Pixiq

“There are too many of us.” And now we can prove it.

What I would really like to know, with regards this video and others on this blog, is what happened to the cops? These guys shouldn’t be policeman. If they’re paying out and accepting that the officers are breaking the law that they are supposed to be upholding, they should be losing their jobs. Is this not happening?
Gary Denness´s last blog ..Insurgentesathon

Gary,

No, it is not happening in most cases. Every once in a while they are forced to resign.

The backstory to this is that Critical Mass is a loose organization of – for lack of a better term – of radical bicyclists. They feel the city belongs to bicycles and pedestrians to the exclusion of motor vehicles. They have once a month protest rides that have included blocking traffic, disobeying signals and traffic laws, etc.

Although there is no proof we can surmise that the NYPD was given the “green light” from the mayor’s office to shut them down using whatever means necessary. As we can see on the tapes the NYPD is not restraining itself.

As far as I know only one officer was fired for deliberately throwing a rider off his bike – he was a rookie cop still on probation so I guess he became the “sacrificial lamb”. I don’t think the tactics changed – what probably filtered down to the rank and file cops is – don’t make it so obvious next time, which explains their anger at photographers.

Do I agree with Critical Mass and its goals – absolutely not (I love my car). But NYPD is using strong arm tactics which are not doing anyone any good!
NYCPhotorights´s last blog ..NYPD Pays $138,000 For Abusing Photographers

the nasty pigs should pay the fines!

That rather sucks. By the way, love your blog, but….would be great if you had a notifications check box with your comments so I can get an email letting me know there are more comments on a post I’ve commented on. Really helps the conversations, and definitely encourages more comments I reckon. From me it does anyway.

Alternatively, if I’m missing something, and the feature is already there…let me know where it is!
Gary Denness´s last blog ..Insurgentesathon

I thought I had it installed. If not, I’ll get it placed back in.

The cops need to be dealt with, something other than internal affairs. I never felt comfortable with the idea of the police policing themselves. Perhaps a proper civilian review panel for police complaints, one that actually has real disciplinary power rather than one like the Miami Dade County Independent Review Panel which can only “suggest” disciplinary actions. Then again, with the PBA being as strong as it is any “real” disciplinary action aside from getting a cop transferred is just a pipe dream…
The Straw Buyer´s last blog ..So how does that "amended discovery" we discussed affect the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case?

Yeah, I haven’t got a notify email since December it looks like. I thought you took it out on purpose.
Michaelk42´s last blog ..Better a Bike Pirate

Vinnie the filth says, “show me yo ID,” fuck off Vinnie, go eat a meatball. Sometimes I think just keeping your mouth shut and keep taking photographs works best. I wonder if the cyclist pissed the filth off earlier on when they got their bike back, nothing like a member of the filth with a grudge. That guy more than likely wasn’t even put on a paid holiday (administrative leave), but was back out the next day doing his mafia best to ruin someones day. He should be made to clean the porta potties at a senior citizens golf tournament.
Jody´s last blog ..Woman convicted of selling fish to minor

That’s a really simplified summation of CM, and not entirely accurate. “We Are Traffic” is about being recognized as traffic as motor vehicles are and not something in the way of “real” traffic.

Critical Mass as protest does have its questionable bits. But no, only a very tiny number of participants want to “get rid of cars.”

But I’ve said a lot about Critical Mass
http://iminurfortkillingurdudes.blogspot.com/2008/06/critical-mass.html

and Courteous Mass
http://iminurfortkillingurdudes.blogspot.com/2009/04/courteous-mass-anyo...

before.
Michaelk42´s last blog ..Better a Bike Pirate

The city actually is paying out close to $72,000 in this case according to http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/city-settles-with-pair-arre...
The $40,000 is what the victims received.

I’ve always said if this were to happen to me, to take the money and make mandatory training part of the curriculum for new officers and old ones.

Bravo! I’m super happy that the city has recognized that the cops did fucked up things. @Michaelk42 got it right. It’s mostly regular folks who like to ride. I tend to doubt NYPD will change their policy, however, especially with the recent court ruling that says a permit is needed for rides with 50 or more.

I live about six blocks from the incident Carlos reported on, and heard about it later that night from friends who were able to ride that month. I used to ride CM in NYC regularly, when I was a younger punk and the potential for an arrest on my record didn’t matter as much.

If you’ve followed NYC CM the last half decade, you know the story: NYPD was pretty much cool with the rides, almost supportive-helping cork intersections etc., right up until RNC in 2004. That’s when things turned ugly… ever since, cops turn up in full kit: helicopters, scooters, obvious undercovers on bikes, black SUVs, paddy wagons, flatbed trucks for hauling seized bikes, and TARU “intelligence” cops with their own damn camcorders.

I have shown up for rides to videotape cop harrassment, post ’04 – never got hassled, but never got much in the way of riot porn. What footage I got (arrests) went to Eileen at I-Witness Video and Indymedia NYC. Since RNC, the rides split up into several groups, so it’s gotten a lot harder to be where the action is. There was a texting system to help with that (which the cops probably monitor), but not many take the time to stop pedaling to text.

On a summer or fall ride, there would be as many as 500 cyclists, sometimes more, especially the Halloween rides. Man, those were just fuckin’ awesome, many riders showing up in outrageously cool costumes. Imagine Sixth Avenue with a flood of hundreds of cyclists, curb to curb, ten or more blocks long, all in costume, cruising up to Central Park. Just about the best experience one could have cycling in the city. Tourists and locals alike would turn and gawk, sometimes videotape, always cheering, some asking WTF it was about. We’re traffic, too, baby.

And to those who say, “B-b-but Critical Mass blocks emergency vehicals..” I say bullshit. The one and only time an ambulance came up behind a ride I was on, in ’03 or ’04, the pack just split wide open and let it through.

No problems. Not until the fucking cops got their panties in a twist.

How about watching big brother is about unemployment. We need more photos of the jobless:

http://americaspeaksink.com/2010/04/unemployment-priorities-of-a-nation/

“Another NYPD crackdown against cyclists. Another false arrest of videographers. Another video. And another hefty settlement.” eh…

Thank God the Secret Police got that rascal off the streets.

Fundamental to the problem is that citizens surveilling the police is still remarkable. One solution is to make citizen surveillance of the police so widespread that it isn’t remarkable.

Go ahead “Johnny Law”.. I’m waiting for your
non-biased (NOT) reply to this one!!

Rail Car Fan

Having Internal Affairs or a Police Review Board look into these cases is pointless. Have any of these officers been sued individually in a civil case? Suing the City in a Joint Action just means that if sucessful, the plaintiff will get paid by the City…thereby letting the cop completely off the hook. What if the cops were sued solely, not jointly with the City?

Same old shit just a different cop.
mepsipax´s last blog ..Ha bitches

The problem is that in these cases the city government at the highest levels gave tacit approval to the cops to engage in these tactics. This is what needs to be exposed via these lawsuits

The cop should pay the $40,000 and not the taxpayers.

Johnny Law has retired from blogging I think.

Michael,

I’m not sure I agree with your “very tiny number of participants” qualifier. From what I’ve heard from a Cali Critical Mass participant, the aim of their ride (according to him, granted) was to essentially “take over the streets for a day” in the hopes of “forcing people to not drive, at least on that day”. While he’s just one man, he’s very politically active (Green Party), and claims to be heavily networked into activities like that.

From what I’ve heard from ‘victims’ of CM, whatever the intent, the effect jibes with the first guy’s stated goals: to disrupt traffic, and effectively impose a speed limit upon the rest of traffic that is well under posted limits in most cases, if not actually creating traffic jams and slowing things further. Actions such as described above are not the way to win respect and sympathy from non-bicycling drivers.

I’ll note that the above information refers, to the best of my memory, only to city-type environments and large groups, not smaller groups such as yours. Still, I’ve had occasion to be irate at tiny groups who insisted that I drive at their leisurely speed, rather than the posted 30-to-40 MPH, because they insisted on riding abreast rather than single file, and creating a situation where I could not safely pass them. If bicyclists want me to share the road sympathetically with them, they had better return the favor.

I’ve had a pretty dim view of CM ever since one of their members called me at home to harassed me for a letter to the editor I had published in the Chicago Tribune in which I called out cyclists who failed to obey stop signs.

The LTE had nothing to do with CM specifically, and wasn’t in anyway anti-bicycle, but apparently at least some CM members think they’re above the rules of the road.

That said, obviously, I’m with on their side when it comes to CM vs. the NYPD.
akagoldfish´s last blog ..(Untitled)

*I’m with then it comes to CM vs. the NYPD.
akagoldfish´s last blog ..(Untitled)