Local bike riders will have to start looking for a new stomping
ground now that the city council has made cycling in the Daniel
Yetter Memorial Skate Park a punishable offense.
The council voted unanimously Monday night to prohibit bicycles
from the skate park, cracking down on an ordinance that has been in
place since the park was first constructed about four years
ago.
Hollister – Local bike riders will have to start looking for a new stomping ground now that the city council has made cycling in the Daniel Yetter Memorial Skate Park a punishable offense.
The council voted unanimously Monday night to prohibit bicycles from the skate park, cracking down on an ordinance that has been in place since the park was first constructed about four years ago.
“It was always a rule, but there was nothing in writing, there was nothing enforceable,” explained Councilman Robert Scattini. “Now it’s got some teeth.”
Once the new ordinance takes effect in 30 days, anyone caught biking in the skate park could be slapped with a misdemeanor, according to Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller. Punishment could include a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail, although Miller said the latter would probably only be used for repeat offenders or “egregious” violations. More likely, a rider could wind up getting his bike seized as evidence until after the trial, guaranteeing he’d have to stay out of the skate park at least for a while, he said.
Although the skate park has signs posted reminding visitors the facility is for skating only, the concrete bowl inside Memorial park is a popular destination for cyclists. BMX bikers at the park Tuesday afternoon said the city offers nowhere else for them to ride save a field of dirt heaps overgrown with weeds and thorns that pop their tires. And the skate park is perfectly suited for bikes, they said, despite the fact city officials say that wasn’t the design’s intent.
“We’re always going to bike here,” said Steven Chives, 16, a statement that met with agreement from a group of cyclists at the skate park Tuesday who far outnumbered the skateboarders.
Several of the bikers, like 15-year-old Jake Vargas, said they’d tried to build bike jumps near the skate park but the city had torn them up. Still, all agreed they’d keep using the skate park until a comparable facility is made available for them.
“This is designed for bikes,” Shane Painter, 19, said of the skate park. “That, I’d like to see the cops drive their cars through. They’d have a flat tire in five minutes,” he added, pointing to the dirt jumps next-door. “They need to build something like this with cement for bikes.”
But the city currently has no plans for a bike facility, and unfortunately, city officials said, the mix of bikes and skateboards on the same course makes it a dangerous place for bikers and boarders alike.
“The thing is, that’s (biking) not the purpose of the skate park. The purpose of it is for them to skate,” said Mayor Pauline Valdivia, who was worried about collisions between bikes and skateboards. “There’s definitely a safety issue. When they (cyclists) get in there and start popping wheelies … can you imagine?”
“I do know that the skateboards get pretty radical there,” Scattini added, “and I don’t think the bicycles can get out of the way fast enough.”
David Rubcic, an engineer with the city who was also the project manager when the skate park was built, said the design of the facility itself adds even more danger for bike riders.
“It’s a skate park. It was not designed for bikes. Bikes are much more dangerous; they can produce much more speed, and so when they go up and over ramps and jumps they can go further,” Rubcic said. “If we were designing this for bikes, there would be designed landing areas for them to land into as opposed to them going right into another element. There’s a major potential for big wrecks. And all we can do is post (no bikes signs); we can’t leave somebody out there to monitor it because it’s designated as an open park.”
While the city obviously can’t hire a police officer to watch over the skate park during all hours of operation, Chief Miller said Tuesday his officers will be more vigilant from now on about keeping bikes out of the facility.
“As our resources permit, we will (enforce it more),” Miller said. “By the rules, if you will, they were never really allowed in there, but I think that before that would have been more easily challenged.”
Miller added the police department has received numerous complaints from skateboarders as concerned about bikes in the skate park as city officials are.
“It’s much safer without the bikes. The park just wasn’t made for them,” he said.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
