The Jacksonville Sheriff’s office issued over 20 tickets to skaters participating in yesterday’s Jacksonville Go Skate Day. I was pretty sure something like this might happen.
Too bad the sheriffs office squandered an opportunity to build a relationship with this segment of the community. Instead of “acting like the man”, the sheriff’s office should have found a way to accommodate the skaters so they could have their day. Granted someone should have given the sheriff’s office a head’s up. Here is the article from the Times Union: Fine day for skateboarding. (Cute headline, mine is better)
I was first tipped to this story by Nathan and Max in the comments of yesterday’s Go Skate Day announcement. Thanks boys!
tags: jacksonville, go skate day, jso, the man
I tend to think that the Skater crowd has a bit of an attitude problem, and that they probably didn’t help themselves by not getting a permit first.
Also, from what I have heard, before tickets were issues, JSO tried several times to disperse the crowd with simple threats of tickets.
Had the skaters been smart, they would have dispersed rather than wait around to get tickets.
Damn the man!
While visiting Boston, I noticed skateboarders in several parks and on the sidewalks. Either they can freely roam there or that city doesn’t enforce its laws. Why aren’t skateboarders allowed here? I ask, because it seems they at least liven up the area and add to its diversity.
I’ve had problems with skaters skating out in front of my car. I don’t mind them skating - but they need to keep in mind there are cars and other people around.
We were there, it happened right out in front of Boomtown, and it was freaking ridiculous.
I remember when Tillie Fowler passed this draconian, uptight, stupid anti skating ordinance and it is complete bunk.
We have an equal number of really scary, potentially criminal panhandlers seriously scaring the hell out of people downtown, and not much of a response, but a 15 year old with a skate board? Nothing works the fat (and in three of the four cases, snaggletoothed bastard security guards at City Hall) up into an lather faster.
Personally, I would like to see a bit of skateboarding legal backbone. It is downright absurd that we have found a way to make even young teens with rolling boards into criminals. The official actions that day were disgraceful. Heavy handed, rough, and authoritarian.
If we are hoping to impart a respect and affection for the law, were are going to have to do a way better job of it than criminalizing and mistreating vast swaths of essentially nice kids.
Stephen Dare.
I was there fighting the ordinance against skating anywhere Downtown originally, too. It really was a shame; two of the kids (Stephen will know who they were) actually followed up on their threats to start selling crack if they were’n able to skate Downtown legally any more; if they were going to be lawbreakers, they were going to be LAWBREAKERS. They actually became the Southside’s biggest drug ring.
This is just another law enacted with the sole result of creating criminals.
Amen Derek. and in responce to downtownpark, kids only get bad attitudes because the cops get more pissed at them every time they come to kick them out for doing something that shouldn’t be illegal in the first place. and as far as permits go, they would never have given us one to do something that is already deemed illegal. if there was a place to skate legally in downtown, there wouldnt be this problem.