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Toledo skateboard municipal code

Can anyone guide me to the municipal code for the City regarding skateboards? We had a kid skating in front of our house last night. The street has just been repaved and is very nice for that sort of thing. Anyway, the old lady across the street started screaming at this poor kid, telling him to "get that freaking thing out of the street and don't come back!" I wanted to tell the old bag to shove it but my wife stopped me before I could put her in her place.

So that got me curious as to what the exact statute is. I looked on the City of Toledo site of municipal codes and found the bicycle laws, but nothing for skateboards. I live in a quiet residential neighborhood. Not a lot of traffic on the street. I figure if a kid wants to skateboard in the street, more power to him. Let kids be kids.

created by daddyg on Sep 08, 2008 at 07:53:40 pm     Comments: 25

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Seems like every neighborhood has at least one old bag that lives to bitch.

We have one a few doors down that, if she sees little kids playing on the sidewalk in front of her house, she'll stand in the doorway just waiting to see one of them so much as touch a toe on her grass so she can scream at them.

This same bitch shortly after we moved to the neighborhood accused my daughter, who was about 7 at the time of letting her dog out of their yard.
A few hours later, her husband, who was a nice guy, came down and apologized, as they had found out the dog was getting out under their fence.

posted by JeepMaker on Sep 08, 2008 at 08:18:58 pm     #



Better skateboards than drugs. I think they should build a skateboard park in every part of town. A better investment than flowers, although those are nice to look at. Kids today haven't got the places to go like my generation did.

posted by Darkseid on Sep 08, 2008 at 08:29:39 pm     #



I don't think the city would ever build one, only because they don't want to be held liable for things like this...

posted by TheTalentedMrC on Sep 08, 2008 at 08:33:36 pm     #



Maybe the answer to your question...

http://www.amlegal.com/nxt/gateway.dll/Ohio/toledo/partthree-trafficcode/titlethree-streetsandtrafficcontroldevic/chapter311streetobstructionsandspecialus?f=templates$fn=altmain-nf.htm$q=%5Band%3Askate%20board%5D%20$x=server$3.0#LPHit1

"311.03. Toy vehicles on streets.

No person on roller skates or riding in or by means of any sled, toy vehicle, skate board, coaster or similar device shall go upon any roadway except while crossing a street on a crosswalk and except on streets set aside as play streets."

posted by summitst on Sep 08, 2008 at 08:50:55 pm     #



Try this, instead.

posted by summitst on Sep 08, 2008 at 08:51:32 pm     #



Live and let live.

If you can do a quarter of this, you can go pro and make some retirement money and travel the world:
See more skate, snow, surf, and moto videos at Shred or Die

posted by charlatan on Sep 08, 2008 at 10:02:21 pm     #



It's more of a liability not giving people something positive or benign to do and a place to do it.

There's plenty of helmets and pads to keep peeps relatively safe.

posted by charlatan on Sep 08, 2008 at 10:08:25 pm     #



there is already quite a few skate parks around the suburbs. i know for a fact there is at least one in perrysburg, and one in rossford. from what i understand there are quite a few others as well.

i think he city just doesn't want kids on the street getting smoked by cars. if it's on the street and in motion it should have lights or at least reflectors. otherwise it is a saftey concern. but some places even have ordinances that you can't skete on the sidewalk. i think thats insane.

posted by ST1DinOH on Sep 09, 2008 at 12:21:57 am     #



Rossford used to have a skatepark several years ago, but I'm not sure it still exists.

Skatepark.com does not list any skateparks for the Toledo area.

But this other Web site shows this for Toledo :

Highland Park, South Ave., Toledo, Ohio

Highland is a "hybrid park". The cement portion of the park consists of a 6' deep bowl and quarters, a few wedges, ledges, and a rail. The wooden part is made up of prefabricated woodward ramps, which are somewhat small. There's a pyramid/fun box with a tiny rail and ledge attatched to one side. One side of the pyramid is a straight drop, so watch out for that. It always seems to send people OTB if they don't expect it. On the other side of ledge is a 3' tall coping to coping spine. Behind that is a micro fun box and ledge. And at one end of the park is a micro mini ramp connected to a wedge to wedge hip and ledge. And across the parking lot from the main part of the park sits a 6' tall 16' wide mini ramp.

From I-75 take the South Ave. exit and head west. Take South Ave. for several minutes, cross Anthony Wayne Trail and Highland park will be on your right. It's best to go to Highland in the earlier hours so you don't have to deal with a large crowd of "hood rats".

Does the above still exist?


From Toledo Mayor Jack Ford's January 2003 state of the city speech :

We plan to build a state of the art skateboard complex at Highland Park [for] our kids.

From Mayor Jack Ford's February 2004 state of the city speech :

As promised, we opened a state of the art skateboard facility at Highland Park and our first water play area at Savage Park. I am also pleased that Toledo will open its fourth destination park, a new BMX facility.


My notes from a June 2005 ReUrbanism meeting :

After the break, a planner/developer mentioned the idea he's pitching to the city to make Toledo a major destination attraction for extreme sports by building an indoor event center and more that could house stunt biking, skateboarding, snowboarding, and many other activities. Indoor ski slopes exist in Madrid and somewhere in England. The planner said more young people are involved in extreme sports than in so-called traditional sports like baseball, basketball, and hockey. Major sponsors are attracted to extreme sports. The culture that surrounds extreme sports would also need to be developed by combining technology and entertainment.


Notes from a February 2007 ReUrbanism meeting :

One idea is to turn the old Acme power plant into an extreme sports hall of fame. Seyfang said the person suggesting this idea said extreme sports is the only sport where young people can express their creativity. Traditional sports, such as football, basketball, hockey, and baseball require too much structure.


Excerpts from some notes taken at the June 2005 Marina District Neighborhood Charette :

Another developer I met last summer has plans for the land on the east side of the river just upstream from The Docks. Here's some info I got from this guy last summer:

Besides the indoor volleyball/basketball center, this developer wants to build an outdoor area that would basically be a 48,000 sq ft concrete "pool" that's 24 inches deep. It would be an ice park in the winter, and during the warmer months converted into an extreme sports park for skateboarding and rollerblading. Apparently, this developer has enough money to cover the liability insurance that's needed to support the extreme sports park.

The developer wants to build both venues on the same piece of land upstream from The Docks. He said both could be built at a total cost of $10 million. He said he could go from ground-breaking to completion in only six months, which seems a little quick.


Toledo blog : Just Skateboarding

posted by jr on Sep 09, 2008 at 05:50:20 am     #



jr,
the Highland Park skateboard facility does still exist and is wonderful. When my stepson lived up her with his mom and when he comes back to visit, we make a point of going over there. The nice thing about this and the skatepark at Parmalee Park in Lambertville is that (from what I have seen) the kids who use the parks are very good at self-policing themselves. They are surprisingly graffiti-free and well maintained. These kids are good kids who get stereotyped as "weird" or "dangerous" because they wear skater fashions and aren't doing something "normal."

I guess my bitch is that the guvmn't has been very good at regulating the piss out of having fun. Kids these days can't ride bikes in certain areas or skateboard in their neighborhoods or play football in the street without some old hag complaining or getting hassled by the police. Between litigious parents wanting to sue someone because their kid fell off the monkey bars and cities and businesses not able to afford liability insurance for facilities such as skateparks, no wonder more kids get in trouble.

When I was growing up, if I fell off the monkey bars, my parents didn't look to sue the school or township. They told me to get up, stop crying and not to fall off the monkey bars again.

posted by daddyg on Sep 09, 2008 at 07:26:36 am     #



Highland is a nice park and supposedly building a park in Sylvania.

Nick Mullins - Toledo Local tearing it up at Highland

posted by transcom on Sep 09, 2008 at 07:31:39 am     #



The Lords of Frogtown!

posted by Offshore on Sep 09, 2008 at 08:40:34 am     #



Thanks for the Mullen flashback. He was an awesome skater ahead of his time...

posted by Matt on Sep 09, 2008 at 09:27:09 am     #



The skate park in Rossford is no longer there. Not really sure why the city decided to tear it down, but now the same park is swarmed with drug/gang activity. My older brother will not even let his kids play down there anymore because it just isnt' safe.

posted by lfrost2125 on Sep 09, 2008 at 09:56:52 am     #



And we wonder why kids get into trouble? If they are doing nothing more than playing near their home, minding their own business and hurting no one, people have to bitch and scream at them!

I'm w/daddyg, my parents were the same way! Hell, my sister fell off a pulley thing that went across a friends pond and broke her arm in 4 places and my mom never once screamed lawsuit. She instead made sure my sister was treated medically and once the severe pain passed she reamed her for going on the damn thing because mom had explicitly told her that she couldn't go on it EVER...LOL!

Let kids be kids, as long as their not doing drugs or stealing, let them friggin play! Wow, this is just so damn sad in so many ways! It would suck to be so damn miserable that you have to bitch at kids because they're playing?

posted by justsimplyholly on Sep 09, 2008 at 10:20:22 am     #



I thought I remembered seeing a skatepark at the Oregon Rec Center. Anyone know if its still there?

posted by mom2 on Sep 09, 2008 at 06:13:05 pm     #



Although Ford would like to take credit for the Highland Park skatepark, it was due to Councilman Bob McCloskey's efforts that it happened.

posted by GraphicsGuy on Sep 09, 2008 at 06:27:40 pm     #



I am working with the city department of parks and the department of neighborhoods to get our street hockey league a place to play permanently and have considered building a place for skateboarding and roller/inline skating.
I'll definately post if I get something like that in the works.

posted by hockeyfan on Sep 09, 2008 at 06:49:41 pm     #



its GREAT to see so many people agreeing we need to give kids more options rather than less. i can tell you if these skateparks existed when i was in highschool more of my friends would have had innocent fun VS. getting in trouble for skateboarding in vacant spaces unfortunately policed by bored security guards.

we owe sooooo much more to the younger generation than toledo is giving them. once again.. its GREAT to see so many of you agreeing we need more spaces like this.

posted by upso on Sep 09, 2008 at 10:30:20 pm     #



Saw that there is some sort of 4-Square tournament over the weekend. Thats kinda cool.

Maybe they could do a wii tournament over the winter.

posted by ToledoLatina on Sep 09, 2008 at 10:43:54 pm     #



Hold on, skateparks are not just for kids. Skateboarders and BMX riders in their 30s would still like to enjoy their sport. After all, "grownups" play in other sports leagues. I understand the need for free, public skateparks for the kids, but the older dudes with jobs and money may want private parks that cost money to join like joining a tennis club.

This thought was mentioned before. March 22, 2006 comment :

If you're in your mid-30's and you're an extreme sports enthusiast who also happens to be an engineer or an accountant, why would you choose to live in Toledo if you could get a similar paying job with similar satisfaction in another city that offers year-round opportunities both indoor and outdoor for your hobby of BMX biking or skateboarding?

Let me guess, if people around here see a 35-year-old skateboarding, I bet many in this city would think that person needs to grow up and quit pretending to be a kid, right? But of course, it's okay for adults to play in softball, golf, and basketball leagues. What about the generation of young people that have grown up on extreme sports and now have good-paying jobs and want to continue with their activity into their 20's and 30's? Build a public spot that's free? No frigging way. People pay money to join health clubs. The extreme sports crowd would prefer to pay money for a place that is secure and safe.

The planner who pitched the above is a young guy who grew up in Toledo but moved to L.A. to pursue his interests in extreme sports. After living there for several years, he has moved back to Toledo, hoping to build something to satisfy the extreme sports culture that exists in young Toledoans. He said young people interested in extreme sport activities and the culture that surrounds it will take jobs in cities that cater to their interests.

posted by jr on Sep 09, 2008 at 11:30:27 pm     #



If you were a business owner and you knew you could be held liable for skateboarder's injuries to themselves or your customers would you want them on your property? Some skateboarders are extremely careless. I don't think you can compare skateboarders barreling down a sidewalk or in and out of parking lots, stairways and walkways with pedestrian traffic with other sports like golfers. If golfers started teeing off in the middle of the road or sidewalk you can bet people would complain and the police would cite them. If parents and skateboarders want to help out skateboarding then they should give them a proper place to practice where they cannot be a danger to themselves and others. Parents and skateboarders, start advocating for skate parks near your house. We live near Grove Patterson Park. That would be an ideal place for a skate park. So, get your petitions ready.

posted by ilovetoledo on Sep 10, 2008 at 07:18:06 am     #



"Parmalee Skate Park
Lambertville, MI
Located just outside of Monroe. Off of Monroe rd.
Full street course, 2 areas: beginner and intermediate. Also a micro mini ramp.
Free, outdoors, no pads or helmet required, lights.
Bikes are not allowed here."

I think this park was made with rollerbladers in mind.

posted by charlatan on Sep 10, 2008 at 09:32:15 am     #



I'm not a lawyer, but can't you have a public park like the ones described and clearly post a "Use at your own risk" type sign to protect yourself from being sued?

Any free legal advice?

posted by hockeyfan on Sep 10, 2008 at 01:15:38 pm     #



"Let them skate!"

They're going to anyways!

posted by Offshore on Sep 11, 2008 at 06:44:43 am     #