A City Council committee has backed off a police recommendation to ban in-line skating from downtown sidewalks but is preparing an ordinance to prosecute any skater who collides with a pedestrian.
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The Public Health and Safety Committee instructed the city attorney this week to amend an ordinance defining reckless conduct to include a line about the growing sport of in-line skating.
“The message here is if you’re going to do this (skating) on Main Street, you better do it safely and responsibly,” said Police Chief James Roche, who proposed the ban in May.
“If somebody does run into someone else and injures them, I think there’s a good chance we’d be able to identify the offender and make an arrest,” he said.
The city now bans the riding of bicycles and skateboards on sidewalks downtown.