Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd), always on the lookout for urban irritants that threaten the city’s peace and welfare, on Wednesday proposed hefty fines for out-of-control skateboarders and skaters.
“The worse that [critics] can do is what they always have done–call me a killjoy,” declared Natarus, who previously helped ban “undiapered” carriage horses and who continues to push for a prohibition of hand-held cellular phones in moving cars.
Natarus’ newest proposal, patterned after a New York ordinance, would prohibit “reckless operation” of skates and skateboards on streets and sidewalks. Violators would face fines ranging from $50 to $100.
“We have had instances where rollerbladers and skateboarders have knocked people down,” said the alderman, who represents the downtown area and a section of the Near North Side. “Summer is coming and we are getting rollerbladers on Michigan Avenue. I think it represents a dangerous situation.”
Natarus’ proposal would expand on an ordinance he co-sponsored in 1988. It prohibits skateboard use on sidewalks in the Loop and neighborhood business districts.
He hinted that if his new measure wins City Council approval, he might in the future propose confining all skaters and skateboarders to city streets.
Also on Wednesday, Ald. Thomas Allen (38th) proposed a measure designed to rein in the proliferation of honorary street signs in the city.
Under his ordinance, “no person, group, institution, organization, event or other entity” could be honored on more than one street or intersection, no intersection could have more than four honorary street name signs and no portion of any street could have more than one honorary name.
Moreover, the proposal would require the heads of the Departments of Transportation and Streets and Sanitation to study the feasibility of developing alternatives to honorary signs such as special markers in public places.
In other action Wednesday, the City Council:
Approved a Daley administration proposal to provide a $27 million economic development subsidy to ABN Amro for construction of a 1.3 million-square-foot “high-tech office center” at 540 W. Madison St. The 31-story building is to house 3,900 employees of the firm who now are in various offices around the Loop and provide space for up to 1,100 additional workers.
