And “tag, clip and auction” sounds nice, but involves at least twice as much work for the public servants, because each junked bike is visited twice. I am assuming that the auctions you propose would be in bulk lots.

If the officers drove up in that van shown in the video, they are auxiliary cops–volunteers–not NYPD. That’s an auxiliary vehicle by the coloring. So it’s not NYPD that should get the credit or the blame for the actions that were filmed.

Huh? You mean that auxiliaries aren’t part of the NYPD? That they operate without instructions or supervision from anyone in the NYPD hierarchy? They can just drive around enforcing whatever laws they feel like however they want, without coordinating with the regular cops?

If the officers drove up in that van shown in the video, they are auxiliary cops–volunteers–not NYPD. That’s an auxiliary vehicle by the coloring. So it’s not NYPD that should get the credit or the blame for the actions that were filmed.

I’m not suggesting that it is only the valiant efforts of city workers that are keeping our streets free of junk bicycles. But I’ve seen plenty of junk bicycles locked to fixed objects in New York, and I’m willing to believe that city workers (in this case, volunteers) may possess the same discretion that allows me to distinguish between a junk bike and a working bike.

As I asked earlier today, “Why doesn’t this get written up as ‘Cops improve bicycling conditions on Bedford Avenue by removing junk bicycles that are taking up parking spots?’ ”

Show me a victim and I’ll reconsider my position.

I don’t know the others, but Jonathan, you’re a regular here. Would you mind not perpetuating the false dichotomy between abandoned bikes everywhere and saw-happy cops?

This kind of reactive tactic indicates an underlying incompetence, similar to that at the RIOC. Why can’t Deputy Inspector Fulton get his act together enough to have his cops come around once a month and tag all the bikes, then remove all the ones that still have the tags two days later? How hard is it to plan something like that?

You won’t see either of those things. Most of those bikes are clearly abandoned or neglected by their owner. The place was unsightly, and even as a cyclist I would advocate their removal if this were my neighborhood. The racks are a great idea in principle, but like anything else in this city, they’re abused by the selfish.

In the end, I don’t understand why you would choose to ride your bike all the way to the most crowded station of one of the most crowded peak-hour subway lines — is getting squeezed into a subway car that appealing? Why not just tackle that last leap of fitness and pedal it over the bridge?

As a livable streets advocate myself, I choose not to advocate for blanket permission for people to leave their non-GHG-emitting junk wherever they choose.

The sidewalks on Bedford Avenue are VERY narrow.

Classic fighting over the scraps. Why shouldn’t the sidewalks be wider? Why does the street provide ample space for people to leave their private automobiles are not bicycles, which are far more space efficient?

So we are supposed to go on “Running says the confiscated bicycles seemed to be in use”

This is totally irresponsible and just feeds the bloggeridiots that read this.

The sidewalks on Bedford Avenue are VERY narrow. Plus the neighborhood is filled with morons who don’t know how to walk on the right. And – there are TONS of bikes that have bent wheels and frames and have been abandoned. The business owners probably just got sick of looking at them and tripping over them for when they get their deliveries.

- A daily bike commuter who is responsible enough to lock his bike up away from the street and not get it stolen.

I don’t expect either will work, due to the root problem, whereby American governments seek a status quo composed of coalitions of very large moneyed factions, who crowd out both the unmoneyed and anyone seeking a devolution of authority. But these are the proper channels and they do stand at least a chance.

Bicycling will probably only be taken seriously by power when the middle classes participate in it, and despite DOT’s admirable efforts, I don’t believe it will happen on a large scale, because the middle classes nationwide are basically paid cash money to drive cars and act like pigs.

Personally, I’m just trying to live well, make a bunch of money, and keep from death by cop, until shock from the ’08 oil peak wrecks this ship of state.

But I’m willing to be pleasantly surprised!

Yes, this is a law that should be addressed. Any ideas on how it can be done efficiently and en masse?

Totally incidentally, nobody here needs to be told that an unrideable bike because bent wheel becomes rideable after you replace the wheel.

If tying up to an NYC street sign is illegal, then that’s something we need to fix in law. Hell, the Kryptonite U-lock I use doesn’t even fit around the square-post CityRacks.

Attempting to report it stolen, the operator told me that the cops will occasionally do this, and she advised me to do a grid search of the surrounding neighborhoods before I committed to the police report.

So I did a grid search (on foot, I didn’t bike yet), and found my car, sitting in a NO STANDING zone with two more parking tickets on it, and no indication of who’d towed it or for why. (The judge took my word when I plead not guilty on the two no-standing-zone tickets; also, I’m astonished I wasn’t towed a second time for that.)

The cops don’t just steal bikes, they steal twenty thousand dollar automobiles.

Try to remember stuff like this here video, Streetsblog, when you advocate solving any of our myriad issues with new laws for cops to enforce.

http://www.thevillager.com/villager_214/bikeblitzone.html