"Skateboarding Is Not a Crime."
Since 1988, the slogan has become a nationwide rallying cry against anti-skateboarding laws. In Gainesville, the call could soon spark change.
The Gainesville City Commission decided on Sept. 11 to start the process of legalizing skating in public parks. Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward said city staff will present a draft of the ordinance to the City Commission this fall for further conversation.
Skating in Gainesville public parks has been illegal since 1981, a rule Commissioner Bryan Eastman called “outdated.”
Currently, skating is only allowed on roads, sidewalks and in designated skate parks.
During the Sept. 11 commission meeting, Eastman explained skateboarding is a type of transportation and should be used in public parks without penalty.
“Skateboarding isn’t tennis. It isn’t swimming. It’s basic transportation,” Eastman said prior to the meeting in an Instagram video.
He presented a plan to draft an ordinance repealing the 1981 law in the city code, allowing skateboarding, rollerblading and roller skating in Gainesville public parks.
Gainesville has a rich history for skateboarding. The “godfather” of street skating, Rodney Mullen, was born and raised in Gainesville, where he invented the kickflip and the flat ground ollie. Today’s skateboarding foundations were created in Gainesville.
“Gainesville should be a leader of skateboarding, not locking it away into a couple of places,” Eastman said in the video.
Ward said he personally doesn’t have a problem with people skating in public parks.
Gainesville's only skate shop, Freeride Surf and Skate Shop, has offered services since 1975. The owner, 46-year-old Peter Harter, said the law restricting skateboarding was ridiculous and agreed with Eastman’s statement that it’s outdated.
Skateboarding has adapted as a recreational sport, said Harter. He highlighted Depot Park on the outskirts of downtown Gainesville as an example of a public space that could be a nice place for people to learn to skate.
“The idea that we even have to say, ‘Hey man, you might get arrested for this,’ is crazy,” he said.
Gainesville has an active skating community, and the city features three skate parks: Possum Creek, MLK Skatepark and Westside Park. A mural honoring Mullen adorns a wall in Possum Creek.
Harter often jokes Gainesville native singer Tom Petty and Mullen are like poets — they aren’t treated well until after they die, he said. While Petty died in 2017, Mullen is still alive at age 59.
“I don’t want to see Rodney pass away before any recognition is given to him,” Harter said.
Caine Kaar, a 51-year-old Gainesville resident, has been skateboarding for 40 years. Getting a better skatepark would be amazing and might prevent skaters from performing tricks in dangerous places, he said.
“I think there needs to be a law between using a skateboard for transportation and obviously using it for other things, like tricks,” Kaar said.
Gainesville might add a new skatepark in the soon to be multi-sport complex at the former Regional Transit System maintenance building next to Depot Park. The Knot Climbing Gym leads that effort.
Contact Teia Williams at twilliams@alligator.org Follow her on X @teia_williams.
Teia is a general assignment reporter for Metro. She is also a second semester journalism transfer student from Daytona State College and served as Editor-in-Chief for In Motion, DSC's student newspaper. When she's not writing, Teia can be found reading, going to concerts, at the beach and talking about her favorite artists.
