Originally Posted by
jtgotsjets
(FWIW, trying to approach the problem from a legalistic standpoint is likely fraught with just as much trouble. Just trying to take into consideration the vast variation between municipalities and their property laws would make your head spin, and that's without even trying to decode when it is or isn't ok to take abandoned property.)
The question was; "Are there typically city ordinances or rules for when people can go ahead and move abandoned properties like these?"
I am sorry you have a problem with taking a legalistic approach to the "problem". Try this: if it isn't yours, it isn't yours. I am fairly confident that there are no laws anywhere in the U.S. that give an individual the right to take a bike that is locked on the sidewalk. If your conscious allows you to take it anyway, go for it.
A friend of mine saw a person riding his son's bike down the street the other day and tackled him and beat the ---- out of him. He then sat on him until the police arrived. Turns out he was responsible for a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood. He is still in jail awaiting trial. The thief, not my friend.