Gibson Road closed to longboarders!

came across this a minute ago...

[quote from robotopdx on northwestlongboarding.com]
The Polk County Board of Commissioners Passed an ordinance 08-11 that baned all use of Skateboards on Gibson Road.
It is now a class C Traffic Infraction (ticket on first offense.)

We are planning a public outreach campaign followed by a presentation to the board of commissioners to get the ordinance repealed.

If you live in polk county please contact me. We need polk county residents to make this work.

In the Meantime.
Please do not ride Gibson without a helmet.
Please do not cross the center line.
Be Very Very nice to neighbors on the hill. (they will be instrumental in our efforts)
and if you can avoid using the hill for a month Please try to. It will help our case.

If we don't get this item repealed it could serve as a test case for banning longboards on all county roads in polk county.
[/quote]

that sucks and pisses me off in a way words simply can't describe. that hill was awesome and we all showed everybody who lived on it with the utmost of respect. we should do a hippie petition or something. thats so wrong!

straight bullshit man! that just pissed me off. ill definatly be sure not to hit that one for a while. bastards need to realize our sport dosnt usually consist of inconsiderate assholes. so many of us WORK for where we skate. that is wrong and straight BULLSHIT! -420CODE

well, after reading chris's post on nwlb, i think we got off pretty easy (rather than all roads in the county being banned). yeah it makes me mad, well frustrated mostly, but i can understand the residents concern.
i thought david did some sort of petition of the residents for a race next year? anyone know how that turned out?

maybe if we leave the hill alone, in a show of respect to the residents, they might let us close it off for a one day controlled event next year? prolly jus wishful thinkin... heh.

oh yeah, here's chris' post from nwlb:

Interesting:

GIBSON ROAD SKATEBOARD RACE
Greg said that the County has received a number of calls from citizens who live on Gibson Road regarding skateboarding that occurs on that road since the County repaved it. He said that Gibson Road is becoming a popular skateboarding site, so much so that people are traveling from Washington to skateboard there. He said that he has looked at the website for the unauthorized skateboard race that was held last month and it does appear that they are attempting to be safe by using lookouts and by sweeping rocks off the road, however, it is just a matter of time before there is an accident.

Dave Doyle said that in order for these events to occur on County roads the County either needs to require a permit for skateboarding on County roads, which would require proof of insurance, or ban the activity based on public safety.

Mike said that he spoke with one man who lives on the road who is concerned about his wife driving the road. He said that his fear is that she will wind up going off the road and injuring herself in an attempt to avoid hitting a skater. He said that his preference would be to have an Order that bans skateboarding on roads where there are problems rather than banning it on all County roads. The Board agreed.

Sounds like people need to be careful with outlaw races. And the council could use some education.

well. if thats their reason, then they should do the same to bikes. most of us that hit gibson have the equipment and experience to safely ride it. its not a crazy hill by any means. and its not one that we can hike, i made that mistake once in that 100 degree weather. so we use shuttles. the bikers climb up, and get exhausted doing so. we have all been there, tired and delirious, swerving because of the slow speed you pedal and the fatigue. now thats a reason one would swerve and crash. bikes and boards have similar amounts of control, even considering the fact they have brakes. you cant just mash em once you realize you came into the first left to quickly. youve got to ease into it. at those speeds, our brake methods become more effective, and theirs becomes less effective. i guess when it comes down to it, i am just trying to say is when it comes to gibson road, we are well within our abilities. and i as a driver would be more concerned with a climbing biker. i think when they see us, its new to them for one,and we look much more "naked" than say a bicyclist. but in reality, we wear much more safety gear.

I was about to type both jay and mikeys point..

agreed, even though we technically have the same rights as bikers in some areas, the first time someone complains about a skater those rights and privelages will be taken away before we even know what happened.

..and it's sad to say it's because our sport is related to the feared by public "street skateboarding" that cities constantly complain about, therefor on-lookers such as residents on gibson road think were more like those "hoodlums skating the streets and terrorizing the public" than the bikers who fly down the hill just as fast and sometimes more dangerously and carelessly than us.

what a disapointing reality.

Yes Gibson is closed for skateboarders, but only for awhile if all goes to plan. This all got put into place by some guy that's close with all the chairmen for Marion County who was afraid his wife would hit us in the other lane. The foundations for this is all extremely weak and the after Corry Pool talked to the county lawyer the basis for this is all based on probabilities and says bs like "people aren't used to seeing longboarders compared to bikes". We are going to fight this since most of the people on the road are all for us skating this road as long as we are safe. So are plan is to get a bunch of the locals sign a petition and we will do a whole case in front of the count chairmen and hopefully get this overturned. They put this in place thinking we were a bunch of mindless 12 year olds that dont know anything about the law not expecting us to try and fight this. MY whole theory is if bikers can go up the hill real slow and make people pass them in the middle of the road surely we should be able allowed to go the speed limit in the proper lane without hindering anyone. Maybe that rich snobs wife just shouldn't be able to drive...

god damn kids on your four-wheel death machines, serves you right!

i dunno man. all this just seems like a bunch of old people that want their way. Fight it. fight it hard! and i hope you guys get it orverturned. best of luck to you man.

How come longboarders don't have "all the rights and responsibilities of a vehicle" when they're on Gibson? I mean, that what bicyclists get, and we know how to stop too! Is it because it's Polk County > Salem laws?

no, its because we're on boards :)
yeah, its discrimination but thats how it works. we'll always have to fight the bad rep we automatically obtain by standing on a board. boards are associated with adolescence, vandalism, bad attitudes, rebelling against authority, and every other bad thing you can think of not related to longboarding (or, come to think of it, shortboarding either.. mostly)
its the small percentage of dumb shits out there (and the media) that have burned this bad outlook in the public and government's mind.
once set, its very difficult to get people to change an idea or opinion. 'easier to jus go on believing what ya believe than reform your outlook, even if the truth is put right in front of you', just look at religion... haha.
wtf is my point? dunno.. oh yeah, its going to take every one of us proving we're responsible and safe in the long term for this outlook to change, but i think its worth the fight :)
anyhow, this is turning from my two cents into a madman's rant so i'll end it here.

amen, brother!

Booooooooo to old fogies who suck at life. Watch out for the fun patrol, shit.

Good to hear Graham. I am glad you are on it.

THIS IS SUCH BULL SHIT! realizing what this is all coming from, sum asshole who knows people in the community to pull strings for him. dont people have anything better to do with their time, but affect other peoples way of life? its totally wrong the perception many people think of whos underneath those, oh yeah FULL LEATHERS, FULL FACE HELMET, AND SLIDE GLOVES! not like we are tryin to be safe or nothin! jeezze! the crazy thing is in a lot of cases u have more c ontrol to stop on a hill than a biker at that, and people cant continue to base laws because they are SCARED of what COULD happen, but hasnt happened. the community of skaters we have in the nw is primarily a safety promoting sport, and all of us care for the welfare of each other. We have top take a stand against this and to as ghost said, educate the public about longboarding and how we practice it. This is soooo funny to me cause many may forget that only around 15 years ago, snowboarding was in a similar pickle with many resorts thinking many of the same things about snowboarders. Well everyone of them are having a laugh now the it is a internationally recognized OLYMPIC SPORT! WIERDD! i do believe over time, the publics view of the sport will get improve, but we shouldnt have to worry about whether its legal for me to ride a hill when a biker can act as if they rule the road, riding in the middle under half the speed limit, and funny but everything i have heard people say skaters do, ive only seen bikers do more.

ok im gonna stop rambling but this just really pisses me off. keep pushin guys! OH AND TO THE PUBLIC AND BIKERS: WE HAVE A RIGHT TO BE ON THE ROAD AS WELL, JUST LIKE ANY PEDESTRIAN!

-CODE

LIGHT BULB: Get a nice steep hill with nice pavement and mark and compare the stopping point from a bike to longboard. Measure from where it takes the biker to come to a complete stop from the time the brake is applied to where he stops. then take a longboarder and measure A SHUT DOWN SLIDE from the point of putting a puck down, to a complete stop, and see who can stop quicker (make sure they are going the same speed.) betchu itll be the boad.

Also: compare that to a footbreak or anyother type of safe riding. riding to the right when cars pass, using lights, and using hand signals and FILM ALL OF THIS, edit it, and u can easily show somebody what actual hill riding consists, and compare the longboard riding to a biker. this will show them the skill level of many of us, and proper riding technique. this has to be shown because bikers have the right a way usually at all times, and there is almost no restriction on where they can and cant go. bikers are consistantly more of a hazard and risk to drivers than many want to believe, so compare and contrast the two and the results will be very surprising to those who know nothing about our sport. PROVE THESE BASTARDS WRONG....ON FILM! just an idea, but think about it, it may help
-code

Demonstrating our ability to control our speed/stop is a good idea, something we definitely need to do...

I remember trying to skate on the Western WA University campus and having bike cops stop me. I also remember demonstrating how I could footbrake to avoid hitting people. And the last thing I remember is still getting a fat ticket for skateboarding!!! Some fuckers won't even respond to logic!

i hate that this is the way that most of the public views longboarding. they see four wheels and automatically think that we are there to vandalize and destroy property. i live down in medford oregon but obviously there are the same stereotypes down here. ive had my fare share of times when people have told me how they truely feel about sharing the road with me. even a cop has stopped a friend and i and told us that they they get a ton of complaints about longboarders. although we informed that we have better capabilities than bikers when it comes to control and stopping and he was cool with it, i still hate it when old folks dont tell the difference between us and skateboarders.