The May 21 letter, "Don't limit young people's access to skateboarding," expressed concern about a proposal to ban skateboarding in Canal Park. The writer said a ban would affect youth who have limited entertainment options.
But in my view, youthful entertainment options end -- or should -- where my Canal Park customers' shins and other body parts begin.
Rocketing skateboards from falling riders have no place in crowded pedestrian environments, as evidenced by increasing complaints from visiting tourists.
One such formerly loyal visitor to Duluth saw fit to write a rather eloquent letter expressing dismay over the changes he's perceived in Canal Park. After half a lifetime of visits, he no longer feels safe due to out-of-control, disrespectful youth who congregate here. His letter made the rounds to city officials, local business leaders and organizations. It struck a responsive chord with many in our community who have come to the same conclusion: Canal Park and downtown have a fragile but essential reputation to protect. They are unique and very vulnerable to the perceptions of outsiders.
When hooliganism contributes to the erosion of business revenue, especially in these trying economic times, city revenue for all programs -- including new skateboard parks -- suffers. It's a lose-lose situation.
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Working outdoors, I see what Duluth's tourists see, and often it's not a welcoming sight. I love my job, but it really hurts to observe, along with my out-of-town customers, the bizarre sights and explosive sounds of howling, hormonal, profane, trash-talking, police-dodging (most have cell phones), impudent sidewalk monopolizers; of teen tire screechers; and of pedestrian-scattering, clattering skateboard thrashers. Some bewildered visitors ask me if it's safe to walk around after dark. I'm very embarrassed and don't know how to respond.
If they have to ask that question, many will return to their hotels and turn on the TV and probably make plans -- like the eloquent, out-of-town writer -- for an alternative to Duluth for next year's vacation. Instead, they could be strolling through Canal Park and downtown's incredible array of commercial and noncommercial amenities, as more of them used to do.
Our gloriously tranquil and inviting after-dinner, family-friendly ambiance can return. The Duluth City Council already has addressed graffiti and is poised, with the public's encouragement, to effectively address reckless skateboarding (bad driving could be next).
There can be no halfway measures. Nothing less than a
24-hour, total ban on skateboarding in the Canal Park business district can be effective. Lesser measures have been tried and found not enforceable.
The majority of our area's young people are responsible and respectable, some outstandingly so. Their upbringing and education have provided for internal controls on behavior. Unfortunately, there is a less-socialized minority that seems to be growing and that requires external control in the form of enforceable laws to guide the young people and to keep them from trampling on the rights of others.
Skateboarding on the Lakewalk would remain legal under the proposed ordinance, providing a convenient way for Canal Park employees to skateboard to work. And they will be encouraged to do so for environmental reasons.
The Lakewalk is a magnificent "entertainment option." It will remain so, for everyone, as long as all its users respect the rights of others and do not endanger, alienate or injure our esteemed and essential summer visitors.
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Ken Lindberg of Superior has been a business owner in Canal Park since 2000.
