The 'no flotation devices' is a Park Board Ordinance, it's not just a
rule for the beaches:
PB3-3. Use of flotation equipment. No person or persons shall
use air mattresses, inner tubes or other inflated articles or flotation
equipment in any park lakes except that inflatable boats may be used on
park lakes as designated in the permit after first obtaining a Minnesota
state watercraft license and a permit in accordance with section PB4-1
therefor. (Code 1960, As Amend., � 1011.060; Pk. Bd. Ord. No. 73-103, �
1, 7-18-73; Pk. Bd. Ord. No. 75-108, � 1, 7-16-75)
PB4-1. License; registration required. No person shall place,
have or use any watercraft for which a license is required under
Minnesota Statutes Annotated, Section 361.03 on any lake situated within
or partially within the city without registering the state license
number with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. (Code 1960, As
Amend., � 1030.010; Pk. Bd. Ord. No. 81-104A, � 1, 9-2-81)
I was kind of surprised by the Mayor's suggestion about tubing down the
Minnehaha Creek. Although this ordinance only mentions lakes, I can
remember as a child in the 70's, tubing down the Minnehaha Creek and
when we got out just before the falls a Park Policeman told us that it
was against the law. He impounded our inner tubes until one our parents
came to pick us up.
Later on I became a Park Board lifeguard who had to enforce this on the
beaches. The principal behind it is that a flotation device is a
'crutch' for someone that can't swim well. They can get out over their
heads and fall off or the device could deflate, thus putting them in a
dangerous situation. When you were responsible for watching 100's of
lives each day, this just wasn't something else you wanted to worry
about.
By the way, I found these by going to the City of Minneapolis website
(http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/cityhall/laws/ordinances/) and followed
the link to the Municipal Code Homepage, which is on another site. The
Park Board ordinances come after the City ordinances.
Paul Barber
Loring Park
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf
Of Lynnell Mickelsen
Sent: Friday, August 02, 2002 5:55 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [Mpls] yank the lifeguards at (some) city beaches
[snip]
Because at 8 p.m. , the lifeguards leave. And when the
lifeguards are on duty, they enforce their insane list of rules which
include: no innertubes, no floatation devices of any kind, no tossing
a ball in the water (actually, it's worse than this--no balls of any
kind at all, tossed or untossed and ditto for frisbees), no
splashing, no horse-play, no use of snorkels, masks, fins, no
touching the buoys or ropes and on and on. All enforced in the name
of safety and making sure there's no liability of any kind.
[snip]
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