This is coming from a good place-

Last week, I called the non-emergency police line and reported two bikes that seemed to be abandoned. In the summertime, the police go around and will tag bikes that look to be abandoned (I think a week at one location is officially abandoned) and they'll give the owners a week to move the bike. If no one comes, they remove the bike. This helps A LOT.... people are fighting for a space to park their bikes when the come into the city every day. I personally get tired of fighting with all the commuters, plus the bike couriers, etc.

They don't do this in the winter. I guess they assume there's more spots to spare, but it's just as bad. There were 2 locations I park my bike at where things were getting bad. One time, things got a bit out of hand. This guy unlocked my kryptonite chain (the new heavy expensive one) with his kryptonite chain lock (???) and left my bike locked, but just sitting on the side of the building. After I finished my workout and got outside, I found my bike out there exposed, and I almost had a heart attack. After that, I called the police and asked them to remove the bikes that had been sitting there since at least November. Then the other bike is just outside my building where I live. That spot is worse because there's only room for 2 bikes to park. Since no one's been there since December to pick up the bike, I called the police on that one too. Geeze, I shouldn't have to fight to park my bike outside of my own building!

However, I don't agree that the police should move bikes that are out overnight. That seems a bit excessive to me. Maybe it depends on the city, but in Chicago, where it seems like every fool is out there in all seasons pedalling all day long, we need to have some kind of limit as to how long you can leave your bike out. Overnight is too short a time for me, but if it's been months (or even weeks), take the bikes away! People know who they can call to retrieve their bikes.

My two cents....

Koffee