed because skateboarders have nowhere to go. He said the ramp is similar to one in Kahuku and the people there are happy with it.

The Kahuku skateboard park next to the high school was built as a result of a collaboration among city, state, private agencies, residents and a business. HMSA donated $25,000 toward the purchase of the equipment.

The city is paying for the Hale'iwa ramp.

Antya Miller, a former neighborhood board member, said the project for a permanent facility probably died because it didn't have a champion to see it through the planning and building processes. But she said she was glad the temporary ramp was built. "...a lot of the kids don't have anyplace to skate so they end up destroying property along Main Street ...," she said.

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com or 234-5266.