Skates Exempted in Downtown Ban

Making last-minute changes to a proposed skateboarding ban, the City Council decided Monday to allow roller and in-line skates on sidewalks in downtown Ventura.

The council had agreed last week to ban skateboards, bicycles, roller and in-line skates from downtown sidewalks after merchants complained about property damage and near-miss collisions between skateboarders and shoppers.

But just before the council was scheduled to give final approval to the new policy Monday, Councilman Ray Di Guilio questioned whether roller-skating should be included in the ban.

Instead, he suggested that the policy be amended to allow roller- and in-line skating on downtown sidewalks as long as skaters cruise at walking speed.

Di Guilio said he had not been convinced that roller- and in-line skating were contributing to the problems downtown, and wanted to draft the least restrictive ordinance possible.

The council voted 4 to 2 in favor of the amended policy. Mayor Jack Tingstrom and Councilman Jim Friedman voted against the change.

“I just feel this would entirely defeat the purpose of the ordinance,” Friedman said before the vote.

Two downtown bookstore owners waited five hours to scold the council for making an eleventh-hour change to the policy. Although the council’s action was taken at the start of the meeting, the time set aside for public comment did not come until after midnight.

“That ordinance was worked on by the downtown association and the police,” said Diane Neveu, owner of Book Mall of Ventura on Main Street.

Neveu told the council that it would be difficult for an individual on skates to roll through downtown Ventura at a walking pace when the business district is on a hill. “We have slopes and it is hard to go slow,” she said.

The no-skateboarding and cycling ban is scheduled to go into effect next month.