Page 2-The Michigan Daoly - Friday, July 8, 1988
Ban bars boarders from
downtown boulevards
BY ANNA SENKEVITCH
Downtown skateboarders may receive five-dollar
tickets and have their boards impounded by the Ann
Arbor police after July 21.
The Ann Arbor City Council voted Tuesday, 6-5,
for a law to make skateboarding on sidewalks illegal
along sections of Liberty, State, Main, and South
University Streets, as well as in Liberty Park Plaza.
"The response that I've received... has been ex-
tremely supportive," said Republican Mayor Gerald
Jernigan. "I think it will curb the use of skateboards on
the heavily traveled streets."
Coupled with an earlier-passed law, which prohibits
skateboarding on most Ann Arbor streets, the new rule
will banish the activity from some of the most pedes-
trian-populated downtown roads.
Several downtown store owners said wayfaring
skateboarders cause danger to their customers, and
damage to property by riding up on curbs, park
benches, and other cement surfaces.
"My personal feeling is that it's always unfortunate
when you have to legislate behavior," said Russ
Collins, president of State Street Area Merchants As-
sociation and Michigan Theater manager.
But Collins added, "It's not a personal freedom is-
sue. It's a public safety issue."
"Those benches (in Liberty Plaza Park) are ruined
from skateboarders jumping on them," said Night
Town restaurant owner Steve Bellock. "I've heard
quotes of $20,000 to replace the benches. I think the
city was saying, 'There's just no way we can foot the
bill."'
Ritz Camera Manager Debbie Rice, who has wit-
nessed patrons getting brushed and knocked down by
skateboarders speeding by her store, is glad the rule was
adopted.
But Rice said she thinks bicycles, which currently
are permitted to ride on sidewalks, should be included
in the new restrictions. "They're both going the same
speed," she said.
See Skaters, Page 5
? ?
Still Looking for a Place to Live
This Fall
? ?
???????????????? ???????????????
Look No Further
Albert Terrace
1700 Geddes
.jog urea
Local dogs Bo and Jake rest after catching frisbees in a
contest at Pioneer High School.
No implosion for Old
Main, says 'U' engineer
BY SUSAN LONG WORTH nearby buildings.
Old Main Hospital may not blow Although the building was origi-
up at the end of this summer. nally scheduled for implosion in
Instead, it may be demolished. August, Neault said there is "no par-
Because of the building's height ticular intention of imploding" it.
14 stories - conventional The Cincinnati-based O'Rourke
demolition would be the best pro- Company, the project's contractor,
cess, said John Neault, a University may choose a more conventional
senior civil engineer. If Old Main method of demolition - the wreck-
implodes, he said, it could harm See Hospital, Page 5
Vol. XCVII--No. 8S
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