Charlie Hales want’s to be the next mayor of Portland, but he’s getting no love from some residents of southwest Portland’s Arlington Heights hills neighborhood, who seem to be looking for a scapegoat. Why? They live on a hill that has become a popular downhill run, and Hales led the charge to make skateboarding legal on Portland streets. Trouble has been brewing for a while, and it seems unavoidable that heads would butt. On the one side you have wealthy, freaked out landowners who are are worried about hitting people and of course, property damage… On the other side you have a contingent of mostly responsible skaters as well as some others who may be not so conscious of the precariousness of the entire situation. The sheer number of people hitting the hills and the laws of probability dictate there will be incidents. The Oregonian briefly touch on both sides of the issue. The most level headed quote so far is from Hales himself actually:
“It is not OK for people to bomb down residential streets at high speeds on any conveyance — car, skateboard, whatever,” he said. “We need to address that while still making it legal for people to use skateboards.”
Billy Meiners seems to be somewhat in agreement:
“I’m trying to convince the skaters we need to be responsible,” Meiners said. “But making it illegal isn’t going to change anything. Skaters are used to being outlaws.”
Comments on the article on the Oregonian range from thoughtful to predicable and lame. And as the “voice of reason” on S&A, I’d like to encourage our readers to be smart about how they respond instead of taking the bait. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.
7 comments
talentlessquitter
Uh-oh:http://www.theprovince.com/sports/Longboarders+worried+proposed+road+bans+North+Vancouver/6247582/story.html
some kook
Cheers to Billy for focusing on safety.
I’m consistently amazed by the non-skating public’s reaction to downhill.
I’ve heard this so many times: “What if you hit a car and got hurt or killed? How do you think the driver would feel?”
Forget the driver’s feelings. I don’t want to get hit by a car!
Yes, downhill is relatively dangerous, but that doesn’t mean we have zero regard for our personal safety. I want to live to skate another day; so I wear CPSC-rated safety gear and don’t push my limits on open roads.
Those pucks dragging across the pavement allow us to slow down, stay in our lane, and avoid oncoming traffic. Skating at night, when there are fewer cars on the road and headlights to warn us of cars around blind corners, helps avoid accidents.
Butthurt for BMX
That neighborhood is where I used to take a lunch break run when I went to PSU (’05-’08). Up the MAX, past The Rose Gardens, and down through the neighborhood, ollieing flowerbeds, manhole covers, and doing slides. It’s a nice cruise, and it can be as fast or as mellow as you make it.
And I never had one encounter with anyone that was anything but pleasant. Most neighbors waved as I passed, and bear in mind, this was usually on my normal setup (8.5, 149s, 60mm 101As).
If it rained, I might have been on a Fitz Of Rage cruiser with 139s and Kryptos, but usually it was just my go-to regular set-up, noisy wheels and all.
MC
Get some cops out there and enforce the speed limit with radar guns.
talentlessquitter
I can tell you’re not a DH guy…:-)
Mywar
Is this comment for cereal?
Butthurt for BMX
While I like that idea,I’d also like to see just how fast I can go…