August 30, 2007
Cop Talks Critical Mass
Critical Mass, which came to New York around 1993, hasn't always been a cause for concern amongst the city's police. After 2004's Republican National Convention coincided with that month's Critical Mass in Manhattan, things changed. The ride has taken a more political tone and there's often an air of protest circling it.
The ever-changing leaderless group has been in and out of the court with arrests being called in to question. Do the police have the right to arrest cyclists and take their bikes? Should there or shouldn't there be a need for a permit? The Villager talked to one of the cops who is at each Critical Mass, here is some of what he had to say:
Q. It’s the last Friday of the month and that evening is Critical Mass. What’s going through your mind?There were no questions asked about the recent Reverend Billy incidents, but when asked if he had advice for the Critical Mass bikers (who he described as "idealists"), he pleaded, "Somebody, just once, get the permit — it’s only $45 — and do an organized ride. Get as many people as you possibly can, 10,000 bicyclists, for the ride. But get the permit first, and watch what happens. You’ll get to ride your route, they’ll get any route they want, short of riding on the F.D.R. Drive or the West Side Highway. There’ll be a detail of officers to hold traffic. They will ride unencumbered, unhindered, unsummonsed and unchallenged. There’ll be no issues. There’ll be no problems. And even if they don’t get the entire street to themselves, they will have at least two lanes reserved for them."A. Generally speaking, we know it’s going to be a night with a lot of confrontations, somebody’s going to be unhappy, there’s going to be some form of enforcement action. In the beginning it was arrests that were done, and that was when Critical Mass decided to make itself a problem in the eyes of the department, before the R.N.C., especially.
We’re expecting we’re going to arrive and that there’s going to be the usual epithets, “police state” shouts and chants and that we’re all nazis, so we kind of brace ourselves mentally for that.
We wonder if anyone is willing to put up $45 to test this out. And to get a biker's side of the story, we interviewed Matthew Roth in 2005 -- he's a regular Critical Mass rider and part of Time's Up, an organization the interviewed officer thinks organizes the monthly ride.
Photo via Doug Letterman's Flickr.
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I don't believe one word that cop said, especially the part about BEFORE the RNC, please. And why should bicyclists get a permit in order to ride the streets? Cars don't get a permit. Why is a group of 100 bicyclists unlawful but a group of 100 cars just traffic?
The police should start worrying about bigger fish and start doing their job 24/7/365 and stop enforcing what they want to when they want to.
There's a reason they are are called pigs y'know.
I'd put up the $45 to pay for the bullets to shoot all the Critical Masshole riders who think they can take over the streets whenever they want to.
typical cop answers. why are most cops republicans?
hey # 2--bikes have as much legal right to use the streets as cars do.
Uh what happened to all the weird gun control stuff he said? I was on the site not 5 minutes ago and the quoted interview was much longer. Bring it back. It showed this guy had no idea what he was talking about and wanted to paint Critical Massers as a bunch of idealists who don't care about public safety. Here it is....
Q. What do you think of the Critical Mass bicyclists?
A. I look at them as idealists. They want to have their quote “freedom of speech, First Amendment rights,” but I would speculate a lot of them are also very much in favor of gun control, which is another Bill of Rights guarantee. You can’t cherry-pick which ones you do want and which ones you don’t.
The same people are saying, freedom of assembly, freedom to do whatever they want, period, regardless. It doesn’t fly. We have the gun control laws in New York City for a specific reason, for public safety. We have, even though I don’t particularly agree with how it’s set up, the “parading without a permit” laws along the same lines. You can’t have 5,000 cyclists riding up and around Sixth Ave., Broadway, tying up the streets. Even if you do things exactly right, it takes time for all those people to pass through an intersection. That creates a problem. To say that it shouldn’t be much of a problem if there were fewer cars doesn’t fly.
100 cars parading as a group and disobeying traffic signals would be unlawful without a permit.
actually CM has been in NYC since 1993!
please correct.
this is why I dance my jig of jigs, my riverdance of riverdance, my lord of the flatley flatley's whenever a cop dies.
molon labe. county mayo carlow
Hey #4, #2 here: You're absolutely right. They also have to obey the same traffic laws and respect other people who are trying to use the same streets -- which the Critical Massholes definitely DO NOT.
Sounds fishy to me.
Remember this Gothamist post where an NYPD spokesman said that the NYPD routinely issues permits on the spot and withough the participants' knowledge in the case of the annual Dyke March.
Why don't they just come to some sort of arrangement with Critical Mass and be done with all the hoopla.
ah, but, #6, many cars DO disobey traffic rules...
red light running
grid lock
driving/parking in the bike lane
illegal u-turns
double parking
parking at fire hydrants, bus stops, etc
(i could go on and on)
and, yet, there are over 50 cars on a block (as a group even though they may not know each other etc.) all day long which NEVER EVER are requested to obtain a permit!!
sheesh!
um yeah but #11 they get tickets for that. thats the point.
Get the damn permit. Stop trying to be hip and think you are making some political statement. Anybody who drove their Hummer around Manhattan yesterday (I'm talking H2, not those fuel efficient H3s) knows your political views are meaningless since most of you don't even vote.
You talk in circles #11 and just may be the biggest nitwit I've ever seen posting on Gothamist.
Yes, many cars do disobey traffic rules and they should be and often are ticketed for it. Just as bike riders should be when they violate traffic regulations. And there are also many times when there are multiple bicycles on a street and they're not required to have a permit either because they're not part of an organized group out parading themselves with no place to go and no particular purpose other than to break as many traffic rules as they can.
If the Critical Massholes were respectful of other citizens and only gave the cops a hard time then I wouldn't mind so much. But they're not. They set out once a month to show the world that they can do whatever they want regardless of how it affects anyone else. So screw those little brats and GO NYPD!
#5, thanks for posting that, I was wondering where the hell that section went when the page reloaded...
...police state indeed!
#12: #11 here..... sometimes...far less than they should despite the graver dangers they pose.
anyway, yeah, there are rules and they are there for a reason, sure. in fact, the *veteran* CM riders obey them. it is the young 'un one timers or newbies that get all gung ho, etc.
ah well, its sort of like veteran NY drivers vs. out of towners/folks in for a "one night stand" on a friday/saturday.
these spoiled jerks need to find something meaningful to do with their lives...
this is a crowded, chaotic city (duh!)and rules are there to PROTECT people, not to harass these self-centered children.
Besides the obvious, that ambulance, fire and other emergency vehicles access can't be unneccessarily comprimised, the rest of us also would like move about the city in a reasonable manner without having to navigate around this mess.
Grow up.
When I see you whinny biker bitches obeying those same automobile traffic laws you claim to be a part of, then I'll take you seriously.
Police state my ass ... you and your liberal arts degree have no idea what a police state is. stfu
douchetards
Critical Mass is the worst. I don't see why they can't get a permit and have a organized ride. At least then the emergency vehicles could plan their route around, not to mention pedestrians. There's nothing worst then going out on a friday and have to wait for these douchbags on their track bikes to drive by.
Pedestrians should Unite and block these dicks. The NYPD would be on board.
#20 said: "There's nothing worst then going out on a friday and have to wait for these douchbags on their track bikes to drive by."
Yeah, there's really nothing worse than that. Sometimes, I think poverty, crime and hate is bad, but then I see people on bikes, and I think, what's this world coming too. Scary stuff man. Scary stuff.
I would just like to point out that for whatever reason Critical Mass in Brooklyn has none of these problems. They don't get a permit and the cops treat them just fine.
critical mass people are just extremely insecure nerds who feel this need to be rebels and try to look like they're misunderstood political outcasts. if they really believed in trying to make things better for cyclists (like myself) then they would ride down the street in large numbers and stop at red lights and stop signs and show everyone how beautiful a world this would be if there were much more bicyles in the street. but instead they have to add all of these negative vibes by behaving poorly because they have this romantic notion of being rebellious by way being rebellious for the sake of it. they are just smug and childish and most people i know just think they're ridiculous.
Bikes are good for the world.
Cars are not.
#24 - I don't see it as a cars vs. bikes issue. Of course Bikes are better. But this is new york, which is still mainly a pedestrian city. And as a pedestrian, bikes are as much a problem as cars, especially when a few hundred are driving around like assholes.
It seems to have become a distraction from the point. Traffic is out of control. Yellow cabs are a constant hazard as are many other vehicles. Speed, running lights, aggresive driving. Much more needs to be done to reduce automotive traffic and or protect people from these things.
This should be a city for walkers runners people on mass transit and people on bikes. But these people still need to act responsibly and/or within the laws governing their mode of transport.
Critical Mass has made it about the NYPD's tactics or whether they need a permit or god knows what.
I love very little more than cycling, but they should just get the permit and flout the traffic laws at their own peril.
As the comments here by and large indicate, they are only turning people off to their own cause.
the point is that the cops - not the cyclists - took critical mass to this new level. prior to the RNC, CM rides included lots of "regular" folks - people of all ages; people with their kids etc. it was a chance for people who do not usually feel comfortable riding the streets to enjoy it. it had a street party kind of atmosphere. the cops laid off and the ride moved by in 2-3 minutes. when the cops started with the mass arrests, the "regular folks" stopped coming. the police essentially radicalized the group by pushing out anyone who wasn't willing to get arrested for their "right to ride."
i saw a dude on a fixed-gear bike riding down manhattan ave in greenpoint the other morning and he did this...
he was riding a green-pista with straight handlebars (in case you're reading this) and there was a car backing out of a space so he deliberately rides as close to the backing car as he can to scare driver into thinking he/she is about to hit him. then immediately he rides really close to traffic cop who is writing out a ticket and yells "yeah, give 'em a ticket!" in a really lame and mocking manner. now i know most people on bikes don't do this sort of stuff but too many do because they think riding a bike means you're some sort of a rebel who entitled to act like a douche. it's just so lame. so sick of critical mass too.
Hey #18, somehow I doubt that's how you'd behave if you encountered a cyclist following all traffic laws. That involves things like taking the lane, stopping at red lights in front of you, etc... In my experience most motorists aren't so happy about cyclists following the rules.
The only law I break is going through red lights if it is safe to do so, not into oncoming traffic or pedestrians crossing. I do this because it allows me to put some space between myself and traffic. I'm safer and I'm not "in your way".
i ride almost every day and most motorists don't seem to mind me. yes enough of them do for it to be a problem but lets not exaggerate.
When I first moved to the city, I was a big fan of CM as a way to raise awareness of cyclists rights, but in the many years that I have lived here, I find myself more and more frustrated with most of the bicyclists here.
I saw a guy yesterday on a bike blow through two red lights in a row - going the wrong way down 6th Ave - and then get mad at the drivers who had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting him. The majority of the cyclists I see have little to no disregard for pedestrian or vehicular traffic - cutting in front of cars, running red lights, driving through crosswalks while streams of people are walking with the right of way. I hate to sound like this, but you all on two wheels need to start obeying traffic laws if you want to gain back the sympathy I once had for you.
NO BIKES ON SIDEWALKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Critical Mass are a bunch of assholes. I hate them.
The thing about this is why don't the cops just hand out tickets instead of taking bikes and sending ppl to jail....
Medicine is not supposed to taste good.
And lord knows this country needs a good dose of medicine to cure us of decades of Kar Kulture. CM is part of that overall fitness plan. It may not taste good - there may be some discomfort and side effects. Don't ask you doctor - you know the symptoms and you know the cure. Just bend over and take it like a man.
Cars don't get a permit. Why is a group of 100 bicyclists unlawful but a group of 100 cars just traffic?
I would have zero issue with Critical Mass riders if they actually paid attention to traffic signals and didn't yell at me and give me dirty looks when I cross the street at a WALK signal.
You want to blow the red light, that's fine... but a pedestrian can knock you off a bike just as easily and violently as a car can.
I love my bike and I'd love to take part, but I'm not protesting for your right to act like assholes once a month.
#22, that's because brooklyn doesn't count, for anything.
Sure looks like Critical Mass has totally screwed its public image. If even the people on Gothamist are overwhelmingly against them then who's for them (besides a bunch of trust fund babies in Williamsburg)?
CM messed up by going to the RNC & since then everything has changed. they need to get it through their thick skulls that things are different now (because of their own actions) & they should either stop or get a permit. they have only themselves to blame.
Sure looks like Critical Mass has totally screwed its public image. If even the people on Gothamist are overwhelmingly against them then who's for them?
Yeah, I think these Gothamist comments will dictate the future of Critical Mass.
In the meantime, whether the mass is critical or not, sensible and thoughtful people will choose to ride bicycles when and where they can - and there are more cyclists each day. These riders know that cycling is good for them, good for the city and good for the country.
Meanwhile another child in Brooklyn will be killed by a hit-and-run driver, another grandmother in Queens will be run down on Queens Blvd., and another tourist will be blindsided at an intersection by a turning vehicle. Most New Yorkers will look away from these tragedies - and pretend that it is somehow the state of doing business in this city. That it's somehow okay that hundreds of citizens are killed and injured each year by motor vehicles.
But the New Yorkers that do care about this city will continue to push for change. Still we will ride.
Sure looks like Critical Mass has totally screwed its public image. If even the people on Gothamist are overwhelmingly against them then who's for them?
A whole bunch of anonymous Guests who could be the same person posting multiple comments does not reflect anything.
but a pedestrian can knock you off a bike just as easily and violently as a car can.
Clearly, you've never been hit by each.
#28 is exactly right. The draconian steps taken by the police during the RNC radicalized CM. Now, riders expect a confrontation and those are the ones who show up.
Now it's a situation nobody is happy with and nobody is "right." CM riders do need to be "good citizens" when they ride, but they continue to drive neutral parties to sympathize with the police for the "we rule the road" attitude.
Conversely, the enforcement methods used by the police are entirely over the top and beyond any potential danger posed by CM. It all indicates that they aren't treating CM fairly.
Both sides need to get a grip and understand that CM could be great if both sides decided to act like adults.
move to amsterdam you biker fags
good words, drewo. thanks!
As a pedestrian, I've had more problems from almost being flattened by dopey bicycle riders going the wrong way on one-way streets and blowing through lights than I've had from cars, which, at least, rarely do either. On a bike, dooring has always been my main problem.
When I'm on a bike I obey the traffic regs and only go through a light after checking both ways twice.
I've even had issues with Transportation Alternatives about this, so you can imagine what Critical Mass would say about those kind of complaints.
www.forgotten-ny.com
#28: exactly. The last CM ride I did was the RNC one. Once the police started cracking down, I started staying away.
It's a shame, because CM was (and still SHOULD be) a harmless, fun way to show support for cyclists.
I too am annoyed by bad bike behavior and do not at all condone it (or practice it), but CM generally wasn't an annoyance for most people for more than a few minutes. I believe that, considering the abuse cyclists get from motorists and pedestrians (I am routinely yelled at by pedestrians when they are the ones breaking the law by jaywalking etc.), giving one night a month to the cyclists wasn't asking too much.
#45: just tonight on my way home, I narrowly missed being doored by some lady. When I said "what the hell?" she started yelling at me about how it was my fault, and that I should be paying attention. If I HADN'T been paying attention, she WOULD'VE hit me!! But she was too stupid to realize that, and chose to believe I could read minds and anticipate actions instead...
Definitely, doorers believe
1) you should anticipate their action
2) you shouldn't be on a bike on city streets anyway
I have had yelling matches with a LOT of doorers.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Jersey City critical mass is so much better.
I'm going to critical mass tonight...as a pedestrian. When the walk signal turns green, I'm walking and I don't care if you massholes are riding. I dare you to hit me - you don't have enough money to pay the consequences.
I don't really understand everyone's indignant comments on here about rude bicyclists - is it really only bicyclists who navigate this city like assholes?? Let's face it, there are tons of rude and obnoxious drivers, walkers, or bikers - it has less to do with the form of transport than the person. And personally I'm a lot more afraid of someone driving 2,3, or 10-ton vehicles recklessly than I am of a bicyclist riding too fast.
It's perfectly reasonable to disagree with the methodology of people who participate in Critical Mass. They do, however, have a point: in a city where the vast majority of people don't even own a car, the urban environment is completely designed for car owners. There are plenty of ways of making the city safer for bikers/peds without disrupting car traffic.
its ALL about the permit!!!
you folks getting so riled up by CM and blowing all this hot air in the comments section and elsewhere can say all you want about cyclists and cycling etiquette, etc., but it all comes down to the fact that CYCLISTS DO NOT NEED A PERMIT TO BE A PART OF TRAFFIC - even when riding in a group!!!
more than one judge has suppported that belief (and some of them are way smarter than most of the gothamist commenters - including me).
In Jefferson Siegel’s interview with the anonymous NYPD officer, even the officer said that he doesn’t “particularly agree with how...the parading without a permit laws...are set up.” He is referring to the disastrous rules that make it illegal for spontaneous crowds of 50 or more people to process through New York City.
Back in 2006, multiple courts ruled that prior city rules concerning assembly were unconstitutional. These regulations are the province of City Council. But rather than conduct open hearings and votes to correct the unconstitutional deficiencies the courts found, the leader of City Council, Speaker Christine Quinn, abdicated her legislative responsibilities: she allowed the police to write the new rules, and then rubberstamped them.
These anti-assembly rules reach far beyond Critical Mass--they are bad for New York City and bad for civil liberties. Speaker Quinn needs to act immediately to repudiate them, along with the undemocratic process by which they were written; she needs to conduct open hearings about public assembly and how it can be best facilitated in the City.
As a queer person and a constituent of Speaker Quinn, I’m outraged that, instead of safeguarding our streets for public assembly, she betrayed the political legacy that helped to give her—an out lesbian—the position of power she enjoys today.
As a dedicated reader of The Villager, I’m disappointed that they never connected the dots. The police could not have written these rules without Speaker Quinn’s permission. She is the elected official most responsible for this debacle.
Tim