Some skateboarders ruin it
I am writing in reference to some points made in Ms. LoNigro’s letter regarding skateboarders, which was published May 2. I agree that there is limited space for skateboarders to ride; however, it is not the responsibility of property/business owners to accommodate and permit skateboarding on their property if they do not want it, and they should not be harassed because of it.
I do agree that some of the skateboarders in the city are very polite “good kids,” especially the older teens.
I do have a problem with younger skateboarders who make comments such as, “If you go back in your house you won’t see us on your sidewalk and wall and it won’t bother you.” In reality, it is the property owner’s sidewalk and wall, the same one the property owner is responsible to keep clean and maintained.
Calling a property owner “old man” because he asked, kindly, as I was a witness to this, that the wall on the private property adjacent to his house not be used to jump from is unnecessary and disrespectful.
Respect is mutual … respect is earned.
It is the skateboarders that you see jumping from the stage at Story Square and the planters near the fountains at Main and Beeson and Charmaine’s Way that are being less than respectful. These parks were not put in place to accommodate skateboarders, I am sorry to say.
In the defense of the skateboarders, it is assumed that the cracked planter, the broken benches are the result of what they do. By staying away from those areas they eliminate themselves from being the cause.
Yes, there are some very kind and courteous skateboarders out there, and I applaud them and their parents. But understand it is the few that cause the snide remarks and put the entire group in a negative light.
The skateboarders that do not use the sidewalk and insist on riding in the roadway, slowing traffic, do tarnish the image of those who yield to traffic, just as a cyclist, a jogger or walker acting as inconsiderately would.
I think the lack of respect shown is not aimed towards all of the skateboarders as much as the few inconsiderate boarders who really are ruining it for the rest.
Susan Griffith
Uniontown