Laurie Schwartz, a spokeswoman for Baltimore's Waterfront Partnership, said skateboarding is prohibited in the Inner Harbor to protect pedestrians.
"The other problem," she said, "is that it damages the bricks and concrete and other hard surfaces that have been constructed."
Bicycling was also prohibited but is now allowed before 10 a.m. and during certain hours on the weekend to encourage people to exercise, she said.
Dakota Welty, 13, of York, Pa., who skates in Baltimore almost every week, said the ban is frustrating because he can skate in the Inner Harbor in the video game Tony Hawk's Proving Ground. Released last fall, the game allows players to navigate through downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor.
A growing number of skate parks are being built around the country, but Dakota said they don't replace the sensation of skating in the street.
"It's just so fun to skate down the street," he said. "It's always different, not like a skate park. The ground is different everywhere you go."
Brenda Welty, Dakota's mother, said she allows him to go street skating only if he is with other skaters whom she trusts to act responsibly. "Kids need to respect the police officers," she said, "but the way some police officers are going about it is instilling some very negative perceptions about them in kids."
Chapman said skateboarding has shed much of its anti-establishment image because of the popularity of the X-Games and TV shows featuring skateboarding.
"We used to be dirty or scum," he said, "but it's different now. Kids nowadays don't have, like, `Thrashin" written on their boards. Because they might have seen Tony Hawk on Letterman last night." (Thrashin' is a 1986 movie about skateboarders.)
Through videos and magazines, he said, the skateboarding industry has tried to discourage vandalism and littering. "We still grind things, and we can be a nuisance," Chapman said. "But a lot of kids are more respectful."
Like any other physical activity, he said, skateboarding helps youths stay fit and keeps them away from other temptations.
"I love Baltimore to death, but she's a tough cookie," he said. "Because of skateboarding, kids don't get into drugs in a city where heroin is a popular leisure-time activity."
chris.emery@baltsun.com
