by Wayne Wilson

"It's a good thing if they really built it for the black community, but is it gonna stay that way?"

Those were among the first words spoken to me by Bruce Simmons, a resident in the immediate area surrounding the Millennium Youth Entertainment Center located at 2334 Rosewood. The facility is predicted by many to be another spark in the East Side's economic upliftment plans. The site will hold a performance stage, bowling lanes, roller skating, a food court, and a couple of movie theaters. With the Givens and Rosewood recreation centers in close proximity, and the Boys and Girls Club center not far down the road, the area has the potential of becoming the youth activity mecca for Austin. The new youth center should be open seven days a week with free admission Sunday through Thursday, and a $2-$5 cover Friday and Saturday. However, in spite of all the opening arrangements, there flows a definite undercurrent of suspicion.

"I don't understand why it took so long to build," Simmons says while eying the beautiful new facility. His conversation never lacks in enthusiasm for a safe entertainment area for youth, but it is plagued with questions of cost for entrance into the facility, cost of skates, movies, etc., and if these costs will reflect the set income of some of the families in the neighborhood.

"We already have youth programs in the area. Are they gonna work together, or is this just another band-aid?"

Located across the street from the facility on Chicon St. is the University of Texas Longhorns Program. Raymond Coleman, director of the program, is excited that the facility is almost complete. He has definite plans to utilize the new space in coordination with their programs, which work with 19 schools in the Austin Independent School District -- which in turn equals about 2,100 children between the ages of 8 and 14 years old. The Millennium complex, along with the new track and field arena, places neighborhood Longhorn headquarters in the optimum area for youth activities, especially during the summer months.

The optimism for the children never dulls, yet there still remains the lingering questions that often surround business ventures with good hearts in need of government money. And many people deserve ovations for sticking it out, despite the red tape. John Yancey, the chairman for the Arts in Public Places Panel, sincerely commended the Central City Entertainment Board -- a board which coordinated most of the buildings' unfoldings and was partly comprised of young people from the East Austin community. Yancy also emphasized that the kids stuck with their goals through years of bureaucracy, and for that they should be commended -- Jennifer Cole-Dole and Michael Bryant to name just a couple. Yancey and fellow Arts in Public Places Panel member Nailah Sankofa emphasized the point that children need more to do than just hang out and/or be entertained. "The new complex does not really reflect a fun + culture + arts concept, nor does it provide a space for the adults in families or the more mature audience in the area to come and enjoy." But they both agree that the site mirrors the mindset of the average teenager.

"There had been suggestions made about including an observation deck, maybe above the skating rink, so parents could watch from there. Especially for the preteens, 7 and 8 years old -- they are a little too young to just be dropped off at the complex," Sankofa said. "I just hope the children never forget why the center was ever built!"

It has been almost seven years since the tragic death of Tamika Ross and the wounding of five others in a church parking lot, and finally her spirit is tangible again in the manifestation of the new youth center scheduled to open in June. Eighteen-year-old Marvin Johnson stated it best: "The new place will be good for kids that don't have anywhere to go, that are just chillin' with nothing to do."