Comments on: How Do Bike Seizures Fit Into Bloomberg’s “Green Plan”

By: b

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:24:12 +0000

You may report complaints against the police by calling 311. It is a fairly lengthy phone recording, so be patient.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:18:37 +0000

Parks Dep't employees confiscate bikes but illegally park cars in the Park themselves:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43954081@N00/963335073/

Way to go Parks Dep't!!!

By: Jake

Jake — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:18:46 +0000

Even when the city gets around to placing bike racks on NYC streets THEY FACE THEM THE WRONG WAY! A bike rack designed for four bikes now holds only two. Bloomy runs this town like we are his employees. Get it straight mayor, you work for us.

By: dave

dave — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:11:17 +0000

To be fair to the folks that are presently working to improve conditions for cyclists, there has been a significant speed-up in the placement of bike racks around the city. A cunbersum community approval process has been eliminated and racks are going in quickly and hopefully at lower cost.

Perhaps Parks and DOT should get together and see that racks are placed at the location in question.

-dave

By: John Hunka

John Hunka — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 13:22:27 +0000

Instead of clipping bikes, the Parks Department should install bike racks. The fact that bikes are locked to trees shows that there is an urgent need for more bike racks, and this problem is simply going to recur unless the Parks Department provides bike racks. As usual, the Parks Department can't think outside the box.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 04:06:36 +0000

Check out the photo of that crazy bike-thieving truck. It's not a king-cab, but some chop-shop special – it looks like the spliced two truck cabs together to make a four-door.

By: Jmc

Jmc — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 02:07:49 +0000

The key line here is "Philson *believes* that bicycles were also removed from street signs and other street furniture..."

More bike parking is definitely necessary and should be a focus of lobbying. However, a shortage of parking doesn't mean you can leave the bike wherever you want (can you imagine if car owners did the same thing... oh wait, they do sometimes, and it's widely decried on this blog).

Bikes shouldn't be locked to trees or park benches. Not only does this potentially harm the tree or make the bench useless, it also leads to a bad reputation of cyclists in the city. If someone double parks in the bike lane, the car should be towed, and the same thing should happen to bikes locked to trees.

Also, people should lobby for clear rules about bike parking on signs, etc. I think the transportation commissioner would be interested in this.

By: mfs

mfs — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:52:30 +0000

has corp counsel ever issued a definitive memo about what the legality is of bikes locked to municipal street furniture?

By: at

at — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 23:36:44 +0000

This is just typical of this administration. MB says one thing and his cronies are doing another. Just take a look at the police, he can't control their parking habits. So he speaks of greening and congestion pricing to improve air quality and quality of life in Manhattan but he is secretly allowing re-zoning in the boroughs so his real estate developer buddies can build without typical approvals, EIS studies or parking for cars or bikes. So he only cares about Manhattan.

By: cochon

cochon — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 22:07:19 +0000

a bunch of fixed gear hipsters had a super loud, annoying party last summer in the back yard of their apt. building, which unfortunately is right next to mine. instead of taking their bikes with them into the back yard, they decided to lock their bikes to the newly planted trees out front. one of them drank way too much pabst and lost the key to their lock.

their solution to this self induced dilemma is truly selfish and amazing.

instead of waiting until the next day to get a locksmith or something, they decided that the best thing to do was cut the tree down and that's exactly what they did - sawed the tree in half and tossed it into a pile of garbage at the end of the block, leaving a stump for me and everyone else in my neighborhood to look at and ponder for a year. and i bet these little toadies are vegan and eat organic. i digress.

regardless of this instance, i am well aware that if i lock my bike to a tree, it could be removed sans warning bythe city, it's called common sense. every tree in the city doesn't need a sticker or sign indicating this. however, if it was locked to a signpost, parking meter or whatever else and clipped without warning, that should be addressed.

By: Charlie D.

Charlie D. — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 21:03:59 +0000

Someone needs to set a clear policy, communicate it with people, and then enforce it in a fair manner.

Randomly clipping bikes with no warning is not acceptable.

Tagging bikes with a warning that says "This bike will be removed on [date] unless this tag is removed" would be an appropriate way of dealing with concerns of abandoned bikes.

Also, posting a sign communicating where bikes should and should not be parked would also be quite useful.

I really don't understand what the motivation and goal of these random confiscations are. Is someone on an anti-bike power trip or what?! Is there any legal recourse by bike owners or Transportation Alternatives?

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 21:01:49 +0000

I'm not the Steve in #1, but I agree with him. Especially when you consider that a key plank in PlaNYC is a playground within 10 minutes walk of every New York. Rry to find an open basketball court in Manhattan on a nice day--you'll have to mutliply that 10 minute walk by 4 or 5 times. We take our bikes outn as a matter of course when going out to play basketball, and a frequent destination is the 96th Street courts in Central Park, which are easily accessible via the 96th Street transverse. We lock up on the fence outside the courts. Is Parks Department now saying that I have to look over my shoulder while playing to see if our bikes are being confiscated?

What makes it all the more outrageous is that the Parks Department has no qualms about allowing cars into the park. They give out free parking passes to retired parks department bureaucrats (http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/648) and they have even have converted three of the basketball courts at 96th Street to parking for their own personal vehicles (http://nyc.uncivilservants.org/post/index/520)

Some of which sport out-of-state license plates and appear to be parked there 24/7, for long streches, although they occasionally move the cars in case of tournaments.

WTF?

By: Mike K.

Mike K. — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:22:12 +0000

I'm totally outraged.

I don't know what else to say.

By: mfs

mfs — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:18:49 +0000

if parks is clipping the bikes from trees themselves, then that is totally justified. but there's no reason to clip them from the railings around trees or any other lamppost, etc.

there needs to be a big educational campaign about bike riding in the city by the city.

Also an intrepid streetsblogger might want to look into he institutional friction that has happened in the past between DOT and Parks over putting bike racks in or next to City parks.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 19:55:17 +0000

Bloomberg just doesn't get it, and neither did Ed Koch!

Koch returned from his 1980 China trip and extolled the 2 million bikes he saw transporting people in Beijing. He didn't see the 4 million bike parking spaces that went along with those 2 million bikes.

Bloomberg wants bicycle riding, but has no plans to deal with bicycles that finally come to a stop. I guess when the East River Bike Greenway is completed, cyclists can circle Manhattan endlessly, they will be fine as long as they don't stop.

Bloomberg's department heads and staff have been talking up their trips to Copenhagen and other European cities. Obviously, they have not gotten the message back to his honor that where there is high bicycle transportation use - 35 percent of ALL trips in Copenhagen are by bike - there is also massive on street bicycle parking. One can barely find a foot of empty wall space in Copenhagen for all the bikes parked. Their apartments are even smaller than the average New Yorkers, and nearly all are walk-ups, at home parking is out front of the house. Subway and commuter rail have massive bike parking lots and even multistory garages. Around offices and shops, there are racks but the overflow fills all the available walls.

Look at the photos of Bedford Ave and 7th St bike parking, and now think 100 times the number of bikes at rail station park and rides.

I won't even begin on the mayor allowing Police Commissioner Kelly to maintain the department's vendetta against cyclists. Counterproductive does not begin to cover the problems.

Would somebody please invite both the mayor and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe to sit down with Janette Sadik-Khan and have her explain how secure bicycle parking goes along with encouraging New Yorkers to ride their bicycles.

We better start planning for what happens when, not if, the city is successful in encouraging lots more cycling.