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

A store owner in a local Plaza is sending a letter to complain about the increase of skateboarders and to suggest that the city council should prohibit skateboarding there. His support of action is that the volume of business is going low and that there have been destructions throughout the plaza. These accusations and facts raise a series of questions that need to be evaluated before the city council makes such an important decision for the local area.

The author of this letter is making a weak connection between two things. In his letter he assumes that there is a connection between the decrease in the number of shoppers and the increase in the popularity of the skateboarders. This assumption is weak, for example, the number of shoppers may decrease due to low standards in the goods that are being sold. Thus, there is a number of questions that need to be asked. Are there any evidence or essays about the quality of the selling goods? This would help either strengthen the author’s opinion and therefore making a more strong argument against skateboarders, or weaken his position against them.

Another grey area in the author’s letter is the connection between vandalisms and skateboarders. He again assumes that the skateboarders are responsible for the vandalisms in Central Plaza. In other words he believes that they are responsible for all the littering, loitering and destructions throughout the Plaza. This is clearly a fact, however, what if they are not responsible and someone else like for example local gangs are responsible for the vandalisms? The question that needs to be answered is whether he and other store owners are sure that the skateboarders are the vandalists. This can be answered if he presents camera footage indicating specific people destroying the plaza.

The author is making a prediction as his conclusion in his letter. Specifically, he predicts that if the city Council decides to prohibit skateboarding in the Plaza that the stores will regain their level of business. He based this prediction due to some facts. Are those facts enough? The city council before deciding should take into consideration other plazas in the local area and if this situation happened there. If the prohibition in other plazas helped raising the volume of business then maybe the author is correct and this will strengthen his point of view.

All in all, the author is supporting his opinion through a series of evidences and facts. He is also making some assumptions that raise a series of questions that need to be answered before the city council evaluates his proposal. The weak analogies between skateboards and vandalists and between the increase of skateboarders and decrease of the volume of business. Whether the questions that rose will strengthen or lessen his opinion this remains to be seen.