Syracuse, NY Public Conduct: Skateboarding Rules (2026)

1 of the Revised General Ordinances defines a "skateboard or other like instrument" as any nonmotorized device that transports a rider by wheels or rollers under the rider's own power, excluding wagons and other non-propelled devices. The prohibition applies specifically to "any sidewalk, street, parking lot, or other public place in the area of the City of Syracuse known as the special assessment district," a downtown business zone defined in Chapter 38 of the Revised General Ordinances. Outside that district, riders are governed instead by the code's "prudent use" standard: a skateboard or like instrument must be operated in a careful and prudent manner that does not create a danger to any person or property and does not interfere with anyone else's proper use of a public way.

Sec. 15-70, the city's coasters-and-roller-skates provision, cross-references this rule, confirming that skateboards are carved out of the general roadway riding restriction and instead governed by Sec. 1's district-specific ban and citywide prudent-use standard. The ordinance was adopted by Gen. Ord. No. 40-1989 on July 31, 1989, and has not been repealed. Enforcement falls to the Syracuse Police Department, which can issue a violation to anyone riding, or permitting another to ride, a skateboard on downtown sidewalks, streets or parking lots within the assessment district's boundaries.

Because the ban is geographically limited rather than citywide, a rider who is stopped in the assessment district cannot avoid liability by claiming the sidewalk was otherwise open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic; the district designation itself triggers the prohibition regardless of how quiet or empty the street is at the time.