The following appeared as a letter to the editor from a Central Plaza store owner."Over the past two years, the number of shoppers in Central Plaza has been steadily decreasing while the popularity of skateboarding has increased dramatically. Many Central

The letter attempts to establish a causal relationship between the increase in skateboarding activity and the decline in the business in Central Plaza, thereby proposing a prohibition of skateboarding in the plaza to restore business.

Even if we do not consider skateboarding as a business in itself, there is always a possibility of a category of people who come to plaza for both shopping and entertainment (say skateboarding), prohibiting skateboarding therefore, may have an adverse effect on the business itself.

The author of the letter claims that the business in Central Plaza can return to the previous level consequent to the prohibition. There has to be an objective assessment of what that previous level was and how prohibiting skateboarding-which may turn away many potential shoppers, is going to return the business to the same level, if not more. Addressing the plausibility of this claim that prohibiting skateboarding 'alone' has the potential to restore business, can add more sanity to our further investigation into this recommendation.

The writer argues that 'many' other store owners share her belief, however, it brings into question the majority and impartiality of this view. If only those store owners with shops near the skateboarding facility were involved in the development of this view, then the possibility of competition-driven reactions cannot be neglected. Even if it does represent the view of the majority of the store owners irrespective of their vicinity with the skateboarding facility, other factors also demand an evaluation. For example, it is possible that the total number of people coming to the plaza has increased over the last two years, in which case, it is plausible for skateboarding to grow and number of shoppers to decrease without these events being mutually related. A systematic elimination of other such factors from the overall equation can help establish the significance of this view(of other store owners) presented in the letter.

Increase in litter in a commonly crowded places like a plaza can be attributed to many other factors than just the presence of a recreational facility. These factors could be, for example, if there is any construction work in progress in the plaza or if the popularity of say a restaurant inside plaza has increased, which increases the chances of people littering the surrounding areas too, etc. An investigation into these possibilities will help in either discounting the litter issue completely from the argument or strengthen it through further substantiation.

Vandalism on the other hand, is more likely to be an act of miscreants rather than the public indulged in recreational activities. Before attributing vandalism entirely to the skateboarding public, it is didactic to be sure about the activities of the other public too. We need to know if this claimed property damage happens near the skateboarding facility. If not, then we further need to address the questions like, if there are pubs, beer shops etc, whose customers under the influence of intoxication are committing the stated vandalism. Addressing such questions will help in validating the writer's stand on the relation between skateboarders and increased vandalism across the Central plaza.

I would posit that this recommendation should not be adopted at its face value. The concerned recommendation evaluation committee should assess the plausibility of the potential of recovering business in the Central Plaza by prohibiting skateboarding 'alone'. They have to be cautious about running into the danger of losing the faction of its shoppers who come to the Plaza for not only shopping but skateboarding as well. Litter in commonly crowded places cannot be attributed to the participation of people in a recreational activity alone, other factors need to be considered as well. Similarly, vandalism cannot be exclusively coupled with skateboarding and one needs to look into other equally persuasive factors as well.