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Albany Common Council lifts skateboard ban

A local skateboarder in Albany's Washington Park, June 2016.
Dave Lucas
/
WAMC
A local skateboarder in Albany's Washington Park, June 2016.

A skateboarding ban that affected some neighborhoods in downtown Albany is no longer in force — for now.

Sixth Ward Common Councilor Gabriella Romero introduced legislation back in April that she says removes a jurisdictional ban on skateboarding that dated back to the early 90s and impacted several minority neighborhoods. On July 7th, the Common Council voted unanimously in approval. Mayor Kathy Sheehan vetoed the legislation days later, arguing that the rollback put pedestrians and other city residents in danger because the repeal would open sidewalks to skateboarders. Romero says the council unanimously voted to override the veto Monday.

"As of right now, you would hypothetically be able to skateboard on a sidewalk, and we're working on the legislation to regulate that," Romero said. "But what's important is that the New York State vehicle and traffic law and the Penal law itself says that you can't act in a way that's going to cause foreseeable harm to anyone you know, which is reckless endangerment, you can't assault anyone, obviously. So if you're, either whether it's intentional or reckless, you know, if you're ramming yourself into someone else, if you're damaging property, for example, skateboarding on a stoop or on someone's personal property, if you're there, that's a violation of the law."

The council concluded that a new ordinance was required that would explicitly ban skateboards from sidewalks. A vote to proceed failed to garner required unanimous support and it will now go through committee. 14th ward councilor Deb Zamer voted against the measure.

"Why weren't we aware that there were disagreements significant enough to result in a veto? I may be new here, but I've already seen controversial proposed legislation that resulted in rounds of discussions, phone calls, meetings, etc," said Zamer. "There was no surprise where the mayor's office stood or what their concerns were. So when I read in the mayor's veto message that we disregarded Corporation Counsel's advice, I immediately said what advice, I didn't hear any advice. While I understood after the fact why the mayor felt she had to veto our unanimously passed legislation. I don't think it's cut and dry. And it's certainly not obvious. I voted to override the veto because I'm not swayed by last minute legal argument that the bill we passed, will inevitably descend Albany into an anarchist haven for skateboarders. And since I don't agree with the present premise of the veto, I also don't agree that the subsequent legislation that's being considered by unanimous consent tonight, needs quick or emergency passage without the benefit and transparency of going to committee first."

Romero would like to see a committee created to take a deeper dive into the way that the city can regulate non-vehicular forms of transportation.

In a statement, Mayor Sheehan’s office says, “The Common Council has made traveling on our sidewalks more dangerous for children, the elderly, and differently-abled. This action was totally unnecessary and ignored the wishes of our residents who wanted legislation that made skateboarding equitable and safe.”

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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