Results tagged “timesup”

A trial challenging the NYPD's classification of group bicycle rides like Critical Mass as "parades" kicked off today in United States District Court in Manhattan. Two years ago, the NYPD began enforcing a controversial new rule that requires groups of 50 or more to apply for permits when taking to the streets for processions, races and protests. The new policy gave legal legitimacy to a police crackdown on the monthly Critical Mass bicycle rides, which have been a source of tension between cyclists and cops since the Republican convention in 2004.

Oh brother, this Valentine's thing is just not going to go away, at least not until Sunday. If you're single, mazel tov! But if you're a Gentleman in a Relationship with a Lady and you haven't yet made plans, it's about time to man up. Now, maybe you've got one of those "laid back" special ladies who's all down on the man and swears she doesn't want you to throw money away just because of some corporate bourgeois scam. Obviously this does not mean you're off the hook; it means there had better be something special in the works, just not a harried, overpriced prix-fixe in some crowded restaurant.

As expected, NYPD officer Patrick Pogan, the rookie cop caught on video slamming a cyclist to the curb in a seemingly unprovoked assault during a July Critical Mass ride, turned himself in this morning. The grand jury indictment was then unsealed at State Supreme Court in Manhattan, and, according to NY1, Pogan was arraigned on a misdemeanor assault charge and a felony charge of filing a false report. (After arresting cyclist Christopher Long that night, Pogan accused Long of attempting assault, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct, contending that Long rode his bike straight into him, knocking them both down. Those charges against Long were later dropped.)

Surprising no one, the cyclist who was captured on videotape being violently slammed off his bike by a rookie cop during a July Critical Mass ride plans to sue the city. In his first interview, Christopher Long also tells Chelsea Now that after Officer Patrick Pogan knocked him to the curb, he stood over Long and asked, "Do you wanna try that again?" Long also says he thinks Pogan "is going to be a scapegoat in this situation because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time...I think that the department really helped him do what he did, because he felt safe to act that way. He felt entitled to act that way. That’s the department, culturally. The department set him up for failure. He committed a crime, he assaulted me. He didn’t do that by himself." Long spent 27 hours in the Tombs after his arrest and was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. The D.A. finally dropped the charges earlier this month; Pogan is still under investigation.

On July 30th, NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly promised that New Yorkers would be able to send video and text straight to police in a “relatively short period of time.” And he actually delivered! The image software, which cost about $250,000, also serves the city's 311 non-emergency hot line, so don't hesitate to gather cell phone video of potholes and graffiti. According to WABC, New York is the first American city with the capability to accept images. 911 callers who have cell phone video or photos of a crime are instructed to inform the operator, and a detective with the NYPD's cool-sounding Real Time Crime Center will call back to receive the images. The evidence can also be submitted anonymously (details here), and by next year photos sent in by bystanders will be transmitted to patrol cars in the area.

UPDATE: As expected, the Manhattan District Attorney has dropped all charges against Christopher Long, per this press release from Times Up.

NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters yesterday that in a “relatively short period of time” people will be able to send “video and text straight to 911 to increase the flow of information.” Kelly didn’t go into details about how the technology would work, but he did say that “generally speaking, it’s helpful when people record an event taking place that helps us during an investigation.”

Environmental group Times Up! is taking advantage of all the publicity generated by the video of a cop shoving a cyclist off his bike by reminding everyone that this is hardly the first such incident, nor the only one caught on video. The group points out that in 2007 one Richard Vazquez was taken down by a cop in Times Square during a Critical Mass ride, and in 2006 Adrienne Wheeler, a Critical Mass legal observer, was pulled off her bike by then-NYPD-Assistant-Chief Bruce Smolka, who's since retired. (The city settled with Wheeler for $37,000.) In a statement, Times Up! asserts that, “Unfortunately the July 25, 2008 incident is part of a pattern of targeting Critical Mass bike riders.” What's also unfortunate is that the production values on these old videos fail to live up to the new gold standard for police brutality porn.

That video depicting a rookie cop bodyslamming a cyclist to the curb in Times Square? Just routine policework, according to the president of the police union.

The cyclist who was videotaped being body slammed off his bike in an apparently unprovoked attack by an NYPD officer during Friday night’s Critical Mass ride has been identified as Christopher Long, a 29-year-old resident of Bloomfield, New Jersey who works at the Union Square Greenmarket. His boss tells the Daily News that Long is an Army veteran and "mild-mannered environmental activist." Craig Radhuber, 54, was riding behind Long Friday night and describes incident: “All of a sudden the cop picked this kid out and bodychecked him. I couldn't believe what was going on. [The officer] body-slammed this kid off the bicycle so hard that he went from the lane to the curb.”

Another Critical Mass ride, another stunning display of police brutality. Watch as one of New York's finest violently shoves a cyclist off his bicycle, launching him through the air to the curb at 46th street and Seventh Avenue during Friday night's monthly Critical Mass ride.

Al Sharpton: Politician. Gadfly. Cyclist?

Yay for dog days! Over the weekend, Times's Up! held its first annual Doggie Pedal Parade, highlighting bicycles adapted to transport pets and the benefits of adopting homeless animals. Bicyclists learned how to pimp their bikes for their pups pets and then humans and canines alike celebrated with a Pupnic at Washington Square Park's dog run.

DKNY is usurping a grassroots campaign to memorialize cyclists killed in New York City's traffic, with a guerrilla marketing campaign to push their product. Above is a picture of several orange-painted DKNY bikes, first widely noted at BikeBlog.

If you thought noticed a group of bicyclists playing dead on 6th Avenue near 33rd Street, your eyes weren't fooling you. Time's Up led a Bike Lane Action to "dramatize the fatal last moments of David Smith’s ride up 6th Avenue." Smith was killed when a passenger in a truck, parked in the bike lane, opened a door; Smith was knocked off his bike and into the path of a truck.

Today, all over the city, ordinary parking spaces will be transformed into temporary public "parks." The Trust for Public Land has organized a nationwide Park(ing) Day, and there are a number of these Park(ing) projects all over the city - Open Plans has the details on the NYC locations.

The failure of congestion pricing (at least for this legislative session) has cast a pall on NYC-Albany relations. Not least because Mayor Bloomberg spent some time yesterday slamming state lawmakers. He said:

New York City is today poorer because of Albany's inaction yesterday, and I think, sadly, it appears that we jeopardized, at best, and probably lost, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something with someone else's money.

Continue reading "Congestion Pricing Game: Choose Who to Blame "

Yesterday, activists attempted to block the construction crews from razing a community garden in Harlem. The city has been planning to remove the Nueva Esperanza Garden at 110th and Fifth Avenue and replace it with a new building for the Museum of African Art. But critics question whether it's really a museum or a guise for new condominiums. There are supposed to be 115 luxury units in the building, and Times Up writes the museum part "has no collections and will house a few small rooms for lectures."

Though not necessarily together. The Mayor believes in zeppole and fair games, telling reporters: "I understand the frustration of the community, who has their streets blocked and a lot of noise at night. On the other hand, it is part of New York."

Monitoring the city's job postings can pay off! Luckily, Streetsblog has been doing just that and pieces together how the city is serious about developing "comprehensive transportation and land use strategy for New York City."

The first signal came at the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg's second term when DOT Commissioner Iris Weinhall was knocked one rung down the Administration's org chart. She is now reporting directly to Doctoroff.

Continue reading "Planning Has to Start Somewhere"

As June draws to a close with three bicyclist fatalities and one bicyclist injury, there will also be a Critical Mass ride tonight. The ride will start at 7PM at Union Square tonight, and Times Up points out that at last month's ride, two police vehicles swerved in front of a group of riders and an officer 'doored' a cyclist who was riding in the bike lane along Broadway, breaking her collarbone." And then the police went to the hospital to give the victim multiple tickets. We wonder how the police will handle tonight's ride, after with questionable driving and street conditions at the heart of the accidents.

Times Up is organizing a memorial ride tomorrow night, in memory of Dr. Carl Nacht and Derek Lake. The ride will begin at 6:30PM at the West Side Greenway at 42nd Street (in front of the Intrepid). The ride will stop at West 38th Street, where Nacht was hit by an NYPD tow truck, and then make it way to West Houston and Laguardia Place, where Lake was killed near a construction site. Bring flowers. Update: The memorial ride will also stop at Houston and Broadway, as a tribute to Donna Goodson, a 41 year old who was killed by a truck on Rockaway Parkway in Brooklyn on June 5 (the driver apparently didn't see Goodson; no charges were filed).

Yesterday we mentioned the big Times Up memorial rally that was going on yesterday-- JibbaJabba already has some pictures up on Flickr. BikeBlog wrote:

Gothamist was supposed to spend the evening on a rooftop with friends and free drinks. Thank you rain for ruining the start to our weekend! We usually don't take a negative tone around here, but it needs to be said: Gothamist hates weather. It's also going to ruin at least one of the below events, see if you can pick which one. When you're done with that, grab your umbrella and rain boots and find fun indoors - after all the sun will come out tomorrow, or like, in August.