LA PALMA : City Revises Law to Add Ban on In-Line Skates

In-line skaters will no longer be able to glide through a loophole in a local law that bans skateboarding.

The City Council last week revised a 1988 ordinance that allows police to impose fines for skateboarding in Central Park and the Civic Center.

Those using the boards were destroying public benches, chipping the edge of concrete sidewalks and creating a safety hazard for pedestrians, said recreation director Ron Kenny.

In-line skates had not reached their current level of popularity at that time and their use was not addressed in that ordinance, Kenny said. The legal revision now takes care of both.

Officials in the newly renovated Central Park were not able to take action when they spotted negligent in-line skaters, although they can issue citations to skateboarders, Kenny said. Those tickets can run up to $500.

“We try to tell (in-line skaters) not to skate or to leave the area,” he told the council. “Staff has been directed to tell them that about the ordinance, but we had no teeth in it.”

Teen-agers have been calling the Recreation and Community Services Department to complain about the ban, but the city has no options for them, Kenny said.

“I had a phone call from a very articulate young man who said they get kicked out of every place they go,” he said. “It is a problem, but we have no solution here.”

Council members agreed that Kenny should ask neighboring cities if local youths may use any of their facilities.