The point did then move onto providing bike rack space for all mankind and I agree, more space is needed.

I included families in my post (did you not read my reference to our double SUV stroller?) and we all have bikes. One was stored in the bike room and the rest inside the apartment.

Try to be a little less emotional and you'll be able to read and see the points being made.

Forget the crap about bikes in the hallway. That's not what this is about.

Some cyclists think they can park anywhere - including public space - and that it is all right. It is not! Rather than check out the facts they just rant and rave how unfair the world is to cyclists.

I have a hook that I hang my bike from in my apartment.

It is dangerous to store bikes in halls.

But to get back to the point of the article (the letter banning bikes from hallways) since when has storing your bike in your own apartment when you are at home not been an option? Plenty of ppl do it. It just so happens that renters at the Solaire not only had ample space to do that but they had two huge bike storage rooms also.

Sounds like you would be happier if the residents kept their bikes in their apts and the bike rooms were made open to the public.

Apartments in the Soliare are large (so there is room to store your bike), with tons of closets, there are lots of bike racks but there are lots of families with kids. I remember a lot of spaces taken up with kids bikes.

Look at the flooplan of where I lived
http://www.thesolaire.com/floorplans/two_bedroom.asp?plan=two_3-18n

You don't get that many closets in new condos. That foyer was large enough to store a double SUV stroller without folding it.

There are far more deserving targets but I guess it wouldn't make such a good story would it? A green building that doesn't like bikes?
No, a green building with tons of bike racks but with a need to prevent fire code violations by keeping the hallways clear.

If you really want a good story then try and find out why the supposedly double filtered air that came into our apts always stunk of cigarette smoke. Other ppls' smoke from inside their apartments? Workers smoking near inlet vents? Who knows but that would be a good story don't you think? The air quality was really that bad.

http://www.habitatmag.com/solaire/bikeroom1.jpg
http://www.habitatmag.com/solaire/bikeroom2.jpg

http://carfreeusa.blogspot.com/2007/07/automentia-225000-parking-space.html

Car parking is obviously more profitable.

The average car parking spot can hold at least a dozen bikes if designed well.

Here is what they did in Portland.
http://bikeportland.org/2007/02/28/belmont-goes-for-on-street-bike-parking/

The point is that when these things come up, the management office should work to get additional storage space in addition to chastising the tenants. Not because cyclists are always and automatically better people, but because supporting cycling is good for the environment.

The solution could be to have building bikes to share. There are plans to have a zip car.

The other solution would be to create legal outside storage for the hundreds of bikes that would represent the tip of unmet demand in this one building alone.

That said, in a tour of Solaire, I was told by the building manager that demand for bike storage was far underestimated, and this was taken into account in the construction of other BPC buildings built afterword. I guess when you build an apartment building at the end of probably the most-used bike path in America, you get a lot of people who want to store their bikes...

So do I get a tee-shirt?

Even if they didn't have space for bikes, people shouldn't be leaving bikes in the hallway. You don't fight the alleged hypocrisy of a green building, which has car parking, by effectively blocking hallways with your bike.

I say this as an avid bike rider in NYC who has always had to figure out ways to store my bike in my various apartments. (hook on the wall being the current winner).

But the point of the letter from building management is very valid. If you don't have space in your apartment to keep your bike, you need to find some place LEGAL to do so. Storing bikes in public hallways is selfish and a fire hazard. I know that this is a pro-bike website and community, but we have to recognize when bikers are doing something wrong - and this is one of those instances.