The Secret Ban

Anonymous

Did you know that skateboarding downtown in Victoria was illegal for almost 15 years? In the early ‘90s fueled by complaints that skateboarding was a ‘serious social problem,’ the city outlawed skateboarding in the downtown core with bylaw officers able issue fines and confiscate boards.

Despite the ban being lifted in 2016, skateboarding is still heavily discouraged, taking the form of metal strips bolted onto seemingly every bench, ledge, and railing downtown.

These deterrence pieces are so ubiquitous in urban design that they are often installed before a single skateboarder has been there. The Courthouse playground, opened in 2017, had anti-skateboarding strips installed before the public had ever set foot inside.