Today I learned: Somerville has a law against endurance contests

[ron_newman]

Thanks to the Boston 2024 Olympic bid, I learned today that Somerville still has this law on the books, probably left over from the 1930s:

Sec. 8-186. - Marathons, walkathons and other endurance exhibitions.

No person shall conduct in any hall or other public place in the city any dancing exhibition or other form of public amusement such as a walkathon or marathon exhibition wherein the participants therein are permitted to engage in an endurance contest, or wherein persons engaged in such a contest continue to dance or walk or engage in said contest for more than four hours in any one day; nor shall any amusement or entertainment conducted in connection with or as a part of such dancing or walking contest be permitted after 12:00 midnight on any weekday except Saturday, on which day said walking or dancing contest or amusement or entertainment conducted in connection therewith on the premises or place of amusement shall cease at 11:45 p.m.

I don't expect this to affect the Olympic cycling events that are proposed for Somerville, since none of them are likely to last over four hours or continue past 11:45 pm.

Comments

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, walking endurance matches were a thing way back when.

[ckd]

If you have a cycling event that lasts more than 4 hours, seek medical attention immediately. :-)

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

ow ow bicycle seat ow.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

What, like the Pan-Mass Challenge? Or...many professional races?

There are many cycling events that last more than 4 hours :)

[ron_newman]

Such as, for instance, the 2012 Olympic road race, a 250-km route with a winning time of 5:45:57.

(but that's on roads, not in a velodrome)

Also, I'm sure many people reading this have ridden centuries.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Like, say, me? ;)

[paradoox.livejournal.com]

Ah, Somerville ...

[thedonk.livejournal.com]

We also outlawed pinball until at least 1995 - not sure if that law has ever been changed.

[ron_newman]

Was that because the city thought they were gambling devices?

I recall Good Time Emporium being full of such machines.

[teko.livejournal.com]

It was banned from the '40s to the mid '70s in NYC and a lot of other big cities, because city leaders in the 40s thought that kids were spending too much of their money on them -- that their pocket change was being stolen by pinball. I had no idea the law lasted so long in Somerville.

[thedonk.livejournal.com]

IIRC, the decision was tied up in organized crime. I was recently doing research in mid-90s copies of the Somerville Journal and found an article about an effort to overturn the ban, but didn't look for the resolution. I too remember the game room at Good Times (and brouhaha about gaming tokens being given to elementary school students as in-school prizes) so it may well have been overturned back then.

[sissychrissy1.livejournal.com]

This sounds totally different though. This law sounds geared toward open-ended who-can-hold-out-the-longest events, as opposed to events of predetermined times or distances.

[ron_newman]

True, but the Boston 2024 bid listed this on a page of local ordinances that might possibly be applicable to their event.

[dcltdw]

Gawd, has anyone told the grad students about this? :)

[theodosia.livejournal.com]

Good that we don't have any "Whoever can hold on to the Smart Car the longest wins" contests. (Anybody besides me has seen THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY?.)