Love Sensation

by Tasha Kates

Though it's long been the focus of battle between skateboarders, cops and pedestrians, the new summer programs at Love Park have been making the lunch hour a little more relaxing for Center City professionals.

The Fairmount Park Commission rolled out two new initiatives at JFK Plaza in June to generate more interest in the former national skateboarding mecca. Mayoral spokeswoman Barbara Grant says both the new free wireless Internet "hot spots" and dining areas have been successful since their launch.

Always looking to improve tourism, the city turned Love Park into a free wireless hot spot and set up tables and folding chairs at the old Visitors Center for its Lunch@Love program, which was designed to encourage local businesspeople to bring their lunches or order from local restaurants while taking in the view. Those who are too busy to daydream can bring their laptops and connect to the office from a high-speed connection.

Although the park's new fixtures are geared toward making the midday meal into a working lunch, many parkgoers choose to spend their time enjoying anything but their cubicles. One frequent visitor, Lauralyn Jones, a local businesswoman, says she is partial to the ever-changing plant display the park offers.

Inevitably, the park's appeal will wane when cold weather prevents outdoor dining, so Lunch@Love and the entertainment will end at the beginning of September. Grant says the city has no plans to create programming during the winter months, but the Internet connection will remain available as part of the city's technology initiative. Lunch@Love will return next summer.

The new features of Love Park are some of the final touches in making the park more professional-friendly. In a controversial 2002 move, the park was closed for renovations after years of damage by skateboarders. The new benches and planters improved the look of the park, but made it impossible for skaters to perform stunts on the granite walls. Twenty-four-hour police watches prevented the skaters from trying their luck on the remaining skateable surfaces. The only trace of the park's skateboarding past are a few worn planter edges.

Even though Love Park is a lot quieter these days without the skateboarders, some professionals say they miss watching them during their lunch hour. Maria Smith, an office manager, says the new entertainment options won't keep kids off the streets like skateboarding did.

"They take away all of the good stuff," she says, "and there's nothing left but corners and drugs."