That time Bill Gulliford got into it with his critics on Facebook — over skateboarding
Jax City Councilman Bill Gulliford (Photo: A.G. Gancarski)

Bill Gulliford

Fans of skateboarding are mixing it up on Facebook with Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford. 

After Gulliford proposed legislation to ban skateboarding downtown, foes of the measure quickly took to social media to denounce the idea — and Gulliford himself.

You can check out one such lively exchange here, on the Facebook page of MetroJacksonville’s Stephen Dare.

It’s notable that Gulliford returned the volley in kind, noting that “Atlantic Beach built a skateboard facility, now Jacksonville Beach is doing the same. Maybe need something on the other side of the ditch and this debate might frame it? You seem to be a lot more intuitive than a number of other ‘pea brains’ on Facebook.”

If the councilman’s legislation passes as written, skateboarders caught downtown on public property would be fined.

Fun fact: Jacksonville’s Kona Skate Park is the oldest outdoor, privately owned skate park in the United States (and maybe the world).

 

Melissa Ross

In addition to her work writing for Florida Politics, Melissa Ross also hosts and produces WJCT’s First Coast Connect, the Jacksonville NPR/PBS station’s flagship local call-in public affairs radio program. The show has won four national awards from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI). First Coast Connect was also recognized in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 as Best Local Radio Show by Folio Weekly’s “Best Of Jax” Readers Poll and Melissa has also been recognized as Folio Weekly’s Best Local Radio Personality. As executive producer of The 904: Shadow on the Sunshine State, Melissa and WJCT received an Emmy in the “Documentary” category at the 2011 Suncoast Emmy Awards. The 904 examined Jacksonville’s status as Florida’s murder capital. During her years in broadcast television, Melissa picked up three additional Emmys for news and feature reporting. Melissa came to WJCT in 2009 with 20 years of experience in broadcasting, including stints in Cincinnati, Chicago, Orlando and Jacksonville. Married with two children, Melissa is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism/Communications. She can be reached at [email protected].



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