Recently I travelled to another country in the Americas, no less densely populated, probably moreso, and no less filled with traffic and streets of shops, stores, and resturants. I skated everywhere; past the army post in the village square, through tight tourist quarters, along a boardwalk, even in the airport. Nobody seemed to care. More than anything, what I saw and felt were smiles, an appreciation of the easygoing mode I had of getting around.

It made me wonder about this place here, whether there isn't some kind of perversive pride in the disdain many show to those who don't ascribe to the almighty motor religion. It would be bad enough to simply project displeasure, but the policies here are punitve. In the name of public safety, a bias against youth and self-propelled transport is effected, yet the peril is no greater here than there.

Is it a question of tolerance? Do our authorites take pleasure in exclusion and favoritism? Spring is around the bend, will this year be different than the last, or can we look forward to another round of old ordinances zealously enforced? I would like there to be an appreciation for the live-and-let-live lifestyle I encountered on my travels, where people were less harried and hurried, but I'm wondering is such a thing is even possbile here. Are we too far gone?