Pests of Fallbrook?

Many local businesses know what it is like to look out the front window and see skateboarders ruining private property. This takes time out of everyone’s life. It takes time for the one who spotted the unwanted guests to go tell them to leave, it takes time for the groundskeeper to repaint handrails and it takes time for the skaters to find a different “skate spot.” Telling them to leave will only keep them away for a short while. Soon they will be back discoloring the newly painted handrail.

The skaters are a problem not only to businesses but to commuters on local roads also. There are very few sidewalks in Fallbrook, which puts the skateboarders on the streets, going from gaps to rails to stairs and back again. Sure, there are ways to prevent them from grinding handrails – simply weld bumps onto the railing. There are probably even ways to keep them away completely, but do these add-ons look good to the public? Do an uneven handrail and street reflectors at the bottom of a stair set look inviting to customers?

No matter how many businesses take these precautionary measures to protect their property, the real issue has not gone and will not go away. There always has been and always will be skateboarders. They need a safe place specifically designed for grinding, gapping, sliding, slipping, et cetera. There has been an effort to construct a skatepark at Ingold Sports Park, but there has not been enough community financial support.

To all those men and women who can relate to what is written above, there is one question you must ask yourselves: keep paying for repairs and setbacks to keep the skateboarders away or pay for them to have a place to go? Yes, this would encourage them to keep skating, but as was stated above, “There always has been and always will be skateboarders.”

Daren Huber