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Hertz car rental at 5634 blocking Negley bike lane

Over the past year or so there's been this gradual escalation at the Hertz on that little triangular island that Baum, Roup, and Negley make. First it was cars edging on to the sidewalk, then completely blocking the sidewalk, and now they just straight up park cars in the Negley bike lane. Who do I complain to about this?
ken-kaminski
2021-12-30 18:17:21
If feeling generous, you could first point out (in a friendly manner?) to whoever is at the desk that pittsburgh just passed a law about parking in bike lanes. I suppose if they either went out to move them or said they would, I might give them 24 hours to correct it. But if they give you a hard time or flunk the 24 hour test, then call 911 and say there are a bunch of cars parked in the bike lane- take a picture, sent it to the police, and ride away. I suppose you could send pix to their corporate office also.    Sound fair?
dave
2021-12-30 20:09:07
I think instead of calling 911 maybe it's better to call whichever police station is in that zone. If there was some other official step that could be taken before that, I'd do that instead.
ken-kaminski
2021-12-30 23:04:13
Calling 911 sounds appropriate to me. We should raise a fuss about this. It's unacceptable to constantly block sidewalks and bike lanes on such a busy street, where stepping or riding in a "car lane" is dangerous.
paulheckbert
2022-01-01 23:35:54
Whelp, I called 911 on them today. I'd really rather not get the police involved in things, but this place is getting profit by misusing a resource that our taxes pay for. I don't have any sympathy for them. I had to be somewhere so I didn't stick around to see how it played out, but I have a feeling that the police won't do anything to resolve this situation. Supposing this fails, and even repeat calls fail, what other recourse do we have?
ken-kaminski
2022-01-03 13:53:56
Oh yeah, something I should have mentioned earlier. The 911 operator forwarded me to the zone 5 police. That's the more appropriate number to call, since this isn't a life or death emergency. If you ride around this part of the city and find the lane blocked, I encourage you to report it. Here's the number: 412-665-3605 The street address in the original title is on Baum Blvd.
ken-kaminski
2022-01-03 17:38:57
I had a situation a few months back where I was riding down Negley and someone was parked in that exact spot outside Hertz. The guy got out of his car, sidled slowly over to the building but didn't go inside (looked like maybe he was dropping something off?) and was coming back as I approached on my bike. I was annoyed because he was clearly idling in the bike lane when he could've pulled into the parking lot, and I recall yelling as I passed by to not park there. His response? "Don't worry about it" I'm a fairly new rider and that intersection makes me really anxious. I have to worry about it. It's bad enough that the bike lane just ends on Centre and leaves you to fend for yourself at what I consider a pretty busy and dangerous intersection, I don't also need to navigate around a fleet of rental cars! Passed by again the other day on the bus, and noticed multiple cars parked in the bike lane. Not sure if it was because of the snow, but it definitely seems like they don't give a shit one way or the other.
utopianforest
2022-01-20 10:12:46
Supposing this fails, and even repeat calls fail, what other recourse do we have? Has Hertz been contacted? But to answer the question, I have heard of people doing things to parked cars- pulling up the wipers, deflating the tires, spraying water on them on really cold days, setting them on fire. Not that I am suggesting any of these.
dave
2022-01-20 21:11:45
Call City Councilmember? Who is the person, for that area?
paulheckbert
2022-01-20 23:26:27
If 911 is called (can one provide a picture when doing so? Is there even an online version of 911?) every time you go by there and cars are blocking legal roadways eventually someone will get tired of it. Either they are being ticketed, and they will get tired quickly, or if not the police will get tired of the calls and start ticketing. I will be down in that area next week and will include myself in the efforts.z
dave
2022-01-21 19:21:56