Although signs prohibiting the use of skateboards and Rollerblades in the West New York parks have been posted in each park for some time, the ordinance making the use of this equipment a criminal offense was not passed until the Nov. 19 Board of Commissioners meeting. The ordinance will go into effect Dec. 19.
"The use of [this equipment] is not banned town-wide," said West New York Business Administrator Richard Turner, adding that the primary reason for the ban is the safety of others in the playground. "It is just in the parks. There are a lot of senior citizens and children that use these playgrounds."
According to Turner and Police Deputy Director Joseph Pelliccio, the use of skateboards and Rollerblades was prohibited to ensure safety of others using the playgrounds and to preserve the equipment in the playgrounds.
Although skateboarding has been growing in popularity over the past couple of years, after banning the sport from the town’s parks, West New York kids will no longer have a safe place to ride, and are forced to ride on bumpy sidewalks and the street.
According to Turner, the town is currently not looking into a place for skateboarders to practice their sport.
"We just don’t have the space," said Turner who also cited the cost of insurance on such an activity as a reason not to provide kids with a safe environment to skateboard.
Playing it safe
According to Pelliccio, the town has received many complaints about skateboarders in the town’s parks.
"I sat and watched the kids for 10 to 15 minutes," said Pelliccio, who said that he saw one boy holding onto the side of a car. "They are causing a danger to pedestrians."
Pelliccio said that some kids use the cinderblocks from construction sites around the town to make ramps for them to practice on.
"The kids are able to use their skateboards throughout the town as long as they don’t use them in a dangerous and unruly manor," said Pelliccio.
Pelliccio said that many of these kids have been warned already about using their skateboards in the parks and that the police had confiscated at least two skateboards. These skateboards were given back to the kids after their parents came with them to the police station.
Damaging the parks
Many of the town’s parks and recreation areas have been renovated over the past year, and according to Turner, the skateboards and Rollerblades cause wear and tear on the park equipment.
"One sharp turn on the skateboard and the wheels dig into the padding," said Turner about the protective padding that the town has put in most of the playgrounds for safety. "This can tear the padding."
However, a security guard at Washington Park between 66th and 67th streets said that it is not just the padding that the town is worried about.
The skateboards also leave black skid marks on the ledges and surfaces around the parks.
"This was done when some kids must have gotten into the park before there were security guards," said the guard, pointing to skid marks on one of the park’s ledges.
The guard also said that the kids do respect the town’s bans in the parks.
"Some kids will come and do whatever they want to in the park, but they will ask me to lock up their skateboards so they don’t use them," said the security guard.