City Cracks Down on Skateboarders

The City Council amended a skateboarding ordinance to let schools and private-property owners post signs to keep riders away.

But a group of 10 uniformed Boy Scouts protested the move at the council’s meeting Wednesday, saying it will force skateboarders into the street, and into danger from traffic.

“Skateboarding is good, clean fun in a world where good, clean fun is harder and harder to find for our youth,” said Assistant Scoutmaster Todd Anderson, 25, a skateboarder.

Orange County Sheriff’s Capt. Tom Davis, chief of the city’s police services, said the amendment will let officers warn skaters who are damaging private property, such as denting school trash cans trying to jump them.

Before, officers could only take the step of issuing criminal trespass or vandalism citations.

“We get so many calls now that if we wanted to, we could force issues,” Davis said before the meeting. “Nobody wants that.”

Councilman Steve Apodaca told the Scouts that the ordinance isn’t aimed at them, but at those who “go out there and vandalize property, and go out and skate in a reckless manner.”

The ordinance carries a $25 fine for minors and a $150 fine for adults after a first warning, Davis said.

The council approved the amendment, 4 to 0. Mayor Patrick M. Ahle was absent.

“What we’re all hoping for is a skate park,” Anderson said after the meeting, and skaters are collecting money and soliciting the help of civic groups to help build one.

“The council recognizes the need, but they’re not about to go to the taxpayers for that right now.”