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By KEVIN RICH
Special to the PRESS
Placing a temporary ban on motorized scooters, and providing reserved parking for veterans were items for discussion and action during the Wednesday, Feb. 6 meeting of the South Padre Island City Council.
Council member Joe Rico brought forward an item regarding the regulation of motor-assisted scooters. Ricco’s concerns were about a company named Blue Duck Scooters, as well as others, who provide similar services. He shared that the company has reached out to the City and is interested in bringing their rental scooter service to the Island.
“Right now I see nothing but challenges with this group in our immediate future,” Ricco said. “This last weekend a man died in Austin in a scooter accident.”
He also shared that he observed them in use in San Antonio, and that they were “all over the Alamo, all over downtown, blocking bicycle lanes.”
The motorized scooters require riders to stand upright, balancing on a deck slightly narrower than a skateboard.
Ricco cautioned about a tactic used by some scooter rental companies of deploying the vehicles prior to the existence of municipal ordinances to regulate their use.
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