Hello.

I’m a regular patron of the city library, and someone who travels exclusively by bicycle. Bike racks are a point of interest for me, in particular the rack at the library.

In general, cyclists are respectful of the 8 or 10 spaces out there, but occasionally a bike is abandoned. In general, the tires are flat, it’s poorly equipped and has usually has seen better days.

There’s a bike like that out there now. It’s been there for 6 weeks, I’d say. At least three weeks ago, I contacted two code enforcement officers by email, asking them to please go through their usual routine to have the bike removed.

In the past — I’ve gone through this successfully several times — tags have shown up on the bike alerting the owner to its imminent removal. And then it’s gone … within two weeks.

No longer. This bike is still there. No tags, no response to my emails, and obfuscation from the police staff who I’ve talked with now on two Saturdays (I believe) at the front door/desk.

They tell me the police can’t do anything without “due process.” And they can’t tell me what that due process is or how long it’s going to take. I come away from these encounters with the impression that the department’s hands are tied, that the police have no options at all.

This is an abandoned bicycle! Police have these in storage for later auction, do they not?

What’s even more irritating is that all this has been done on my own initiative. I received not one response to my emails, and I’m told I will not receive one. It’s as if I wrote into a vacuum. Except that your reps know exactly what I’m talking about and still throw up the department’s collective hands.

When I recount how things used to work, it doesn’t register. When I ask what’s changed, I’m told nothing has changed.

Something has changed! Is the “serve” part of the PD’s mission still extant???

Dave Boyce
Cambridge Ave.