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Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Joe
Kollin
Published May 14,
2008
Stanley Blumenthal, 83,
rides his two-wheeled, self-balancing Segway to visit his girlfriend, shop
at Publix, buy stamps at the post office and go to his doctor's office.
The computer-controlled, battery-powered human transporter uses no gas and
emits no noxious vapors, he said.
"I use it to save on
gas and it's fun," Blumenthal said. "It's safer
than a bicycle and better than walking."
But the condo association at Sunrise Lakes Phase 4, Section
3, says the Segway violates its rules, endangers lives and
damages common property. They have told him to quit riding
it on the community's catwalks, roads and sidewalks or face
fines, liens and possible foreclosure.
"Because your Segway is driven on
common elements, the association therefore has the power to
regulate such use," wrote the association's attorney,
Joel Martin McTague of Plantation and Boca Raton.
Blumenthal, who still works occasionally as a radio officer
in the U.S. Merchant Marine, refuses to stop riding it. His
argument: the condo's documents were written before the
Segway was invented, it causes no more wear and tear on a
road than a car, is legal to use and isn't dangerous.
"I have a substantial investment in the Segway, have
been riding it for several years without incident and have
compromised as much as I can and still use it. I will
continue to do so unless you get a court order stopping
me," he said.
His compromise was agreeing not to ride it on catwalks, sit
on it inside the elevator or ride it on sidewalks.
"I walk it down like a shopping cart and use it only in
the gutter," he said of the street. |
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Easy
rider
Stanley Blumenthal, 83, rides his Segway around the parking lot as his
girlfriend, Florence Cohen, walks around their Sunrise Lakes condo
complex. Blumenthal uses the Segway to shop at Publix and rides it to
doctor appointments. The condo board says he is violating the rules by
using it on condo property.
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Blumenthal
and the board of directors have been arguing over the Segway for more than
two years.
Now McTague is ready to ask the state for an emergency temporary injunction
ordering Blumenthal to stop operating the Segway on condo property.
"Since his return from his vacation, he has continuously violated the
rules," McTague said on Tuesday.
An arbitrator for the Division of Florida Land Sales, Condominiums &
Mobile Homes will decide whether to hear the case.
Blumenthal said he rides the Segway, which goes up to 12 ½ mph and has no
brakes, only where the law allows. He said he has never had an accident.
Florida law says an "electric personal assistive mobility device"
can be used on any street with a speed limit of 25 mph or less, on bike
paths, any street or road where bikes are permitted and sidewalks.
Blumenthal, a widower with three children and four grandchildren, said he
didn't originally set out to buy the Segway.
"My ladyfriend's son bought it for $6,500, toppled off it and decided
to get rid of it," he said. "I wanted it and since I collect
antiques, I traded him for it. I gave him a wind-up record player with a
horn and a Dictaphone that records sound on a wax cylinder."
The Segway is "ideal" for retirement communities, he said.
"There are people here who can't drive because their late husbands
drove them or who gave up their licenses because they're too old," he
said. "As long as they have their faculties they can ride it and be
independent. And they are easy to keep in an apartment."
Why is the association taking action against him?
"I'm the only kid on the block with a Segway and they're jealous,"
Blumenthal said.
The association's president, Charles Lipman, couldn't be reached for comment
but McTague said he has instructed him not to discuss the issue.
Q&A
Q Is it legal, readers ask, for a board to lock the gate on a
sidewalk that lets owners in a gated community walk to and from a nearby
shopping center? Because the main entrance is far from their houses the
closure forces those residents to use their cars instead of walking. The
sidewalks are common property.
A According to attorney Paul D. Eichner, of Bakalar & Eichner
in Plantation, a board generally has broad powers to maintain common areas.
Those include making rules to ensure the community's safety. The governing
documents may further define the particular procedure. The board can decide
to restrict pedestrian traffic on the basis that pedestrian and vehicular
traffic is best monitored through a central location. Of course, nothing
precludes the association from issuing a gate key to residents to encourage
walking, Eichner said.
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