Word on the street is that there will be another wave of bicyclists getting tickets for every conceivable infraction. It seems that it will be in direct response to the injured NYPD during the last Critical Mass. Time to get the bells out, change the batteries in the dead lights, and, most painfully, stop for red lights! You all have been fair warned.
Here comes another ticketing blitz...
Tue, 01/31/2006 - 6:42pm
Wed, 02/01/2006 - 8:21am
#1
How were they injured?
Wed, 02/01/2006 - 9:03am
#2
I believe one rider was pulled from his bike and the unmanned rig hit a cop.
And then in a sort of pincher move of scooters, two cops ran into each each other. None of the injuries was reported as serious.
I suppose if the police helicopter eye in the sky crashes, it is the direct fault of cyclists and we should be shot on sight - critical mass, critical ass or simply riding.
Where is this all leading? Where does it end?
Wed, 02/01/2006 - 11:18am
#3
battle of ego's
"""Where is this all leading? Where does it end?""
Ahhh, where indeed.
If you hit a cop can he shoot you?"
Wed, 02/01/2006 - 1:18pm
#4
It ends when you can be put in jail for simply riding your bike on the street, or when a Democrat is Mayor.
Wed, 02/01/2006 - 7:22pm
#5
Oh please
oh please stop carrying on...you sound like a bunch of crybabies, honestly...
Thu, 02/02/2006 - 7:50am
#6
The Mayor is a Democrat
He simply swapped tickets as his first choice was fullly subscribed
Thu, 02/02/2006 - 11:32am
#7
Frenchless connection
Contrast now with the time you were walking the beat - during the Lindsay and Koch and perhaps the Dinkins' administrations. Yeah, really - things were so much better back then. Who could forget those halcion days of the '70s?!? (Yes, that's 'halcion' and not 'halcyon')
Dinkins hired alot more cops just before he left office, while during/immediately thereafter crime dropped precipitously in NYC (and pretty much everywhere else across the country after the crack epidemic had past its peak).
Unlike the private sector, when business is down (in this case, crime), there are no layoffs or hiring freezes of Police Officers. Contrast NYC which has a similiar sized population as Los Angeles, yet LA's police force is roughly a tenth of the size of NYC's. Sure, LA has its issues with bad apples/police brutality, but to my knowledge no issues with Critical Mass rides. (I'm not advocating that we should layoff cops or most cops are uncivil, BTW).
Unless you work at City Hall or One Police Plaza, your guess is as good as mine as to what the incentives and political motivations maybe. Regarding political motivations - it's clear to me it is not a partisan Dem v. Rep issue.
Thu, 02/02/2006 - 2:45pm
#8
nmnm
Thu, 02/02/2006 - 2:53pm
#9
"If life is better in NY now than it was 20 years ago, it has absolutely nothing to do with Bloomberg.
I love this illusion that Bloomberg is ""really"" a Democrat. He is a Republican. You could look it up.
This anti-bike b.s. would never be tolerated by a Democrat.
By the way, I like NYC cops. I saw them on 34th St. Friday night on their brand new scooters, riding in a pack like some deranged 1960's Mods, nearly colliding with one another, unable to stay out of anybody's way. They looked foolish. Imagine how embarrassed they are at having to put up with this anti-bike crap."
Thu, 02/02/2006 - 5:58pm
#10
dislogical discourse
"Bloomberg grew up as a nice jewish boy in the suburbs of Boston, MA. That's hardly the profile of a Republican. Likewise, he's been ""..a lifelong member of the Democratic Party..."" until he ran for Mayor, wisely taking the least path of resistance, notably uncontested in the other party's primary. BTW, he just followed the same recipe for electoral success as the mayor which immediately preceeded him.
City life is better now than 30-35 years ago when Popeye Doyle fictitously roamed the streets. It's better than 20 years ago, too - before Mike was in office, so I'm not sure what your discourse it about.
Of course you knew this and are just putting a very poor spin on things or more likely you are just trolling."
Fri, 02/03/2006 - 6:13pm
#11
"""dislogical""?"
"Uh, Peter, your only response to anything seems to be that Bloomberg, the Republican Mayor, is really a Democrat. That doesn't really answer any questions raised by the previous posters. Also, there are plenty of rabid right-wing lunatics who were raised as ""nice Jewish boys"" in suburbs. Not that your hero compares to any of them in his invective, or his hostility, or his ability to make a vendetta, or his willingness to put the blame for the very real ills of his city on the shoulders of a small group of protestors..."
Fri, 02/03/2006 - 7:49pm
#12
game - set - match
You wrote:
It ends when you can be put in jail for simply riding your bike on the street, or when a Democrat is Mayor.
I replied to the effect that whether the mayor is a Democrat or Republican (or if you prefer the Whig party) it has no bearing on why the police are cracking down on Critical Mass rides.
Simply stating the reason for such is so solely because one is a Republican or Democrat (or a member of the Whig revival party) is about as cunning as listening to parrot-heads on AM talk-radio. (Yawn)
Instead, I speculated with some factual detail and analysis of other incentives at work - whether that is the mayor's office or the NYPD or both. Your replies reflect nothing more than further cavil and obfuscation.
By the way, Critical Mass rides originated in San Francisco. The city is a bastion for the Democrat party and it has an enduring history of confrontations, crackdowns and mayhem among its police force and Critical Mass much like what is now occurring in New York. Maybe you and Eshrdlu should rethink what it means to be a Democrat and for that matter type-casting folks into binary political buckets.
Mon, 02/06/2006 - 3:04pm
#13
Republicrat? Democratins?
"Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. – Daniel Webster (1782-1852)
Republican... Democrat? Either way, we get masters. Either way, we get ruled.
P.S.
For an interesting take on the cause of the drop in crime, check out the book ""Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything"" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubne."
Fri, 02/03/2006 - 12:51pm
#14
Here's what Bloomberg is...
"Bloomberg is a phony image masking his own incompetence.
•During his administration New York lost the Olympics after he insisted that Manhattan was the only, only, only place the city could and should locate a stadium. After wiser heads than his shot it down, he suddenly remembered that Queens might be a good place, too. The Olympic committee said, ""huh?"" and moved on.
• His administration has been plagued by the wanton torture and murder of children, to whose plight the city authorities were notified but did nothing. If he focused a bit more on that and a bit less on bicycle demonstrations, some little kids who got beaten to death might be still be alive. Instead we have cops endangering their own lives, and those of everybody else in an attempt to foul up peaceful political demonstration. The blame goes straight to Bloomberg. He's the man in charge.
•If you're a Democrat, you can't be for anyone who sends agents provocateurs into crowds and clearly condones life-endangering tactics for the purpose of -- well, maybe somebody can explain the rational purpose. Even the cops hate it when he does the same thing to cops, as the front page of the New York Times revealed today. ""A ubiqitous secret police presence,"" is not a Democratic platform that I'm aware of. That's not what Democrats do, that's what protofascists do. Are you listeng, Mike? Oh, how silly of me to ask! There's probably a cop assigned to reading this message board full time. Incidentally, that guy on another thread who nearly ran down some pedestrians and then defended it on the board because his mother taught him to look both ways before crossing the street-- are you sure he isn't one of Bloomberg's secret agents, provocateuring? I would be careful about what I say to that guy, or even of riding with him.
• Bloomberg's ""education"" initiatives are at best controversial. If you get teachers teaching tests, you'll get drone graduates, not original thinkers who invent new tools, new software, new solutions to social problems. How about paying to recruit the best teachers in America? Oh sorry, too expensive for a tax-cutting ""Democrat.""
• For the record, if the city economy has been stable, it's because it reflects the financial markets, which are the basis of municipal financial strength and therefore stability here in New York? What has Bloomberg done that's big news to support college students and help them pay their tuition at the City Universities that were free in the ""good old days?"" What has he done above the humdrum to promote the arts and arts festivals? What has he done about rotting infrastructure before he runs off giving away billion dollar gift stadiums to his buddies? What has he done to promote New York as a new technology town while California walks off with most of the business? What has he...oh, nevermind, I'm sucking up too much bandwith.
• Did I mention that when he was running the news organization that bears his name, sexist jokes were rampant in the executive suite? Check it out.
What is it you were saying that makes him a Democrat? He supports abortion rights? Hell dude, that ain't a city issue. That's a Federal courts issue.
""I wish I knew the man I was speaking to was a secret police spy. I thought he was my mother. I should have known better when she told me to speak into her bossom.""
--Last Words of Zikor Taskov in front of one of Tito's
firing squads
Your Pal,
Etoain Shrdlu
P.S. I know I said I was going to San Francisco to ride my bike. I went. It was raininig. And raining. And raining. I came home.
"
Thu, 02/02/2006 - 6:27am
#15
Here's the story
the Village Voice has an article describing last Friday's Critical Mass:
http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/powerplays/archives/002384.php
So who do we have to thank for all this? CM or NYPD, or both?
