Build It And...They Won't Park?

Anti-bike folks like few things more than an "I told you so!" moment.  

An example is when some piece of bicycle "infrastructure" is built and cyclists don't use it because it's useless or unsafe.  Last month, I wrote about a bike lane in Chicago that raised motorists' ire because nobody was pedaling on it.  Like too many other lanes, it begins and ends in seemingly random places--what I call a bike lane from "nowhere to nowhere" and riding it is less safe, especially when entering, exiting or making turns, than riding in traffic.

Something similar could be said for bicycle parking "facilities."  Usually, they are racks of some sort or another by a curb or building.  During the past few years, some workmanlike but useful racks have been installed on New York City sidewalks.  They don't allow for more than a bike or two at a time (five or six, perhaps, in the bike shelters), but they do the job.

They are better than too many other bike parking facilities I've seen.  An old workplace of mine had an old-school grid rack on its grounds.  It was removed because only one person was using it. (Guess who?)  Granted, fewer people were cycling to work in those days.  But I had to wonder whether some thought about riding their bikes to our workplace but were deterred by the pitiful parking provision.

Well, even today, there are racks as bad, or even worse, the one at my old job.  

It's been a while since I've heard "Up Against The Wall!"  I hope not to hear it again.  But I just might, if I ever have to park my bike in Melbourne, Australia:

Of course, the Aussies have an excuse:  The Brits sent their prisoners there.  But, it seems, their former colonizers still know a thing or two about confinement:

Maybe this Macclesfield contraption is an example of that dry British humor we don't get on this side of the pond. 

Speaking of dry, this rack in Atlanta looks more suited to making toast than parking bikes:

If nobody uses those racks, will they be removed?  Or will they be kept just so cyclists won't use them--and give drivers one more reason to be pissed off.

 

 

Sweeping Their Bicycles

 About a month and a half ago, Mayor Eric Adams ordered “sweeps” of homeless people’s encampments in my city, New York.  He claims, rightly, that sleeping on park benches or under overpasses is “no way to live.”  His real motive, I think, is to appease moderate and conservative voters who believe that the city is descending into the “chaos” of the 1970s and 1980s.

He’s been telling homeless people that they should go to the shelters.  So far, 39 people—roughly one per day since the program started—have heeded his call. 

Frankly, I’m amazed that many have moved in.  The shelters are seen as dangerous places because mentally ill and violent people are cheek-by-jowl with people whose luck simply ran out.  Also, I can hardly imagine a better incubator for COVID or other transmissible diseases.

Probably the most wrongheaded part of the sweeps is the destruction of tents, partitions or whatever else people might be using to shield themselves—and whatever possessions they may have.  Those possessions sometimes include bicycles.

Something similar is happening in San Diego. A video circulating on Twitter shows police officers confiscating and trashing bicycles owned by homeless residents near Petco Park.

I don’t know whether San Diego’s mayor is following Adams’ lead in trying to coax people into shelters.  It might be more difficult  in the self-proclaimed “America’s Finest City,” with its year-round mild climate.  But, whatever the condition of its shelters, people won’t be enticed into them if the city takes and destroys their perfectly good bicycles.

Hello I don’t know whether San Diego is trying to move people into shelters as Eric Adams is in New York.  Even if the shelters are cleaner and safer, I imagine it might be even more difficult to convince folks in San Diego, with its year-round temperate climate. In any even, confiscating and destroying people’s possessions—especially bicycles—doesn’t seem like much of an incentive, whatever the climate or to move people into shelters as Eric Adams is in New York.  Even if the shelters are cleaner and safer, I imagine it might be even more difficult to convince folks in San Diego, with its year-round temperate climate. In any even, confiscating and destroying people’s possessions—especially bicycles—doesn’t seem like much of an incentive, whatever the climate or conditions in the shelters

The #OpeningDay Homeless Sweeps have begun again this morning. pic.twitter.com/78577GGgZu

— Michael McConnell (@HomelessnessSD) April 14, 2022

I Hope They Have Their Cinco De Mayo Some Day

Today is Cinco de Mayo.  

One day, I hope Ukranians will have a similar holiday:  They are fighting off an invasion attempt, just as the Mexicans did--successfully-- 160 years ago. 

The funny thing about this day, and other Mexican holidays like Dia de Muertos, are more likely to be celebrated by Americans who see it as an excuse to party.

I plan to ride and, yes, eat Mexican food.  I'm told that what they serve  at Los Portales, around the corner from my apartment, is authentic.  I suspect it is:  I see Mexicans eating there.  All I know is that it's good, as I've eaten there, and ordered take-out from them, any number of times.