A move to regulate bicycles and electric scooters on Tampa's popular trails, such as the Riverwalk and Bayshore Boulevard, ran into a roadblock Thursday.
City council members voted to table a motion that would have prohibited bicyclists from riding in groups and doing wheelies and stunts. It would have set fines starting at $75.
Several residents complained it would target kids and push bicyclists out into the street. So council members voted to table the ordinance.
Council member Lynn Hurtak said they should come back to work on another plan.
"We have to figure out a way for our bikes, our pedestrians, our scooter riders, our skateboarders, folks with mobility issues to all coexist in the same space," she said, "While knowing that since this Riverwalk was paid for with federal funds, it is a multi-use path, we cannot take bikes off of the Riverwalk legally."
Community activist Connie Burton told council members it could create a repeat of a previous push by city police that they say unfairly targeted black youth. It was dubbed "Biking While Black."
"Here we have in our community, like they always say, policies and ordinance that's paved with good intentions," Burton said, "Somehow comes back to the African community that means something totally different."
City council members then voted to hold another workshop on the proposals in April.
