CRITICAL FASCISM NYC
Originally uploaded by Cheryl & Rich.
On Friday Night, July 28th, we visited the gathering and departure of the NYC Critical Mass ride. The police have been cracking down on the monthly peaceful bike rides of coincidence since the Republican National Convention in 2004. They have decided that these bikes a are a threat to the peaceful gridlock, noise, pollution, and aggression that occurs on nearly every block of Manhattan 24 hours a day. No congestion charge and no tolls from the East into the City. So please bring your hummer into the City; we will protect you and keep a clear path so your rims can spin and dazzle or you can valet park on Madison Ave to shop, adjacent to 50 forms of transit.
The riders are now only being arrested if they break laws, but they do, as does nearly EVERY pedestrian in the city on a routine basis. Why? Because ALL of the streets are still designed for vehicles first, pedestrians second, and bikes are an afterthought. The bike lanes in Manhattan are 4-foot “door” zones. We joke that they should really be called “no bike lanes” Might I note that lower Manhattan is fairly mellow by 8 p.m. on a summer Friday evening, so the cyclists are truly inconveniencing very few of the free loader drivers.
The remaining riders are brave as they are almost all guaranteed to get an expensive ticket this month or the next and most have already had a bike confiscated by the fascist police in the past two years. The city is also in the process of approving a law that would make any two bikes or pedestrians that break a law together to be in violation of a new “parade” permit law; hence the photo at the top of this entry.
New York City has a long way to go to provide any equality for bikes and pedestrians ,including the many people who bike despite all the threats against them; including thousands of bike messengers and delivery people who are a vital part of the city’s transportation need. The crazy thing is that there is no place in the U.S. that could improve and increase bike usage faster than Manhattan (and the boroughs, too) with just a little political will. Someday it WILL be different, and you can quote me on that. -R
Tags: cycling, Travel, Tag Index
rich.coffin