Skateboarders protest for rights to skate on Clearwater Beach

To show that they are not all bad, dozens of skateboarders held an event this morning that was part consciousness-raising and part protest. It began on Clearwater Beach, continued over the Memorial Causeway, and ended at city hall.

What did they do?

With their skateboards under their arms, they walked along a section of Mandalay Avenue where the city had recently erected no-skateboarding signs. This was apparently to show that they could abide by such prohibitions.

Then, when they got to the causeway, they hopped on their skateboards and rode them over the bridge on the sidewalks there, because they are allowed to do so.

The organizer of the event was Skip Maxwell, co-owner of the Double Barrel Surf Shop, which is located on a stretch of Mandalay Avenue where no-skateboarding signs were recently erected.

On its Web site, Double Barrel portrayed this morning's event as a protest against the newly erected signs on the 300 and 400 blocks of Mandalay Avenue and on South Gulfview Boulevard. But Maxwell was a tad less confrontational when he spoke to 50 to 60 skateboarders this morning.

"What the city has done isn't really fair, to categorize all skateboarders as people that are destroying property and are disrespectful to people," Maxwell said.

In addition to showing that not all skateboarders are out of line, the exercise was held to alert the public to a meeting Wednesday. The mayor is expected to meet with beach business owners and skateboarders to hear their concerns.

The signs went up this month after a petition was submitted to the city manager that was signed by property owners and merchants in the 300 and 400 blocks of Mandalay Avenue. The petition says there have been problems with the skateboarders for about a year.

"Skateboarders routinely ride up and down the street in front of our businesses at a fast rate of speed with a little attention to the pedestrians that are sharing the sidewalk,' the July 14 petition says. The signatories say they are afraid someone might get hurt in a collision.

"Last weekend police were called to handle an unfortunate circumstance of a 14-year-old and a store owner and a lady tourist. The 14 year old confronted them with filthy language and blowing his nose without a handkerchief and the mucus hitting her on the leg then he resisted police when they were called," the petition says.

On July 17, three days after the petition was filed, Clearwater police officers began enforcing the prohibition against skateboarding along the swath of Mandalay Avenue and South Gulfview Boulevard, said Joellle Castelli, a city spokeswoman.

Typically, officers give a skateboarder a warning, but if the skateboarder is seen a second time violating the city's skateboarding ordinances, he or she stands to get a citation, Castelli said. So far, police have issued 85 warnings and six citations.

On July 18, the day after the enforcement action began, a 16-year-old skateboarder got into a scuffle with a Clearwater police officer in the 400 block of Mandalay Avenue, said Elizabeth Watts, the city's public safety spokeswoman.

The teen, Ya'azziel Rivera, defiantly said that he wanted a ticket, and the officer gave him one, Watts said. A 14-year-old fellow skateboarder tried to intervene, at which point Rivera and the officer started scuffling, with both ending up on the ground, Watts said. That's when the officer used his electric stun gun on Rivera, she said.

Rivera was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, a felony. The 14-year-old was charged with misdemeanor obstruction, Watts said.