BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ERLANGER -- Kids used to drive their cars to the Cherry Tree Plaza in Erlanger so they could skateboard on sidewalks and steps around the shopping center.
Not anymore.
Merchants got fed up and started asking police to enforce the city's ordinance restricting skateboarding.
It's a move that more cities are making.
Hundreds of cities passed restrictive ordinances in the late 1980s and early 1990s after movies such as Back to the Future and the television cartoon The Simpsons boosted skateboarding's popularity.
But the use of those laws has been sluggish until recently.
"One of the big things we use it for is around the businesses, when people . . . are trying to shop," Erlanger Police Assistant Chief Jeff Kennedy said. "It's to protect people, not prevent skateboarding."
A few weeks ago, employees at Hairlines in Cherry Tree Plaza asked police to stop skateboarders from jumping on and off the four stairs that lead to the salon's door.
"People couldn't get out the door," owner Martha Groenfeld said. "The police came and warned them and then had to come back several times. Now they're gone."
Donald James Griess, 19, of Erlanger was cited on March 30 for violating the city's ordinance. He'll be in Kenton District Court on Friday for an arraignment. If found guilty, Mr. Griess could be fined up to $500.
Erlanger's ordinance, passed in 1987, prohibits skateboarding on city streets and highways; on sidewalks within business or commercial zones; and on any sidewalk without yielding the right of way to pedestrians. William Thielen, general counsel for the Kentucky League of Cities, said the Erlanger law is similar to rules in other cities. "It really has not been a significant issue since the late '80s and early '90s," Mr. Thielen said.
Outside Kentucky, other cities such as Wallingford, Conn., and Salt Lake City are banning skateboarding from downtown shopping districts. At the same time, cities in California and Ohio are creating "skateparks" -- areas designated specifically for skateboarders. Four skateparks already exist in Ohio -- in Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Lorain.
There are no such parks in Kentucky.
But the International Association of Skateboard Companies is pushing a grass-roots effort to create skate parks "everywhere there's a tennis court, a playground, basketball courts, a baseball field or city pool," according to information on the group's Web site, www.skateboard.com - tydu - skatebrd - organizations.
Through the Internet and skateboard magazines, the association is urging skateboarders to collect petitions and write their legislators in favor of "legalizing skateboarding."
Statistics from the National Safety Council and the Consumer Product Safety Commission show that skateboarders sustain fewer injuries (0.49 percent) than those who participate in baseball, 1.26 percent; basketball, 2.57 percent; football, 2.78 percent; ice hockey, 3.6 percent; soccer, 1.42 percent; and volleyball, 0.54 percent.
The sport does pose logistical problems for cities without special skateboard parks.
And now, for whatever reason -- warmer weather, more advertising through the Internet or a renewal of skateboarding popularity -- Erlanger is seeing more people using skateboards where they're not supposed to.
"We cited some people last week after we had problems in city parks," Assistant Chief Kennedy said. "Kids were taking picnic tables and moving them into parking lots. We found that the skaters were creating a nuisance for other people in the parks."
