The saga of the Brooklyn Banks has been one of the greatest stories in skateboarding 5boro's Steve Rodriguez and a gang of NYC skaters saved the legendary spot, getting it official skatepark recognition from the city and creating one of the world's great skate havens. But there's bad news today, via Gothamist.com and the Downtown Express:

"The area under the Brooklyn Bridge has been a popular skateboard park for decades, but its days are soon coming to an end, at least temporarily.

The city plans to use the internationally known Brooklyn Banks skate park as a staging area during the Brooklyn Bridge reconstruction, which is starting later this year and will last until 2014, said Ralph Musolino, a district manager for the city Parks Dept.

Musolino said the closure of the skate park was not certain, but Scott Gastel, spokesperson for the city Dept. of Transportation, later said the city would definitely need the space. Gastel was not sure when the park would close."

Get out there and skate the hell out of it while you can, NYC! We'll stay on the story, and we're hoping Rodriguez and company have another miracle up their sleeves. Anyone have any sway with the NYC DOT?

Photo: Steve Rodriguez at Brooklyn Banks, via NewYork.TimeOut.com