Originally Posted by webist
I don't see many bikes laying around in my area. If I did though, they'd still be there after I passed them by.
Gotta chime in again on this one. I used to live in Ft. Huachuca. Now I live in NYC. If I cruised by a bike there, I'd leave it, also. Here in NY, and DC, also, if you leave something unsecured, it's just an invitation. Someone mentioned impoverished people leaving their bikes in an apparently 'abandoned state,' even when they're not. Sorry, but in a big city, if a poor person cherishes something, they
definitely secure it. No question. If they don't, they don't want the thing. You people in less urban areas are seeing things in very easy terms, but here in the big cities, everybody's stuff is all mixed up, including their garbage.
"If it's not next to a dumpster, then it's somebody's." Guys, in the city, the
sidewalk's the dang dumpster. Trash collection occurs on the sidewalks, often with just bags and stuff thrown out. There are no big bins, like in the 'burbs or out West, labelled 'trash' that everything fits in. On my street, trash is picked up
three times a week and on any of those days, often on the others, if something is there, it's been thrown out. If you live here, you know that. There's no 'accidental' abandonment that goes on. People also know this and go rummaging on trash days--totally ethically sound and unimpeachable behavior. Get off his back and remember the context before you cast judgment down upon him.
PS Why would a thief 'give' something stolen to the dude? Kind of defeats the purpose of the theft.