By Dustin Brown and Alexander Dworkowitz
Just after taking the job as director of the Flushing YMCA’s Beacon Center in Whitestone two years ago, Tina Kreitlow learned of the tension between teenage skaters and local residents.
“It started with Councilman [Michael] Abel at the time,” Kreitlow said. “He had called me just two weeks after I had started, saying that we have problems at the Whitestone Shopping Center with kids skating.”
A meeting was soon arranged with businesses at the center, located off the Cross Island Parkway at 153rd Street, between business owners and skate-boarding kids hanging out in Whitestone.
“What had come out of that meeting is that kids simply do not have a place to skate,” Kreitlow said.
But on Saturday, the long-coveted skate park was born.
The Flushing Y Beacon Center opened up the park with nine pieces of equipment on its grounds at JHS 194 at 154-60 17th Ave.
The first of its kind in Queens, the park fills a void for young fans of a fringe sport that is rapidly gaining legitimacy.
“This is a new sport. Everyone’s still experimenting with it,” said City Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside), who secured $10,000 for the purchase of the equipment. “It’s a growing sport and kids love it.”
The skate park is assembled every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on the tennis courts alongside JHS 194, where modular ramps and slides are dragged onto the green pavement to create a stunt playground for adventure-minded skate boarders and rollerbladers.
The beacon center had originally sought a permanent structured park. But the price tag was $500,000, and the center could not find the funding.
Although nearby business owners complained that skaters were costing them customers two years ago, the same skaters may actually boost business with the park up and running, Kreitlow said.
As the only skate park in Queens, the beacon center could attract youth from throughout the borough. Skate shops have expressed interest in opening a Whitestone location as a result of the park, Kreitlow said.
On Saturday, local skaters who waited anxiously to put their own wheels to the pavement after the brief opening ceremony said the park would give them a place to hang out with other kids while learning to master their moves.
“It’s awesome,” said Martin Quirke, 12, of Whitestone. “Around here there’s nothing to do. There’s no skate parks or anything.”
“There’s a lot of skate boarders here, but they don’t really get a chance to interact with other skaters,” said Sergio Velez, 20, of Flushing, a Beacon counselor who showed off some of his own tricks in a skating demo. “This will give them a chance to meet with other skaters and get better at it.”
A lot of skateboards went flying once the kids were invited onto the pavement for the park’s first open skate Saturday, when more two dozen tried braving the ramps while avoiding each other. Their attempts were not without peril.
“I fell already and hurt my arm,” said Ian Salisbury, a 13-year-old from Whitestone.
Even the experts who inaugurated the new equipment with a rousing demonstration suffered some scrapes of their own. Though they soared off the ramps with an impressive series of gravity-defying flips, they often ended up eating pavement after landings that were less than graceful.
“I’m nervous. This is his first time,” said Seada Zenunovic, 30, as her 10-year-old son Dino stood beside her with a new skateboard under his feet. “He wants to try it. It’s good for the kids.”
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300 Ext. 141.
