A new ordinance to ban skateboards on Main Street is set to go before the Columbia City Council, and one local skate shop says it may be bad for business. Councilman Cameron Runyan says he made the proposal with pedestrian safety in mind due to how crowded Main Street can get at peak hours.
"Within a very dense, commercial district where you have a lot of resurgent activity downtown, it creates a public safety hazard to have folks on skateboard weaving in and out of pedestrian traffic," said Runyan.
Blue Tile Skate Shop owner David Toole says many of those who skateboard the streets aren't doing tricks and going fast, but are experienced riders using it as a commuting option. Toole now fears this could hurt business.
"I think we need to be careful about singling people out because they use a different form of transportation than we use," said Toole. "Rather than tell them you can't do it, work with people to make that a more viable option."
If passed, riders would have to walk one block to Assembly or Sumter Streets to skateboard, and Runyan says it will be much safer especially with the new housing building on Main Street opening next semester.
"We're about to have 800 young folks moving onto Main Street in the next couple of months, so I do think it's important that we get ahead of these issues before they perhaps become more problematic down the road," said Runyan.
In his 30+ years of skateboarding, Toole says he has not had an accident nor has he heard of one happening on Main Street involving a skateboard. While he doesn't disagree that walking a block isn't a bad deal, he says the bigger issue is the way it makes riders look.
"I understand Main Street can be pretty congested, but that's what I was talking about is waiting for it to become a problem and address it as a problem rather than talking about a ban because that's going to put a negative spin on skateboarding," said Toole.

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