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.  

Should Citibike Require Its Users To Wear Helmets?

 They prevent injuries.  They save lives.  But do they stop people from riding?

In some cases, the answer could be "yes," at least in the case of eBikes in public share programs like Citibike.  That is a conclusion drawn from a number of studies in the decade or so since eBikes have proliferated on the streets of New York and other cities.  

And that is the rationale behind the opposition to Assembly Bill 590, sponsored by Amy Paulin (D) of Westchester County.  If passed, it would require 16- and 17-year-olds in New York State to wear helmets when riding pedal-assisted (Class 1) or low-speed throttle-controlled (Class 2) eBikes.  

From the Streetsblog photoshop desk.

In addition to the studies, what evidence exists for the fear that a helmet mandate would deter riders?  Well, under the laws of New York City--which has, by far, the largest bike and eBike share program (Citibike) in the US, no one over the age of 13 is required to wear a helmet.  And Citibike allows anyone over 16 to rent an eBike.

But it's not only Citibike and other eBike sharing programs that provide the opposition to Bill 590 and similar proposals.  Members of racial, ethnic, sexual and gender minorities are also against them.  They cite, among other things, incidents that led Seattle to repeal its helmet requirement three years ago.  Edwin Lindo, who identifies as Central American Indigenous, cited statistics from the city's Municipal Court showing that 17.3 percent of summonses for not wearing helmets were issued to Blacks, who represent only 4.7 percent of the city's cyclists.  The numbers for Native American and Alaska Native cyclists were 1 and 0.5 percent, respectively.

In other words, there is the fear that a new helmet mandate will not only deter young people, but also members of "minority" groups--and low-income people--from using eBikes, or even regular bicycles, because it will "invite cops to target youths, particular those of color," according to Amy Sohn in Streetsblog NYC.

Proponents of the new bill, on the other hand, see the potential for preventing injury or even saving lives as outweighing other concerns.  "My only concern is for the safety of the people riding the bikes," declared Assembly Transportation Committee Chair William Magnarelli, a Democrat from Syracuse.  While not citing them directly, he said that studies indicate an alarming rise in severe injuries among eBikers.  One such study, published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reported a 49-fold increase in the number of head injuries among eBike riders from 2017 to 2022.  Some of that rise is of course attributable to the dramatic growth in eBiking, especially in the early part of the COVID pandemic (2020-21).  But another, more troubling reason is this:  Ebike riders, at least in the US, are far less likely to wear helmets than their counterparts on traditional pedal bicycles.  

And, in my own observation, here in New York City, a great many of those bareheaded eBikers are delivery workers--nearly all of whom are immigrants and/or people of color.

Taking The Scenic Route Away From Profits

The COVID-19 pandemic brought us all sorts of deniers.  There were those who believed, even as they were dying from it, that the virus didn't exist--or that it was created by a Chinese lab or Bill Gates-- funded by George Soros because, well, don't you know, he funds Antifa, gender affirmation surgery and everything else Fox News fans hate.

Only slightly less irrational were those who claimed vaccines were ineffective or were created by Bill Gates, who installed microchips in them.  And, of course, it was all paid for by you-know-who.

During that annus horribilis of 2020, there was another kind of denial not directly related to COVID.  That, of course, had to do with the election:  Of course Donald Trump couldn't have lost because, well, he never loses at anything.  There absolutely must have been voter fraud or some other nefarious activity that ushered Joe Biden into office.

Now here's another form of denial I hadn't heard about until today:  the COVID pandemic-induced bicycle shortage was--well, it wasn't. At least, that's what Jay Beaman has said.

Jay Beaman in his shop, Scenic Routes.  Photo by Nicholas David for Mission Local.

He isn't someone who went down a QAnon rabbit hole when he had too much time on his hands after being furloughed from his job.  While he did indeed get sent home when the restaurant where he worked closed during the COVID lockdown, which came earlier and was stricter in his hometown of San Francisco than in other parts of the US, his denial of the bicycle was based on something he, and many of us know: There were  "hundreds and hundreds of thousands of bikes languishing in garages all over the city."  With "a little bit of attention and time," they could be ridden for fun, fitness or transportation just as well as the bikes that had disappeared from bike shops' sales floors and suppliers' warehouses. 

So he gave those neglected machines the TLC they needed--in his North of Panhandle apartment. Soon his longtime friend and riding buddy Mike Connolly joined him.  Soon after, wheel builder Kat Siegal and transportation advocate Emily Horsman came aboard.  

Together, they would build a brick-and-mortar shop in a Balboa Street storefront.  Ever since, in addition to repairing and selling bikes, Scenic Routes has conducted repair classes and other events in its space.  "Our primary goal is to create a space that is centered around the community," Beaman says.  He defines that community as the geographic neighborhood and "transit people, bike people, urbanists."  Most of all, it's "people that believe in cities," he explains.

Anyone who's worked in or owned a bike shop knows you don't do it to get rich. (An old joke:  "How can you end up with a small fortune in the bike business?  Start off with a big one.") Beaman reports that Scenic Routes ended last year with a net profit of one percent, a business model he half-jokingly calls "anti-profit."

His vision is that it won't be a joke: He fantasizes having a rich benefactor (or benefactors) so he can lose money every year.  "How cool would it be if some rich person was like, 'Look, I am going to put a million dollars in your account, that's your endowment," he says.  "Then we could just lose 30 or 40 thousand dollars a year and it would be fine."

Now there's a business model I'm sure the Stanford MBA program--or any other MBA program--doesn't teach. For that matter, I'm not sure that any MPA program that trains people in non-profit administration has such a curriculum.

Perhaps those who administer and teach such programs are the real deniers:  They probably wouldn't (or couldn't) acknowledge the need for businesses or organizations like Scenic Routes.