Council plans skateboard, scooter crackdown

A COUNCIL crackdown on reckless skateboarders and mobility scooters in Lismore's CBD is in the pipeline after a stream of complaints from retailers.

A COUNCIL crackdown on reckless skateboarders and mobility scooters on the footpaths of Lismore's CBD is in the pipeline after a stream of complaints from retailers.

At Tuesday night's council meeting, a motion by Simon Clough for Council to investigate "all means at its disposal" to enforce a ban on skateboarding, cycling and careless mobility scooters won unanimous support.

Potential ways of dealing with the problem included confiscating skateboards from repeat offenders and making council's CBD security staff "special constables".

Cr Clough said a rising tide of dangerous behaviour was plaguing the footpaths of downtown Lismore.

"It's been a constant complaint from shopkeepers around the CBD," Cr Clough said.

"People might say 'oh yes, ho hum', but it really is a critical issue to create safety in the CBD so everybody can use it.

KEEP OF THE FOOTPATH: Local skateboarder Harrison Duffy tearing up the Lismore skate park. Picture: Patrick Gorbunovs

"I'm not necessarily advocating we get into vigilante stuff and start taking other people's skateboards but there has to be a balance."

But councillor Graham Meineke went further, advocating a "zero tolerance" approach with the confiscation of offending skateboards or bicycles.

"If Rudy Giuliani did in New York, surely we can do it in Lismore," Cr Meineke said.

"All you need is three bicycles or four skateboards to be confiscated for a period of 10 days each... the message will get out there."

Tropicana Fruit Shop owner Alex Coronakes said he felt duty-bound to walk all his elderly customers out the door of his Keen St shop to protect them from speeding skateboarders.

"The issues is we get a few old people here... we have visually-impaired people, we have people who can't hear, and we get these clowns," Mr Coronakes said.

"There's skate parks provided by the council and plenty of other footpaths around Lismore but I don't believe it should be permitted in the CBD. It's a shopping precinct," he said.

"You can't go to Lismore Square and ride your pushbikes and skateboards around up in there."