Monday, October 22, 2012

City wants you to remove your bike — or at least what's left of it


Back in June, WNYC listeners submitted hundreds of photos of abandoned bicycles around the city ... As Alex Goldmark reported:

But most of them will not be removed by the city. ... The life cycle of a bike left to rot on NYC streets is long, and intentionally so. The complaint process is as clunky as the cast off bikes themselves and the criteria for removal is stiffer than the U-lock holding this pilfered cruiser to a bike rack on Bleecker Street.

The first obstacle is that what you consider an abandoned nuisance taking up your prime bike parking is property to someone else. Most bikes reported to the city as abandoned aren’t abandoned enough to be removed.

Anyway, in the last 7-10 days... I've noticed a handful of locked bike parts tagged as part of a "derelict bicycle removal program" ... (and dated 10/13)...






It doesn't appear to be a neighborhood-wide program... I noticed the tagged bikes on a few side streets between Avenue B and Avenue D... (and one on Avenue C) ... the top photo of two fairly broken-abandoned bikes by Cooper Union weren't tagged, for instance.

Anyway, fair warning in case you left a wheel locked up on East Ninth Street and Avenue C... oh, and have you noticed any tagged bikes on your block? Just wanted to get a feel for how widespread program is...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

11th b/n B&C over here. A couple of these as have already been removed on the block. I wish the process were quicker because most of these decomposing bikes have been out there for years. They're a huge danger to just about everyone, and they take up parking spots from people who have functional bikes and are actually riding them.

There's a group of carcasses tagged up on the corner of 14 and B - mostly kids bikes it looks like - most likely locked up by indie bike repair guys. Again, extremely dangerous as they're below eye-level close to the ground, and an obstacle to navigate when getting on/off the bus.

dwg said...

Here's the secret- there was a bike chained to the parking sign in front of my building for months, never moved, obviously abandoned. Flat tires, rusting chain, wheels bent. Called 311 twice to have it removed. Nothing happened. Finally 311 operator gave me list of list that must be wrong with bike before it's considered abandoned. So one day I went out with a crescent wrench took off both wheels and the handlebars. Bike was then considered derelict and was removed by the department of sanitation. Kind of pain but it worked.

Anonymous said...

Just call the bike thief on 9th St. He'll gladly come and take whatever he can.

Anonymous said...

great idea- i don't get why or how someone could chain up their bike and then never come back for it- if you don't want it then sell it or leave it unlocked so someone can enjoy it before it goes to absolute shit. if it was vandalized, then it is rude and selfish to leave it locked and rotting away-

Pilot Projects said...

Check our our Bike Rescue proposal, designed to solve this problem for the city: http://pilot-projects.org/projects/project/bike-rescue

We are currently trying to get approval from the city for a pilot project in the LES. Even at no cost to the city they are still dragging their feet. Want to help out? Drop us a line: info@pilot-projects.org

bryanthatcher said...

My Collection of bikes lonelybikes.com! I have been shooting them for quite some time.