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Early Addition
Let's say you plan to use your bike to avoid the subways tomorrow, in light of the terrorist warning the city announced today. You might want to avoid locking it anywhere near Williamsburg (particularly outside the subway on North 7th)-- that is, if you want to be able to ride it home. Will has the gory details of police going chainsaw on a whole bunch of bikes. He also looked up the law:
In fact, according to New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law Article 24, Section 1115, it is completely legal to lock a bicycle to a signpost, lamppost, bus stop pole, parking meter or any other public street fixture as long as it does not alter or interfere with the operation of public traffic signals and signs. Because of potential harm, locking to a tree is illegal.
Come on, Bloomberg administration-- wouldn't those police officers be better used keeping our subways and buses safe?
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I WANT THAT SAW!!!!!
Oh, the irony. My block is infested with illegally parked cars and motorcycles parked for months on the sidewalk (also illegal), and the cops do absolutely zero about it despite repeated calls.
I really don't understand why they're doing this.
Hopefully this will stop them:
http://transalt.org/e-bulletin/2005/Oct/1003.html#lock
Let this be a lesson to all you uber-cool hipster/scenester-types riding around on your 1950s style bikes....we get it already, you're so unique and original, now please go away and take your ugly freakin' bikes with you. GO BUZZSAWS!
Fuck you Drew Carey. Just another example of why Bloomberg lets police blatanley violate civil and, often, criminal law in order to make a point or bring in revenue for the city. In this case i'm not quite sure what the point is, or if there is any goal other than police cock swinging.
This cinches it. Bloomberg hates bicycles. It's that simple. He even posts here under the name "ClevelandRcks."
OTOH, as a cyclist, I do hate it when other cyclists chain their bikes to railings so that pedals and handlebars stick out and impede others. We're responsible for keeping our bikes out of the way of pedestrians. We definitely need more bike racks in this city so bikes don't need to be locked to signposts, meters, railings or any other objects.
Great photos.
I suppose the justification was "Security" but if that was the case, they'd remove the self serve Newspaper stand too. (You can hide Nasty things in those and Post boxes).
The Mayor needs to get a clue.
Get rid of those bikes! They are a nuisance to cars and downright dangerous to pedestrians. They ride around like they own the road by violating every traffic law in the books. I hope more of them get crushed by delivery trucks.
My apologies to you, non-hipster biker, and I should clarify as well. I dont hate all bikes, on the contrary, just those relagated to streets of Williamsburg.
I have step around those stupid monstrosities on the sidewalks all the time in the that area because usually they stick out and take up already precious sidewalk space. Your convenience is my inconvenience, so therefore, off with their locks!
"a nuisance to cars and dangerous to pedestrians"?? Dude, what planet are you on? Next time you're huffing exhaust fumes or trying to sleep through traffic noise, think about your statement.
ClevelandRocks... I reject your dual way of thinking. How about we bulb out the sidewalk into the street to provide non-intrusive space for bike parking? Peds are happy, cyclists are happy and drivers, well, they lose parking spaces. Too bad, 'coz they've had their run of the City for 100 years, and look what they've done with it.. Time to give it back to the people, not machines.
Of all the people to attact, bicycle riders should be the last on the list. The only way to discover New York City is by bicycle. I had lived here 7 years before I got a bike and I've seen more in the past year than I had in the past. And I am not a Williamsburg hipster- if fact I can't stand Williamsburg- but I respect their right to ride their 50's bike and to lock them to whatever posts they want to.
attention bike-riding hipsters: it's not the mayor, it's the sargeant of the 94th precinct. give him a call, they don't have a lot to do in the 94th. really. while you're at it, get together and try to get some bike racks put up in the area.
Grrrr! This makes me so angry. I can't see what purpose it serves other than to infuriate bicyclists and heat-up an already caustic relationship between bikers and cops. Biking is something that the city should condone. And to hope that more bicyclists get crushed by delivery trucks? To the haters: don't be scared of the better world bikes can bring. Oh, and, why are you all obsessed with hipsters? Whoever you think a hipster is, they're harmless. Move on. Ride a bike.
In this picture, what the cop is doing is right. The person locked their bike to the subway entrance. That area is cramp at the Bedford L stop, we don't need a bike blocking the sidewalk. Last weekend, I saw that someone parked their bike there when I got on the subway and when I can back later that day someone had stomped on the rims of the bike and bent both of them making the bike useless. There are a ton of bike parking-post along 7th to park your bike, just don't do it on the entrance.
Its not the people of williamsburg you hate, its you and the people like you who come into our neighborhood trying to find out whats cool. On weekends in the Summer when no tourist or the rest of NYC coming here, the area is actually really great.
the DOT installs bike racks on sidewalks by request. the program is called CityRacks and the website is below. i can't imagine that this is done with any expediency but it does eventually get done.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bikeped/bikerack.html
I find these bi-cycles to be an intensely troublesome burden. I would like for them to be buzzsawed and swept into the gutter. Or some other out of the way place.
"Police Cock Swinging." Nice one, Nonhipsterbiker!
And people wonder why there's a lack of respect for law enforcement? I know there are genuinely good police people, and I'm grateful for their service. I do have to wonder though, aren't they downright embarrassed by the colleagues that tarnish their collective reputation? I'm referring to those who devote their career to smelling an open container from two miles away, and keeping a hawk's eye out for Girl Scouts and the hint of a bike tire on the sidewalk. Shouldn't we be worrying about more urgent matters, like, ohhhhh rapists?
"Time to give it back to the people, not machines."
so...the pedestrians? or are bikes not machines?
there was a slogan used by General Motors when the Suburban-type SUV was first in production..it went something like this: "as a matter of fact, i do own the road"...well now i'm reclaiming it for myself and the rest of NYC's bicyclists. as a citizen and tax payer you better believe its my goddamned right to ride and lock-up my bike when, and wherever i please.
you got something to say? say it to the back of my head when i pass yr. gas guzzling, fume-spewing, fat ass sitting in traffic.
In these times of rising fuel prices, reports of global warming and a general need for transportation alternatives in New York, and the rest of the world it is nice to see the NYPD supporting and really embracing the most practical of these alternatives. Good job NYPD! I look forward to seeing you in rush hour traffic real soon.
This is very likely a response to the decision in federal court that came down last Friday, finding that the NYPD can NOT legally cut locks without first warning the owners. Every time we win in court, they follow almost immediately with a big public show of disregarding the Court's decision. It's kind of a game to them, I think!
Makes me want to bend the wheels of the next bike I see.
It's rather sad to see the anger and resentment people feel towards cars subconciously misdirected towards bicycles.
Yep.. another reason I won't be voting for Bloomie. Two weeks ago, I borrowed a friend's car to go pick-up some chairs we got on craigslist. On the way home I made a left turn on a yellow light. It was yellow until I couldn't see it anymore. A second later, some asshat cop was pulling me over and insisted that I ran a red light. He said, didn't you see me? I said, yes I did, and I also saw the yellow light. It would've still been green if I didn't stop for the jay walkers.