I-Like-To-Bike

BFD! will be the response, if any, to a letter that has such a baseless, unenforceable, "personal" expectation of special consideration.

mondaycurse

QFT. A few shops downtown have places in the store/resteraunt for employees to put their bikes (and customers if there's an empty spot) and even have nice things to lock it to if you want real security.

OP, is there a space for rent in this seemingly massive mall? If there is, talk to mall management and ask if it could be used as a secure room for mall workers to lock their bikes. Slap some "green" stickers around and a make a poster saying how much gas and greenhouses gases have been avoided by the bikes in those racks. You'll probably see a growing number of riders with that sort of bicycle safehouse. I've never worked something like this in a mall, but right now, it's nothing but wasted space. Might as well make it something useful.

Fairmont

Seems to me that there might be a store somewhere in the mall that would allow you to lock it up in their closet or something. The large department stores in the mall probably have tons of storage facilities.

And what about your 1200 ticket? Do you really have to pay that much? Shoot, might as well have let your bike get stolen since it cost the same as the ticket.

I'm not serious about that, of course, but really: 1200 dollars!?

JTGraphics

Its not a mater of wrong or right here, but more of a legal issue.
Since the fire marshal is involved its going to come down to a safety issue, if the pipes are tied into the sprinkler system and they need clear access to it, that can be a problem for them.
But to your defense their needs to also be a sign posted for them to site you like KEEP AREA CLEAR and a city ordnance code, is their one on the location?. If not you should try to fight it and you may get off from paying the fine. As far as locking up to the pipes that's actually another issue
I was in charge of a large building as it's building engineer and I can see the point from both sides and If I wanted to really keep someone out of there area I would put a sign up to stop it from happening and then I would have legal right to have someone sited, but until then I can only warn and harass in hopes of getting you to stop.
Same for those who park in a parking lot that may say parking for customers only unless their is a sign with the vehicle code stating that you vehicle will be towed they can not and the person who owns that property or manager must be the one who calls.
At lease in LA County this is how it works.

mds0725

As others have said, it's unlikely that the management of the mall itself would respond to the complaint of a single person who isn't even one of its own employees. If you want to be activist about this, you might consider going to your own employer (I assume you work at one of the stores in the mall and not for the mall itself). Ask your employer if it will support employee bike parking at the mall and volunteer to go to other stores in the mall on your employer's behalf to see if other companies that actually rent the store spaces in the mall would support your employer in asking the mall to set aside a safe bike parking lace for all the people who work at the mall. I also like the suggestion of seeing whether the maintenance people have a place where you can store your bike, but that might solve only your own problem and might not result in the kind of social change for all cycling mall employees that you seem to be interested in. Good luck!

brron

thanks for all the great replies, it's nice to see everyone's support and criticism

let me answer some of the stuff so far,

1. When i say i use it as a closet, i dont' mean that I leave it there (giro atmos is my baby). I get to work and i change and hang the stuff and then clean up when i'm done. The corner is useful because it has all these pipes that stick in and out which i use as hooks.

2. It's not oakridge mall, but Valley Fair (which is technically santa clara, i suppose). And yes, I do work at the Apple Store, but I don't know how you knew that O_o

3. I was not fined or ticketed immediately--I was threatened actually, by the manager's office and security. They specifically said, "if you don't move your bike, the fire marshal will be down here in a snap with a 1,200 dollar ticket with your name on it." The tone was surely aggressive.

4. I hattttte beater bikes. I hate the idea that I have to buy a crap bike to get to work destroys the idea of having fun on the bike to work. I can easily take mass transit for free but I pay for gear/maintainence to ride to work.

other than that, you guys have great ideas. The whole thing about making it a "benefit" instead of a hassle sounds like a good thing to bring up. I have PR experience!

ggosson

Man, haven't you ever played "Internet Detective"?!? Click on your user name, now choose View Profile. It says:

Location: San Jose, CA
Occupation: Mac Specialist
Bicycle(s): 2008 Trek 2.1

You work in a mall, your profile says "Mac Specialist", it isn't hard to put two and two together. Besides, who else working in a mall besides a manager of one of the stores could afford a $1200 bike? I know Mac Specialists aren't getting rich, but they have to make better money than the guy sweating it out in the food court restaurants. :-)

TromboneAl

In the past, I would have said that this is a bad idea, since it gives the thief a nice hidden location to work on defeating your lock. However, after seeing the videos of a guy stealing his own bike by spending six minutes sawing through a lock on a busy sidewalk with no interference, makes me not so sure.

ThreLittleBirds

its quite simple, state that notices need to be placed on pipes like that, and just move your bike to a different set of pipes.

I do not understand why some bikers believe employers should go out of their way to accommodate the storage of a bike. Asking for a special locker just for you is akin to asking for a personal parking garage becuase you want to drive your Lamborghini to work. I would suggest you try not to be too defensive. Case the building out, Find a different spot and ask someone from security or the fire marshal himself if that will be a safe place to park.

Do not bring up the bike rack, do not ask for a place to be made for you, do not say bad things about car use (they all drive cars).

iPirate

Apple doesn't support reducing green house gas?! oh no!

EliteTempleton

You bring up a good point here, if employee's are to park far away from the entrance, then why would one be expected, when arriving by bicycle, to park right next to the doors?

Maybe you could get some bike lockers put in at the FAR side of the parking lot?

But really, one could argue that parking there would take up space that is reserved for customers, no?

Agree.

Win for out side the box thinking!

The day I saw that video was the day I decided it was worth it to carry my bike up the stairs with me and park it in my cube with me. Before that I used to think: It's safe here behind this employee only gate. While it is true that it is safer there than the alternatives many have at their workplace, I like knowing I have a ride home at the end of the day 100%. Plus it's safe from the daily vandal's of mother nature's furies! lol

Yup, changes your perspective a bit doesn't it?

randomgear

This wouldn't be in a stair or other means of egress would it? Even one that appears to be unused? Are any of the pipes painted red? - a lot of sprinkler pipes are. Yes I know, you see stuff stored at the bottoms of stairs all the time - however, it is illegal (per your building or fire code) to store anything in a stair. Fire Marshals and Building Inspectors usually are the ones enforcing it. The more public (or used by the public) a building is, the more likely they will show up and enforce it.
The pipes could also (based on so little information supplied) be electrical conduits, and likely lead to the same scenario.
Try to work with security, they might actually try to help you find a safe place for your bike. Or not.
Good luck!

corripio

On the flip side, why should employers go out of their way to provide parking spots for cars driven by their employees? That's like asking for a personal driveway just because you want to bring your car to work. Parking lots cost money to maintain and it's additional land businesses must lease/purchase. Businesses could save a lot of money by either doing away with employee parking or by only providing spots designed for Smart cars instead of full size vehicles...nothing over 5 feet wide! And while we are at it, what's this crap with employees thinking they need "health insurance." Waste-o-money if you ask me. (this is sarcasm)

Cycling is a viable mode of transportation...providing a safe place to park your vehicle (i.e. bike) isn't asking too much, as a matter of fact, it's starting to become status quo in many places, like it should be.