Skateboarding ban on South Whitley sidewalks has parents alarmed, council seeking new options
(Talk of the Town mobile photo by Jennifer Zartman Romano) South Whitley resident Carrie Hoffman brought her two little skateboarding enthusiasts, Aiden and Logan, to Tuesday evening's town council meeting where the issue over a new ordinance regarding skating on residential and business district sidewalks was discussed. Under the ordinance, if approved as written, Hoffman's oldest son, age 8, would no longer be able to skateboard legally on the sidewalk in front of his home.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
A four-wheeled problem has dozens of South Whitley residents concerned.
A little over a month ago, two residents came forth with concerns that unruly teens were skateboarding in their driveways, crushing their shrubbery and causing other damage on skateboards in their neighborhood. Hands in the air, they came to the South Whitley Town Council for resolution.
The result: a revision of the existing skateboarding ordinance. In addition to preventing skating on sidewalks in the business sector downtown, it also outlawed the use of skateboards, roller skates and in-line skates on all residential sidewalks in the town of South Whitley.
On Tuesday evening, council was ready to approve the new ordinance upon its second reading, however more than a dozen concerned parents attended the meeting and asserted their own concerns -- that approving the newly revised ordinance against skateboarding could be just the beginning of bigger problems and that such an ordinance would prevent their children from engaging in healthy physical activity. The proposed ordinance would essentially outlaw these activities for any child over the age of six.
In addition to concerns that such an ordinance infringed on their children's right to engage in good outdoor activities, one parent said he was concerned that a ban against rollerskating, inline skating and skateboarding could eventually result in a ban against riding bicycles too.
"I look around and think how neat it is to see kids riding in safe area," said resident Sue Milligan of children skateboarding along the sidewalks in her southern South Whitley neighborhood. Upon learning of the proposed ordinance, she was concerned because of the impact it could have on neighborhood children. "We are raising a nation of obese children. This is why," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. Mulligan said that eliminating positive outdoor physical activity could have a negative impact on children's health.
"I'm not against some regulation," said resident Carrie Hoffman. Hoffman was joined at the meeting by her two young sons, an 8 year-old and a 5 year-old who both enjoy skateboarding in their neighborhood. She suggested the council consider a skateboarding curfew or look into regulations adopted in other communities that would curtail dangerous or damaging behavior while allowing healthy physical activity.
"There needs to be a common sense approach," another resident said. "I don't want to see them put into the street where they'll be competing with motorized vehicles. If you take this away, what's next? Bikes? Why take activities away that are wholesome?"
"We have to have something we can enforce," said council member Tonya Warner, citing the concerns of two residents at a previous meeting.
"But if you have a problem in one area of town, why punish all areas of town," asked resident Jorell Tucker, who also attended with his children.
"Ninety-nine percent of children are good," answered councilman John Dunn, who pointed out that the proposed ordinance was only meant as a device for law enforcement to use to penalize those who were violating it in a way that concerned others.
The angered residents pointed out that having what they view as a hard lined ordinance would not only be used to punish violators, but could be another tactic for neighborhood busy-bodies to hassle neighbors and would result in a high volume of calls to the local police department.
"The way this is written, you are running people out of town," added resident Stephen Smith. "Is that what you're trying to accomplish?"
Another resident further outlined concerns that if skateboarding and other types of skating are banned from sidewalks and children are then forced to move into the streets to be in compliance with the law, the risk would be too significant.
"If you put roller blades and skateboard out into the street, it takes one stone to put them out of control," the resident said, adding that while drivers are trained to be defensive in their navigation, children are not. That combination could prove deadly.
Upon hearing the residents concerns and learning that a petition drive was underway that in just six hours had already collected 33 signatures opposed to the ordinance, town council members agreed to table the issue until a later meeting.
Warner said she'd look at measures taken by other towns.
"Every one of you may have kids who are not going out and being abusive," Warner said. "We will see if we can do something."
"We'll try to make it a little more friendly for the kids that abide by the law," added Dunn. The matter will likely be revisited at the next South Whitley Town Council meeting in two weeks.
Click the link below to review the proposed ordinance as it was presented for reading at Tuesday's meeting.
