Regional Report : MANHATTAN BEACH : Officials Put the Brakes on Skateboarding

Zak Rangwala and Paul da Costalove to skateboard on Manhattan Beach’s challenging downtown sidewalks, but they may be skating on thin concrete.

With the wind in their hair and the rush of pavement under their feet, the South Bay teen-agers frequently jump on their boards to brave the bumpy blue tiles and dodge weekend strollers.

But soon they might also get cited by police.

City officials recently posted signs banning skateboarders from the area. In response to merchants’ complaints over sidewalk surfers, the City Council voted unanimously last month to exclude them from downtown sidewalks and much of Manhattan Beach Boulevard.

“It reeks,” says Billy Peretti, an eighth-grader at Manhattan Beach Intermediate School. The new law takes aim at Peretti’s main set of wheels, his only transportation between school and work several miles away.

“It’s bogus, plain and simple,” says Mark John Hayes, 20, a Manhattan Beach surfer who cruises area streets on his skateboard when the wind-whipped waves turn bad. “What else do kids have to do?”

City officials say the skateboarders can take their fun elsewhere. The new law, which also bans skateboarders from city parking lots, is designed to protect pedestrians and parked cars from freewheeling skateboarders. Hermosa Beach has a similar law.

Officials say the boards sometimes shoot out from under skaters’ feet to dent cars or hit strollers. Since the law took effect about two weeks ago, police have issued only warnings, but eventually violators will be fined $100 to $200, said City Atty. Tim McOsker.

That’s good news to many merchants and pedestrians. Tom Scalzo, a well-tanned Manhattan Beach man, says he’s seen plenty of near-misses.

“It’s only a matter of time before some kid would nail some old lady,” says Scalzo, 33. But many skateboarders say Manhattan Beach’s new law is too broad, punishing all skateboarders when only a handful skate dangerously.

Eric Zucker, 24, who owns the Ocean Gear surf shop in downtown Manhattan Beach, says many area skateboarders hang out outside his shop, sometimes practicing “curb grinds” along the nearby sidewalk.

Although he has received a few complaints, Zucker says the skateboarders outside his shop are considerate of passersby.

“The kids could be out vandalizing,” he says.