Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Rittenhouse Park tickets [heads up]

After a really nice lunch in the park I was leaving, walking out of the park and about 20 feet from the exit. No one around at all, I swing my leg over my bike to get back to west Philly. Few seconds later at a light a bike cop is giving me a $25 ticket for riding in the park.

Yeah, I was wrong, and I have never seen someone ticketed there. I saw him there again today, so I guess he's on patrol there now. Just a heads up to watch out.

wow, seems like they should have better things to do.
thanks for the heads up!

parks are for homeless people and squirrels

not bikes

get on the side walk

After a really nice lunch in the park I was leaving, walking out of the park and about 20 feet from the exit. No one around at all, I swing my leg over my bike to get back to west Philly. Few seconds later at a light a bike cop is giving me a $25 ticket for riding in the park.

Yeah, I was wrong, and I have never seen someone ticketed there. I saw him there again today, so I guess he's on patrol there now. Just a heads up to watch out.

noted; on nice sunny crowded spring days I often cut through RS to check out the lunchtime ...rrr..scenery. Never had a cop look twice at me. Granted I'm inching through so slowly I'm nearly trackstanding....

thanks for the warning

they have been getting insane for the past few weeks. I saw them ticket someone for some guy playing a guitar, playing hacky sack and break dancing.

Whoa. I rode from the se corner up to the steps at the fountain when I went to meet Ryan today. Glad I didn't get caught! Thanks for the heads up.

I know kenny got ticketed for it already. But oh god, does this mean the drunken afternoons in rittenhouse are over?!

they have been getting insane for the past few weeks. I saw them ticket someone for some guy playing a guitar, playing hacky sack and break dancing.

NO PLAYING IN THE PARK!!!

they have been getting insane for the past few weeks. I saw them ticket someone for some guy playing a guitar, playing hacky sack and break dancing.
was he doing all 3 at the same time?

seriously, is this a public park? that you can't loiter in?

thing is though, ive also seen the same cop that ticketed people let girls go by with a warning. the cops there suck. I hope their little booth blows down.

No bikey in parkey. That seems fair, eh? For all you out-of-towners, it's a little one square block park that has sidewalks with benches for sitting on. Or walking on. The sidewalks, I mean. If you want to ride there's a road all the way around it. No dissing any posters, I don't like the cops doing stuff arbitrarily, but there have been times when I'm walking through the park and some ******y art student on a flat-pedal Pista cuts in front of me or a Walmart bike rider plows through and I tasted bitter rage. Maybe not bitter, but definitely not chocolatey delicious rage.

I got a $25 ticket for riding in the park like 9 years ago. The price has not gone up.

yeah. I always walk my bike when I go sit there. I also hate when I almost get run over by people not paying attention. but I think its dumb they are ticketing people for having fun doing park type things.

No bikey in parkey. That seems fair, eh? For all you out-of-towners, it's a little one square block park that has sidewalks with benches for sitting on. Or walking on. The sidewalks, I mean. If you want to ride there's a road all the way around it. No dissing any posters, I don't like the cops doing stuff arbitrarily, but there have been times when I'm walking through the park and some ******y art student on a flat-pedal Pista cuts in front of me or a Walmart bike rider plows through and I tasted bitter rage. Maybe not bitter, but definitely not chocolatey delicious rage.
Completely agree, but perhaps a more helpful response from a cop would be 'hey ****face, try not riding your bike like an ***hole, mm-kay?" Ticketing seems a bit extreme.

Lame. Will keep that in mind.

I grew up in that neighborhood and used to spend a lot of time in there. At least when i was in high school, they gave tickets out for riding all the time.

In regard to the 'no playing in the park' i offer this anecdote: I remember once when i was like 6 or 7 my dad and I were having a catch on the grass and a cop came over and made us stop ('no ball playing in the park' was the reasoning).

One of you guys gave me a heads up there like two months ago when I was riding through there. Pointed at the center and said they're being dinks about riding in the park so I should be careful.

I tend to do the "20 feet from the exit and no one around so I'll hop on and go" thing too. I'll be more careful. Buncha uptight fools..

by exit, do you mean sidewalk at the corner, the gate, or the street?
this seems kinda crazy, but on busy days (unlike any of them this week) some what reasonable. there are a lot of kids running around in the middle of the park. 20 feet from the exit... not so much.

yeah i got one in september, its lame, its a park and you can't play with frisbees or anything fun there so whats the point of having a park??

what is allowed in the park
?

what is allowed in the park
?

.......go down the shore where I grew up. They can replace the 'prohibited activities' signs with 'NO FUN ALLOWED'

Originally Posted by thebristolkid. Last I checked, most college campuses were firmly attached to solid earth, which, in my experience, is typically adequate for riding a bicycle upon.


damn dijos; ousted by thebristolkid?

yeah i got one in september, its lame, its a park and you can't play with frisbees or anything fun there so whats the point of having a park??

I know what they're doing. They don't want it to be a "fun" park. They want it to be a "pleasant" park. So yeah..no fun allowed. It's supposed to be pleasant for all the uppity old rich bitties who shuffle through there with their spoiled-rotten grandchildren on pleasant Saturday afternoons. That way, they don't have to deal with scary moving things/people or noises. You can go lay on the grass where dogs have peed, sit on a bench and read a book or smell the homeless guy next to you, or sit in the center and be one of those creepy old guys who stares at young boys... BUT NO FUN!

what is allowed in the park
?

sitting and quietly complaining about how good the park used to be

Okay, I have a good story related to this one... back in like November there was one day where it was basically hurricaning out, there was no one at all in the park except someone I was meeting, no one was even out on the street at all...I rode up the Northwest end and hopped off when I got near the center, the cop happened to be in his little booth and he comes up and writes me a ticket. It's raining so heavily the ticket is practically destroyed by the time I get it...he took down every last bit of info on me, assuming I wouldn't pay or that I was lying. He said, "This ticket is for five dollars". Being a smartass, I grabbed a fiver out of my pocket to "pay" him on the spot and he didn't take it (although it would have been funny if he had...kind of). He writes "$5" in the Other category on the ticket and then some code numbers. I take it to the Violations Office on Filbert the next day with my five bucks, the clerk says I have to pay in full...25 bucks? It says $5 right here. "There are no fines under $25 in Philadelphia". He repeats this verbatim, so I get the manager over, who says after reading it, "This is 25, that's not a dollar sign and a 5, that's just 25 straight up". "No, it's $5, let's contact the cop and ask, here's his info". "No...actually that's not a dollar sign, that's a seven...you owe us $75." Bull****. My fine went from 5 to 25 to 75 in a matter of minutes. So he writes me a court date for April 10th. On the internet, if you print out city code, the fine is to be NO MORE THAN THREE (3) DOLLARS. My fine got dropped within minutes. It's funny, I wasn't even debating I did something wrong (I did), I just wanted clarification that I definitely didn't owe 75 and I don't think I owe 25 either.

Lesson for those that didn't read the paragraph above: Fight this ticket and print out the excerpt online that states it's a maximum of a $3.00 fine and you're good to go. It'll get dropped. I rule.

Yeah Luke, I do agree.



they have been getting insane for the past few weeks. I saw them ticket someone for some guy playing a guitar, playing hacky sack and break dancing.

I was just in Copenhagen and there people bust out kegs and cartons in the parks.

Fight this ticket and print out the excerpt online that states it's a maximum of a $3.00 fine and you're good to go. It'll get dropped. I rule.

Any idea where we could look this one up? Got a link?

can we give the cops tickets for riding in the park?

ive always wanted to be like hey get off your bike.

can we give the cops tickets for riding in the park?

And what's with cops driving through Washington Square, too? I've seen this more than once because I work across the street from there. Anyone else?

ive always wanted to be like hey get off your bike.

yeah umm who yells at people on bikes in rittenhouse (shush kenny).

Cops drive through Washington Square? Like, on patrol? Or just to take a shortcut?

That seems insane.

just hang out at jefferson sq. at 4th and washington. much more fun

They drive through Rittenhouse late at night too... that is how they shoo away people on the benches.

mildly reviving this, BUT! As I was leaving today I saw two people just stand over their bikes a good 6 feet from the exit. As soon as they did two cops swarm them and start taking down information. Hurrah for no fun allowed.

parks are for homeless people and squirrels

not bikes

get on the side walk
HA HA........... HIPPIE!!!

mildly reviving this, BUT! As I was leaving today I saw two people just stand over their bikes a good 6 feet from the exit. As soon as they did two cops swarm them and start taking down information. Hurrah for no fun allowed.

Friggin morons.... is that seriously what they got their jobs as cops for?? GOOD JOB you harassed kids on bikes! Good work!

Cops on bike are the lowest in the totmepole. Similar park, f**king cop pulls up to to me, and I stop - he started to blabber - (he was chuncky) - I say "catch me", and rolled off - he never got on his bike, but tried to call it in I guess (heard him on his walkie talkie), I took a few side roads to get home, but never heard any sirens, I'd doubt they would waste any time on a call like this.

Cops on bike are the lowest in the totmepole. Similar park, f**king cop pulls up to to me, and I stop - he started to blabber - (he was chuncky) - I say "catch me", and rolled off - he never got on his bike, but tried to call it in I guess (heard him on his walkie talkie), I took a few side roads to get home, but never heard any sirens, I'd doubt they would waste any time on a call like this.

They should have helmets with two huge blue and red spinning lights on top. That way, everyone would be laughing so hard, they wouldn't be able to get away from them.

And what's with cops driving through Washington Square, too? I've seen this more than once because I work across the street from there. Anyone else?
Not to bump an old thread, but it seems like they do this to check for crime or crazy ****. a few of us were drinking (right next to the "eternal flame") on first friday last month, only to watch a cop drive by as we were drinking, each with bottles in hand. he hardly slowed down. aside from that, i've been to a few picnic/potlucks there on various saturdays, complete with six packs all around, joints, etc.
Also, my girl and i drank two bottles of wine there last night, @ around 8:30. Saw two cops walk by, they kinda glanced at us, but not much more.
I'm not saying go nuts there, but washington square >>>> rittenhouse. it's not packed with ******bags like rittenhouse, is bigger w/ more grassy areas, and isn't as ridiculously policed.

If that park wasn't surrounded by rich white people there wouldn't be any cops there.

Come to southwest philly where the hoods hang out and you can bike in any park you want.

these were of interest:

§12-809. Warning Devices and Brakes on Bicycles.
(1) No person shall operate a bicycle unless it is equipped with a bell or other device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least 100 feet, except that a bicycle shall not be equipped with nor shall any person use upon a bicycle any siren or whistle.

(2) Every bicycle shall be equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make the braked wheel skid on a dry, level, clean pavement.

does #1 include your voice? The part about $3 just says that all cycling fines for violations mentioned in the section are $3, except riding on the sidewalk is $10, and riding with headphones is $50-$100, and if you can't pay that, then no more than 10 days in jail. ouch.

but it doesn't mention anything about "riding in a park"...

here's the link: §12-809. Warning Devices and Brakes on Bicycles.

these were of interest:

§12-809. Warning Devices and Brakes on Bicycles.
(1) No person shall operate a bicycle unless it is equipped with a bell or other device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least 100 feet, except that a bicycle shall not be equipped with nor shall any person use upon a bicycle any siren or whistle.

(2) Every bicycle shall be equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make the braked wheel skid on a dry, level, clean pavement.

does #1 include your voice? The part about $3 just says that all cycling fines for violations mentioned in the section are $3, except riding on the sidewalk is $10, and riding with headphones is $50-$100, and if you can't pay that, then no more than 10 days in jail. ouch.

but it doesn't mention anything about "riding in a park"...

here's the link: §12-809. Warning Devices and Brakes on Bicycles.


...the only part you're missing is that Rittenhouse Park has its own set of rules posted at the entrances, which note "riding in a park".

...the only part you're missing is that Rittenhouse Park has its own set of rules posted at the entrances, which note "riding in a park".
I relize it's public and part of the city. But are the individual park's rules upholdable by laws and fees?

I relize it's public and part of the city. But are the individual park's rules upholdable by laws and fees?

In short, yes. I am surprised to read that someone actually beat a ticket in court claiming that $3 is the maximum fine when §10-610 of the philadelphia code:
(2) No person shall use a skateboard, rollerblades or a bicycle on portions of private property, including but not limited to outdoor plazas, that are dedicated to use by the general public, where the owner of such private property has posted a notice indicating that such activity is prohibited on that property pursuant to the Philadelphia Code and that violation of the prohibition may lead to confiscation and forfeiture of skateboards, rollerblades and bicycles used on the property.
with the penalty of:
(4) Penalties.

(a) The penalty for a violation of this Section shall be a civil penalty of three hundred dollars ($300), provided that the total amount of civil penalties assessed against a child and his or her parents shall not exceed a total of three hundred dollars ($300) based upon each violation by the child.

Now I'm not sure if Rittenhouse is covered by this section of the code. Being operated by the Fairmount Park Commission (?) it may fall differently (and kudos to whoever it was for getting out of the ticket). But government entities generally have the statuatory authority to levy fines and private land owners are empowered by the above have their rules enforced by fines as well.

What about state law? All of these are from the philadelphia code. Does state law allow them to fine more?

What about state law? All of these are from the philadelphia code. Does state law allow them to fine more?

I think state law allows for a $10 fine for moving violations (which don't include places like rittenhouse). It should be noted that the state also has a different rule regarding brakes. THe state law requires that you are able to come to a complete stop within 15 feet from a velocity of 15mph. Not saying thats a problem but its a better standard than simply being able to make your wheel skid with no reference to how long it takes to stop.

don't they have a murder rate to take care of

don't they have a murder rate to take care ofAhem (http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/ee/enforce_officer02.cfm);)
Apparently not.

Enforcement options include; positive reinforcement, verbal and written warnings and yes, finally citations.
Huh? I'd like to see some positive reinforcement.
"Hey there, son. Nice to see you riding with traffic. Here's a donut."
"No thanks... I try to stay away from food that contains hydrogenated oil."
"Well then how about some celery?"