Skateboarding

Main Beach Park may be this city's prized "window to the sea," but it may also become the site of a skateboard arena. The Laguna Beach City Council voted unanimously this week to explore the idea of building a skateboard park at either Main Beach or adjacent Heisler Park. "I'd put it at Main Beach," said Mayor Wayne L. Peterson. "This is a spectator sport. People like doing it and being watched, and people like watching them."

A Los Angeles man was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence after a skateboarder was struck and killed in the Los Feliz neighborhood. Adam Paul Means, 26, was booked and later released on $25,000 bail, authorities said. David Lambrecht, a 28-year-old Chicago resident, was riding a skateboard on Saint George Street approaching Lyric Avenue when Means' car struck him, police said.

The teen-age skateboarding arrests are unthinkable! As the mother of two grown sons who skateboarded day and night when they were 15 years old, I say extreme treatment is an understatement of the arrests. I feel sorry that the boys and their parents had to go through such abusive treatment. GINNY FAIRBROTHER, La Mirada

The owners of a large commercial and retail center will ask the City Council tonight to consider banning skateboarding and roller skating on their property. At the 42-acre Centerpointe La Palma plaza, skateboarders have ripped out concrete parking stall dividers to build jumps, chipped corners from buildings and scratched the paint off benches in the process of performing tricks, property manager Julie Olin said Monday.

The City Council decided this week to consider banning skateboarding and roller-skating in some commercial areas. After receiving a complaint from the owner of a large commercial and retail center, council members unanimously agreed Tuesday to consider a law outlawing skaters in areas where property owners post signs. The proposed law will go before the council Sept. 3.

Responding to complaints from business owners, the City Council this week unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting roller skating and skateboarding in certain areas of the city. The ordinance will take effect in 30 days. For private property, owners can request that signs be posted to designate the property as "no roller-skating and skateboarding zones."

About 35 young people filled the City Council chambers Monday to discuss a proposed ordinance that could put the skids on skateboarding in some areas of Laguna Niguel. The ordinance would allow the council to ban skateboarding, roller-skating and bicycling at commercial centers if requested by business owners. County Sheriff's Lt.