Teenagers Seek City-Sanctioned Site to Practice Skateboarding

Frustrated teenagers looking for a legal, safe and inexpensive place to practice their favorite sport have taken their plight to city officials.

Saying they have been kicked out of local malls, plazas, parking lots, parks and even their own neighborhoods, a group of eight teenagers asked the city this week for help finding a place to practice skateboarding without being hassled or ticketed.

“There is almost no place to skate in Garden Grove,” said Ryan Heapy, 16, the group’s spokesman. “There are quite a few problems.”

In a meeting room adjacent to Tuesday night’s City Council session, the teenagers discussed their frustrations with Community Services Director Cal Rietzel.

Sixteen-year-old Joel Tobin said he has been ordered to leave parking lots and malls and has been warned by police that trespassing tickets can be issued to skateboarders found using public property.

“We have nowhere else to skate,” Tobin said. “We shouldn’t have to stop because no one likes the noise.”

Fourteen-year-old Morgan Hruschka echoed Tobin’s frustrations and added, “We’re not out gang-banging and doing drugs.”

Garden Grove Police Capt. Dave Abrecht confirmed that most commercial areas in the city have posted signs prohibiting skateboarding and that trespassing citations can be issued in those locations.

“We haven’t changed our policy or stepped up our efforts to target skateboarders,” Abrecht said.

Dashing the teenagers’ hopes for some relief, developers who had proposed a sports complex that was to have included skateboarding areas have alerted the city that they do not intend to proceed, said Mark Asturias, economic development manager.

Rietzel said he will meet with the teenagers again in about three weeks after researching possible locations and costs of building a skateboarding park. He said he will also consult officials in Huntington Beach, which recently built two skateboarding parks.