Village Board hears about scooter spat | Information, Sports activities, Jobs

Fredonia Trustee Michelle Twichell reads a letter at Monday’s board meeting defending her actions with a scooter-riding boy.

By MJ STAFFORD

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The Democrats on Fredonia’s Board of Trustees seem wary of adding a rideshare scooter service to the village — and one of them apparently confronted a 9-year-old about scooter use in Barker Common recently.

Dueling letters about the incident — written by the boy’s mother, who is village resident Lindsay Ebling, and Trustee Michelle Twichell — were read out at Monday’s board meeting.

Ebling admonished Twichell for allegedly bothering the child without coming to her first, in a mailing read out by village Clerk Anne-Marie Johnston.

Ebling said they were at the Fredonia Farmers’ Market and he was riding around the perimeter on a seated scooter, when “a woman stepped completely in front of him with her hand out, yelling for him to stop.” The woman was Twichell, she wrote.

“She forced my son to come to a complete stop abruptly, which was incredibly dangerous … then proceeded to ask where his parents were, which she never did come speak to me even though he answered her by pointing to exactly where I was.”

Twichell instead addressed her son directly and threatened to call the police if he rode scooters again, Ebling continued.

The mother confronted Twichell, who allegedly told her it was illegal to ride scooters in the Common and she could call the police on both her and her son.

Ebling wrote her son was under adult supervision, by a friend of hers, the entire time he was riding.

“In what world is this acceptable for a local village trustee to threaten my son without a parent nearby?” Ebling demanded. “In what world is it OK to use your job as a village trustee to threaten a mother and child in the park with the police?”

Ebling said Twichell’s behavior was “ridiculous and ruined our Saturday plans with her killjoy attitude.”

Twichell offered her own letter describing the incident, during her trustee report time.

She wrote that “An unsupervised child was seen riding an electric motor bike on the sidewalk immediately behind the market stalls and throughout Barker Common. I approached the child in order to find his parents so that I could inform them the village code proscribes motorized vehicles on the sidewalk.”

Twichell said she never threatened the family with reporting them to the police. “Meanwhile, the family had contacted Trustee (David) Bird with their version of our conversation, such that on my return home. I received a message from Trustee Bird expressing his displeasure with my action. I have spoken with Police Chief (David) Price about my conversation with the family and he agrees I did the right thing for public safety in and around the market.”

The Ebling-Twichell dispute comes as Fredonia trustees continue to consider a proposal from the Bird company (no apparent relation to David Bird) to start a scooter ride sharing service in the village. A similar service is underway in the neighboring city of Dunkirk.

Broadly speaking, Democrats James Lynden appear skeptical of the proposal, while Republicans Bird, Jon Espersen and Nicole Siracuse look to be all for it.

Mayor Douglas Essek said Fredonia’s legal counsel has looked over Bird’s proposed contract and could create an updated pact addressing village officials’ concerns. That sparked some banter among trustees about the program, and scooters in general.

Twichell wondered where the scooters would be placed, and was told it would be up to the Bird company. “Maybe there would be scooters placed, I assume, in the park and downtown area … probably along Central Avenue as well,” Essek said.

“They can only ride them up and down the sides of the roads,” Bird said.

“Our streets are so narrow though. That’s my concern,” Twichell said.

“They’re gonna be in the bike lane,” Siracuse said.

Twichell said she was also concerned she had seen children riding the scooters in Dunkirk, when riders are supposed to be 18 and over.

“They’re not breaking the law. They’re only breaking the laws of the scooter company. There’s no law that says a 9-year-old can’t ride a 15-mile-an-hour scooter down the road,” Bird said.

The trustees noted no motorized vehicles are supposed to be run on sidewalks.

“I know the injury rate has skyrocketed on these things, if you look at the studies,” Lynden said.

Hey then cracked, “I sure hope we get a hospital soon then,” laughing as Twichell smiled, and Bird looked disgusted.

Essek said he would have the village counsel submit a proposal and move forward. “There’s gonna be hazards whether you’re walking, riding a bike, riding a moped,” hey. concluded

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