Letter: All-terrain vehicles don't belong in cities

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Written by Philadelphia Inquirer   
Sunday, October 04, 2009
I was pleased to see your article on the rampant illegal ATV use in Philadelphia ("Neighbors fret over illegal ATV street riders," Monday). I live within a couple of blocks of Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park, where I encounter ATVs a couple of times a month. When I see them, I call 911, but I have found that the police are hesitant to do anything about them.

Once on my way to the park I saw a kid on an ATV driving in big circles around the playground. It was a Saturday, when Lemon Hill is typically full of kids. I had just passed two police officers on bikes sitting on the steps of a house on Poplar Street. I told them about the ATV.

 

I was told by these two officers that it was legal for them to ride ATVs in the park, and that they needed to be given some place to ride them, since they couldn't elsewhere. I think that it is not true that it is legal to ride ATVs in the park, and was furious that the police thought these kids "needed" to be given a place to ride them to the detriment of the other people using the park. I think ATVs do not belong in cities, and there is no reason to tolerate their use or even existence anywhere within the city limits.

Sara Urbanczyk

Philadelphia

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Source: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/currents/20091004_Letters__All-terrain_vehicles_don_t_belong_in_cities.html


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Community Voices

“It’s frustrating having a hunt ruined by people riding ATVs where off-road vehicle use is prohibited. Many ATVs look the same so there’s no way to identify violators when reporting the incident to law enforcement. There should be a requirement that off-road vehicles used on public lands have license plates or large decals. Any ATV user who follows the law and land management directives on where they can and can not use these machines should have no objection to this type of identification.”

- Holly Endersby, hunter from western Idaho