.... coming from a third world country I can only say : if a chubby cop is chasing me on foot, good luck to him and I hope he breaks his neck in the process

if that was addressing to the black panther chant quote in my sig... it's a quote--a quote from a group of people who used psychology and symbols against those who they felt opressed them so that they didn't have to use violence.

the fact of the matter is that in going back thru this thread, i'm one of 2 people who has offered up concrete, practical, legal suggestions as to what people on the board can do if they actually want to make a difference. most of my suggestions are things i've already done. if you've got a problem with my sig, don't read it.

if you've had friendly interactions with cops, that's great. i have too. unfortunately, more often than not though, i find that even when addressing a cop in a completely civil manner, as soon as you ask them a question about something they're doing, some of them take offense that respect for their actions is not unconditional. while this doesn't apply to all cops, in my interactions, it's been the case more often than not. i was brought up to understand that *no one* deserves my unconditional respect. people deserve civility. if they're dismissive or rude in the face of civility, respect isn't in the cards. i'm pretty sure that most people reading this have had interactions with cops. i'm sure that 99% of them make efforts to have those interactions unravel in a civil fashion. sometimes they do. sometimes they don't.

the issue that the OP brings up though is interesting. the precinct directed cops to do outreach with businesses by making visits and explaining the laws that they'd be enforcing while also explaining that they'd be actively enforcing those laws in sweeps. why doesn't the NYPD take ads out in all of the daily papers, flyer locked bikes and affix posters explaining the same to lock-up spots? do businesses deserve more respect than the community? because that's what that behavior says to me. in going thru the trouble to do selective outreach, the NYPD is setting up a situation where fines and court-hassles become the burden of the community. it's kind of sneaky.

i suggested that people be proactive about doing something to resolve that situation.

whatever. hawk wheels made a good point - that cops are people, and have **** to deal with just like we all do. yes, some will always be *******s, but knee-jerk judgements ('swine') help no one and will always limit your experience.

i don't love cops. i just don't hate all of them either. and 'false patriotism'? get a grip.

love,
FnB

ps - i think visitordesign is on the right track. we need to get to the top, where the problem begins. i'm writing to bloomberg right now.

here's the obnoxious letter i sent a couple of weeks before the election. i'm gonna tone it down a little, address some recent events and mail a new version tonight.



Mr. Bloomberg,

The catalyst for your administration’s apparent disgust with cycling in New York City is something that I’ve been curious about for about a year now. I’ve heard the press describe you as a “cyclist,” which is, I guess to say, that you own a bicycle. This I would suspect is not unusual for a billionaire. I’m sure you also own an iron and a clothes washing machine, but that does not make you a laundromat. As an Upper East Side neighbor of yours, I ride across the street from you in Central Park everyday. Never once have I seen you there. I ride on the congested and unsafely landscaped Hudson River Park Greenway with some degree of regularity too. I seem to have missed you there as well. Every day, rain or shine, I commute round-trip 12 miles to my studio. I understand that you prefer the 6 Train. That’s probably wise considering how poorly your administration has acted to see that the DOT maintain 7th avenue and Broadway. It’s also wise seeing as how the NYPD does so little to keep those bike lanes (and those on 6th avenue on the ride home) free from idling black cars, taxis and trucks—which I find ironic since the NYPD has adopted a policy of ticketing cyclists who select to ride as traffic (a policy explained to me as having been handed down directly from your office by several different police officers on several different occasions. They suggested this upcoming election as the best form of recourse for that policy.).

Now, Mr. Bloomberg… Come on. There seems to be either a schism in your administration’s logic or some over-arching need for totalitarian control over marginal issues. Are bikes traffic or are they not?

If we’re not traffic, then we can ride on the sidewalks, ride parallel to parked cars (but in traffic), disregard traffic-flow directions and ignore traffic lights—acts common, yet seldom if ever ticketed when perpetrated by runners or pedestrians.

If we are in fact traffic, then we should be permitted to ride with motorized vehicular traffic as we see fit and deem safe. We should be able to ride together and not have such rides selectively considered “processions” (they would more accurately be described as congested traffic or sometimes, traffic jams—neither state of flow uncommon to New Yorkers. A lot of people leave their jobs by car at 5 PM. Does that make rush hour traffic a premeditated and un-permitted act of procession?) We would be expected to abide by common rules of the road—stopping at red lights, staying off of sidewalks and abiding by directional flow expectations.

If you could catch us, I guess you could enforce whatever set of events isn’t covered by either argument, but you have to pick one and let the public know which it is. Until you reconcile the split personality of your agenda—this picking and choosing between what should be two mutually exclusive scenarios—you put cyclists in a hard-place where there really is no law apart from that which you arbitrarily decide to have enforced.

Right now, your policies with respect to cycling are vague, abusive, overly elastic (in the favor of ticket-generated revenue), backward and a transparent form of regressive taxation (i.e. ticketing those who either depend on a bicycle for their employment (delivery men and couriers) or can afford a bicycle but maybe not taxis, mass transit, a car, fuel, insurance, parking, maintenance, etc).

On a related note, fuel is so costly and its consumption so damaging to the environment of this city you so frequently claim to love. In fact… its consumption damages not just the environment of the city, but also the personal environments of each of this city’s inhabitants. Your administration’s implied anti-cycling stance or confused cycling policies are taking non-polluting vehicles off the road and intimidating potential cyclists from contributing toward a healthier New York. In my estimation, that’s a pretty pathetic position for any administration to adopt.

Good luck on election day. Speaking for everyone I know, with whom I’ve discussed your re-election, I can safely say that we won’t be voting for you or your vision for a “better New York.” I was born in this city and moved back to it to get away from strip malls, political repression and small-minded politics… then the Rudy and Mike shows blew into town and created a larger more vertically scaled version of Greenwich Connecticut. It’s unfortunate that the jaded visions of two men could successfully drain so much creativity, life and energy from what was for so long, the creative capital of the world. Concrete, glass and steel—those words no longer describe just the physical landscape of New York, but also the latest in its dominant psychography. So sad.

C.H.

reword that, and as soon as they start ticketing again, send it around to various newspapers to see if it'll get run.

we should all sign and send a copy to mikey.

yeah. please feel free to take from that whatever you agree with and send it in if you don't have time to whip up anything else. it covers a lot of different issues, so, cut and paste away. the most important thing is to get physical letters to him from concerned cyclists.

if he gets ten letters delivered to his home in a week regarding cycling, it'll get him thinking--even if only a little. if he gets ten more the following week, it'll get him thinking a little more. the point is that we all have the ability to send him a letter. it costs 39 cents and buys us the ability to tell ourselves that at least we're trying to make a difference.

out of towners can do this too. bloomberg's big on lip-service about tourism. let him know what you want out of your visit to NYC.

letter-writing's a good first step, but if we really want things to change, there are other routes that i and others have discussed in this thread that can be pursued as well. maybe times-up can organize a few pre-community affairs meeting parties with group rides to the meetings. i think they or TA did something similar during mayoral town halls before the election.

ah, good point on the out of towners...like you said, tourism. i may be going up there in october.

nothing that the black panthers stood for was "just a[n]" anything... not just a quote, not just psychology... that's an insult

that's just like Bushy W commemorating the life of Coretta Scott King was an insult...gimme a break

dropping names, or quoting revolutionaries, doesn't change the fact that we are calling revolutionaries terrorists right now... revolutionaries who are being oppressed, jailed, killed, *****, sodomized, harrassed by cops who are "just doing their jobs"

there is nothing inherently 'evil' about any human being....this is the misconception that our society places on us...it is only 'evil' and unjust positions and actions that people take that makes them swine...
cops, soldiers, CEOs and other people 'just doing their jobs' are oppressing people all over the world

about the "cycling is not a crime" stickers.
I wouldnt do that. The more skateboarders rebelled against "laws" prohibiting them to do their thing, the more the "law" cracked down on them. Those types of stickers honestly just add to the problem. If you want to rebel the proper way, do it with smarts and send rational polite letters to any and all officials that could have a say in this matter.
You see.. "law" is there to tame "beasts".. and if we show ourselves to be "beasts" then they will continue to attempt to tame our ways. Show ourselves as rational humans, and the "law" gets rather confused and will find something else to tame.
little.. analogy.. sorta thing..

Jesus was a terrorist then.

although...I think the initiative and the content are great...and that we should certainly keep writing them (and publishing them in forums OTHER than Bloomberg's mailbox....send them to newspapers...write editorials...network...get them on the internet....)

unfortunately....letters to people in office most often (especially with these reactionary administrations) don't do shiet...especially ones that sound like they're coming from 'terrorists'

also...if you write a letter attempting to get real consideration, it would be advisable to make sure that it is on point. For example...even the slightest hint of sloppiness (or belittlement) will make it that much easier for them to disregard it

for example..."laundromat"...in the above should be "launderer"...

better if you sound like a corporate exec who likes recretional bike riding and is down with the rule of unscrutinized law, and likes bloomberg, but is deeply distraught at the fact that he is being embarrased, and belittled as if he were some punk criminal hipster by cops who make 1/5 his salary...lol


just making a point visitor, no criticism here...I haven't written a better one...


keep up the good work

Jesus would be assasinated by the CIA today,
and the blame placed on those in the east.

it's true. i've always had a problem with that sentence. somehow, neither "laundromat" nor "launderer" sound correct, though "launderer" is more correct than "laundromat" in that instance.

the three wise men would be cia agents bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh-der....

so has anyone actually got a ticket yet? when is this supposed to start?
i was on 6th ave today and not a sign of anything porky.
i feel like im getting a false sense of safety here.

o..m...g...

I was wondering the same thing. Didn't see any increased police presence, but I did see my first bike cop in years riding up 3rd Ave. Some cager honked at him cuz he was on the left side of the 3rd and in the lane. Guess he didn't see the big NYPD on the back of his jacket.

from the ny bike rules...

A white headlight and red taillight must be used from dusk to dawn;
A bell or other audible signal (not whistle) required;
Working brakes are required;
Reflective tires and/or other reflective devices are required.

traffic infractions or not, i would say that this puts 90% (at least) of riders here squarely in violation of the law. the last time i tried to ride cm in brooklyn- about a year ago- the cops were handing out flyers with this list and saying that tickets would be issued for each and every infraction. also, reflective devices have to be on your bike, not on your bag, at least according to the cop i talked to. life, liberty, and the pursuit of...

Actually, be aware that reflective devices are required only on new bikes (that is, at point of sale) and on bikes operated at night.

That is to say, a ticket issued during the day for failure to have reflectors is unlawful. Fight it.

i doubt any cop would give you a ticket for ligts and reflecters during the day...

they would just go for the lack of bell/breaks and probably the fact that they had to chase you to pull you over

AAAHAHAHA, awesome.

seriously though, i've talked with friends a few times about how if jesus (the historical figure, regardless of being the son of god or whatever) was alive today, all of the fundementalist religious folks, right wingers, and conservatives would hate him, label him a terrorist, and have him arrested. i have to say that i think jesus would be way more down with my athiest ass than pat robertson

i agree. the guy was a carpenter who hung out with hookers.

edit: humanc's post also made me spit my communion wafer out on the priest's fly before he zipped it up.

He was a total socialist, if not communist. Ive talked about it with rightwingers they got upset and said jesus would support capitalism yes he supports greed. But they said capitalists are "hard workers" thats why he would prefer them.

glad y'all liked my joke.

anyway, even back in my christian days i thought jesus wouldn't hang out with the likes o pat robertson...he said "come unto me all you who are weary"....etc. and those bastards want to limit who can and can't go to him.

if he were around, i still think he'd be more down with some of us (maybe not all, maybe not even me) than some of the people who profess so stridently that they follow him and do all kinds of ****ed up **** in his name.