A public hearing was held at City Hall yesterday to restrict the use of skateboards, stunt bicycles and rollerblades on public property in order to prevent further property damages.
Several authorities have brought the case to the city’s attention with the aim of amending the current ordinance, which currently only prohibits the use of skateboards in certain public areas.
City Councilor Maureen Feeney opened and led the court session, in which numerous police officers and city representatives testified against public skating.
“We don’t want to impose restriction on people enjoying these activities, but we need to protect our investments and public safety,” Feeney said.
Feeney said “the amendment to the ordinance is specifically targeted toward those who willfully and maliciously destroy property — not the casual, recreational participants.”
She also proposed the addition of other activities to the ordinance, such as “grinding” and stunt-biking, in which participants “willfully destroy property.”
“We wish to modify the current ordinance to add the use of rollerblades and bicycles to be banned along with skateboarding,” said City Councilor Rob Consalvo. “We intend to preserve public property and target individuals who use these rollerblades, skateboards to purposely damage public property.
“Boston Police and other officials work hard to maintain historical sites,” he said, “while there are kids sliding down handrails, statues, marble steps with no regard for the safety of themselves or of anyone else.”
All panel members continually discussed the negative effects of aggressive skating on tourism throughout the city. Most of these activities persist in congregated areas, such as Copley Square Plaza and the Boston Public Gardens, where oftentimes “guys in groups of six to eight kids are intimidating to those who choose to leisurely walk or eat lunch,” according to police supervisors.
These dangerous activities could also raise liability issues, in which parents could threaten a lawsuit against the city for the injuries of their children.
The majority of individuals being stopped by authorities are not even from Boston, Consalvo said.
“Most people are coming from all over New England to use what the facilities are not designed for,” he said. “There are few locations in the city that they have not tried, other than the official skate park located in Hyde Park.”
City officials are highly concerned about the destruction of marble stairs and statues, as well as burial grounds and fountains in public gardens.
“When you scar marble, it’s scarred for life,” said one police chief. “We do not have the money to keep refurbishing it when kids are taking trains in from around the state to spend all day riding the steps and rails, going airborne and abusing our property.”
A staunch advocate of prohibition of dangerous activity in public areas at the hearing was Boston Police Officer Joseph Pepicelli.
“I have observed skaters coming from all over New England who have retrieved information via the internet about Boston property,” he said. “Am I supposed to watch these kids hurt themselves and destroy property?”
He said several people have been using rollerblades with wheels of titanium to “grind” on handrails and stairs, causing irrevocable damage far exceeding that caused by skateboards.
“Stunt bikers have loosened the cobblestones in City Hall area with their rubber tires,” Pepicelli said. “Several people have gotten hit by skaters, and these kids think it’s funny and take off ... Anything over 35 miles per hour can seriously injure or even kill a small child.”
Charles River Conservancy president Renata von Tscharner, an architect and urban planner proposing the construction of a skateboard park, noted the lack of alternatives to public skating.
“Within Route 495, there are about 30 skateboarding parks, yet Boston only has two — one in East Boston and one in Hyde Park, which are not very accessible,” she said. “As the City of Boston seeks to address the serious problem of damage caused by skateboarders, rollerbladers and stunt bikers, I strongly recommend that enforcement agencies work with the young practitioners of these sports to find win-win solutions and to actively help the creation of high quality parks.”
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