Skateboard Park

The conflict over building a skateboard area in Glendale’s Montrose Park seems to spring from long-held stereotypes and assumptions about kids who skate (“Hot Wheels,” Sept. 26).

Many of the residents opposing the skate area that you quoted were afraid of skaters zooming by and forcing them off the sidewalk. This is the very kind of event that a skate park will reduce. Skaters won’t be ripping up and down sidewalks if presented with a more enjoyable skating location.

Noise from a skate park is a legitimate concern--but will a skate park really be noisier than a basketball court or a swing set full of excited kids? Perhaps just less traditional.

Cities want skaters off the streets and are trying to offer an alternative. The police seem to be in favor of the project, but local (i.e. older) neighborhood folks stand up in opposition. Perhaps Glendale residents should outlaw young people. That ought to make it quieter.

D. B. STERN

Los Angeles