Brief by Central Staff
Town Life – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine
It’s illegal to skateboard or bicycle on sidewalks in Salida (that’s true of most municipalities), and it’s also a law that’s hard to enforce (also true of most municipalities).
Getting police to write citations is the “stick” approach, as in “carrot and stick,” and so some of Salida’s downtown merchants are trying the “carrot” approach.
They’ve put up small “walk your board” posters, and every so often, when they see a skateboarder actually carrying a skateboard on the sidewalk, rather than riding it, the dismounted boarder will get a $5 gift certificate to a coffee shop.
Lucky boarders will be chosen totally at random, so there’s no guarantee of winning anything. But as mere pedestrians, we’re glad to promote any method of making our sidewalks a little safer, so we hope this approach works.
