NYPD apparently helping crack down on abandoned-looking bikes

EVG reader Mike H. on the Ninth Street spotted these flyers this morning on non-abandoned-looking bikes along East Ninth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D…



Per the sign:

"Please be avised due to the number of 311 calls and community complaints regarding the bikes on the sidewalk which have been left for extended time and seem to be abandoned.

You are requested to remove the bikes to a proper location within the next three (3) day from today (September 16, 2015) otherwise they will be deem abandoned and Department of Sanitation will remove and discard."

Hmm, not sure if these are legit NYPD signs or the creation of an annoyed resident. Anyway, per the signs, people have until Wednesday to move the bikes… Anyone spot these bike flyers elsewhere?

Probably a good idea for the city to be proactive on this to head off an expose by the Post. ("Even abandoned bikes say de Blasio has been a failure...")

Overnight Citi Bike recap

What's going on @CitibikeNYC? There are a half dozen abandoned citibikes in the east village at 8th at and 1st ave. pic.twitter.com/ujlkpa0idC

— DS (@davidsokol) October 18, 2014

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...