Carol of ME I don't get it -- why are you connecting skateboarders and art students? Can you separate the two? And to TheKid -- what's with the crack about MCLU? All I want people to do is to quit clustering certain people with certain problems. Yes, skateboarding on sidewalks and a skateboarder coming at you from seemingly nowhere is not a good thing. But to cluster everyone who is going to art school as a "hipster doofus" (if we are going to use the word, spell it correctly)is crazy. Anyone have anything negative to say about USM?report abuse

Carol of ME I don't get it -- why are you connecting skateboarders and art students? Can you separate the two? And to TheKid -- what's with the crack about MCLU? All I want people to do is to quit clustering certain people with certain problems. Yes, skateboarding on sidewalks and a skateboarder coming at you from seemingly nowhere is not a good thing. But to cluster everyone who is going to art school as a "hipster doofus" (if we are going to use the word, spell it correctly)is crazy. Anyone have anything negative to say about USM?report abuse

Adam180 of Portland, ME I'd have to agree with Dominic about all these hipster dufesses, and the idiots with no regard to public safety who roar down lower Exchange Street all day long, often blindly swerving in front of cars coming down the street driven by drivers looking for a place to park, and tourists unaware some art student/unemployed type might come flying out in front of them from behind at any second! Sometimes lying down on the board! I've witnessed this a few times. When drivers honk, the little punks get aggressive and confrontational with them, most often laying down a couple dozen profanities! Sometimes I'll have lunch in Tommy's park and am amazed at what I see going on there with these degenerates and street kids! I say PFD should start hosing them all down! They'd probably remain, but at least they'd get some of the grime and dirty off them! Same with the Art students! And Skateboards for transportation? Skateboards are for kids!report abuse

Dominic of Portland, ME "Your kids ALMOST getting hit in the ankle by a skateboard seems very trite in comparison to the shocking amount of real hostility and violence that exists in Portland that has NOTHING to do with skateboarding. Now where should the REAL concern of the Police force be???"

My kid is one year old so a flying skateboard to the head is a little more than a knick to the ankle.

I agree with the violence in this city. It's pretty sad. I've seen some awful stuff myself. I've had my car window smashed out and robbed, I've had a bottle get thrown out a car window barely missing my head, I've seen brutal fights in the old port.

To be honest, I don't want these kids to get tickets or go to jail or anything like that. It would just be nice if the police around there would just stop them and tell them to knock it off. They go down Exchange st. all day long and one of these times somebody is going to be walking out into the road and not see them and it's going to be quite the collision.

I'm not sticking up for Rudy G, but his broken window theory he used in NYC would be a good idea around here. Let's start really getting on the small things like graffiti and smaller crimes. For a population our size, we should not be having the issues we have.report abuse