Skateboarders need a place to skate

Jace Maddas, Contributor

Dear Editor,

The law with skateboarding and trespassing should be looked at and changed. I deal with this problem daily, and I’m realizing that it is an issue.

I had to deal with cops for just being in a public place with friends holding a skateboard. Just because we have skateboards, we do not hurt anyone or anything. Most police officers use the excuse of damaging property when the only time anything could get “destroyed” would be grinding ledges, which there are not any around Altoona. Just doing tricks and riding on concrete with rubber wheels will not destroy anything whatsoever. Most cops will take advantage of the law which is understandable since that is their job but, you have to see the other side of it. Most of these kids who are getting arrested and parents called are not even doing anything wrong just trying to hang with friends, skate and film videos.

There has been a bad reputation for skateboarding over the years, so I can see why the police look down on skateboarders like they do. Skateboarding has changed from those bad times a while ago. Now it has become an Olympic sport and is growing in popularity by the day. More and more people are seeing the good in skateboarding. They see how it brings people together and is very fun. I wish skateboarders and police could see eye to eye, but I have found it does not work.

I would like to see this problem resolved by either making an outdoor public skate park for the community or a change in the rule with skateboarding in cities. If there was a public outdoor community skatepark in Altoona it could bring more people away from bad things like drugs and vandalism and bring them to skateboarding. If they could also change the law with trespassing and vandalism with skateboarding it would help the community in many ways. From personal experience, I have just used my skateboard as transportation and I have gotten stopped for just riding it. Officers say it is a $300 citation for riding a skateboard in the city of Altoona and even more charges for skateboarding downtown. In my opinion that is outrageous not being able to use it as transportation and almost getting charged for doing nothing morally wrong. In all, I would just like to see this not just change in Altoona but in other places in Pennsylvania as well.

Jace Maddas