February 2, 2006 Issue                                               

©2005 The Chestnut Hill Local

Three Mt. Airy teens showing their LOVE for previous skating “mecca”
by KRISTIN PAZULSKI
Staff Writer

Mt. Airy students Axel Tuveson (pictured here), Paul Sanders and Emmett Drueding interviewed everyone from lunch-goers to Philadelphia city planner Ed Bacon for their film “Skaters in LOVE,” scheduled for its first screening on Feb. 1.

Almost four years after skateboarding was banned in Philadelphia’s JFK Plaza, or popularly known as LOVE Park, skaters and supportive organizations are still trying to bring back their skating mecca.

This past summer, three 14-year-old Mt. Airy boys: Emmett Drueding, Paul Sanders and Axel Taveson, worked on a documentary video based on the LOVE Park ban and the skater’s rallying to change it. The documentary, Skaters in LOVE, will debut on Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. at Friends Select School, 17th Street and Ben Franklin Parkway. The video was created with the support of WHYY’s Learning Lab.

Drueding, who skated when he was younger, said that he was interested in the topic from the “human rights and political perspective,” and said that Tayeson is the skater of the group. When deciding what to feature in their documentary, Drueding said, “We looked out the window and thought, ‘Why not do the project on LOVE Park.’”

The half-hour digital video, part of the Friends Select Summer Academic Program, features interviews with various figures – from passers-by to the creator of LOVE Park, Ed Bacon, and former city managing director Phil Goldsmith – and delves into the history and controversy behind this city ban.

Drueding said he skated in LOVE Park only once before the ban, but it had a great effect on him. “I have never been to a place that had so many people there, like a thriving community,” said Drueding who estimated there were about 70 kids skating on that hot day. “It wasn’t the skating that I remember, it was the humanity.”

The screening will be free, and followed by a panel discussion with the three creators, as well as Barry Bessler, chief of staff of the Fairmount Park Commission, and Scott Kip, president of the Skateboard Advocacy Network. Brett Mandel, executive director of Philadelphia Forward, will be moderating the panel discussion.

“(The students) were amazing and very driven to let people know the problem still exists and the skating community isn’t going away,” Kip said.The skateboarding ban was initiated in 2002, bringing with it $300 fines for skaters and a renovation to LOVE Park that attempted to rid the park of the features that made it internationally known as an ideal natural skating park.

In 2003, the skating community, through organizations such as the Coalition to Free LOVE Park and the Skateboard Advocacy Network, worked to answer the city’s concerns and proposed compromises to be considered by the city to reopen LOVE Park to skaters. According to Kip, the skating community also received a legally signed intent from DC Shoe Company, who promised to donate $100,000 per year for 10 years (totaling $1 million) to a non-profit organization “Friends of LOVE Park” for the repair of the damaged property skating would bring to LOVE park. The $100,000 per year was the number estimated by the city for the repairs, according to Kip. The city, however, turned it down.

The city later gave $100,000 for the design of a park by the Schuylkill River – which was completed in July 2005. The design includes not only a skakepark, but also incorporates non-skating features.

Kip described it more as a “public space that includes a skatepark.”

However, the skaters are expected to raise the remainder of the funds, which Kip said would be millions.

Drueding said they aren’t planning to take the video to the city, but is hoping it sparks something with the Fairmont Park Commission members who will be at the screening. He said, however, they are hoping to enter the documentary into film festivals.