152884~City should find a compromise on skate park—The City
Council’s decision to make riding bikes in the Daniel Yetter
Memorial Skate Park a misdemeanor crime is a perplexing quandary
for both local youth and leadership. Telling local bike riders
they’re not allowed to use the skate park without providing an
alternative is unfair.
The article I read about the skate park was rediculous. The skate park was designed and made for skateboards, not bicycles. No where do you legally see bikes and boards co-existing in skate parks. The reason is that angles, degrees of incline and decline, along with distance between jumping obstacles were designed for wooden boards with four wheels, not metal frames with two wheels.
I have heard many complaints of bullying bicyclists intimidating skaters off the skate park. The “soup bowl” in the skate park is designed for skateboards, not bicycles. I have also heard rumors that the “soup bowl” is too steep, even for skateboards to navigate safely. I wonder what the national guidelines are?
Let me ask you this: If you had a 10 year old child skating, observing all the legal requirements (helment, elbow and knee pads), would you feel comfortable watching an out of control bicycle heading towards your child? I wouldnt! Right next door is a dirt track, which was made for bikes, yet it was rarely used, why? I would venture to guess that it wasn’t the cool “hang out” spot like the skateboard park is. That, is the bottom line. The bicyclists dont have skateboards and they want to whine about not having a place to ride. I say “if you cared about a place to ride, why didn’t you use the dirt track, which was built for your bikes?”
Since enforcing helmet, knee and elbow pad laws is difficult in this time of inadequate police presence, why not close it until there’s a full time adult presence making sure our children are safe? We’ll see how much the bicyclists whine after it’s closed. I doubt we’d hear from them again.
