A Criminal Deems Cyclists As Criminals--Even If We're Not Breaking The Law

 The Fake Tan Fuhrer, I mean Donald Trump, is not unique as a chief executive who, in essence, says that the law says whatever he says it is.  Nearly four centuries ago Louis XIV decreed, "L'etat, c'est moi"--I am the state.  And three centuries later, longtime Jersey City mayor Frank Hague famously reminded a reporter, "I am the law."

Now it seems that the New York City Police Department is operating under such a principle, at least when it comes to cyclists.  Mayor Eric Adams, a career constable himself, has essentially given officers license not only to mis-interpret laws, but also to harass, I mean subordinate cyclists and pedestrians through "Phantom Law Syndrome." Worse yet, some rogue cops are entrapping cyclists by crossing into their paths to avoid them and, in some cases, oncoming ebikes or crossing pedestrians and charging said cyclists with "endangerment."  One cyclist who had such an encounter on the Manhattan side of the Williamsburg Bridge was given an additional charge of "obstructing the administration of justice" for protesting what said officer did.

Police officers like him are ostensibly acting under Adams' mandate to target "quality of life offenses."  That has the stench of the now-discredited "broken windows" and "stop and frisk" methods of policing, neither of which had a significant, if any, effect on crime (which was already in decline when those policies were implemented) and both of which had the same effect:  arrests, convictions, fines and sentences for disproportionate people of color, poverty and non-conforming sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Oh, and the cops are concentrating their efforts on the major corridors of Upper Manhattan, Central-East Brooklyn and the South Bronx--all largely poor and "minority" parts of town.

And, it seems, something similar is happening among those Adams--who is desperately trying to keep his political career alive--is targeting.  While the stated purpose of his directive is to crack down on eBikes and motorized bikes, the cops have gone after the "low hanging fruit"--cyclists and pedestrians--whether or not they have actually committed offenses.

Photo by Josh Katz for NYC Streetsblog

But perhaps the most galling aspect of this new offensive, which started last week, is that it calls for issuing court summonses instead of the standard traffic ticket written for most violations.  In other words, instead of simply paying a fine, anyone who receives the summons has to appear in court and therefore runs the risk of having a criminal record, which could be disastrous for some immigrants, students and people in certain jobs and professions.

The cynic in me says that Adams--who, like another former New York City mayor (Rudolph Giuliani) realizes that he has no political future and that any future at all is dependent on his staying out of prison and in the good graces of FTF, a criminal on an even grander scale.  So, perhaps, he is trying to show his loyalty to Donnie Boy by mirroring his hatred for bicycles and cyclists. 

Oh, and advocates, lawmakers and legal experts question whether the NYPD even has the authority to, in essence, turn tickets into summonses. Perhaps Adams is also imitating Mango Mussolini's disdain for the law.  

Where Are The Bikes—And Docks?

 I’ve ridden Citibikes a few times, always for the same reasons:  I could ride there, but not back (like the time I pedaled to a procedure that involved anaesthesia) or I went to pick up one of my own bikes.

Photo by Christopher Lee for the New York Times

On the whole, it’s a good system, given its inherent limitations.  The main non-inherent limitation is that it still isn’t available to about half of this city’s residents:  Nearly all of the bikes and docks are in Manhattan or nearby neighborhoods (like mine) in western Queens and northern Brooklyn. 

Of the inherent limitations, perhaps the most significant is the mismatch between the availability of bikes and ports at any given moment.  As an example, on one of my trips, I had to go to three different docking station before I found an empty port where I could leave the bike.  That left me about half a kilometer from my destination.  The nearest docking station was only a block from where I needed to go.

Sometimes people encounter the opposite problem:  no bikes at the docking station. This typically happens at times and in areas where many people are leaving, or leaving for, their jobs or schools.

As much as I liked Curtis Sliwa’s position on animal rights, I voted for Eric Adams to become our next mayor because of just about everything else—including his mention of expanding Citibike to areas not yet served by it—and, too often, un- and under-served in so many other ways.