According to the Zone 5 officer (a black man) at Council to Go tonight, the appropriate nomenclature for the individuals who are assaulting cyclists on ELB is "punks" (punk rockers, settle down... it's not a slur). I suggested sending out plainclothes cops on bikes as bait, he was thinking the same thing. The short term solution for the problem is to catch those kids and get them off the street... in the process, sending a clear message to anyone considering such action in the future. There may be reasons for the punk behavior, but there is no excuse.
When you have cyclists targeted on a routine basis in a specific location as we do now, philosophizing about gentrification, race relations, and community outreach isn't doing anything to address the immediate concern. The idiots who are conspiring to assault cyclists need to be apprehended ASAP, period.
The gentrification and anger issue in my neighborhood should be treated as something unrelated to our concerns as cyclists, and although we are feeling some pain from it, it is not our responsibility to try to solve the overall problem. At least we care though. The load of resolution is on the shoulders of folks like Councilman Dowd, the mayor, and other organizations who are equipped with the resources and experience to handle it.
As far as it goes with any sort of "take back the night" ride, I think it needs to be handled with extreme sensitivity. FOC fun style would be good. "Whose streets, our streets!" chanting... count me out. I've owned a home for 10 yrs a block from ELB & Negley... technically, they *are* my streets, but the sense that I get is that it's a bad time to express that sentiment, particularly when the entire community is not at fault for the actions of a small handful of punks.
Maybe for long term outreach we can recruit Bumper Bike dude... turn him on to Scraper bikes & the PVC Porsche and send him out with some Free Ride flyers.
Glad to hear it went well.
I agree that this should be approached with sensitivity. I also think we should try to include as many people as possible. Is anyone a member of a church in the area.
I think a fun, party type ride would be great. Weird bikes seem to be a good way to engage all types of people--maybe get some uni's out there.
I think if we could get some neighborhood kids out, and a bunch of weird bikes, it could be a very fun, positive experience.
@ndromb- I know some of the people at the local churches. I can get the word out to them. Do we have a flyer or anything specific yet for me to pass on?
this is colin, but im on my wife's account...
if no one else has done it already i will put together a flyer for a "Community Bike Ride" the idea being to get out and meet your neighbors and have a good time riding on ELB. We talked about engaging the churches as well as reaching out the the major taylor club. as the sole black lady at the meeting said "it would be better if it wasnt just a bunch of white people on bikes" as there is already a lot of anger and resentment in the black community about the gentrification going on.
i was actually going to ask ndromb if we could make this a flock of cycles event, bust out the tall bikes and sound systems. a uni or two would be awesome too, as well as a bumper bike and any other odd/fun bikes people can show up with. make it more of a fun positive party thing and less of a "fuck you this is our neighborhood now" vibe.
once i get the flyer together tomorrow i will post a thread specific to the ride that people can be directed to.
yep, totally agree that it would be great to get the neighborhood involved so it's not just a bunch of white people on bikes. If you make a flyer, I will get it to my church contacts. However, ultimately I want to attend because I used to ride this route when I lived in Garfield and when I show up I'm going to be a white person on a bike.
It wouldn't be "just a bunch of white people". ...dah! I forgot, black and white are the only races in the world.
Anyhow, I think bringing the weird bikes out would definitely calm down the vibe. Its impossible to be hostile round tall bikes.
well in pittsburgh they are. just ask anyone...
When the officer was talking about creating specialized laws to handle assaults on cyclists, something I wondered but couldn't jump in in time to ask was, it seems the perpetrators are kids, i.e. minors. What the hell happens to them if they are caught? That is slap-on-the-wrist territory.
On the other hand, I do wonder how equipped we are to go the preventative route with community outreach. I like the idea of having Freeride do more community-targeted services. However, it was told that one of the assaults was perpetrated by a kid throwing his bike at a cyclist. So the problem goes much deeper than "let's give these pissed off kids bikes!"
I think the best solution right now, and I think Scott is with me on this, is to get officers in uniform out there on bikes. ASAP. That puts officers in a much more visible position than driving down the street in a car with the windows up and AC on, it makes them much more versatile, it makes them much more approachable and real, and quite importantly it puts them in the same sort of class as cyclists. It adds some sort of legitimacy to cycling culture, to see that cyclists aren't just a bunch of vulnerable and alien people. I think that could have a seriously positive impact on the perception of cyclists in general.
I have church contacts in the area as well. The folks from the Open Door and Eastminster are very much involved in the community (the Open Door) started a community garden in Garfield, for example), so I'm sure they'd lend support.
i'm involved in OD and work weekly in the community garden. Would be happy to approach the congregation if there's a desire to connect.
The Major Taylor group did a cycling day at the Kingsley center a couple of weeks ago. I think it was on the events calendar. Did anyone go to that or volunteer at that?
They would seem to be perfectly suited to work with on this.
IMO, working with MTCC more in general would certainly help us all broaden our perspective.
I stopped by the meeting last night. The lesson I learned from the discussion was that EVERY time someone is threatened or assaulted, they should call 911 and report the incident once they are no longer in danger.
Police are like any other large entity, they measure success with statistics and make decisions based on data. If every time there is an issue, we report it to 911. Eventually these incidents will effect the safety rating in Zone 5 and action will follow. You do not have to be assaulted to call 911, if you were threatened in any way call and make the report.
BTW - thanks again to all of you folks who put so much effort into making PGH bike friendly. I really appreciate it. I am 2 weeks into my cycling career and having a wonderful time riding and see PGH from a whole new and more ecologically approachable perspective.
I can reach out to MTCC with the flyer, etc. They use (or used to use) Kingsley Center as their sort of "home base." That's also a community based facility, and MTCC has done a fair amount of work with the community from that facility already.
I hate bringing race into discussions, but since it will help the legitimacy of the ride:
If anyone here rode the final 20-mile stretch of the GAP back in October 2008 for the Pittsburgh250 celebration, you might remember Sheldon Ingram of Channel 4 rode along with us, in a prominent position in front of the pack. It was on the news and everything. So at least we know he can ride a bike. What are the chances of us getting him to ride through ELB with us for a story?
I am a member of MTCC and I let Bruce Woods, club president, know about this thread. He asked me to share this with you all:
"Let the forum know that we are planning to have Nite Lite rides from the Kingsley twice a month on Fridays leaving from the new Performance store at 7:30pm. The first ride is planned for the 18th. The rides will cover the ELB and surrounding streets."
If I can help let me know.
I was the one attacked on my bike by a bike. I can't do a ride as I can't ride yet. But I plan to attend the elb pub safety meeting Tuesday.
justin, maybe we can get someone to ride you around on a cargo bike? only half kidding, last time i was off a bike due to injury (shattered the outside half of my collar bone) i would have LOVED to have someone do that, just so i could sort of ride.
I am sorry I missed last week's meeting, but I would like to emphasize the importance of calling 911 anytime you are victimized, threatened, or even just a witness. In previous East Liberty assaults I heard about, it was reported that the victims did not call 911. Granted, I heard these accounts second- or third- hand, so I do not know if they were complete and accurate, but it just seems to me like the best way to get a better police presence in the area and get the "punks" apprehended is to report anything we can. In other words, we should help the police help us.
As far as engaging the community, is there someone who can put together a fun family event in East Liberty as part of Bike Fest? Maybe "learn to ride a unicycle" (for older kids and parents) or kid obstacle/training course in Highland Park?
I wouldn't necessarily want Sheldon Ingram to report on us. In fact he is a rather dangerous driver, though I know nothing of his cycling abilities. In 2006 I was stopped at a red light in Murrysville in my old '92 Jetta, and Sheldon rear-ended me so hard that the next 5 cars up in line all got smashed. 2 of them including mine were totalled. The funniest part is a few days later I saw him doing a report on road construction somewhere, and he was actually driving a van while being filmed and reporting, constantly looking back and forth between the road and the camera. In my mind he's not the safest guy in the world, he might end up trying to report while biking and rear end all of us. But maybe I'm over reacting...
As far as engaging the community, is there someone who can put together a fun family event in East Liberty as part of Bike Fest? Maybe "learn to ride a unicycle" (for older kids and parents) or kid obstacle/training course in Highland Park?
This sounds like a perfect opportunity to work with the Kingsley Center/Major Taylor Club and Performance and have a bike rodeo in the East Side Village parking lot.
Maybe that's why he was in the front of the pack during the Pgh250 ride.
