Readers Respond -- Writers continue to support skateboarders

With utter disgust, I read the letter from the Walkers in reference to

the kids on Margaret Drive. I live on Margaret Drive at the middle of the

block where the “island” was recently planted with flowers and weeded by

my wife with the assistance of these “rude skateboarders.”

These rude kids are three sixth-graders, a fifth-grader, a

third-grader and a first-grade boy who live within houses of the

“island.”

And I agree with the Walkers. My wife knew the kids were sitting on

the curb. They were waiting for my wife to drive them to their fourth

skateboard park that week.

Since my son was “arrested” at the nearby high school for skating, and

the city has “outlawed” skating at the parks, and the kids and parents

respect private property, they were headed out of town (again) to skate.

I’m not sure if they went to Huntington Beach skate park, Laguna Hills

skate park, Fontana skate park or paid to go to Van’s in Orange or Palace

Park in Irvine.

My lovely wife has made a career of driving the “skateboard types”

all over Orange County four to five times a week. These boys are not

vandals. They are not members of the “subculture of defiance,” as termed

by Newport Beach Mayor Tod Ridgeway. In fact, they are great students,

soccer and baseball players, not even teenagers, and one of the boys

participates in the GATE program.

As far as being a taxpayer, I am not a dog lover and my parents have

been gone for many years, but I still supported the idea of the Bark Park

and the Senior Center as a previous resident of Costa Mesa. These ideas

were good for the community. I’m sure the Senior Center would cost upward

of $5-million and I wonder if they get over 100 users a day.

I know one thing for sure, half a million dollars would go extremely

far in designing, building and maintaining a skateboard park and you

would get more than 100 users a day. A skateboard park is good for the

community.

One last note for the Walkers and others who use Margaret Drive to get

to the high school and park up and down the street for games and

activities and for those that U-turn in our driveways and litter the

street: The speed limit is 25 mph; please slow down and watch out for the

skateboarders, they have no place to play.

STEVE MUROW

Costa Mesa

I was born and raised in Newport Beach and I do not plan on moving

anywhere else any time soon. If all goes as planned, I will have children

living here as well.

As a child growing up in Newport Beach, among the beautiful weather,

clean atmosphere and a general safe environment, I took part in a sport

that not only kept me out of trouble, but got me away from video games

and the television. Skateboarding.

Growing up, I would skateboard down the boardwalk to school, I would

skateboard up and down the boardwalk with friends to and from different

locations. Up until about eight years ago, this was all fine and dandy.

Then, before anyone could say a word, skateboarding was banned from

the boardwalks. My ideas for why this happened? Because the city failed

to make money off these skateboards. So instead, they made it illegal,

which forced many tourists to take up inline-skating.

And if you go down to the Newport Pier, just about every shop down

there rents (and taxes) inline-skates.

Now, I would agree with this move if I felt that inline-skating was

safer than skateboarding. However, this is certainly not the case. Not

only do inline-skaters take up an entire lane to propel themselves (the

side to side stride of the legs), they also cannot put down a leg to slow

down if needed.

Another reason I feel the city did not take safety into consideration

is because of the fact that they did not create a separate lane for

skateboarders to ride on. A certain personal incident happened with me

when I was skateboarding down the boardwalk at night, after work about

three years ago. Nobody was on the boardwalk, and two Newport Beach

police officers approached me on their bikes and told me that I cannot

skateboard on the boardwalk, and that I should take my skateboard and

ride it in the alleys.

The alleys? The alleys are about as safe as riding in the middle of

the street. In case you have not been to the alleys lately, they are

filled with cars, zooming in and out of driveways, rocks too small to see

and avoid, as well as cracks big enough for my wheels to get stuck in.

This, obviously, is not done with the intent of safety.

So my suggestion is to build a separate lane for skateboarders or make

the entire boardwalk open to everybody, including skateboards. Thank you

for your time.

BLAKE SINCLAIR

Newport Beach

Growing up in Costa Mesa I went ice skating, roller skating, bowling

and helmet-free biking at Castaways’ “the Jumps.”

Now young people are funneled into overexpanding malls for purchase of

mass-marketed clothing parents and administrators will not allow them to

wear to school.

Kids are not the problem today; the problem today is adults.

LANCE JENCKS

Costa Mesa