Disrespectful youths riding bicycles and skateboards illegally
in the City of Bradford was yet again a topic of contention for
city council Tuesday.

Business owner Dwayne Zimmerman explained, “I had a
confrontation yesterday with skateboarders and bicyclers. I stop
one and they swear at me. As a business owner, what are my
rights?”

“Don’t confront them,” Mayor Michele Corignani advised.
“Immediately phone the police. There is no respect. Some of them
retaliate.”

“On my way here, I stopped at the station and they were
discussing this,” Police Chief Roger Sager said. He explained Lt.
Linda Close had just confiscated a skateboard from someone and
given them a talk about the law.

“The hopes of taking the board or bicycle are that the child
will go home and say ‘mom or dad, you have to go with me to the
police station to get my bike or skateboard back.’ Maybe it will
institute some home discipline,” Corignani said.

Zimmerman asked if there are signs up in the downtown telling
people that these activities are illegal.

“Do we have it posted?” Corignani asked City Clerk John
Peterson.

“You’d have to have a sign on every street,” Corignani said.

“The business district is becoming a skate district with those
wide sidewalks,” Zimmerman said.

“I can sympathize. I’ve stopped some youngsters myself,”
Corignani said.

Main Street Manager Diane DeWalt asked, “Do we have to have
signage? We’ve had lots and lots of signs in the Historic District.
It’s a distraction and it takes away from it.”

Corignani suggested putting the signs at prominent entrances to
the city, such as off-ramps on the highway and major traffic
routes.

“You definitely have to get them up somewhere,” she said.

Downtown resident Jay Peterio said, “Safety has more of a
priority than the Historic District. Kids are out of control. The
behavior is not appropriate.”

“I ask the parents to take a little more onus and a little more
responsibility,” the mayor said, adding that not many kids can
afford to buy the bikes or boards on their own.

“A good place to start with the signs is the skate park,”
Peterio suggested. “A lot of those kids might adhere to it.”

However, Corignani said, those may not be the kids causing the
problems.

Also at the council meeting, residents of Abbott Road presented
a petition in favor of having their street being designated as one
way. Since the street changes around the Bradford Regional Medical
Center expansion, people use the road to avoid traffic.

Resident Kenneth Anderson said cars speeding through are
traveling at 35 to 40 mph.

“The kids, when they get out of school, it’s a race track,” he
said.

Other residents expressed concern for the safety of neighborhood
children, saying at least one parked vehicle has been struck by a
motorist who claimed to be blinded by the sun.

Corignani said they would take the matter under review.

Council also approved authorizing solicitor Mark Hollenbeck to
seek a financing proposal for the borrowing of $1 million for the
Elm Street Neighborhood improvements and the preparation of a new
zoning ordinance for the city.

According to the resolution passed, a provision for the
borrowing is included in the city’s annual budget.

Council also passed a measure authorizing a grant contract with
the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development
for a $500,000 HOME program grant to provide homebuyer assistance
for Phase III of the Onofrio Street revitalization project.

The next council meeting will be held May 22.