Holladay City Journal | May 2020

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May 2020 | Vol. 17 Iss. 05

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PUBLIC SPACE: A SKATER’S PLAYGROUND OR A PEDESTRIAN HAZARD? By Zak Sonntag | z.sonntag@mycityjournals.com

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pring has sprung: cool rain, lush lawns, bright flowers, and, to the growing irritation of city leaders, a fresh crop of teenaged skaters, who whirl through the streets in search of features to grind, gap and drop. On a breezy afternoon in April, Xander Velez, 15, a stalwart skater, ollies onto a circular bench in the Holladay Village plaza, attempting a crooked grind on its newly waxed edge. For a moment, it looks like he’s got the bench tamed, but he loses his balance and the board clatters onto the ground. “This trick is tough, because you have to keep one truck in the air at an angle,” he said. Xander is one among many Holladay skaters eager to make short work of the city’s ledges, benches and curbs. But their growing presence is vexing city officials, who lament the skateboarders’ impact on infrastructure and safety—and the safety issues are not limited to the skaters themselves. “I was out front of Roxberry (Juice Co.) and a skateboarder came off the steps and scared the you-know-what out of me. Just about crashed into me,” said Mayor Robert Dahle during a March city council meeting. If you’ve seen them in action, you get the mayor’s point, because the action is ramping up. As Xander plies his craft in the plaza, meanwhile, across the street 17-year-old Cameron plunges off the notorious Roxberry Juice Co. stair set, whose short sidewalk landing leaves little room for error as the No. 45 UTA bus barrels past. “The risk factor adds a major element. It means you Xander Velez, 15, attempts a backside flip off a bench in the Holladay plaza. (Zak Sonntag/City Journals) Continued page 4

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