Rolling Into Trouble

The city is ready to crack down on people not wearing safety gear at L.A.’s only skate park.

For more than two months, the city Department of Recreation and Parks has tried to coax skateboarders at the Encino park to wear helmets, kneepads and elbow pads as required under a city ordinance.

Signs, threats, gentle pleading--nothing has worked to get the skateboarders to conform, officials say.

“What we have seen from the participants has been a total disregard [of] the rules for the skateboard park,” said Kevin Regan, superintendent of operations for the Valley region.

Construction of a 10-foot fence around the Pedlow Field Skate Park with a single entrance and exit is expected to be completed this week. The fence is expected to help park rangers and workers enforce the safety rules.

No one will be allowed within the fenced area without the protective gear, Regan said. Violators will be issued citations that impose a $100 fine for a misdemeanor. Juveniles cited would probably have their parents accompany them to court.

“The kids have been told since the skateboard park opened they need to wear the equipment but have refused,” Regan said. “We believe once the people who use the skateboard park understand the rules and that we are enforcing them, it won’t be a problem.”

On Monday some skaters complained about the plans to step up enforcement.

Anthony Melendez, 39, of Reseda, who works in the emergency room at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, said, “They wanted to make this a fun family place and they made it like a jail. It’s a policy that came from a bureaucrat that didn’t think it through.”

Kevin Drobinski, a 15-year-old from Northridge, said: “You can’t skate well when you have pads on. Injuries are part of the sport.”

And some said it will cost them about $100 to purchase the safety gear.

Chris Alletto, an 18-year-old from Chatsworth, said: “There’s a lot of people who don’t want skateboarders around because they say we tear up their property. But now they’re making it so we have to spend all this money and go to skate parks that are way out of our reach.”

Since its opening in February, the 8,500-square-foot concrete park at 17334 Victory Blvd. has been used by hundreds of skateboarders each week. It was funded by Proposition K, a bond measure passed by voters in 1996 to develop parks and open space. Mayor Richard Riordan has proposed in his latest budget spending $1 million to build three new skateboard parks.

The apparent disregard for safety measures isn’t the park’s only problem. It has also been hit by graffiti and vandalism, Regan said. Twenty-five sprinkler heads were recently damaged at a cost of more than $1,000.

Skaters have also disregarded the park’s operating hours. Regan said the new fence should help park rangers enforce the operating hours, noon to sundown weekdays and 9 a.m. to sundown on weekends.

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Times staff writer Andrew Blankstein contributed to this story.