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Who Said That?

"A $99 board is a much better investment than a $500 bike, not to mention a car."

-- William Harris, president of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Longboard Club

Many of the skateboarding enthusiasts who arrive at the Local Longboard Company on Central Avenue are breaking the law.

They arrive via skateboard, which is illegal downtown. But it's so common that co-owner Travis Hise moved a sales rack near the door as a "parking area."

Police officers rarely enforce the decades-old ban that prohibits skateboarding downtown. In fact, one officer, Hise said, told him that he wants to be the first cop on a longboard — a type of skateboard that's usually bigger with wider, sturdier wheels.

Read more from the Tampa Bay Times: Downtown St. Petersburg about to become officially friendly to skateboards