Skateboard Park Plan Fuels Debate

A proposed $150,000 facility for skateboarders here, planned for a yet-to-be decided location in Montrose Park, has divided the surrounding community in a debate that many argue has little to do with skateboard riders and much to do with how the riders are perceived.

“We’re getting a surprising amount of input on this issue,” said George Balteria, park development coordinator for Glendale’s Parks, Recreation and Community Service agency.

A recent workshop had to be canceled so staff members could read through previous meetings’ discussions on the matter, Balteria said.

There’s no question skateboards generate noise, he said. But by creating an attractive place for skateboard riders in Montrose Park, away from homes and streets, noise can be kept to a minimum, Balteria said.

“Skateboarding is not illegal, though you can’t skate in so many places in the city,” he said.

There are no skateboard parks in the San Fernando Valley, according to skateboard enthusiasts and city officials.

“They need somewhere to go, at the very least to get them off the street,” said Chris Kuehnel, a sales clerk at Rat City Skateboards in Burbank.

“There’s a strong need for one in the Valley,” he said. “Especially in Glendale and Burbank, where they don’t give you many options. It’s illegal to skate on sidewalks if anyone else is on them and the police will cite you almost everywhere.”

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Not surprisingly, many area residents worry that skateboarders will irrevocably change the neighborhood--for the worse.

“Montrose is a lovely little park with young mothers and older people,” said Jeanette Hulsebus, whose home borders the park.

“It seems the traffic that skateboarders bring wouldn’t suit the atmosphere. I don’t hate skateboarders. I’m just concerned about safety and noise. Noise is a big problem.”

Hulsebus stressed she has nothing personal against skateboarders. “I have children and grandchildren who used to skate,” she said. “But I’m concerned about safety. Skateboarders speed down the sidewalk through the park and only by the grace of God no one has gotten hit by them.”

Balteria, who is coordinating development of the skateboard park, which has not yet been designed or scheduled for construction, said the park would decrease skateboard traffic in the surrounding neighborhood and allow the city to effectively regulate skateboarders within the park.

The local homeowners association has not officially commented on the dispute, but the issue has divided homeowners within the association: 40% in favor and 60% against.

“But personally, I don’t want it,” said Jim Barrett, president of the Montesito Park Homeowners’ Assn. Skateboarders ride through the neighborhood with reckless abandon, narrowly missing getting hit by cars or hitting pedestrians, he said.

While the Glendale Police Department, which regularly cites skateboarders for skating on public sidewalks, remains neutral on the park issue, officers involved in park development discussions caution both sides of the debate not to let perception drive the issue.

“There’s really no area for these kids to skateboard legally now,” said Officer Tahnee Lightfoot, who represents the Police Department in city meetings on the park.

“The park has to be looked into because these kids are being cited and arrested for doing something constructive; it is a sport,” she said.

Drugs, primarily marijuana and LSD, are a continuing problem at Montrose Park, Lightfoot said. “But the drugs are with kids who just go to the park to use drugs, not necessarily the skateboarders.”

“The skateboarders have a reputation that is not great,” she continued. “They are seen as disrespectful to the elderly. They sometimes ignore warnings to leave areas where they’re disruptive. But they’re not criminals. The park wouldn’t bring in more drugs, simply more skateboarders.”

“The [skateboard] park has nothing to do with drugs and troublemakers,” said skateboarder Derek Rue, 15. “They’re already there.”

Marilou White, who lives a few blocks from the park on Sparr Boulevard, a main route to Montrose Park, said skateboarders are simply the newest incarnation of “bad boys, who look threatening.”

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“I’ve raised my five kids here, and three are boys and they ended up as surfers,” White said. “The same attacks were made on them in the 1950s and ‘60s. Now the skateboarders are the so-called bad guys.”

Skateboards may be noisy and appear out of control, but riders should have a place to skate and a proper location within the park would keep them away from those who don’t like them, she said.

“There’s already druggies in the park, a very low element,” White said. “The skateboarders will not bring druggies or get rid of them; it’s a separate issue.”

Skateboarders interviewed all said they obey the requests of neighbors when complaints are made about skateboarding in driveways. But there are always “a few bad apples who ruin it for the rest,” Lightfoot said.

“I’m in favor of the park because I presume it will be situated away from homes and they will be able to regulate the hours,” said Jim Lawlor, who lives near the park. “Currently, the noise is chronic. It’s an incredibly obnoxious clap and clatter they generate.”

Further, he said, skateboarders sometimes “mouth off” to residents who complain of the noise. Lawlor added that many elderly residents are too scared to confront a group of skateboarders to complain about noise or property damage.

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Actual damage is minimal, though on occasion skateboarders have damaged property-line walls, turned over trash cans and broken lawn sprinklers, according to police.

“If the skateboarders can be given a place to skate, a regulated place with closing hours and if traffic can be routed properly, this park could solve a lot of problems, not create new ones,” Balteria said, noting the issue is not near resolution.

Streets, curbs and staircases offer skateboarders a lot of challenges, but the park would incorporate all types of surfaces and challenges rendering streets a pale alternative, he said.

Until the issue is resolved, skateboarders like Eric Rosendahl will continue skating on sidewalks and streets.

“It would be a shame to label all of us as bad because of a few individuals,” Rosendahl said. “We just don’t have a place to skate where we won’t be hassled, or I guess we won’t bother others.”

For Balteria, resolution now depends on satisfying everyone’s concerns.

“All it takes is one skateboarder to ruin everyone’s perception of them, and that seems to have happened,” he said. “But through proper design, I think we can curtail noise and traffic. We’re going to try to deal with the clickety-clack noise on the sidewalks.”