Four wheels good, two wheels bad? Scooter riders eyeing Hermosa Beach skatepark
Ollie Schneider, Will Neubauer, Rider Cooley, Cooper Keane, Noah Glick, Nate Neubauer and Cooper Lindsey line up with their scooters in front of the Hermosa Beach Skate Park. An amendment to the city’s municipal code may soon allow scooter riders inside the park. Photo
Thanks to some well-timed public participation from city youth, the Hermosa Beach Skate Park is moving closer to welcoming scooters onto the concrete.
Last month, the Parks, Recreation, and Community Resources Advisory Commission unanimously recommended amending the city’s municipal code to allow scooters to use the park, which is currently limited to skateboarders and in-line skaters.
The issue will head to the City Council for a final decision sometime in the coming months.
Scooters have become increasingly popular in recent years among some of the city’s younger residents, and about half a dozen of their riders attended the Parks and Rec meeting to urge commissioners to change the policy. The scooter riders said they wanted to avoid having to drive to other skate parks in the area to ride and practice tricks. (According to a staff report, almost all of the other skate parks in the region allow scootering.)
“I really do not want to go all the way to Redondo, Manhattan or El Segundo,” said Cooper Keane, a fifth grader at Hermosa Valley School.
Parents of the scooter riders said not including scooters was anachronistic. Along with young kids, they said scooter riders in other countries are now turning their passion into extreme-sports careers. And they argued the distinction made little sense in the world of board sports.
“I’m sure surfers would love to see stand up paddleboarders banned from the ocean; that’s not going to happen. And I’m sure some skiers would like to see snowboarders banned from Mammoth and Big Bear,” said John Mesko, whose son Logan hopes to ride his scooter in the park.
Lisa Nichols, the city’s acting community resources manager, said the city posted a notice about the possibility of allowing scooters on fencing during the fall. While public comment at the commission’s meeting was dominated by scootering youth, the commission did receive some letters in opposition. Opponents question the safety of allowing kids on scooters inside the park, saying that scooter riders tend to be less experienced and present greater injury risks.
In making their comments, scooter advocates tried to address these concerns.
“My friends and I are excellent scooter riders, and we take safety very seriously,” said Oliver Schneider, also a fifth-grader at Valley. If the City Council were to approve the code amendment, scooter riders will be subject to the same pads-and-helmet requirements as existing users
The other primary concern with admitting scooters is crowding. Thao Trinh, a Hermosa resident, said that he stopped taking his two daughters to the Manhattan Beach skate park because of the presence of scooter riders. Trinh also argued that allowing scooters in would encourage BMX bike riders, which take up even more space.
Although the code amendment received a unanimous endorsement from Hermosa’s commission, they were sensitive to the risk of clashing uses. If the council were to approve the code amendment, staff would report within 90 days on how scooters were working in the park.
Scooters have been allowed in Manhattan’s skate spot since it opened last March, said Mark Leyman, the city’s parks, and recreation director. He said that groups of 10 or 20 scooter riders will periodically descend on the park, but estimated that skateboarders make up about 90 percent of the park’s overall users. And apart from an anecdotal complaint about an older skateboard using gruff language within hearing distance of young scooter riders, Leyman said the groups have managed to get along.
“It’s worked out really well actually. They have been able to coexist,” he said.
One afternoon this week, David Schwartz, a Redondo Beach resident, was at the park with his eight-year-old son Kaiser. Schwartz also has a five-year-old, Grayson, who likes riding a scooter. Skating, he said, can be unapproachable for younger kids, and scootering is a tool many of them use to transition to skateboarding. Although he rarely found the park crowded, limiting the park to skaters makes it harder for them to do family outings.
“Most of them don’t skate yet, but they still want to hang out with their big brother,” Schwartz said. “It’s actually why we don’t come here as often.”
Parks and Rec commissioner Jani Lange made a similar argument in recommending the code amendment.
“This is exactly how the skate park got built, many many years ago. It’s a gateway tool that introduces youngsters to skating. We need to utilize our resources to get as many folks out and about as possible,” he said.
Listening to the analysis, one of the kids in the audience called out “Jani for president!”