Critical Mass Panic

Spring is here! Of course I can not yet divorce my perspective from my privilege as a white, educated, cis-male from this experience, but I hope these sincere words fall upon open ears & hearts. My apologies if anyone is offended. There are many complex nuances to be processed. WATCH! Livestream of events leading up to what might be considered a police riot http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21181713 Myself and 17 others were inexplicably released with our charges dropped at 3 am on Monday. Dozens of others remain in custody and are only just now seeing a judge, including people seriously injured who were denied medical attention and placed in solitary and/or highly abusive conditions for much of our 27+ hours of detainment in the "justice" system. Please do what you can to offer support in jails, courts, and show solidarity in the streets and your communities. LOVE TO ALL MY BEAUTIFUL BROTHERS AND SISTERS. Down with Bloomberg & Kelly! Demolish the prisons! All out May Da...

R.I.P. Mathieu. And too many others. NYPD fall guys, claiming they don't have the resources to enforce traffic laws/ Susan Petito, Assistant Commissioner (to absent Ray Kelly) reaches down to snatch your civil rights with legal mumbo-jumbo and take away any chance at justice through sheer incompetence! February 2012 Critical Mass NYC: 13 NYPD motor vehicles, 5 cyclists. Police were present for two hours at a minimum, did not give chase to the cyclist horde. Number of foreign tourists who came to check out Critical Mass: 3. WELCOME TO NEW YORK!

Okay, so I am finally posting. I was having trouble expressing myself on in 140-or-less on my Twitter account (@critmasspanic). Also my pathetic plea to my facebook "friends" to accompany an "invite" for "F*ck Ur Cliques & Ur Scenes - Lets ride!" (Critical Mass, obviously) just was not coming together right. Lastly, I promised myself I would at least drop a mass e-mail to let folks know the cool shit going down. Or potentially going down, with a little participation in creating the world we want to see, from you, dear readers. So without further ado, a brief rant, and some suggested events you might attend. The NYPD have been in the hot seat a lot lately, especially following last week's city council hearing on the utter failure to hold anyone accountable for traffic "accidents." I tried (but mostly failed) to speak eloquently on the record about the utter waste of resources, the (further) corruption of police culture, and the failure o...

...to update this blog. I hope you voted using my fancy new widget at the top of the page. It is some hot fresh, free code courtesy Google and Princeton which will no doubt further aid in our quest to #OCCUPY our future. If you are curious about what the hell I have been up to I would reccommend getting out of the stone ages and getting on twitter, or at least google @critmasspanic to see what I have been up to. My youtube channel has gotten a few uploads and hella views as I #OccupySanJose... There is so much I want to tell you, dear internet: about my creative desperation while working with my father at the start of the year, or about how awesome bike month was in NYC, the WORLD NAKED BIKE RIDE in NYC (wnbrnyc.tumblr.com), or about how that shit got postponed, then pwned by NYPD, but we fuckin outlasted them until they had to give us permission to run the red lights. Or about how nuclear radiation is killing us all more quickly now, despite Time's Up!'s massive banners. I...

It is my solemn duty and honor to inform you that this Friday is the last Friday of the month of March, which makes it Critical Mass around the world. 7pm Union Square North. "Why would I want to do a bike ride that is guaranteed to be harassed by the NYPD?" You might be thinking...well, the truth is that now is the time to revive NYC CM because cyclists are, after many years of battling for the right to ride safely, we are finally WINNING! Ray Kelly and the NYPD have taken their bicycle bias a bit too far, publicly demonstrating their utter incompetence. They are now on the defensive ... The Haters of safer streets like Prospect Park West have been called out by the cycling clowns at Time's Up, shaming them only slightly more than they had already publicly shamed themselves... And the heavy-weight, washed-up politicians are running scared from the image their inside dealings has wrought... Ride Solidarity! with the cyclists of Porto Alegre ... AND MOST IMPORTANTLY... ...

You often hear disparaging remarks about Critical Mass, and indeed, NYC CM is pretty dead these days. Between the 5+ years of police repression of the ride on the last Friday of the month, the current NYPD "crackdown", and the icy, slushy, filthy, freezy streets, its no wonder you get more bodies showing up for a WNBR meeting than cyclists for a CM! But Critical Mass is not dead! If you have been paying any attention this week, you have witnessed its power. Egyptians of all walks of life have gathered together for days and days in public space, self-organized as equals to get a message out and build empowered community. Admittedly, it is not "Down with Cars!", but rather "Down with Mubarak!" Able to hold the space through the sheer power of their numbers alone, participants of this critical mass have begun to pay dearly with life, limb and liberty. I hope you all will join me in standing, sitting, walking, talking, and riding in solidarity with the people...

Friday, January 28th 7pm Union Square North Bikes or not here we come. Cyclists, pedestrians and others demanding safer streets and freedom in public spaces will gather with love, creativity, resolve and solidarity. We will beat back the hate and ignorance behind the backlash, beat back the automobile and corporate interests, we will speak to the NYPD with our words and with our actions. We will show how safe we can ride, and how the streets will be in the future! We will reveal "Operation Safe Cycle" for what it is: a farce. Don't let fear keep you from having community. Don't let fear silence the vote of your presence. I challenge to NYPD to ride bikes. Why are they afraid? I challenge City Council Members, Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes, and Borough Presidents to show up to Union Square North this Friday at 7pm. I challenge those who fear, those who believe the lies, those who have slandered us, those who are tools of the corporate media to be there, to see the tr...

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...

This was an e-mail passed to me by a friend. FYI. Be sure to educate your safe-riding selves. The New York City Police Department is putting an emphasis on enforcement against bicycle riders who violate the New York State Vehicle Traffic Law (ie. redlight, riding outside the bike lane, etc.). It is anticipated that this will result in enforcement activity being taken against those who operate their bicycles in an illegal manner. If you could please pass the word along to your friends and co bike riders. P.O. Mitchell Kirshy Community Affairs 78 Precicnt 65 6th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11217 Office: 718-636-6410 Fax : 718-636-6403 AND WHY IS HALLOWEEN ONLY ONCE A YEAR DARN IT?

Do I really need to point out the irony of Shitty Council Member David Greenfield's comments at the joke of the hearing on bikes last month? He almost makes sense at some point in this video when he says he "wants the world to see what is happening...[all of his] constituents are running out of oil!" Try to tune out the rest or you might start to get confused.

Gotta give Bicycles Only a big shout out for his excellent video response to the bike-haters "snow" arguments. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bicyclesonly/5300972050/ Take back the media! We will do the reporting of the truth that needs to happen even if the corporate media continues to pander to automotive advertising dollars!

Now it is personal. In October, I posted about some of the efforts made by the James Caldwell, the 77th NYPD Precinct and the cycling community here in Brooklyn in the wake of Jasmine Herron's death. I have not put too much info out here as these various efforts take shape, as it is not really within the scope or tone of this joke of a blog. However, at the moment circumstances have occurred which illustrate the nature of the battle pedestrians and cyclists are fighting here on the streets of New York City. So I am touching on this politically sensitive matter. Last night, a close personal friend of mine was hit by a reckless, speeding cab while on his bicycle. His account, with [my edits and clarifications] in brackets... So... Due to circumstances, I rode out in the middle of the night, ... left around 1 AM, making my way [on] Bedford heading south. I heard/saw a car heading east on St. Marks Ave, so I stopped in the [crosswalk] and waited. A taxi rounded the corner really sharp...

Critical Mass is Dead! Long Live Critical Mass!

WNBR NYC 6/11/11 Celebrate the future together! FREE of Oil/Autos/clothes

I hope the machines don't bust me for stealing their music. But not as much as I hope I have got you hooked. The coming footage will be only very lightly edited, so bear with it, keep an open mind, and try to believe your eyes.

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 ...

Can we kick our helmet addiction? Only once we give up fear.

Now I know I promised a deluge of video this week, but first, in an effort to organize my life and out myself as an incompetent human being, I am going through and putting up many half-assed, un-edited, ranting blog posts. Not unlike this one. Anyhow, if anyone cares, you might find some nuggets of wisdom, just as infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters could create the entirety of our corporate/legal/bureaucracy which we now live in. But really the only thing that this proves is that I love the sound of my fingers typing a tirade as much as I love the sound of my voice (proven by the forthcoming video). Speaking of said video, if you watched the teasers, you are probably asking yourself "how did I get tricked into wasting another 30 seconds of my life in front of a screen?" Well I assure you it is time well spent. Too often we've seen NYC Critical Mass either edited into music videos or cop-watch footage. Mainstream media typically only shows at the start and asks som...

THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED A WHILE AGO Now I am sure NOBODY really wants to be able to travel for whatever reason from Brooklyn to Staten Island via bicycle, but maybe in the future someone will. With this possibility in mind a group of rogue riders took to the streets of Bay Ridge the night before the NYC marathon to test the waters. Or rather, the gargantuan bridge above them. The city closes the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge to motor vehicle traffic the night before at the behest of the bank which sponsors the marathon. A small contingent of rad cyclists decided to take advantage of the situation and go where we usually are PROHIBITED. Maybe Transportation Alternatives can get a permit for next year. This year we got as far as the first pylon on the Brooklyn side with no trouble. It was a nice view. The rogue contingent afterwords drank copious amounts at local bars and took in some pizza on the way back north.

I am waiting for someone to come along and tell me that, "No, we are not yet slaves to machines" but I want them to bring proof as all I see seems to indicate otherwise.