sara manaugh

I've been riding in the city for years so I was surprised to witness two recent events that made me wonder if the city is looking to crack down on people locking their bikes to sign posts. Yesterday I was in midtown Manhattan and saw a guy take a cell phone pic of two bikes locked to a post outside a restaurant. He was scowling like he was looking to document something he didn't like. Then this morning in Brooklyn I rode on a residential street past a cop standing in front of a sign post with two bikes locked to it, and he was writing on a pad. Anyone know anything about this? I know there have been limited crackdowns in the past where cops actually cut people's locks, but I haven't heard of that for a while. Thanks.

CommuteCommando

I lock to sign posts and flag poles all the time. Some people will give grief about it just because "how dare those dam hippy bike riders think they can park wherever they want". I locked to a flagpole when going to make a pick up at a Kaiser pharmacy and the private security guard got all up in mt face. I told him there was no rack, then walked off. He threatened to cut the lock. I was in an out got my bike and the guy was still ranting, telling me he had called the cops. I kinda would have liked to stick around to see if the cops actually showed up, and their reaction on finding that they had been called out for a guy locking a bike to a flag pole.

I later used KP's on line comment form to report the incident. That particular Kaiser facility now has a bike rack.

prathmann

When I didn't find any bike rack at our local Kaiser facility I just wheeled my bike through the lobby and up to my doctor's office over some objections by a security guard. Left it sitting in the waiting room while I had my physical. On my next visit there was a new bike rack near the front door.

GuyDebord

NYC bicycle physical and policy infrastructure sucks! Its incredibly dangerous and nothing works, the bike lanes are a joke, there are pot holes everywhere, there is no signaling and bike parking. I had a meeting in Dumbo yesterday and it took me 15 minutes to find a post to lock, I work around union sq. and I always struggle to park. Seriously, I dont understand why a class action lawsuit against the bloomberg administration has not been filed.

blacknbluebikes 

Frankly, as a NYC rider since 1986, I think it's pretty obvious that the current administration has done more for cycling than ANY prior administration. I mean, seriously... this place has never looked like this: https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/download...-map-inset.pdf

Want more? Me too. Kick in. I did. https://www.transalt.org/

To the OP. No, I don't think there's a crackdown going on, but I do see some "private property" issues popping up. For instance, there's a "no traffic zone" on Broadway between 42&41 that's got a kinda marquee/kiosk/you-are-here info thing. embedded in the asphalt right next to its base is metal lettering that says "private property - no bikes." I'm guessing that they don't want the info map blocked up by a gaggle of locked-bikes. Fair enough. And I definitely see a lot of bikes locked in places that are not-too-smart, clearly blocking the pedestrian traffic, or even somewhat unsafe. OK, do that and your unattended bike might be at risk. Out of the way, short-term lockups don't seem to be a problem to the namelessfacelessconspiratorial authorities.

rebel1916

Locking to flag poles is gonna bring up very deep seated and emotional respect issues. A person who was just trying to find a place to lock their bikes might be well advised to avoid it.

Whizzer283

+1 on Bloomberg Administration doing more for cycling than all prior administrations combined
+1 on supporting Transportation Alternatives. If you like to bike and walk around NYC, this advocacy group is well-run and gets results.

CommuteCommando

Anyone who holds a religious-like reverence for The Flag, does not understand the true spirit of the first amendment. I revere the idea, and think that all that silly reverence for the symbol is contrary to the true meaning.

At that time I was working at a place where they were perfectly fine with me locking to the flag pole out front. These people were hard core conservatives and were glad I didn't ask them to install a rack. In fact none of that even came up.

I had gone for an appointment at the main Kaiser Facility in San Diego and went to lock the bike to a handrail (in the landscape side, away from the side walk). Security guard said "can't lock there". I asked, "Yeah? Where's the rack". He said "'round back".

Great, i thought; Out of sight bait bike. I rolled out back to find a sizable enclosure right outside the glass walled, and manned security kiosk. Nice! There were half a dozen bikes already there. I later learned that one of the doc's there is a serious amateur racer.

Bill Kapaun

Just because you have the right to free speech doesn't mean you have the right to force others to listen.
Freedom FROM speech is just as important.

rebel1916

Just because you find reverence for the symbol silly, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Not trying to start a fight. Just mentioning that many people might take it wrong, and alternatives might be easier. FWIW, law enforcement would be one of the groups where a higher percentage of people might have a higher than average reverence for the flag.

PatrickGSR94

Alright please let's not get this booted to P&R.

wphamilton

I agree 100%. However, symbols have power. Perhaps because it's easier to think about a flag than to comprehend all the things it represents, concepts embedded into our cultural identity. With that in mind, do we really want to enrage people for whom understanding comes with difficulty, and at levels bearing on their self-construction? To make a political point sure but for convenience sake, not me! I wouldn't have thought that locking to a flag post would be disrespectful, but if someone objected I'd move it without protest.

Locking to a street-sign, I don't see much danger of desecrating a hallowed symbol.

rebel1916

Leaving aside the aspersions cast on the intelligence of those who revere certain symbols, my point precisely.

wphamilton

I agree, best to leave the aspersions aside. Allow me to say that it is possibly the case, without necessarily being true for all who revere certain symbols.

ps. I apologize if anyone took that personally. I wasn't thinking clearly enough when writing.

rebel1916

And I wouldn't give a rats ass myself if a bike was locked to a flag pole. Unless it started raining. Or the sun went down. And then my boss would really care about the flag getting down. Than I would probably use a bolt cutter and pass the bike to a homeless guy. And you never know when it's gonna start raining, and some working stiff is gonna be tasked with lowering the flag in a respectful manner.

vol

+2

I'm only worried about what happens after Bloomberg leaves office.

We do need many, many more bike racks, though. Often when I need to lock my bike outside, if there is no bike racks, sign posts are the only objects I could lock bike to. Even some sign posts have too wide bases that make locking with U-lock impossible.

Seriously, if the city installs more bike racks in more areas, they'll see immediate decrease of bikes locked to sign posts. Large amount of bike racks concentrated at one spot is not helpful. We need them to be spread so that any place we go have some racks available. Near the gym that I go there are often 3 bikes locked to a single sign post. More bike racks near where gyms are located are definitely in high demand (as opposed to near a nursing home, obviously).

lostarchitect 

If DiBlasio wins (and he probably will) we should be pretty safe--or the situation may even continue to get better. He seems very bike friendly.

dynaryder

Here in DC,you can call the Mayor's Call Center(311) and request that DDOT install a rack. If they don't have anything like that in NYC,then you guys should bring it up to Transportation Alternatives. There's even a couple spots where they've removed an on-street car space and replaced it with a group of staple racks with a flex post border.

Whizzer283

-1 - He won't have any money left to invest in bike infrastructure after he pays off his union cronies. His opponent, Joe Lohta is pro-bike and isn't indebted to the uniions.

lostarchitect 

Oh, please.

Whizzer283

Nice rebuttal. Check out this article from the Daily News: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1368626

lostarchitect 

It's not worth a rebuttal. It's typical Republican BS. If you want the standard fare: Cut taxes on the wealthy and large business, which will increase debt and deficit, then cut social services and impose austerity measures to compensate for the increased debt, thus continuing the trend of making the rich richer and the poor poorer, go ahead and vote Republican. You'll get what you deserve. Government must spend MORE not less to fix a bad economic situation.