Now, EVG reader Podunk notes more threats of discarding bikes parked on the sidewalk along East Fifth Street (between Second Avenue and Cooper Square), though it appears to be the work of another individual ... or, perhaps, a splinter group... Regardless, like the East Fifth St. Tree Committee, these people mean business...
This is neither legal or appropriate, correct? I can understand if a group that maintains tree planters tries to keep ratty objects from being affixed to them... But at least one of those bikes is leashed to city property. You can't just institute a "no bike" rule in a neighborhood in the middle of Manhattan. If they attempt to do anything with those bikes, the appropriate charges are grand larceny and criminal mischief. Bikes and locks ain't cheap.
ReplyDeleteIs it still larceny if you leave a note first?
ReplyDeleteAsinine.
ReplyDeleteAside: those tree guards are fucking pricey! Some city agency has to install them. We'll buying one for the tree in front of our shop (the landlord won't do it. Nice.) and it's just one of those short ones- like 8" tall. They want $1250 for it!!!
We told them "%#**|" and they chopped the price in half. That's not reassuring, really.
Im sure the cops have more important things to do [insert joke here], but this is not legal and should be stopped. Maybe Ill just start locking bookshelves and old mattresses on this block until they cease and desist.
ReplyDelete@ pinhead. Yup. Though I suppose that if somehow you could prove that the bike owner actually read the sign and then didn't do anything to remove the bike that could be some sort of tacit permission.
ReplyDeleteThis would make a great bar exam hypothetical though.
The bike in the second photo is NOT blocking the sidewalk!!! It's on the street side of the pole. Are they smoking bath salts on 5th Street???
ReplyDeleteis it ok to park your car on the sidewalk?
ReplyDeletewhy is it ok to ride your bike on the sidewalk? and to pick the place you will park it? no matter that it be private property, plant protection or a building entrance.
bike racks are for parking bikes.
i can't count how many times i've almost been run down by a bike on the sidewalk or asked folks not to park their bike where it's blocking our entrance or damaging tree plantings.
it's bad enough that you have to look four ways before crossing a street, and even have to watch out when you get to the middle of the street when you're crossing with the light.
we are now also losing the sidewalks to bikes (scooters, skate boards and other wheels).
there is very little courtesy left around here and i blame the aggressiveness of the bikers, now leaders of this hostile trend.
One bike was on the curb not blocking the sidewalk (probably better to move it since a car may hit it while parking) the other bike was On the steps of a building. This might be the location of the Bike committees secret hq.
ReplyDeleteThese people only have one type of sign. Maybe Woz
Will park his Segway , and they will put a sign to move his bike off the sidewalk.
blue glass, what method of execution should we use on the bike terrorists? Let's tie them all to the subway tracks, Wild West style. Then it's onto the roller skaters next, they've also clearly got to be stopped before they ruin America.
ReplyDeleteI cannot seem to find clear regulations on where parking a bicycle is legal in the city. Does anyone have a link to a reference?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, what the 5th Street folks are doing is illegal.
This is just an observation (I'm not defending anyone), but this block is one of the worst as far as being difficult to walk down the sidewalk. There are bikes, garbage cans, stoops that stick out, trees and other street furniture that block the path. The sidewalk is also in bad shape and there are a lot of elderly people around there, so maybe someone is just fed up with not being able to get up and down the street very well.
ReplyDeleteBlue Glass, no one is saying it's cool to ride a bike on the sidewalk. The sign says the bike is blocking the sidewalk and it's not. I don't think it's an accident the photo is so closely cropped.
ReplyDeleteevery time i see one of these signs, i'm cutting down a tree on 5th street.
ReplyDeletethere's a "mental hygiene" facility on 5th street and when the bus comes to pick them up at 6 am its enough to drive you nuts...not to to mention Standard Hotel, Scratchers, Jewel Bako and a few other wingnuts, yes the republican kind...
ReplyDeletewhomever is doing this is a douchebag of the highest order. i sincerely hope that someone kicks him or her in the groinal region.
ReplyDeleteI hear there is a bike shop opening on 5th St, selling pre-loved bikes... Joking about the store, but the people on 5th need to get out more...
ReplyDeleteIf I lived on 5th st I would get an old bike and chain it up with 1 billion locks to fuck with them...
Yes 1 billion locks...
If the bikes are really blocking the sidewalk, or locked to trees or other bikes, the notes are fine. If they're attached to lampposts and on the far side, then not so much. Maybe instead of cutting and removing, the Bike Committee could just spray-paint them neon pink.
ReplyDeleteLet's get 100s of old bikes and put them on 5th street
ReplyDeleteIf someone painted my bike because I chained it to a lamp post, I'd have the cops called on them. Then I'd retaliate.
ReplyDeleteHow 'bout a REAL simple thing - Mind yourself! THis is a city of strangeness, diversity, odd happenings, variety - you come to live here that is part and parcel to living here. If you want to monitor and regulate stuff - stay the hell OUT of this city! Telling people you are going to steal their personal property is straight up bullshit - no other words for it. Go back from where you came. And when you are back there - learn about living together WITH people. 'Nuff said.....
ReplyDeleteI live on this block. The Tree Committee is headed by an old woman who waters the trees (probably unnecessarily) but definitely has crack pot authoritarian tendencies. My girlfriend made the mistake of sitting on a 5th st. steel tree guard to get a rock out of her shoe and the grand damme of the Tree Committee started yelling at her that she was going to break it. Really? A 120lb woman's butt vs. a steel railing? No kids I suppose, and lots of free time to perseverate on imaginary ills.
ReplyDeletesay no more. it's some old geezer who probably pays $100 a month for her apartment. I'm amazed she knows how to hit the print button, god belss her heart.
ReplyDeleteShe must be a rich geezer, she's burning through printer ink!
ReplyDeleteI think I encountered this lady as well- I had a piece of trash and discarded it in one of the cans along the sidewalk and she confronted me about the trash cans being private and not for me to put a piece of trash into- I understood her meaning but thought she went a little too far for a small item I was tossing and now I rarely do that- I'll carry a coffee cup to the public trash cans on the street corners as not to induce her wrath again! Afterwards she told me she lived there for many years and does maintenance for several properties on the block- thus her feeling of having dominion over the block- While its true some bike owners are disrespectful of property or flow of pedestrians, the only time a bike should be removed is when it is clearly abandoned for weeks or months, broken, missing tires and seats etc, Those I wish someone would take away as they are taking up valuable bike parking spots-
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