Would You Like Skateboarding Banned On Public Streets, Sidewalks?

The city of Everett recently outlawed skateboarding on downtown business-zone streets and sidewalks. In Seattle, downtown merchants are pressuring the city to build a skateboard park near Seattle Center to rid the Westlake Park area of skateboarders. Cities such as Kirkland and Auburn already have laws that limit or ban skateboarding on some streets.

In all cities, the issues are similar: Pedestrians and motorists say skateboarders are a hazard and a potential cause of accidents. And property owners say skateboarding can damage some surfaces. But skateboarders say they need a place for their sport and they are urging lawmakers to build skateboard parks before banning skateboarding.

Here's what some readers think:

I do not believe that crowded city sidewalks are a place for skateboarders, roller skaters or bicyclists. So if that means putting a ban on skateboarding on public sidewalks I'm all for it. I feel sorry for the skateboarders. I wish that there were somewhere they could go to do their thing and I hope that they can talk their cities into building them a skateboard park.

Cathy Skaar, Mountlake Terrace

If skateboarding is unlawful on streets and sidewalks and no provisions are made for their legal use, how can the makers of skateboards be able to market unlawful products?

J.F. Eggerling Sr., Edmonds

Skateboarders are right. They need a place where they can skateboard. This is one way to keep teenagers from getting in trouble with drugs. Let the city officials take the blame for troubled children and not blame the parents. What about Green Lake? There is much danger when kids as well as adults skate in between the walking people. Let's do something good for the teens for a change.

Arthur Edwards, Lynnwood

I feel that there should be a ban on skateboards for the simple reason that they take up space on public sidewalks and I feel that there should be a separate park for these types of activities. Like bicycling and roller-skating, there is a certain space available for these people. I know that a lot of roller skaters and bicyclists ride around areas such as Green Lake and certain areas of Seattle Center.

Patrick Harrington, Seattle

I think they should definitely not put a ban on skateboarding on public streets and sidewalks. It's the skateboarders' responsibility to keep his or her skateboard under control. We definitely do need a place for skaters to go.

Nathan Pierre, Edmonds ------------------------------------------------------------------- NEXT WEEK'S QUESTION

Do you favor a plan requiring two public votes to build a proposed regional rail system?

The Snohomish County Committee for Improved Transportation has called for a dual public vote on whether a rail system should be built to link Snohomish, King and Pierce counties.

The committee of private, public and community leaders said an initial vote on approval of a system and a small tax increase would trigger significant public bus improvements and could be used to encourage private-sector involvement in transportation, whether van pools or neighborhood taxi services. The second vote about five years later would be to approve rail construction. By then, the planning would be completed so that the exact rail corridor and station sites would be specified.

To ensure that, the committee said the initial vote should not authorize more than the equivalent of a 0.4 percent sales-tax increase, rather than the 0.9 percent tax that would be required to build the entire $9.3 billion project.

What do you think?

Please phone your responses by 8 p.m. Monday to the Community Voices reader call-in line, 464-3337. Include your full name, city and phone number (comments cannot be published without verification). Selected responses will be published next Thursday.