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November 25, 2004
NYTimes: 9 Cyclists Are Arrested in Protest
From NYTimes by Lydia Polgreen and Colin Moynihan
Nine people were arrested last night and 40 bicycles were seized as about a thousand cyclists hit the streets in the monthly Critical Mass bicycle protest ride, the police said. The cyclists filled the canyons of Park Avenue and Broadway in a smaller replay of the ride that led to hundreds of arrests on the eve of the Republican National Convention.With police and news media helicopters whirling overhead, the ride began at Union Square and proceeded in fairly orderly fashion for about an hour as a phalanx of police officers on scooters and in vans kept close watch.
"We said we'd head up Park Avenue, and they let us go ahead," said Bill DiPaola, executive director of Time's Up!, the environmental group that promotes the ride to bring attention to the pollution caused by cars and encourage cycling.
Whistles shrieking and bells tinkling, hundreds of cyclists flooded into the street, heading north on Park Avenue until 57th Street, then west to Broadway and south again through Times Square.
But the mood suddenly changed at Broadway and 33rd Street, when a string of officers on scooters briefly blocked Broadway, setting off a panic among riders, many of whom headed north on Broadway and turned east on 36th Street, only to find themselves blocked again at Fifth Avenue.
"The cops blocked off the whole street and scared everyone," said Gus Ortiz, a 43-year-old graduate student. "I locked up my bicycle immediately and ran into a building lobby."
Many cyclists hopped off their bikes and tried to walk away, but the police began grabbing people from the crowd, said Caitlin Hawke, 39, who said her friend Andrew was among those arrested.
"They blocked us in," she said.
Officers used power saws to cut the chains securing bikes to sign posts, despite the protests of their owners, who offered to unlock them.
Still, the arrests seemed to arise out of confusion rather than confrontation. At the end of the ride, Mr. DiPaola said that it had gone relatively smoothly.
A police spokesman said the arrests were made on charges of disorderly conduct and obstruction of traffic.
Police officials said a route had been agreed upon earlier in the day, but a police spokesman could not say with whom the agreement had been reached.
Critical Mass is a monthly bike ride that claims no organizers but simply materializes on the last Friday of every month. People who promote the ride have said they have no control over the route.
Norman Siegel, a civil rights lawyer who represented cyclists arrested before and during the convention, said before the ride began that the police had told him they planned to make arrests for "any and all violations."
Copyright 2004, The New York Times Company
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November 22, 2004
Gotham Gazette: Can Critical Mass Negotiate a Truce?
From Gotham Gazette by Jen Benepe
When some 400 New Yorkers took to the streets on their bicycles in 2000, in a ride they called Critical Mass -- an effort to dramatize their claim to roads they see as overly dominated by the automobile -- they had six police escorts on scooters who were so friendly that they thanked the riders for the assignment. But by last month, four years and dozens of rides later, relations between the riders and the police had grown so strained that police arrested 33 participants.The city had demanded that the group get a permit for its monthly rides. After a federal judge rejected the city's demands, hundreds of cyclists (among them, me) rode en masse around parts of Manhattan on the evening of October 29.
There were some harsh exchanges over the evening's event. Alex Storozynski, editor of AM NewYork, criticized "anarchists" in the group and accused them of beating a motorist and "blocking an ambulance while it wailed." A commentator on E-bikes, the electronic exchange for cyclists in New York, called Storozynski's piece, "spittle-flecked ravings" with "one inaccuracy per paragraph."
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly wrote an op-ed in the Daily News under the headline "Extremists have hijacked the bike rides." Matthew Roth, speaking for Times Up!, a local environmental group closely associated with Critical Mass, blasted Kelly's comments as unethical.
Why have attitudes changed?
For one thing, the ride has grown from the original 400 cyclists; in the March 2004 ride, there were some 2,000 people on bicycles, an astonishing number.
But police say the big change came in the days leading up to the Republican National Convention in August, when, they charge, "anarchists" infiltrated the ride and made it less peaceful. Police arrested more than 250 cyclists during the August ride, and seized many bikes. Since then, the police say, the character of the Critical Mass rides has changed.
But regular riders dispute this claim. Malia Howley, 29, said that the convention ride was an isolated incident, and that Critical Mass has, once again, become what it was before the convention. What has changed, she said, is the city's response. "Now it's helicopters and police everywhere," she said. "They're making a much bigger deal out of it than they need to."
Many observers, including some police officers, wonder why Critical Mass does not simply get a permit for its rides. For one, people involved in the ride say that Times Up! does not want to apply for a permit because the group does not want to take a leadership role in the ride. A permit, they say, would fly in the face of what Critical Mass is -- a "leaderless" group of cyclists traveling in unplanned directions to make a point.
That point is "to make New Yorkers and especially the administration spend more energy and put more resources into making the city friendlier for cyclists, " said Roth. "Do cars need a permit to drive in the street?"
But police say that a permit would improve the safety of the cyclists and help the city better plan for the ride, particularly if an emergency vehicle needs to get through the area. And some observers note that, any cyclists hurt during the ride could sue the city, claiming that the police did not properly protect them.
Ironically, the dispute comes as things are improving for bicyclists in New York. The Bloomberg administration has made a commitment to improve the safety of cyclists in New York, and has expanded bike lanes, greenways and bike paths.
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November 17, 2004
The Villager: Critical Mass case still rolling; city wants permit to assemble
The Bloomberg administration is continuing its legal fight to force the Critical Mass bike ride to get a permit or be blocked from taking place.On Monday, lawyers for the city asked federal Judge William Pauley III to grant an injunction against the Critical Mass ride unless it obtains a permit.
The city also asked the judge to require that the cyclists obtain a special permit from the Parks Department to gather at Union Sq., as they usually do on the last Friday of each month before the ride. Parks requires special permits for events of more than 25 people on the department’s property.
In Internet chat rooms, cyclists have been saying that, if need be, their strategy may be to gather at departure points other than Union Sq.
However, the court date set for the bikers’ attorneys’ response is Nov. 30, so the permit issues won’t affect this month’s ride on Nov. 26.
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November 15, 2004
USA Today: Big pack of bikes piques police
From USA Today By Martha T. Moore
Once a month for six years, Jym Dyer, a 44-year-old software engineer, hopped on his candy-apple-red bicycle and joined about 1,000 other riders to pedal through the canyons of Manhattan.There was little organization and no route other than following the whim of the riders in the lead. The huge pack could simply take over the wide avenues and stream through intersections regardless of stop lights, while side-street traffic had to sit and wait. "It was wonderful," Dyer says.
But that changed in August before the Republican National Convention here. The bicyclists got political, the cops got mad, and now the city is in federal court trying to stop the rides from taking place.
Critical Mass, as the monthly bike ride is called, has turned into a showdown between bicyclists and city police. The skirmish began three days before the opening of the Republican convention, when the pack of bicyclists swelled to 5,000 and the ride turned into a rolling demonstration against President Bush. Police arrested more than 260 bicyclists.
At the September ride, nine people were arrested, and police confiscated bicycles of other riders who locked their bikes and left. A federal court judge later ruled that the police could not impound bicycles of people not arrested. At the Oct. 29 ride, 35 people were arrested and their bikes impounded.
On Friday, the city asked the same federal judge for an injunction to stop the ride unless the riders obtain a police permit. New York police now want Critical Mass to have an agreed route and to let the police control traffic at the intersections. Police say riders block intersections for a half-hour at a time to allow the pack of bikes to pass. As a result, emergency vehicles have been unable to move in the gridlock. In addition, the pack has used freeways that are off-limits to bicycles.
'We are traffic'
The bicyclists say they don't need a permit to use city streets. Plus, there's no group organizer to apply for one.
"We are traffic, and traffic doesn't need a permit," says Leah Rorvig, 22, a volunteer with Time's Up!, an environmental organization that publicizes the time and location of the ride on the group's Web site.
"If they were just traffic, they'd be sitting at the (red) light like everybody else," police spokesman Paul Browne says.
But Rorvig and other riders say the essence of the Critical Mass ride is that it is spontaneous. Riders wouldn't follow a planned route, they say. "That's explicitly the philosophy of Critical Mass, that there is no leadership," says Matthew Roth, 27, another Time's Up! volunteer. The ride "is about having those two hours of freedom."
The city and Critical Mass, represented by the five riders who sued over having their bikes confiscated, are due in court Dec. 8.
Riders: Police are problem
Critical Mass bike rides began in 1992 in San Francisco and have spread to more than 300 cities across the country and overseas. The rides are designed to encourage bicycling as an environmentally friendly way to get around the city.
But they have rolled into trouble before. In 1997, bicyclists and police had a run-in in San Francisco when some of the 5,000 riders diverged from an approved route, blocked traffic and fought with motorists. Police arrested 250 riders. In Los Angeles, more than 70 bicyclists were arrested during the 2000 Democratic National Convention.
In New York, the size of the group makes bike riding pleasant in contrast to everyday maneuvering through heavy traffic, riders say. Until August, the monthly rides were uneventful, even when good weather attracted more than 1,000 riders. "It's been happening here for six years without a problem," Rorvig says. "The people who are making it a problem are the police."
Advocates of urban bicycling worry that the fracas will weaken public support for spending city money on bike lanes and paths on the city's bridges and waterfront, says Transportation Alternatives, a New York advocacy group. That would make riding a bicycle in Manhattan, which already ranges from challenging to terrifying, even more difficult, says Noah Budnick, the group's chief bicycle advocate.
More than 112,000 people ride bicycles in the city, according to Transportation Alternatives. "We have the worst bike thieves in the country. We have furniture-sized potholes. And we've got drivers that run a million red lights every day," Budnick says. "Critical Mass encourages a lot of people to bike, that's for sure. But in New York City, where it's a very textured, complicated political environment, you need to have support for biking from all different groups, not just bicyclists. The conflict discourages support of bicycling."
For the ride set for Nov. 26, winter chill and early sunset will likely cause the number of riders to dwindle to a few hundred. But police say there is no reason to let the pack continue to break traffic laws.
"If suddenly you have the F.D.R. Drive (freeway) filled with bicycles, the public expects you to do something about it, not wait to see if it goes away on its own," says Browne, the police spokesman.
He attributes the tension to a sudden shift in the ride's agenda, not a change in police tactics. Over the summer, "they began to take on this different complexion, an anarchist notion of a wholesale takeover of the streets," Browne says.
To the contrary, rider Dyer says, he is trying to persuade other bicyclists to stop at lights during the next Critical Mass ride. "I don't see a new element of anarchist lawbreakers in the ride who are suddenly controlling it," he says. "I've read about them in the tabloids, but I've never met any of them."
Dyer, who was arrested during a protest at the Republican convention and lost his red bike for three weeks, wonders if the continued crackdown is to avoid the appearance of singling out convention protesters for arrest. (He has pleaded not guilty and awaits a court date.) But mostly, he says, "I just don't understand why they bother."
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November 10, 2004
Villager: Letter to the Editor
To The Editor:Re “After court loss, police crack down on bike group” (news article, Nov. 3):
Thank you for the even-handed and closely observed reporting on the police presence at last Friday’s Critical Mass and after-party, both of which I attended. This was the only account I’ve seen to reconstruct in detail what happened on Houston St., and corresponds with my perception that the police acted excessively and in retaliation for the cyclists asserting their legal rights.
A couple of points of clarification: Though the police distributed fliers designating a route, Judge Pauley’s order did not require cyclists to follow it. Nor did all cyclists receive one — I didn’t. Still, cyclists at the front of the ride (where I was) tried to follow police instruction and to stay together. A few cyclists broke off around Park and 49th St., but no one followed them. The only time I saw people deliberately scatter was an hour later in Chelsea, where a police roadblock created a fear that riders were going to be trapped and arrested.
If threats to public safety are a concern to the city, it should act to reverse the climate of fear newly created by the police brass — and then, more seriously, do something about the everyday intimidation and violence by automobile.
Carol Wood
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Villager: Critical Mass case is still in court
From The Villager
Lawyers for the Critical Mass bike ride and the city will meet with Judge William Pauley III on Wed., Nov. 10, at the Federal Courthouse at 500 Pearl St., in the ongoing legal dispute over the monthly mass bike ride. Matthew Roth, a spokesperson for Time’s Up!, the nonprofit, pro-bicycling, environmental group that publicizes but claims not to lead the monthly rides, said it’s likely Pauley will refer the city’s counterclaim to state court since it involves the state’s vehicle and traffic law. Attorneys for the cyclists originally filed a federal lawsuit to stop police from seizing bicycles that riders locked up during the rides to avoid being arrested. In turn, the city filed a counterclaim saying the monthly rides should be barred unless they have a parade permit. Roth said if there is a decision, it should be expected sometime closer to Fri., Nov. 26, the date of this month’s ride.
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November 04, 2004
NYTimes: The Bike Helmet as Riot Gear?
From NYTimes By Lydia Polgreen
Laurie Williams, a mild-tempered graduate student with a tousled mane of curls capped by a bicycle helmet, straddled her neon-green mountain bike, surveyed the gathering crowd in Union Square last Friday night and wondered if she really belonged there."I love riding my bike, but it is not a political thing," she said as she warily eyed dozens of police officers with plastic cuffs stuffed into their pockets arrayed against hundreds of rambunctious cyclists in Halloween costumes. "It's exercise; it's transportation. I ride because it's an efficient way to get around."
Ms. Williams and about 1,000 other cyclists showed up last Friday night to ride in Critical Mass, a monthly bike ride that takes over the streets of Manhattan in a demonstration of bicycle power aimed at promoting nonpolluting forms of transportation.
But in recent months the rides have taken on a political tone, and the bicycle has emerged as an unlikely symbol of protest, setting up a clash between a group of cyclists bent on preserving the anarchic nature of the ride and officials in the Bloomberg administration, who have demonstrated little patience for disorder.
This clash has some riders worried that the aggressive tactics of Critical Mass - taking over city streets for a few hours a month - is hurting the cause of other cyclists as the police use tougher tactics to control the demonstrations.
"It should be about safety in numbers and better conditions for bikers," Ms. Williams said. "It isn't about politics."
Before the Republican National Convention hit town in August, few New Yorkers had ever heard of Critical Mass. It is a ride held in hundreds of cities across the globe, but it claims no organizers, though an environmental group called Time's Up! promotes it. It simply materializes once a month. There is no route, the people at the front of the ride decide where they want to go. Riders often block car traffic to allow the ride to proceed quickly, sometimes with the help of the police, who have typically tolerated the ride even if it does snarl car traffic.
The point of the ride, participants say, is to emphasize the benefits of cycling and to promote cyclist safety.
The rides took place in New York for several years with little incident, until August, when the ride on the eve of the Republican National Convention turned into a huge anti-Bush demonstration with 5,000 riders.
The police arrested more than 250 cyclists, and since then they and riders have been engaged in an increasingly tense battle over whether the ride can proceed without a permit. Dozens of cyclists have been arrested in two rides since August, most of them charged with disorderly conduct or traffic violations.
When five cyclists who had their bikes seized by the police in the September ride went to court to block the city from seizing bikes in October's ride, the city asked a federal judge for an injunction to stop the ride altogether. The judge barred the city from seizing bikes of people who were not charged with breaking the law and the request for an injunction was denied on technical grounds. But the central issue of whether the ride can proceed in the future is far from settled.
While bicycles are considered vehicles under the state vehicle and traffic laws, and riders are required to ride on the street and obey the same traffic laws as cars, the city has argued that because the ride disrupts other traffic it must have a permit. Because bicycles are permitted to ride on the street and Critical Mass is anarchic by nature, with no one claiming to organize it, people who ride in Critical Mass and promote it say they do not need a permit and, in any case, there is no organizer to apply for one.
In this legal tussle, the bicycle has emerged as an unlikely symbol of defiance in New York City, something many cyclists have mixed feelings about. The city has had a long and contentious relationship with bicyclists, who were viewed as a nuisance. Yet it is paradoxical that the fight over Critical Mass has emerged just as cycling is gaining widespread acceptance, particularly from City Hall.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has emphasized alternative forms of transportation, even buying a bicycle in preparation for the transit strike that never materialized. The city has more than quadrupled the number of bike lanes and paths since 1997, and data from the Department of Transportation indicate that the number of bikers has increased substantially.
A bike path looping Manhattan, so long desired by cyclists, has nearly become a reality, despite a few incomplete sections. Indeed, the fight over Critical Mass comes just as the act of riding a bike in the city, once viewed as borderline suicidal, has become, well, rather pedestrian.
"For every person that rides in Critical Mass there are 10,000 people who ride bicycles for fun and transportation in New York City," said Noah Budnick, projects director at Transportation Alternatives, a group that advocates cycling. "It is very much part of the mainstream."
"Critical Mass is a two-edged sword," Mr. Budnick continued. "On the one hand, it encourages bike riding and people feel really safe while riding in the mass. But on the other hand, it potentially paints bike riding in a very confrontational, not mainstream, sort of fringe light."
When the velocipede arrived in New York in the late 19th century, it set of a craze that spawned dozens of bicycle clubs and prompted the city to build the first urban bike path, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and running the length of Ocean Parkway. On opening day in 1895, it was mobbed with 10,000 riders, forcing the city to widen it.
But soon the automobile and later the subway won out over the bicycle as the best way to get around New York, and for much of the last century people who chose to ride bicycles in New York were seen either as quaint eccentrics, like George Plimpton and Murray Kempton, or as radical iconoclasts, like the aggressive bicycle messengers who rose to prominence in the go-go 1980's.
"Cycling was, and to some extent still is, seen as transgressive," said Charles Komanoff, a lifelong city cyclist who once ran Transportation Alternatives and is a staunch supporter of Critical Mass. "To get on a bike meant to become a kind of person that many people regarded as alien and even an affront to them."
No one embodies New York's schizophrenic relationship with bicycles better than Edward I. Koch. The transit strike in the spring of 1980 put thousands of new cyclists on the streets, and after a visit to China in which Mayor Koch was wowed by the sight of thousands of people plying the streets on bicycles, he ordered a bicycle lane installed on the Avenue of the Americas.
But cyclists universally rejected the lane, for various reasons, Mr. Komanoff said, which led the city to remove it and "left a bad taste in mouth of average New Yorkers."
"The attitude of most people was, 'what more do you people want?' " he said. " 'We gave you a bike lane and you rejected it.' "
The relationship further soured a year later, when a series of collisions between bicyclists and pedestrians left three people dead and one badly injured, Mr. Komanoff said. In the last few months, debates have raged over Critical Mass on Internet message boards popular with cyclists like MetaFilter and the discussion board for the New York Cycle Club.
Some riders say the rides hurt the image of cyclists and make drivers and pedestrians less likely to support cyclists' rights. Others argue that Critical Mass makes an important point about cyclists' rights to occupy space on the city's streets, echoing the Critical Mass mantra: "We are not blocking traffic, we are traffic."
On Friday night, few drivers and pedestrians seemed to agree. At stalled intersections, drivers fumed and walkers waited to cross, though some applauded the ride.
"Any chance of crossing the street tonight?" a woman screeched at a corner on Park Avenue near the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. "This is ridiculous."
City officials have said they tolerated the ride in past years because the disruption it caused was minimal. But the event has grown, said Gabriel Taussig, chief of the Administrative Law Division in the city's Law Department, and has become unmanageable. "We have never sought to stop the ride altogether," Mr. Taussig said. "But it clearly was an event that required a permit the past few months."
But many riders oppose getting a permit. Steven Faust, who has been riding a bicycle in New York City for 50 years and leads rides for the Five Borough Bicycle Club and rode in Critical Mass last month, said getting a permit would send the wrong message.
"Where does it end?" Mr. Faust asked. "If I want to ride with a dozen friends to a movie, will we need a permit? It is the principle. Cyclists have the right to use the streets, and we will continue to stand up for that."
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