Council Imposes Limits on Skateboards, Roller Skates : La Canada Flintridge: The city retains the authority to further restrict activities if pedestrian and shopkeeper complaints continue.

After weeks of debate, the La Canada Flintridge City Council has adopted an ordinance that regulates skateboards, roller skates and blade skates in commercial areas but stops short of banning them from the city’s main thoroughfare--Foothill Boulevard.

The local Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Public Safety Commission had recommended that the ban include Foothill, saying the growing popularity of the sports poses a risk to both skaters and pedestrians.

But the council chose an alternative route. The ordinance, adopted unanimously, makes it possible to enforce bans on wheeled play equipment posted on private property, such as in shopping areas. It also prohibits skateboards on a short stretch of Angeles Crest Highway at the Foothill Freeway, considered the busiest and most dangerous pedestrian crossing in the city.

The council retained the authority to later prohibit the activities in other, presently unregulated areas, including along the boulevard, if complaints continue.

They excluded Foothill Boulevard from the proposed ban after three public hearings during which dozens of youngsters and their parents complained that the route is essential for getting around town.

On July, the council offered a compromise, voting to prohibit skateboards while allowing roller-skates. The prohibition was dropped altogether this week following more testimony from pro-skaters. Business owners did not speak at the hearings.

Youths and their parents complained that a ban would add to traffic congestion and air pollution by forcing parents to chauffeur youngsters who are currently on their own.

Kevin Standish, 13, said: “As kids, we feel we have to be out and doing something. It keeps us out of trouble. If you ban us, then we have nowhere else to go.”

Regulations on skateboards and wheeled toys have been imposed in the past few years by dozens of Southern California cities, including Glendale, which prohibits skates in business districts, in some city parks and at the Civic Auditorium.

Youngsters said they view skates as a mode of transportation, rather than as toys.

La Canada Flintridge officials and business owners said skaters and riders whizzing about town intimidate pedestrians, pose a danger to themselves and to others, and cause damage with their recklessness and inconsideration.

For example, it costs between $300 and $400 a month to repair damage caused by skateboarders at Plaza de la Canada, the community’s only shopping center, owner Philip Kirst said in an interview.

“They run into the flower pots and break them,” he said prior to passage of the new ordinance. “They jump the skateboards off walls and off steps. They are constantly damaging the benches. It’s just malicious. We need some protection from this.”

Several other shopkeepers interviewed said youngsters traveling at high speeds grab at store awnings and rip them as they pass. Signs warning that skaters are prohibited are repeatedly defaced. Shopkeepers and customers who attempt to reprimand youngsters are often met with obscenities, they said.

“They’re faster than I am,” said one merchant who has chased offenders, but who declined to be identified out of fear of reprisals.

Signs banning skating on private property have been posted for years in areas of the city. But, without an ordinance, the rules were unenforceable.

The new ordinance, which will go into effect Aug. 14, gives enforcement officials the power to cite offenders. Violators, including reckless riders, can be fined $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second and $100 for three or more citations.

The ordinance was initiated by members of the Chamber of Commerce, who complained that they and their customers are fed up with the nuisance caused by skaters. The city’s Public Safety Commission in June unanimously recommended a strict ordinance.

Nicholas Berkuta, chairman of the commission, said: “All of the commissioners have had experience in town as witnesses or becoming near victims of skateboarders or Rollerbladers. These guys jump in front of cars and frighten pedestrians.”

However, the council adopted a more lenient policy in the wake of an outcry from skaters. Youngsters backed their stand with petitions signed by more than 170 adults objecting to regulations.

Criticism about skaters has been compounded in recent months by the growing popularity of Rollerblades, a trademark name of a manufacturer commonly applied to the latest craze--roller-skates with three to five wheels mounted in a single track resembling an ice-skate blade.

The skates were originally introduced in 1980 as an ice hockey training product and are particularly fast, said Mary Haugen, a spokeswoman for Rollerblade Inc. of Minneapolis, a leading manufacturer. The company and competitors shifted their focus toward the recreational use of the skates in 1987, she said.

“Southern California is definitely the strongest area” for marketing the skates, Haugen said.

Blade skating has grown dramatically since, with more than 3 million people participating, according to the National Sporting Goods Assn.

“All around Southern California, Rollerblades is the hottest thing happening,” said a marketing specialist for the Sport Chalet, a regional leader in sporting goods headquartered in La Canada Flintridge.

The skates, which differ widely in quality and type of use, range in price from about $90 to $350 a pair, experts said. Hundreds of dollars more can be spent for protective padding and helmets, making the sport a relatively expensive one, enthusiasts said. Skaters are most often seen in more affluent communities, such as the semi-rural foothills of La Canada Flintridge.

Complaints about reckless use of the blade skates prompted Rollerblade and other manufacturers last month to launch a nationwide campaign to promote safety and common courtesy among users.

The safety program, called SkateSmart, is being advertised at retail outlets, in the media and in 25 targeted cities, including Los Angeles. It emphasizes 10 basic rules of common courtesy, including “Always yield to pedestrians.”

The City Council had proposed banning skateboards, which they said were more dangerous, while allowing roller blades to be used on Foothill Boulevard.

Parents on Monday, however, challenged the assumption and called the proposal to regulate skateboards more tightly than roller blades discriminatory,

According to the National Safety Council, about 80,000 skateboard accidents a year require hospital emergency care. No statistics are available for blade skating because the sport is so new, council spokeswoman Lydia Steck said.