*** E-scooter' fans lobby Seattle transportation panel ***

Seattle, Washington -- 06/19/2004
An 11-year-old kid, a fire marshal and noise-weary neighbors
all hit the microphone at a Seattle public hearing last night to
discuss upcoming rules governing Segways and motorized foot
scooters.

The buzz was about electric foot scooters -- "e-scooters"
-- with pleas to distinguish them from noisier, faster gas
-operated models.

"Those motor boards are loud," said Burgess Malarkey, an
11-year-old from West Seattle who calls cruising on his quiet
electric BladeZ a "blast."

A proposed bill crafted in May would take both models off city
sidewalks, public paths and bike lanes, and limit riders to age
16 and older.

"Please don't take away my right to do something that I love,"
Burgess, who just graduated from elementary school, begged
to transportation committee leaders Jean Godden and Richard
Conlin. New amendments to the bill, released yesterday, make
the distinction between the e-scooters and gas models, which
generate a sound that irritated neighbors compared to chainsaws.

The changes would require the gas
powerboards to be equipped with mufflers.

The updates also would allow either all e-scooters or
all scooters that go 15 mph or less to operate on city
sidewalks.

Gas powerboards travel at speeds exceeding 30 mph.

Under the amendments, motorized foot scooters would be
banned from public school fields and playgrounds.

However, the physically disabled would be able to use
Segways or motorized foot scooters in areas limited to
other users.

City workers who use the self-balancing Segway human transporters
asked for exemption from proposed restrictions -- which would allow
the devices on sidewalks, but not bike lanes or public pathways.

City fire Marshal Milt Footer, who uses a Segway for special events,
compared the experience to "glorified walking."

The council is expected to vote on the scooter bill Tuesday.

Geneb...Wenatchee,Washington-USA
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