Council approves police crackdown on ATVs

City Council passed a bill Thursday giving police new authority to confiscate and destroy all-terrain vehicles - an effort to crack down on the illegal riding of ATVs and dirt bikes in the city's streets and parks.

Although they often draw ire for riding recklessly, tearing up parks and posing a danger to neighborhood children, riders have formed a subculture of ATV and dirt-bike riders and enthusiasts that has thrived in Philadelphia for years.

Riders who testified at a hearing this month lamented that there was no place to ride legally nearby. Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, who sponsored the bill on behalf of the Nutter administration, said she was committed to working with riders and the private sector to explore solutions. The bill passed, 15-2, with Council members Jannie L. Blackwell and Marian B. Tasco voting against. - Troy Graham