LIHU‘E — The majority of skateboarders say one of the hardest tricks to nail is a perfect kickflip. But on Kaua‘i, kickflips, along with ollies, pop shuvits, 360s, varials and caspers, are a piece of cake compared to finding a
LIHU‘E — The majority of skateboarders say one of the hardest tricks to nail is a perfect kickflip. But on Kaua‘i, kickflips, along with ollies, pop shuvits, 360s, varials and caspers, are a piece of cake compared to finding a place to skateboard.
However, skateboarders apparently kept themselves busy by pushing more than their seven-ply maple decks. They have been pushing county officials for facilities where they can legally burn their wheels without getting burned by the police. And it worked, as at least three skate parks are on the way, two of them with the county’s help.
County Parks and Recreation Director Lenny Rapozo on Wednesday unveiled to the Kaua‘i County Council the administration’s plan to work with the skateboarding groups on Kaua‘i to design and build two skate parks, one in Lihu‘e and another in Hanapepe.
A third skate park, in Kilauea’s Anaina Hou Community Park, would be built by the nonprofit Kaua‘i Skate ‘Ohana, with proceeds from fundraising efforts.
Rapozo showed up at the council meeting with seven young skateboarders in tow, along with Hanapepe’s Talk Story Bookstore owner Ed Justus, who has also been pushing for a skate park on behalf of the Westside’s skateboarders.
Jerrik Centeno, a Kaua‘i High School student, started skateboarding in 2005. When he and his friends hit the streets to try to land new tricks, they would be singled out, he said.
“We got caught at the DMV for skateboarding around early 2008,” Centeno said.
“We had approximately seven policemen fingerprinting us.”
Centeno said skateboarders don’t have anywhere to go: A skate park in Po‘ipu was shut down, the Kapa‘a Skate Park “isn’t very functional” and the one inside the Pacific Missile Range Facility requires a military ID for access.
The outspoken Centeno and six of his skateboarding friends attended the meeting to tell the council their plight, and more importantly, their plans.
Their dreams of more skateparks are shared with other skateboarders islandwide.
Justus said many skateboarders usually hang out in front of his Hanapepe store. They too have complained of a lack of places to skateboard.
After hearing the young riders, Justus decided to take up leadership in providing them with a place skateboard.
In the North Shore, it’s the same story — no skate park.
But the skateboarding community there appears to have a head start over Lihu‘e and Hanapepe.
In February, the nonprofit Kaua‘i Skate ‘Ohana organized a fundraising event held at Anaina Hou to build a skate park there.
Following the event, two skate ramps were built at Anaina Hou with the help of volunteers, according to KSO board member Todd Anderson. The nonprofit continues to raise funds to reach their goal of building a cement skate park at Anaina Hou.
Ironically, Anderson said he hardly ever gets to skate the ramps at Anaina Hou. Although he works in the North Shore and drives daily by the place, there are about 40 children who skate there in a regular basis.
“It’s so crowded I don’t really skate it that much,” said Anderson, laughing.
Way to go
In February 2010, Justus approached Rapozo to propose a partnership between the county and Hanapepe Lions Club.
The county would provide the land and money for materials, and the Lions Club would find a designer and take the lead in the construction.
After being fingerprinted, Centeno sought Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura and former Councilwoman Lani Kawahara for help.
In July 2010, Centeno met with Rapozo to tell him that he and his buddies were getting into trouble for skateboarding around town. In the following month, the administration met with 17 Lihu‘e skateboarders.
Rapozo said that because of that meeting, the administration determined that there is a need on Kaua‘i for a skateboarding park, and established a goal to build a facility that would be able to accommodate about 20 to 25 riders at a time.
Then KSO got into the mix and brought skateboarding icon Danny Way into the picture.
Rapozo said Way, who resides on Kaua‘i, has committed to provide his knowledge and expertise in designing the proposed skateboarding parks in Lihu‘e and Hanapepe, which will be built differently.
Both parks are supposed to be 100-feet by 100-feet. Anderson said the size of the proposed park is considered large enough to accommodate the Hanapepe community.
“It’s not so much the size (that matters), it is the design,” Anderson said. “We are really excited with what Mr. Way is going to bring into the picture.”
It’s a difficult thing to design a good skate park and utilize all the property correctly to create a nice flow, according to Anderson, who said that having Way involved would be vital, specially because of expertise for having skated several parks around the world.
After excluding a few options, Rapozo said the administration determined the best place in Lihu‘e for a park was the Vidinha Stadium Complex.
In Hanapepe, a similar process filtered the options to the Hanapepe Stadium Complex.
Build and skate
“Skateboarding can take you all over the world, it can give you a career in filming, photography, all sorts of things,” Anderson said.
“Our goal is to give these kids this opportunity.”
Rapozo said KSO will be the nonprofit to apply for the county grant to head the construction and design of the parks, Justus will take the lead for the Hanapepe project and Centeno will continue to ensure the project meets the expectation that the parks will be user friendly for all levels of skateboarders.
Meanwhile, the administration will continue to consult with Way’s group to complete design of the Lihu‘e and Hanapepe skate parks, KSO will be in charge of community outreach when the design is complete, according to Rapozo.
At the mayor’s community meetings, Waimea and Kekaha have expressed interest in their own skate parks, Rapozo said, but the administration will not pursue projects there until the Lihu‘e and Hanapepe projects are finished.
No dates were provided for any of the projects to start.
But it didn’t seem to bother the skateboarders. “Skate and destroy,” is the motto of the iconic Thrasher Magazine. Ironically, skateboarders across the globe have a tendency to build and skate.
And Kaua‘i’s skateboarders are proving it’s no different here.
Visit www.kauai.gov and www.kauaiskateohana.org for more information.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
