I actually did something for the bike community today
12-30-08, 09:54 PM
#1
Each Drop of Sweat Counts
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I actually did something for the bike community today
I live on a USMC base in Okinawa Japan and our exchange doesn't have bike racks. Everytime I try to ride there I just can't find a good safe place to secure my bike. There really aren't any exterior pipes or guardrails to secure to. And the lock through the wheel thing won't do it here.
Despite the fact it's a US base bicycle theft is high. Mostly on Friday and Sat night when the drunks need a ride home I think but still the bike theft rate here is enough that I'm not leaving my $1000 bicycle basically unsecured for a half hour.
So I made a user comment on the exchange webpage. To my total surprise they called me this morning.
Now here's the kicker. I ran to work today. I decided while passing the exchange I'd run around it to see where was a good place to put a rack. Damned if I didn't find a bike rack. It's behind the store and is the "Series of U's" kind of bike rack maybe big enough for 5 or 6 bikes. Probably adequate.
The problem is that it's about 2' from the wall and cars park directly in front of it rendering it useless and cars parked in front of it explain why I never saw it before.
So anyway this guy calls me today about my comment and I told him I found the rack and what the situation was. He had contacted the Base Commander to see about bike rack construction and they told him they'd add him but they were building racks at various barracks around the base and he was low on the priority list.
But what he told me he'd do was contact base facilities and paint a spot in front of the racks so drivers could see it was a no parking zone and he said he'd inform the base police to have them ticket (if they found it appropriate to do so) cars parked in front of the rack.
Finally. I can ride my bike to the exchange again.
All it took was one user comment. (Okay I confess I'm darn near the highest ranking civilian on the base if not the highest ranking. That probably helped).
John
Despite the fact it's a US base bicycle theft is high. Mostly on Friday and Sat night when the drunks need a ride home I think but still the bike theft rate here is enough that I'm not leaving my $1000 bicycle basically unsecured for a half hour.
So I made a user comment on the exchange webpage. To my total surprise they called me this morning.
Now here's the kicker. I ran to work today. I decided while passing the exchange I'd run around it to see where was a good place to put a rack. Damned if I didn't find a bike rack. It's behind the store and is the "Series of U's" kind of bike rack maybe big enough for 5 or 6 bikes. Probably adequate.
The problem is that it's about 2' from the wall and cars park directly in front of it rendering it useless and cars parked in front of it explain why I never saw it before.
So anyway this guy calls me today about my comment and I told him I found the rack and what the situation was. He had contacted the Base Commander to see about bike rack construction and they told him they'd add him but they were building racks at various barracks around the base and he was low on the priority list.
But what he told me he'd do was contact base facilities and paint a spot in front of the racks so drivers could see it was a no parking zone and he said he'd inform the base police to have them ticket (if they found it appropriate to do so) cars parked in front of the rack.
Finally. I can ride my bike to the exchange again.
All it took was one user comment. (Okay I confess I'm darn near the highest ranking civilian on the base if not the highest ranking. That probably helped).
John
12-30-08, 11:15 PM
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Crankenstein
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Nice!
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"There is no greater wonder than the way the face and character of a woman fit so perfectly in a man's mind, and stay there, and he could never tell you why. It just seems it was the thing he most wanted." Robert Louis Stevenson
12-31-08, 01:34 PM
#4
Needing more power Scotty
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12-31-08, 02:41 PM
#5
Each Drop of Sweat Counts
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Pay grade is correct. Tough to say I'm the highest pay grading civilian. There's almost got to be a 14 on this base but I've never ran across one and I've been here over 3 years.
The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of each service is a civilian as well. Under Secretaries as well.
The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of each service is a civilian as well. Under Secretaries as well.
12-31-08, 02:43 PM
#6
Call me The Breeze
If you're the highest paid, surely you can afford a car! 
12-31-08, 02:57 PM
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triathlete? roadie? MTB?
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I was going to say Semper Fi, but then I saw the civillian part. Nonetheless, Semper Fi!
I'm suprised the bike theft rate is high, though; in 19 years in the Corps, with numerous joint tours on other service bases, the USMC bases by far have had the best security and least amount of crime, with the Navy bases being the worst. Not sure why.
I'm suprised the bike theft rate is high, though; in 19 years in the Corps, with numerous joint tours on other service bases, the USMC bases by far have had the best security and least amount of crime, with the Navy bases being the worst. Not sure why.
12-31-08, 03:17 PM
#9
Each Drop of Sweat Counts
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The bike theft here may be high but not representative of all bike theft. From talking to some base cops it would seem MOST of it happens from the barracks. Probably one person taking something off the bike rack to get somewhere and then ditching the bike. I know for sure much of it happens Fri or Sat nights when the young drunk Marines walk from the gate to the barracks and pass an unsecured bicycle along the way.
So it's hard for me to say there's a lot of bike theft in common areas such as the exchange. Still the numbers are high enough that my bike it getting strapped to something.
Plus before I blame Marines the base I live on has a huge residential population and there are all manner of high school kids as well generally up to no good. Not too horribly long ago I was walking home from lunch and some kid was sucking face with his girlfriend on a porch front step and I walked by.
Kid runs out and asks me if I enjoyed watching him and his girl and that he ought to beat me up (not how he said it). I had to tell him, "I'm not your parents and I'm not your teacher and nothing is really impeding me from hurting you if I feel the need to defend myself". He deflated after that but the point is there is no shortage of stupid teenagers around here and they're all on vacation and bored right about now as well.
John
So it's hard for me to say there's a lot of bike theft in common areas such as the exchange. Still the numbers are high enough that my bike it getting strapped to something.
Plus before I blame Marines the base I live on has a huge residential population and there are all manner of high school kids as well generally up to no good. Not too horribly long ago I was walking home from lunch and some kid was sucking face with his girlfriend on a porch front step and I walked by.
Kid runs out and asks me if I enjoyed watching him and his girl and that he ought to beat me up (not how he said it). I had to tell him, "I'm not your parents and I'm not your teacher and nothing is really impeding me from hurting you if I feel the need to defend myself". He deflated after that but the point is there is no shortage of stupid teenagers around here and they're all on vacation and bored right about now as well.
John
