Critical Mass Panic

My previous, minimally-completed post reproduced an e-mail sent to a Brooklyn cyclist regarding the 78th Precinct's approach to "Operation Safe Cycle". I posted it here on this blog in the effort to comply with the request made by the Community Affairs Police Officer. Last night at the Community Board 6 meeting on the Prospect Park West Bike Lane's incredible success at making a safer street, the Community Affairs Officers of the 78th Precinct, Mitch and Jerry, approached me. They expressed frustration that I had posted their phone number online as they were now experiencing a backlog of phone messages on their shared answering machine, regarding bicycle complaints. In fact, Jerry explicit threatened me. In hopes of ensuring justice is met in the case of my untimely death, the below e-mails, reproduced in full w/o the offending contact information, tell the story: Wed, January 5, 2011 8:37:49 AM Bicycle Safety Enforcement From: "KIRSHY, MITCHELL" To: XXXX@X...

Manhattan South - May 25th, 2014 - 18 Rogue Cyclists Rounded Up by NYPD at Anarchist GroupRide! NYPD, through amazing feats of derring-do, collared 18 dangerous, rogue cyclists last Friday night at the Astor Place Cube Bloomburg Pop-Up Club. The un-licensed, un-insured riders were using un-registered bicyles for blocking legal traffic outside of designated bike zones. The group stunned the clubgoers, but fortunately for those held hostage by the noisy miscreants, a pair Mike's Bikers in a nearby bike zone heard the commotion and contacted the NYPD's Bicycle Control Unit. Helicopters and quarantine nets were deployed to contain the cyclists circumventing the City Bike Fees. A police spokesperson stated 4 rouge riders critically injured themselves attempting to evade the law enforcement pursuing in the new electric-powered "Mega-Interceptors." No confirmation yet as to how many members of the now-banned "TA" BikeGroup were apprehended in response to the noise ...

Today I am grateful to the fact that major media outlets are covering some of the issues in a reasonable, balanced manner. I commend the Wall Street Journal at reading the pulse of capitalism and realizing that if the elite do not do something to mitigate all the problems of auto and oil addiction, the profits to be squeezed from the masses will run dry. Meanwhile the New York Times ran a piece more favorable of the vocal minority, believing that if you tell a story and make stuff up no matter how little sense it makes, it can come true! They initially headed it with a photo of the 1st Ave bike lane "protest", of which this man was one of three protestors. Big Props to Team Spider for this awesome footage.