“Bordeaux is really the only city where you can do whatever you want”. Before getting into the bowl at the Chartrons skate park, Romain is delighted to have settled down in the Gironde capital during his studies. It must be said that with its “thousands or even its tens of thousands” of daily practitioners, the sleeping beauty is a wonderful welcoming land for skateboarding enthusiasts. And it is not the new measures to regulate the practice that will make him change his mind.
On March 22, local elected officials and Bordeaux skate associations published, hand in hand, a “good practice guide”. “It’s good that there are skate parks, but that doesn’t meet all of the demand for practice,” says Léo Valls, a professional skater from Bordeaux. The reality is a large majority of skates in town”. So, the “skateboarding ban” signs were replaced by “new benevolent signage”, as were the physical fines, which left room for dialogue between the different users of the public square.
A restored dialogue
“The old master plan was intended to ban skateboarding in several places in the city”, regrets Amine Smihi, deputy mayor in charge of Tranquility, Security, Prevention and the Maintenance of public space. And Léo Valls to bid: “it was totally counter-productive, you can’t put a policeman behind every skater”. So, it has been a few years since mediation with the former elected officials first started. “But the new town hall wanted to go further,” explains the professional skateboarder. We therefore worked on the production of a guide that makes recommendations for use for all the places that posed problems”. “We are betting on prevention,” explains the Bordeaux elected official.
“Benevolent signage”
From now on, the new preventive panels classify the “spots” according to the degree of possible nuisance: skate parks, developed sites, sites for free current practice and sensitive sites where practice can cause nuisance and risks. “This signage is as much for skateboarders as for local residents,” rejoices Léo Valls. For example, Cours du Chapeau-Rouge, the practice has gone from “prohibited” to “possible between 10 am and 8 pm”. But here again, practitioners are required to follow a few instructions, indicated on the new signs. “Respect continues to be the rule”, specifies the elected official in charge of the project. Also, these panels offer the possibility of finding the guide online, but also of being offered the nearest fallback spot when the practice is prohibited.
First positive feedback
Novelties are delighted the skater community. “We have great feedback from local practitioners, welcomes Léo Valls. This makes them responsible for the fact that they are not alone in the city, but also because they have understood that their practice is valued and understood as a cultural and socio-cultural practice and not just as a sport”.
On the local resident side, Amine Smihi admits that he “expected to receive many more messages expressing surprise at the lifting of the bans”. A few days after its effective implementation, this new regulation did not cause any outcry. To the point of making Bordeaux an example to follow? “We have people who come from all over to skate in Bordeaux,” says the professional skateboarder. We even have great feedback from other municipalities, other associations who would like to draw inspiration from the Bordeaux approach. It’s great ! »