Hello, again.

Apparently, someone called the police regarding my email and an officer came to the library spoke with me. I wish he hadn’t.

The long and short of it: no one has authority to remove that abandoned bike.

When I noted that this was not how things unfolded in the case of past abandoned bikes at this same spot, the officer said he couldn’t account for past behavior. Where have I heard that before?

When I suggested that this bike could be there for a year, he shrugged his shoulders. He suggested I use other available racks.

Sure. Of course. Who does he think he’s talking to? A moron? I would hate to find myself in the company of this officer in a situation that required some fresh thinking.

That’s three for three in being of no help whatsoever in the field of common sense. Do police departments have common sense?

He kept citing the vehicle code and how it doesn’t apply to this situation. So we’re where, exactly, with this situation? In never-never land? Somehow, this cyclist has found a loophole in time that allows the abandoning of a vehicle — according to the CVC, bicycles are vehicles — with impunity, as long as it is locked … and not a motor vehicle. Those, apparently, can be towed, locked or not.

And that’s how it was with bicycles at this spot. But nothing had changed, I’ve been told.

As I said, I wish this officer had not made the trip if this was all he had to say.

I’m sorry to say that this strikes me patent bullshit, and official patent bullshit to top it off. What a ridiculous, infantile policy. If it is a policy and not just a convenient way to fob off people like me. What a waste of time.

DB

On Sat, Jun 25, 2022 at 3:15 PM David Boyce > wrote:
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.