Tony Hawk, no longer welcome in Downtown Wausau
Not many issues strike as close to my heart as skateboarding (and the abuse of power). On September 9th, the City Council will consider expanding the skateboarding ban in downtown Wausau. This sort of questionable overreaching by our City Council as a whole, without the input of the citizens (you) is something to which I must object.
While it has been discussed at length in the Wausau Daily Herald and the City Pages, I feel that these discussions do not come even close to touching the actual depth of this issue.
Let us be clear, skateboarding is already banned in Downtown Wausau. Downtown is a sort of urethane-free zone, a place where laminated wood is the tool of the outlaw, the scofflaw. Now some seek to expand that zone.
It has been reported that the Police Chief in our fair city has said that there have been more reports of vandalism to properties such as the Dudley Tower, compared to this time last year. Let’s start there. I believe that a year ago at this time, the parking lots of both places were gravel. No skateboarders I know do much skating on gravel. Just a thought.
It is essential that any new ordinance should be based on actual evidence, not just blind belief. In this case, the justification for the rule, as reported by the City Pages, is confusing. Janet Herring spoke to the Public Health and Safety Committee and said that she represented a committee of concerned downtown citizens. It is reported that she called for more controls. It is unclear as to what those controls might be, but it is clear that an item placed on the agenda with Public Health and Safety Committee, without any prior discussion in public.
According to the agenda for Public Health and Safety Committee dated August 18th, the proposed ordinance was brought to the meeting, already revised, for consideration. Anne Jacobsen at the City would be one of the people who revises such a thing. Apparently, this was done independent of the City Council or the Public Health and Safety Committee. It appears in no minutes prior to this meeting, and suddenly appears at this meeting — revised. The question becomes, are citizens working with the legal staff at the city professional level behind closed doors to expand ordinances at any other time?
What gives a citizen and a staffer that right? Is it not the role of the committee to be the starting point for such a thing? Is this not sneaky back door politics? Is it not right and proper for an ordinance to be introduced at a committee meeting, or common council, given comment, and then taken to the legal staff for crafting?
Anecdotally, I walked the parking lots and the curbs at both of the Dudley and The Eye Clinic of Wisconsin. To me, there appeared to be no visible damage. There are black scuffs, but those could as easily come from car tires as they could from skateboards. On this tour I noted no damage to any of the concrete structures, which is said to be a common side effect of skateboarders, and is the alleged concern from Chief of Police.
Experientially, it seems that the argument that has been detailed here and there tends to be a shoddy one.
I am not going to make the argument that skateboarding has been a positive thing, that it is a great, wholesome activity. If you want that, I point you to my buddy Mike Vallely, and the awesome transformative power skateboarding has been in his life. That research is totally up to you.
My objection to this skateboarding ban is based on common sense and an awareness of an insulting abuse of the political system. The point has been made that skateboarding damages things, well okay. In some cases that is true. It can also be said that skateboarding doesn’t, in and of itself, damage things. Skateboard abuse is another thing, and that comes under the heading of vandalism. A law already exists that outlaws vandalism, by any means. So the damage to property both private and public would appear to be covered already. Why is it important to add another layer of enforcement to make another activity illegal? If skateboarders are damaging your property, why not call the police and have them arrested? Is it honestly necessary to ban the activity entirely if it does not damage anything?
Let us also explore an activity not covered in this downtown ad hoc committees ban: BMX riding – the 20-inch frame, with the bar pegs that are arguably far more invasive, and far more damaging to the concrete. Shall you ban bicycles with pegs, or bicycles, or 20-inch bicycles? Snow and ice damage the concrete as well with an occurrence called Freeze-Thaw, which I learned about in college. Shall those be banned? Where does this stop?
At what point does this City Council realize that it has other regulatory things to do, aside from reaching out against a group of young people who are already marginalized by this city. The cry of, “There is nothing to do!” happens for a reason. It happens because there is nothing to do. Young people see things that they enjoy doing being pushed out of downtown because of the hurt feelings of people who had a bad experience with someone on a skateboard, and has juice at City Council, so they get an ordinance started. They work directly with the city legal staff, out of the public eye, and come up with this revision. And, why just downtown? What about Franklin Street or the west side of the river or any other “special” zone? Is the cement structure on Grand Avenue worth less than the one on First Street? Is the safety of pedestrians on Bridge Street not equal to those on Third Street? Are “Streets” preferred over “Avenues”? Why not outlaw skateboards altogether?
I say again, vandalism is a crime. Arrest people for vandalizing things. Arrest them for trespassing. But to single out skateboards and scooters based on the simple fact that they might be the cause of damage? Is that even the claim here? Why has Janet Herring and her committee worked with the city to enact more control? We must consider that the damage might be caused other people – maybe marauding old folks with screwdrivers and scratch awls. While that is patently absurd, there is no more evidence of that, than there is of damage caused by skateboarders in general.
Let us make our downtown inclusive, not just to those folks who want to drink Chardonnay and eat finger sandwiches while sitting in the much discussed 400 Block while jazz band du jour passes the time. Let us instead be inclusive, forward thinking, and honest about our motives and intent. Let us instead actually embrace the teens like Weston did. Let us bring the leaders of those groups like Jason Garvey and the staff at Dwellers, and let us empower them to tell the skateboarders to act responsibly because the grown-ups (ha) are watching, and if they act out, the grown-ups might make this ban a reality. But let us not summarily lash out at these teens because they are acting lippy (as written in the City Pages), because that is in fact what teens do. And, while the skateboard area at Oak Island Park is a good thing, it certainly can’t accommodate a city’s worth of skateboarders all at one time.
We should make our ordinances based on evidence, not the belief of a few. Our City Council business should be conducted in the light of day. This shoddy method of getting this ordinance put to the City Council, that alone is enough to get it returned to committee, and that is what Deb Hadley said she is going to do. This Mayor and these leaders already have issues with transparency, and this is another case of that.
Andy Laub said:
This is a sad example of how easy it is for a few bad eggs within a culture to change the perception of that culture for the worse. I know a couple of guys who skateboard, and they’re awesome people. But nobody can argue that there are those who take it a little too far. And yeah, more often than not they do just happen to be teenagers.
They’re the ones who bring skateboarding up from under the radar, making it seem like a problem that has to be dealt with. And so because of that, I have to say that the city is not entirely to blame here. Skateboarders put off by this news need only to look to those bad eggs and give their thanks.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:50 pm #
matthew said:
Andy - the same is true for any activity. Whatever it is, some elements in it do things that give the whole group a bad reputation in the eyes of some people. It is not appropriate to legislate against the whole group? Some people drive drunk. Does it make sense to ban driving for everyone? Collective guilt is wrong and doesn’t work. But,let’s assume you’re right. There is a small element of teenagers that give the entire skateboarding community a “bad reputation”. So what? As Dino suggests, how much is true and how much is innuendo. Remember, a number of years ago speakers were placed on the mall downtown and ‘elevator’ music piped through them with the stated purpose of driving the young people out of the area. This current legislation is being considered by supposedly reasonable adults, not teenagers. They are the ones who are given the responsibility to actually find out what the extent of the ‘problem’ is and act accordingly. There are ordinances aplenty against vandalism and disorderly conduct etc. If the abuse is so rampant isn’t there evidence that could prove it. Remember, today’s skateboarders are tomorrow’s young adults with a lot of disposable income. What sense does it make to drive them from the downtown?
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm #
Mohawk Matt said:
This is nothing new. Skateboarding has been illegal for decades. Pick up an issue of Thrasher from 1990 and there will be some reference to a city banning skateboarding.
Yes, Dino, you are right in that any city council should not be doing this behind closed doors. But they shouldn’t do alot of things behind closed doors. Call me cynical, but I’m sure this isn’t the only thing the city has screwed the public on.
I think that the real danger to property downtown isn’t going to be skateboards, but the lack of foot traffic to the businesses in a few years. Gotta have those parking spaces.
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm #
wausaujon said:
Perhaps they could commit to some sort of skateboarding “license” with which the fees incurred could pay for the hard to see damage being incurred! Perhaps the real issue is that the folks trying to enact the ban feel that since they are the ones paying for the downtown improvements (through their taxes), that the (Now hold on here because I’m about to speak in stereotypes) jobless little hipsters who dress and talk funny maybe should ante up a bit more, or at least not make the old tax paying folks feel so insecure with their presence, so that they can enjoy their time in the downtown (or uptown), too…
Every generation deals with these same issues… And although I agree with you that it is a misguided abuse of political process, I think there are bigger issues that a FAR more important to deal with…
Maybe instead of spending so much time thinking of how to keep them out of the downtown area, we could develop the island north of Scott street into a big skateboarding, BMXing, freak-looking mosh pit area!!!
Maybe the Filmor could host a skateboarders night with it’s vast and seemingly unused real estate!!
Or maybe we should pass out free screwdrivers and scratch awls to all the older folks, so they could get involved in the destructive process. (Or use them to scratch their feelings into the floors, walls, and ceilings of City Hall!)
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:55 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
I encourage you to download and read the revised ordinance at the bottom of the post.
Matt regardless if you have given up hope, the process exist, and should not be exploited. We should NOT throw our hands up and let people run roughshod over us.
These are the city council members. I encourage you to contact them. This information is available through the City of Wausau Website.
http://www.ci.wausau.wi.us/infosubcon.asp?dep=3&tid=9&sid=59
FIRST Jim Rosenberg
SECOND Debra Hadley
THIRD Council President Bill Forrest
FOURTH Jim Brezinski
FIFTH Gary Gisselman
SIXTH Gary Klingbeil
SEVENTH Lisa Rasmussen
EIGHTH Tom Miller
NINTH Matthew J. Kaiser
TENTH Steve Foley
ELEVENTH Sherry Abitz
TWELFTH Ed Gale
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:13 pm #
Tom Neal said:
Some people refuse to accept plastic bags at stores (they bring their green bags or whatever). Some people let their plastic bags fly away in the breeze and ruin our landscape.
Some people go out for a drink with friends and behave themselves. Some drive around drunk, throwing bottles out the window, or causing accidents.
Some hunters read property signs and use extreme caution. Some hunters blow away road signs and whatever crosses their path.
Some people like to see a raccoon. Some shoot them with BB guns and then light them on fire (Wausau news item today, 25-year-old man).
Some people use bricks to create garden paths. Some use them to smash stuff or to break into cars.
Some couples or families have arguments. Some resort to physical violence.
Sometimes, the answer is stronger laws; usually it’s more effective enforcement. Sometimes it’s good communication and common sense. Sometimes it’s keeping your eyes and ears open and taking action. Rarely is the answer found in generalizing, i.e. attributing the bad behavior of some to the larger group they are part of.
Ultimately, we need to find ways to make better people. Be good parents. Raise good kids. Be good neighbors. Encourage good skateboarding (a healthy and respectable hobby, by the way).
When individuals cross over the line and are caught damaging property, littering, harming animals or people … then make them pay. And make the punishment fit the crime.
What if we had signs in town (not just downtown!) that said something like, “Skateboards, scooters and skates allowed. Please be careful and responsible. Damage to property is subject to substantial fines and commitment to community service.”
September 4th, 2008 at 6:31 am #
Dino Corvino said:
That would be groovy. But is it not easier, as we saw last night, to just point our fingers at someone and blame them for the problems in our lives.
Is it not easier to overstep the process, call a friend we know, and have them revise a piece of legislation.
What I find most amusing in all of this is Deb Hadley. Not laughing at her. The media has portrayed her as the devil, the Sith Lord of the anti progress voting block.
It seems in this case, the cool kids at the table, wanted to sneak one past the people, and she put a stop to it. She wanted government out in the open.
Shame it got no coverage, aside from Peckham in the CP.
September 4th, 2008 at 10:28 am #
mapletownshrub said:
Dino, Most of the time I agree with you however the PH&S commitee is all of Hadley’s buddies. So they got this forward. Miller, Abitz, Forrest, and Rassmussen all drink the Hadley koolaid. Even though she wants to stop it now, isn’t it funny that her comitte brought it forward and passed it. No other commitee has seen it and no other council members are to blame for it being on the agenda for next week. Blame is to be shared by Abitz, Miller, Rassmussen, Forrest and Hadley.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:13 am #
Dino Corvino said:
Shrub,
I agree that the actions of this committee were less than what I had hoped for. Bad committee work, and all that.
I do take even great umbrage at the method that this ordinance was BROUGHT to committee. Upon review, this ordinance does not show up in either the minutes (having been discussed at prior meetings) or on any other agenda meetings.
Then a revised copy of a prior ordinance arrives from legal, the professional staff, without prior discussion. WIthout it starting in the committee system.
While I take great offense at the need to layer a law ontop of existing laws that would be appropriate to this behavior. I take even greater offense that our city council process of public discussion has been apparently co opted by relationships with the legal staff of our city.
This was and is an ordinance that was voted through committee, and had NO PUBLIC COMMENT. Regardless of what the ordinance is about, that is wrong.
It was wrong of the committee to not think it through, and while I am hardly a Hadley apologist, it appears she is at least willing to publicly fall on her sword, admit the mistake, and do something to fix it.
I ask this, if she had not, and no one had known about this, would this have simply gone to the council, been passed 12 to 0 like everythnig else, and we would have been none the wiser.
Unless you are a person who reads the agendas on the city’s indescipherable website, you might have gone to bed one night, and found skateboarding banned the next day.
Why?
Because the city and the way it passes information out, seems intractable, and so clouded that no one knows anything.
This is an example. Private citizens work with legal staff to get something into committee, so it can go to council for vote with no public discussion.
Shrub, they are all guilty. the committee, the people who wanted to sneak it through, the legal staff (do we have a city attorney to supervise them now). All of it stunk.
And the worst part, even if none of that had happened, even if the claim of damage was it, and it had gone through channels, it is still bad law making.
bad lawmaking, through bad processes, is totally bad. All around.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:38 am #
tommichlig said:
As a former thrasher myself (mid-to-late 1980s) I have always believed that skaters tend to be misunderstood. Even back then when skating’s visual culture was more surf-inspired (think jams and turquoise Chuck Taylors) than urban/ironic, etc., it has been unwelcome in the downtown area. And I have always felt that the motivation behind it goes deeper than safety/liability. Couldn’t we encourage personal responsibility by dealing with vandalism and/or injury on a case-by-case basis, unless it becomes a constant issue? Instead of a blanket ban?
Or give these poor kids a place to go. The old Scott Street Pub site would be a perfect spot for another concrete bowl like the Weston Skate Park (the Oak Island skatepark seems more suitable for BMX, because you have to pump so much in those gaps between quarterpipes). I know I’m dreaming here, but how cool would that be?
September 4th, 2008 at 11:55 am #
Dino Corvino said:
Exactly Tommi…vandalism is against the law. If I damage something say, with my car, its still damaged. Shall we ban cars?
September 4th, 2008 at 12:42 pm #
tommichlig said:
Or go a step further, Dino. What is the common factor in all vandalism cases? Humans. That’s right, humans. So we should probably ban humans from the downtown area, and that will solve the whole mess. On some days, it looks like that ban has already been put in place :)
September 4th, 2008 at 1:02 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
Tommi…I do not want this to get too far afield. I think it is important to evaluate how this revision got to the committee, and no one from said committee is talking, aside from Hadley. So that is all we have to go on.
I find it also interesting that our City Council does not comment, ever. Almost like a Papal Conference. They simply do not talk, ever. No one says publicly, I voted my conscience, in dissent. I knew I would lose, but I still voted no. Why not vote no.
Yet, most votes are 12 to 0
September 5th, 2008 at 10:41 am #
Mohawk Matt said:
After thinking about this for a little bit, I’ve decided that even if I still skated, I wouldn’t care. Half of the fun was skating and not getting caught. So there’s a bigger ban. Skaters will still skate, a ban won’t stop them. It’s kinda that push the old people over the edge mentality, see how much we can piss ‘em off. So you know what? Let the city ban skateboarding downtown. I’m not going to fret one bit, because I know the diehard, skate or die, live to skate kids (not the ones that like the fashion) aren’t going to give a damn. That’s just how skating goes.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:38 am #
tommichlig said:
Agreed, Dino. The greater issue here is how the City Council handles their business. I just can’t help but get punchy when I continually see skaters get treated like a menace to society. Certainly don’t want the original intent of your post to be muddled.
On the organizational chart of our city government, who does Bill Forrest have to answer to, on behalf of the City Council? Is there someone who monitors this kind of thing and steps in when questionable acts occur or a trend appears in their voting bias?
September 5th, 2008 at 12:46 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
Tommi,
I think it is telling, so very telling. While I am willing to concede no one on the committee innocent, but I do have real questions about the nature of how a ordinance gets brought to a committee, through legal, with no prior committee involvement?
This ordinance appears no where in any agenda, or any minutes, prior to the revised copy arriving for committee approval.
Did the committee make a mistake, sure. They absolutely did. Are they to take the blame? You bet.
Is this a symptom of further embedding of issues within our city hall and professional staff? I think so.
When you can introduce and ordinance that affects the jewel of the city (downtown), in such a way that there is no public oversite, or any discussion, then that is wrong.
This would have become an agenda item, like it is, and from there it would have been approved had there not been this outrage.
This is terrible. And while members do not want to be painted with a broad brush, these are the policies and practices that they have sought to create. These practices are shrouded in mirrors and clouds and taffeta clothes.
In regards to the skating issue, if the city wants to do it, and has a valid reason, and opens it up to public comment, then sure. At least then the people have been served.
Not like this though.
We decry special interest in Washington, but it appears that special interest has shown up here.
September 5th, 2008 at 2:30 pm #
oldwoodchair said:
Dino: in your original story you said “on September 9th, the City Council will consider….”. Just so there are no surprises in case you choose to attend the meeting, I believe it is being held Wednesday, September 10th because of elections being on the 9th. Just an FYI.
September 8th, 2008 at 8:15 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
Yeah, sorry. I got the wrong information from someone.
September 8th, 2008 at 9:00 pm #
Barry Liss said:
I wrote a short opinion piece for the Herald…I’m hoping this ordinance goes down, but we’ll have to see…good article Dino…
Barry
September 10th, 2008 at 2:38 pm #
Dino Corvino said:
I do what I can Barry. I have assurances from Hadley that she is going to send this back to committee.
I do not object to the ban, I am more outraged by the backdoor, no comment way that city hall insiders got it done.
It is shady politicking at its worst. The professional staff in City Hall should be ashamed, as well as the insider who made it happen.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:42 pm #