3 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 Centr

The author asserts that the prohibition of stakeboarding can improve the business level of Central Plaza for the reasons that there are more skateboard users and more litter and vandalism in the plaza. Although the argument seems plausible at the first glance, a close scrutiny reveals its untenability.

At the first place, the author mistakenly relates the decreasing of shoppers to the increasing of skateboard users. The decreasing number of shoppers in Central Plaza may be due to many reasons. Perhaps a large shopping mall was constructed near Central Plaza two years ago. Or perhaps more litter and vandalism make shoppers worried about the sanitation condition in Central Plaza. It is also a strong possibility that people are less interested in the commodity sold in Central Plaza. Without ruling out these possible factors, the author cannot conclude that the decline of business in Central Plaza is due to more skateboard users.

Secondly, the author infers that increasing litter and vandalism is caused by more skateboard users. One the one hand, a possible condition is neglected is that the number of rubbish collectors may decrease during past two years. On the other hand, once the number of shoppers increases, there will be even more litter in the plaza. Thus, the author cannot attribute bad sanitation condition to the existence of skateboard users.

Finally, the decline of bussiness levels is not strictly disproportional to the increasing of skateboard users, for the reason that the bussiness levels decreased steadily while the skateboard users dramatically. Suppose that the increasing skateboard users is the main reason of less shopper in Central Plaza, the decreasing of bussiness levels also should be as dramatical as the increasing of skateboard users.

In conclusion, the author fails to prove that the prohibition of skateboarding can improve the bussiness levels in Central Plaza. To make the argument more persuasive, the author should provide more statistics of the number of shoppers, skateboard users and the amount of litter. More information about the policy and condition of Central Plaza are also appreciated.