SALISBURY, Md. - A Salisbury father says a police officer approached his young daughter Monday night for skateboarding at the new 'Unity Square.'
His facebook post about that incident has led to hundreds of people weighing in. The debate centers around what should and should not be permitted at the new city space.
The girl's father, Bryan Whipple says he's frustrated that police showed up.
"It's a cool skate spot, it's always going to be a cool skate spot, whether it's allowed or not. And that's not me being rude or confrontational," he said.
Whipple brought his daughter back to Unity Square Tuesday and encouraged her to keep skateboarding.
"She's not hurting anything. It was tough for me to explain what malicious destruction of property meant when she's just literally out here playing. Do you see anything getting chipped up?" Whipple said.
Mayor Randy Taylor says there are plenty of places to skateboard in Salisbury, but Unity Square is not one of them.
"Unity Square is just sort of a downtown space where people can have their lunch, read a book, have a conversation, walk around, maybe play hacky sack but its not designed for skateboarders. The skateboarder community has a skate park in city park which we spent several hundreds of thousands of dollars building years ago,' the Mayor said.
Some neighbors WBOC spoke with say they believe skating should be allowed at the park. While others say this space should be saved for gatherings and events.
Salisbury Police Chief Dave Meinschein says the Salisbury Police is not currently issuing citations for skateboarding violations at Unity Square.
"We'd rather not deal with some minor infraction like this, but when we get a call on it, we have to respond. And like I said it is a new facility, we'll go and we'll just ask folks to leave," he said.
Chief Meinschein also pointed out that there is already skateboarding damage at Unity Square, highlighting the fact that the square is not conducive for the activity.
City officials say signage will soon be added to Unity Square, sharing what is and what is not permitted there. An official ribbon cutting is also scheduled for the near future.
