PORT ANGELES – The City Council is considering asking voters to fund a bond issue for a comprehensive public safety and public nuisance enforcement program that could include requiring skateboard helmets.
The council voted 6-1 Tuesday night to have city staff research the details of a levy or bond issue, possibly for the February ballot.
The sweeping proposal arose during discussion of possibly expanding the city’s bicycle helmet ordinance to include requiring skateboarders to wear helmets.
The city staff’s research will include the city activities to be covered by the program, staffing levels to enforce safety and other ordinances, the funding that would be needed and how the information would be put into a levy or bond issue for the ballot.
City Councilman Grant Munro voted against the proposal, saying the council needed to discuss what it was trying to accomplish.
The council also voted unanimously to begin a public safety campaign encouraging helmet use for numerous high-risk activities, including skateboarding, and name it after the late Frank Russo.
Russo was 14 when he died June 17, 2006, the day after he fell while skateboarding at the Port Angeles Skate Park on a rare occasion when he was not wearing his helmet.
