DATE: Sunday, August 17, 1997               TAG: 9708170098

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MICHELLE MIZAL, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   99 lines

SKATEBOARDERS SAY ORDINANCE IS UNFAIR BEACH RESTRICTIONS DON'T AFFECT IN-LINE SKATERS.

If Curtis Rakowski loved in-line skating, he could be rolling at the Oceanfront, listening to the waves crash while weaving his way through the Boardwalk crowds.

But Rakowski, 13, gets his thrills from another set of wheels: a skateboard. And for him, the Oceanfront is off limits.

In May, the City Council barred skateboarding on any surface east of Pacific Avenue from Rudee Inlet to 42nd Street, expanding a ban that began with the sidewalks east of Pacific, the Boardwalk and Oceanfront parks and plazas.

Rakowski is one of many skateboarders who, still feeling the sting of rejection, think the city created an unreasonable double standard by letting in-line skaters do their thing at the Oceanfront while giving skateboarders the boot.

``It's not fair,'' the teen-ager said recently after working up a sweat at the indoor Virginia Beach Skate Park, his practice site since the ban took effect. ``They think rollerblading is a recreational sport and that (the skaters) can't get aggressive.''

Rob Bradford, owner of the Skate Park, thinks city officials stereotype skateboarders.

``It's their whole outlook,'' he said. ``They think we're a bunch of punks.''

Sergie Ventura, a professional skateboarder, said the council doesn't realize that the sport started in the streets and that it's unfair for in-line skaters to get the street practice when skateboarders can't.

``I don't have anything against the rollerbladers; I respect them like I respect any sport,'' said Ventura, 27, who recently returned from the Vans Hard Rock Cafe Boston Contest for skateboarding. ``But if they can do it, why can't we?''

Vice Mayor W.W. ``Will'' Sessoms Jr. sponsored the ban after hearing complaints from police that skateboarders were costing the city thousands of dollars a month to repair property damage, mainly to Boardwalk benches, masonry work and walls.

``We have been receiving complaints that the skateboarders have been doing damage to property and skating in a reckless manner,'' said Capt. Ernest Rorrer of the 2nd Precinct. ``I personally am not aware of the property damage as a result of rollerbladers.''

Most in-line skaters, he said, appear to be tourists renting skates, and residents ``just getting their exercise on the Boardwalk.''

But Rakowski said that while skateboarders do slide across curbs with the front end of their boards, in-line skaters enjoy a stunt called ``grinding'' in which they slide across curbs and benches between the skates' wheels - causing surfaces to chip.

``The rollerbladers mess things up more than we do,'' said Rakowski, a former in-line skater. ``They're the ones who have to wax more because their blades don't slide as easily as skateboards. They're the ones that do the grinding on the top part of the benches. Skateboarders can't get that high.''

Even some in-line skaters think the law seems unfair.

``We grind and wax also,'' said Phil Briscoe, 17, a skater who lives in Virginia Beach.

Billy Dull, a skater and a manager at 17th Street Surf Shop at the Oceanfront, believes the ban excluded in-line skating for a basic reason: money.

``There's tons of places where people can rent rollerblades at the beach,'' he said. ``It's a business. No one rents skateboards, and that's why they're outlawed.''

Others, like Bradford, see the ban as a sign of an image problem, a perception that skateboarding is a rebellious fad and not a sport.

Nike used this perception in a commercial for skateboarding shoes.

The ad showed professional athletes such as basketball and tennis players being handcuffed. The message: What if we treated all our athletes like we treat skateboarders?

Julian Etheridge, 22, an employee at Virginia Beach Skate Park, said he recently got a ticket for riding his skateboard down Atlantic Avenue.

``I was going home. I think they gave it to me because of the way I look,'' said Etheridge, brushing a strand of dred-locked hair away from his face.

Skateboarders say their sport is misunderstood.

``I don't know how to compare it,'' Bradford said. ``It's more like gymnastics than anything else. A person (who is) learning how to skateboard is going to get hurt trying to learn it for the first few years.''

That learning will have to happen away from the resort strip. Meanwhile, in-line skaters can continue to hone their skills on the Boardwalk.

``Everybody can Rollerblade,'' Briscoe said as he slowly moved his in-line skates back and forth on the concrete at Virginia Beach Skate Park.

Police see kids and parents skating, he said, and that's why they accept the sport.

Rakowski nodded in agreement. ``That sucks,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

TING-LI WANG/The Virginian-Pilot

``I don't have anything against the rollerbladers; I respect them

like I respect any sport. But if they can do it, why can't we?'' -

SERGIE VENTURA, PROFESSIONAL SKATEBOARDER

Photo

TING-LI WANG/The Virginian-Pilot

Sergie Ventura, a professional skateboarder, said that the sport

started in the streets and that it's unfair for in-line skaters to

get the street practice when skateboarders can't. He was

practicing recently at Virginia Beach Skate Park.

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