New Times / News

Slacklining wins approval in SLO

Kylie Mendonca

When Cal Poly student Jerry Miszewski first started pursuing his love of slacklining around SLO town, he thought the process seemed harmless enough.

Slacklining basically consists of tying a rope between two trees and then walking on it. It’s like a tight rope, but the rope is slack and bows in the middle and sways when it’s stepped on.

Miszewski found out that city officials didn’t share his view of the sport, which he describes as a sort of moving meditation. He has been kicked out of nearly every public park in San Luis Obispo for practicing. But then he began to fight back. He spent the better part of a year trying to convince the city to let him practice, and finally it paid off. The San Luis Obispo City Council approved a one-year pilot slacklining program at the Sept. 2 meeting. The council agreed to temporarily suspend a city policy that bans tying ropes to city trees in a designated area at Meadow Park.