"It's big," said Elvis Sanchez, 15, of North Camden, as he ogled the aqua-and-purple facility.
The facility, in the 1900 block of Carmen Street, includes arcade games and a 15,000-square-foot rink. While last night was free, admission will be about $5 and include refreshments and game tokens.
"It's good to be back in the saddle again," a smiling Milan said as he wielded the scissors.
The rink will be managed by United Skates, which operates 300 other facilities throughout the country, officials said.
"It's another great day in the city of Camden," Milan said.
The Rev. Edwin Martinez, who led a brief invocation, said: "This is truly an enormous victory for the city of Camden and especially the children."
Mr. Martinez, who two weeks ago was a character witness in Milan's trial on 19 federal counts of corruption, said to the mayor: "Thank you for the vision you gave."
Milan, who earlier in the day awaited a jury verdict in a conference room in U.S. District Court, initially told a reporter that he would not attend the ribbon-cutting. He changed his mind, however, and arrived with former Camden Fire Chief Herbert Leary.
Milan said the rink was crucial in Camden because half of the city's residents are younger than 20.
"This is my biggest achievement because it impacts the youth," he had said earlier in the day. He said the city had not had a skating rink in 15 years.
"Crime is real high. Kids have nothing to do," Milan said. "We have 20,000 kids in school, but at 3 p.m. we have 20,000 in the streets, not including the dropouts who are there already."
Dennis Turner, the city's acting director of economic and industrial development, said $1 million for the rink had come from the Delaware River Port Authority, $369,000 from the Urban Enterprise Zone, and the balance from federal Community Development Block Grant money.
Dwight Ott's e-mail address is dott@phillynews.com
