Push to Legalize Skateboarding in Downtown Cheyenne Falls Short

A proposal by Cheyenne City Councilman Richard Johnson to legalize skateboarding in downtown fell short Monday night.

The City Council failed to get on board with the idea, voting 6 to 4 to keep the current law on the books.

"This ordinance literally died because there wasn't enough confrontation from the downtown merchants," said Johnson. "None of them even showed up to speak against it."

Some argued that there was no point in keeping a law that wasn't being enforced.

"We've had, I think, five citations in the last ten years on this," said Police Chief Brian Kozak. "It's just something that officers don't place a high priority on."

"If it's not a priority to enforce, or frankly if it's tough to enforce, they (police) probably don't need that added responsibility of another thing to have to try to enforce," said Councilman Bryan Cook.

"I am not in favor of amending the ordinance," said Mayor Rick Kaysen. "Yes enforcing such type of a code is difficult, but I don't think it's advisable to write it off the books."

Council members Jim Brown, Mike Luna, Dicky Shanor, Annette Williams and Dr. Mark Rinne also voted against the ordinance.