[UPDATE] NYPD Confiscated Bikes on Obama Motorcade Route

So bikes may have secret pipe bombs but the tubular barricades don't. Did they cut down any trees - wouldn't be hard to drill a hole and put in a pipe bomb? What a complete farce of a country the US has become.

Let me guess. Next, round up all pregnant women and beer-bellied men... might not be what they appear to be?

If the police suspect that one of the bikes may be a bomb then why aren't they in protective bomb gear while removing the bikes?

And then they're going to drive a bunch of potential bombs around the city in an open truck?

That's either a grossly negligent plan or their story is bullshit. Either way there needs to be a lawsuit filed against the city.

I somehow fail to see how it is faster to

1. cut the bike lock

2. load the bike into a truck

3. send it to a storage facility

4. deal with the mess of getting people their bikes back and the fall out of 100 pissed off bikers.

than to spend 5 minutes inspecting each bike.

That's not to mention everyone else's panic and lost time.

alright, semi-tangental rant, here we go:

Honestly, Obama needs to stop coming here. All he does is make everyday life miserable and inconvenient for approx. 20% of the city.

no you can't go in this subway station for the next hour, Obama's motorcade is passing at some point. no you can't cross 58th street, you have to walk five avenues east and 5 avenues back. no, your express bus to bay ridge can't go through the battery tunnel for an hour at 7pm because obama is somewhere in the vicinity. all of these have happened to me within the last 8 months, sure, they're minor in the grand scheme, but i get 60-90 years here if i'm lucky, and you just wasted 3 of my hours.

dude, I get it, you're teh hip president with swagger. Goin to shows, eating at classy joints with classy dames. It's a talking head celebrity life and new york city is the place to be!

I don't give a F about your politics, all you guys just keep being important and stuff, but don't do it in the biggest, densest urban area in the country if you're not expendable (apologies to heath ledger & co.).

for f-sakes, the whole city is an elevated sniper position and a tactical defense nightmare. pure intelligence coming here all the time to look cool and blow off some steam, Give a few interviews, you know.

and you know who else sucks goat testes a couple times a year? the UN. if everyone is so damn blasted worried about getting shot, blown up, hung in your closet by a spy dressed as a hooker while you jerk it, etc. build your headquarters in the middle of kansas where it's flat as hell and there's no where to hide, and there aren't 8-10 million daily lives to disturb. really.

Don't wistle or snap at your waitstaff, and F-ing cover your mouth when you sneeze too. It's common courtesy.

sorry. been meaning to get that of my chest.

really, got no beef with Obama other than the normal contempt for anyone trying to tell me they know better than I do that I always reserve for career politicians. Just keep the road show to a minimum in NYC will ya?

Move.

Um yeah, they were afraid a bomb was in a bike. that's why those photographed were wearing bomb squad gear, just in case one bombs goes off. Oh wait, no bomb squad gear? Well then consider the bicycle shop lobbyists looking to increase sales.

Maybe Obama doen't hates cyclists but he was just scared.

Happy Earth Day......

Why does the city hate bikes so much? I love riding my bike around "new amsterdam" and especially Amsterdam, NL.

Why can't this be more of a bike town. So mnany would partake if it were made safer.

Happy Earth Day is right. This is so messed up, but this Gothamist post is equally messed up and misleading. Why are you blaming Obama? "Obama hates cyclists?" Sounds like a city mistake to me. No signs warning cyclists in advance to move their bikes? That's a problem. Don't do readers any more favors by injecting your tired politics to rouse cyclist ire.

I've kept my dingy bike on Essex for a year or so and yesterday found it gone. I was upset for a bit but not surprised.

I just read this though and now I'm just pissed. This is no bueno and not cool.

what about the metal barricades along the street themselves...? what's to stop someone from making one of those into a pipebomb and sticking it in with the rest of them?

shucks, NYPD makes the Army of the

West African Republic of Guinea look professional.

This NYPD is like school on a Saturday, Noooooooo class!

From today's streetblog: Don't forget that just two weeks ago the City settled a lawsuit for retaliatory arrests conducted by NYPD Ltd. Corcoran in 2007, when he and his men and women from the NYPD's 9th precinct arbitrarily and summarily clipped locks and took bicycles from an entire block on E 6th St without any prior warning. Two people who observed and filmed them were arrested. Absurdly, those civilians were the ones charged with disorderly conduct. But maybe it was just a coincidence that the street where they took the bikes today forms the boundary of the same 9th precinct.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/city-settles-with-pair-arrested-after-police-confrontation/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnsBw3TiBdE

Where did the bikes go? were they donated?

Not donated, liberated.

Yes, Courtney, they were donated to little children crippled by polio.

Did they donate the bikes? what did they do with them?

This is most likely what ends up happening to the bikes...

The participating police departments get a cut of the auction price and yes NYPD is a participating entity on this site.

http://www.propertyroom.com/Catalog.aspx?Category=Bicycles&CategoryId=347

Talk about a whole new low for the NYPD :\

OBAMA SPELLED BACKWARDS IS COCKHEAD

No it doesn't. no really, you just can't spell...

Been a Tea Party member long, big boy?

"No State shall...; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or PROPERTY, without due process of law."

Constitution says it: this is simply illegal.

What is it with the NYPD and bicyclists? Why does the NYPD waste so much time targeting them for relatively minor offenses?

Some bicyclist probably gave Ray Kelly the finger one day without realizing who he was. Otherwise, they are just trying to make bike riders as miserable as everyone else.

"The heat come by, and busted me for smilin on a cloudy day"

=v= Personally I think they NYPD is just covering their asses for the major mess they made of the RNC. They aren't going to admit how politically-motivated it all was, especially since so many civil and class action suits are still pending.

Or, perhaps, they just hate our freedom so much.

Just curious, are you the same Jym from the Boston Critical Mass list?

no clue. it's weird this level of hatred between cops, cyclist and automobiles.

Just to play devil's advocate: perhaps there were no signs or flyers warning people not to park bikes there because there was a threat made by some lunatic this afternoon or morning?

Presidents recieve threats all the time that we, the public, are not privy to. It's very likely, unfortunately, that some nut case made a bomb threat and they had to remove everything in the area.

Take a moment to think about Joe Biden as president. Now are you still pissed off about missing bikes?

also, I saw a small sign that said "no parking thursday" on wednesday night (no idea how long it had been there, and I can't recall where I saw it). But the city should have made it clear that it meant ALL vehicles, both on the street and on the sidewalk.

"These bikes contain bombs, throw em into the truck"

"ummmm....sir?"

this happened to me last year! i parked my bike on the street on 53rd and 7th, and the cops couldn't get through my very heavy-duty lock, so they cut my bike in half! i later found out obama was driving by that day so they had to cut it, but i had to go from precinct to precinct until i finally found it, in pieces. when i asked for compensation, they changed their story and said a vandal did it... it was very shameful

Wow. A vandal cut your bike in half, just for fun! Congratulations on being the first victim of such a crime in the whole history of bicycles and vandalism!

Not only that, but the police took the "vandalized" bike for some reason! And kept it! For some reason!

Oh man that's brutal. Sorry to hear that. Scumbags!

You guys should know better! Riding a bike to and from? Thats an insault to the rich, lavish and luxurious MR BOOMTURD and the nyc he invisions for the next few years. How dare you NY'ers!! Besides, this city belongs to tourists! Not you NY'ers

Wait so can I got pick up a free bike?

Seriously, I don't know what all the fuss is about, I got me a nice new bike out of all the commotion.

That's gonna be a lot of pissed off people with rolled up pants.

Thanks - made my day!

I had my bike locked in front of my work today in Rock. Center. I saw the Obama caravan drive by. My bike was there when I left. (although I work at a restaurant with a huge patio, I'd love to see the nypd scum take my bike while I'm watching)

Call us if you need bail money.

I only meant they would receive a thorough tongue lashing.

Your berating of the cops does suit your username, it being an oxymoron and your post being somewhat oxymoronic in that it talks of verbal abuse in a way that is typically reserved for physical abuse.

However some verbal abuse won't hurt the cops, actually it will (they're insecure), so if you get arrested, SUE THE CITY. Sooner or later the administration will learn and we won't be dealing with this bullcrap.

Yeah, you'll show 'em.

this is bloombag's payback to all the obama voters.

don't think this is below him. he's very petty and spiteful.

Have to love America and their love for the car and not clean pollution free transportation.

wow. 55 comments within 5 mins after this article was posted.

Go Team GOTHAMIST COMMENTERS!

Not quite. Check the time on the first comment. This post went up at about 1:20. They get a new timestamp and moved back up to the top when they're updated.

ahh ok.

If you have a bike you should always write out your name and info on a sheet of paper and hide it in the tube so when you go to claim your bike you can show them it's yours.

Given that there was no warning, the NYPD should be on the hook to pay for all the locks they cut. Some of those things are $80+.

thats pretty amazing, if they think theres a possibility of a bike bomb,

how did they cut the locks? with a spark inducing powersaw?

and then tossing them into the back of a truck?

is that the way you handle a bomb?

so then you have some civilian clerk sit in a room and inventory the bikes by type/color and serial #, and sit there for how many months until they are claimed or considered abandoned property?

is that how a bomb is handled?

when some bikes are unclaimed, will they be thrown in a landfill or auctioned off to the public?

is that how a bomb is handled?

what about newspaperboxes, trashcans and mailboxes?

have they been removed also??

whos paying for the lock and chain replacements?

DUMB idea!

but stupidity is collective, someone somewhere will defend this to the end.

Every so often, through the haze of pot smoke, you have a moment of breathtaking clarity, concision, and cohesiveness.

+ a thousand.

^ I know it should be "you're", haters!

I want what your smoking. Hear! Hear!

http://twitter.com/SLUTLUST/status/12648872068

YO! RT @turksey: If your bike's lock got cut for obama's ride. They're on Delancey btwn Pitt &ridge. They said they won't be here long.

Cutting the locks on a hundred or so bikes is easy than printing enough "no bikes" flyers to cover a block?

Looks like this was just a hastily thrown together idea with zero planning beforehand, this is how they secure the president?.

Seriously. This totally sounds like someone trying to cover his ass. Someone decide at the last minute that the Secret Service were going to throw a fit if they saw all those potential pipe bombs along the route.

How are the people's interests served by this sort of thing? Is it really necessary to have the president and vice president speak in person in downtown Manhattan if it means depriving hundreds of people of their property with out due process or even prior notice?

It isn't that they don't plan.

It's that they don't care. They would probably rather cut the locks. Hell, angle grinders are fun - fliers are not.

I think for all future travel Joe Biden should be relegated to the Fung Wah bus. Hardee's stops for everybody.

My name is juliec and I approve of this message.

Okay, I'll bite.

The President and Vice-President are forbidden to travel together as a governmental safeguard. So, if a helicopter goes down, we don't loose our top two officials in one disaster. Not eco-friendly, true, but not their choice, either.

Blaming Obama for a policy that's been in place for decades is as irresponsible as blaming him for this bike removal. Which this article hints at heavily in typical yellow journalism fashion.

Who's blaming Obama for the bike stealing? We're blaming the NYPD for that!

My post was supposed to be in response to Longacre at 28, but I've been failing heavy on replies today.

It's not explicitly said that he ordered this action, but the wording of the article is very misleading. Especially since it doesn't say who ordered this confiscation and because of these excerpts:

"Obama has no idea what he just got himself into."

and

"We can only assume Obama hates cyclists and wants all bike lanes permanently painted over."

It seems to hint, very heavily, that the President was behind this. And without uncovering who actually did order this action, Gothamist is just aiming blame at him and his visit, fanning the fires of bicycle activists and perpetuating yellow journalism. That was my intended point on the second paragraph, which Longacre seemed to have taken from the article.

And EastRiver - I'm down with either option. I never understood why executives need to fly everywhere. Just buy a train car, decorate it all nice and President-y and have it part of, but inaccessible from, the rest of a normal train. That's how presidents past did it, and for national travel it makes more sense than a ridiculous jet.

"It seems to hint, very heavily, that the President was behind this. And without uncovering who actually did order this action, Gothamist is just aiming blame at him and his visit, fanning the fires of bicycle activists and perpetuating yellow journalism."

Naw, that's just JDS. You'll get used to it.

Solution 1: Leave Biden at home.

Solution 2: Have Biden take Amtrak.

There's a no-bikes-on-Houston Street policy? I am seriously asking.

How will they tell whose bike is whose?

They do tow cars as well.

Back when Clinton was president, by bro had his car towed because Bill and Hill were eating dinner on that block.

When he asked a cop, he told them his license plate and they told him exactly where it was - 8 blocks away or something (and parallel parked too?!).

I doubt the same efficiency awaits the owners of these bikes.

Plus, many had their $100 kryptonite chains destroyed. Towing cars does not result in $100 damage.

Removing bikes for the security of the President isn't the problem. It's the property destruction and potential for theft.

They also often remove garbage cans! And seal manhole covers! I must protest Secret Service protocols!

We like the police as much as we like getting crabs.

Typical police asshattery. Karma will deal with their imperious attitude.

It's ok, guys; a minor inconvenience, but I'm sure the bikes are being respectfully handled and will be courteously returned to the rightful owners when a claim is filed, who will be swiftly reimbursed for any damage or loss.

Wait, nope, looks like they're just tossing them in a big truck as if they were bales of hay.

Obama and Biden's Excellent Earth Day

- Fly separate large jets 250 miles to New York: Check!

- Confiscate emissions-free bicycles: Check!

Maybe they can club some seals on their way home.

With the economy in the shitter they should have taken the Bolt Bus-saved the taxpayers a few million. But nahhhh

joe biden is useless. he flew all the way up here to do what, go on the view? seriously.

It certainly isn't green, but I seem to recall a recent example of what can happen when too many politicians are on the same plane... hmm now where was that...

The point is there was no good reason to show up on the same day, and Biden's trip to talk about Iran and Tea Partiers on a comedy show could have been avoided completely with a satellite.

It's a governmental safeguard because of the chain of succession of the President. Number 1 and 2 on the hierarchy can never travel together. I don't think it applies to any other politicians.

Agreed that it isn't eco-friendly, but neither is flying a 747 with a crew of 26 and max capacity of 70 people less than three hundred miles.

lolski

they should have also removed all newspaper machines, newspaper stands, traffic poles, lamp posts, etc. im sure a bomb could be just as easily planted in any one of those

Hell one could be planted in one of those barricades!

Right! How hard would it be to grab a barricade, take it back to the lab, return it with explosives! This namby-pamby "keep us safe" mentality is B.S.

Oh yes, so easy! They are laid out there unsupervised for days! Except not.

if you had already infiltrated the police force you could do it. it's not like there have never been moles. though i do probably watch too much 24.

It's unclear what these bikes were chained to-

Bike racks?

Scaffolding?

Parking signs?

Bums?

I'm not exactly taking sides with the NYPD here, but you can't just lock up your shit anywhere, amirite?

You might be right, but 100 bucks says they're removing bikes from everything: signs, scaffolding, AND racks. If there was no warning then this constitutes theft and if they did this to cars with no warning there'd everyone would be having a major doodie-hemorage.

Guaranteed they did tow cars as well without notice.

really? i'd bet there was notice. unless we didn't know the prez was coming.

I thought it was illegal to lock your bike up to signs and trees and such.

=v= Locking onto street furniture is legal if you do it in such a way as not to block the sidewalk. There have actually been NYPD publications to demonstrate this.

The NYPD's politically-motivated post-RNC bike seizures used an "abandoned property" law from the Giuliani era as a pretext. The intent of this law was to move the homeless away from where tourists can see them, but it was written so broadly that the NYPD has found it useful for this sort of thing. Even when the owner of the "abandoned" property is right there with a key to the lock.

Locking onto trees is illegal because it can damage the trees. Street trees are under the jurisdiction of the Dept. of Parks and Recreation, so these bikes could be seized by park rangers rather than police officers.

Locking bikes onto signs is legal, trees is illegal.

In this area, I think it is (or was) city-sanctioned, especially because there are still not enough legit bike racks in a lot of places.

I hope everyone gets their bikes back, but bike bombs are for real:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_bomb

Agreed. The Obama administration makes unpopular decisions (like this) because of legitimate threats, not because they're megalomaniacs (Bush).

If a bike bomb was their concern, why wouldn't they have the bomb squad remove them?

seriously. if one of those bikes turned out explosive, the cops removing them would be killed.

i think the whole thing is bullshit, and people are still confused by the band This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb.

bikes aren't pipe bombs. those 'bike bombs' were like carbombs. and couldn't those dividers be pipe bombs? they're totally hollow.