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?

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.

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."

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.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on August 30, 2007 1:25 PM

Comments [rss]

Kunal Gupta

Awesome. This article from a year ago isn't exactly the one I meant to comment on.

Kunal Gupta

Everything I read about Critical Mass makes me believe that there is now a war between the New York government and between the Critical Mass participants, and that this war started at the Republican National Convention.

This war can end. Someone needs to win. Critical Mass can give in, or...

Critical Mass riders can win the war to its end by organizing a critical mass ride every single evening, say 6 or 7pm, with more riders than the anti-assembly law permits. Every evening, maybe at a new daily location, consistently, and in a short of amount of time, a lot would change.

The hatred of Critical Mass by the police is a bait. The police would find their resources exhausted of course, but also, if they persist, he media generated by these violent encounters would amplify. This crazy cop behavior would be generated and be documented EVERY DAY, instead of once every month. That is real power.

I would love the old, casual Critical Mass to come back to the city. I'd love for this war to end.

Maybe I'd get a bike again just to join the fight.

Kunal

guest

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

guest

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).

guest

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.

guest

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.

guest

Jersey City critical mass is so much better.

guest

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

Gwinny

#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...

guest

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

guest

good words, drewo. thanks!

guest

move to amsterdam you biker fags

Murray Hillster

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.

drewo

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.

zodak

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.

guest

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)?

guest

#22, that's because brooklyn doesn't count, for anything.

TKaisen

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.

drewo

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.