NYCCM: NYT\Flouting Arrest on 2 Wheels, for the Monthly Crime of Pedaling Without a Permit

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/nyregion/04about.html

ABOUT NEW YORK
Flouting Arrest on 2 Wheels,
for the Monthly Crime of Pedaling Without a Permit
By DAN BARRY
New York Times | 04-May-2005

BARBARA ROSS is 41 and lives on the Lower East Side. Several
times a week, she straps on a blue helmet and rides her bicycle
through the streets of this city. What a troublemaker.

It doesn't matter that she works in human resources for a large
company, or that she votes and has a dog named Doc. Just check
her name in the criminal justice database: two arrests within
the last year, both while in possession of that insidious,
two-wheeled invention, the bicycle -- also known as a bike.

Ms. Ross was nearly arrested a third time in March, but used
her wiles to get out of a jam. Seeing the heat coming down the
street, she chained her bicycle to a pole and ducked into a bar.
All she could do was watch the sparks fly, as police officers
cut the heavy chain with a special tool and confiscated her
bicycle.

"I'm just an everyday person," she said yesterday. "But I like
to ride my bike."

She even admits it. Typical bicyclist.

This city usually works like a trusty old bicycle, always able
to shift gears for difficult hills on the horizon. But lately
the wheels are not spinning smoothly. Something is broken.

For more than a decade now, cities around the world have
accommodated a monthly event called Critical Mass, in which
bicyclists ride en masse through the streets to enjoy
themselves, promote transportation alternatives, and send the
message that roadways are not just for cars. A supposed charm
of these rallies is that no one is in charge. They are, like,
organic.

The police here used to tolerate the rally, which takes place
on the last Friday of every month. Officers sometimes held off
traffic as a cycling cluster wheeled out of Union Square Park
and looped through Manhattan streets. You would see parents
cycling beside their children, and even a tandem or two.

All that changed last year. In late July, some cyclists caught
the police unawares by disrupting traffic on the Franklin
D. Roosevelt Drive. And in late August, on the eve of the
Republican National Convention, a few of the thousands of
rallying cyclists violated traffic laws and purposely blocked
crosstown traffic in a practice called "corking." Scores
were arrested, though very, very few of the charges stuck.

The police then tried to find a Critical Mass leader to
establish an agreed-upon route and other ground rules. They
were told that no one is in charge, although a direct-action
group called Time's Up! promotes the monthly event on its Web
site. Besides, a predetermined route would, like, violate the
spontaneous spirit of the rally.

Uh-huh, said the police.

After years of allowing Critical Mass rallies to take place, the
police began arguing that the event required a parade permit;
without one, participants were subject to arrest. The department
began using a helicopter above and orange netting below to play
a crazed cat-and-mouse game playing out on pavement. Hundreds
of otherwise law-abiding cyclists have now looked forlornly out
the backs of police wagons.

The cyclists bear some responsibility, of course. A few seem to
enjoy taunting the police as much as they do running red lights.
"And when you press them about observing the lights, they say
you wouldn't arrest somebody driving a car," Paul J. Browne, the
deputy police commissioner for public information, said. "It's
sort of: We're breaking the law on one hand, but on the other,
we're being treated more harshly than motorists."

But Ms. Ross, who is a volunteer with Time's Up!, spoke for many
when she said that cyclists are essentially being arrested for
minor traffic violations that would normally warrant only a
summons. "If I went through a red light and got a ticket," she
said, "what could I say?"

It's no longer about traffic flow, though. It's about control.

Once a month now, the police -- who say they are willing to
facilitate the rides if permits are obtained -- surround Union
Square. A chopper hovers above to track rogue packs of cyclists.
Officers stand ready to snare bikers with netting, or to
confiscate hurriedly abandoned bicycles. They arrested 34 people
at Friday's ugly rally.

Meanwhile, city lawyers are seeking an injunction to prohibit
Time's Up! from publicizing the monthly gatherings. Their
astounding logic is that the cyclists gather in Union Square
Park before each rally; large gatherings in city parks require
special permits; no permits are being sought. Therefore,
publicizing an unlawful event is -- unlawful.

The wheels of this city are not spinning smoothly. Something
is broken. The next rally is on May 27.

On 5 May 2005 05:06:33 -0700, "Jym Dyer" wrote:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/nyregion/04about.html

ABOUT NEW YORK
Flouting Arrest on 2 Wheels,
for the Monthly Crime of Pedaling Without a Permit
By DAN BARRY
New York Times | 04-May-2005

The police in NYC really are a bunch of brain dead alcoholic fox news
watching asswipes.