Trike found!!

[elements.livejournal.com]

Thanks to this community (in particular boblothrope), I have my trike back! (Well, Mike from DPW will be bringing it over tomorrow, once I can get new locks.)

What happened is that someone complained to DPW either that it was "abandoned" or a nuisance. This is a bit of a surprise to me because apart from several days of pouring rain I'd been using it regularly, and the sidewalk is quite wide there, and I'd locked it there all last summer til mid-December and again since late March. I'd have hoped someone might have tried to leave a note on the bike that they minded rather than just calling DPW, but whatever.

But anyway, if someone complains, and a bike is locked to a street sign or anything at all other than an official bike rack, the DPW takes it away. Normally they tell people who file police reports of this type to check with the DPW but with me they didn't. So, DSLJ to the rescue! Thank you so much to boblothrope for your comment on my original post suggesting this, and to grimlocke for seconding the idea.

Now I've just got to figure out where on earth to keep it once I reclaim it. There's one "official" lock on the block, but it's got one leg out of the sidewalk, and looks like it could be defeated with a good wrench on its bolts even apart from that. Sign me up as someone who wants more publicly accessible secure bike parking!

Also, major props to Jesse at Somerville 311, who solved the case in almost no time at all. DPW and the police may not coordinate as much as I'd like, but 311 is on the ball.

Thank you again so much to everyone who offered to help, signal boosted, or had ideas.

Comments

[aquaflame16.livejournal.com]

yay! so glad there was a good ending to this :)

Have you checked by the old PHCS for bike racks?
Not as close but might work for a few months at least . . .

The lack of bike parking accommodations at rental properties is so frustrating!

[elements.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm going to look around. I liked the place I had it cos I could see it from my window, but a legit place the city will support it staying is better.

I wish there were public bike cages like the ones at Alewife in other areas, like neighborhoods. And then if they had security cameras, I would totally pay for the option of a reserved berth there.

[ron_newman]

What they're supposed to do, according to the 311 form, is wait 5 days to see if the bike is still there before removing it. That way they can be more sure that it is actually abandoned.

The form says "Bikes will wait 5 days for removal and will be checked randomly to be sure they aren't being left continuously in one place by a worker or a student."

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

The form says "Bikes will wait 5 days for removal and will be checked randomly to be sure they aren't being left continuously in one place by a worker or a student."

This is very disturbing if this isn't being done. Worth a call to Curtatone's office, or Rebekah Gewirtz?

[elements.livejournal.com]

I'll talk with the DPW guy when he brings the bike to me to learn more about what actually happened, what procedure was gone through.

The immediate 5 days preceding its removal were the days of nonstop rain, so while I checked on the bike, I wasn't riding it. So technically I can't fault them there. Also I *think* that the protocol does not apply if a bike is locked to something it is not technically supposed to be, so it being locked to a street sign would be different than being locked to a rack for 5 days.

[ron_newman]

As far as I know, a bike can be locked to anything (street sign, meter, railing, etc) as long as it doesn't block pedestrian passage. I've called 311 to get bikes removed occasionally, but they were obviously abandoned for weeks and heavily vandalized.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

I've always understood it as it's illegal but tolerated to lock a bike up to signs and the such, but always frowned upon for locking them overnight

[ron_newman]

I found the official bicycle parking rules here:

Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking

Bicycles may only be parked on a public way as hereinafter provided. Bicycles may be
secured to existing public appurtenances, such as light poles, street signs, and parking meters.
Where available, bicycles should be secured at bicycle parking facilities. Bicycles may not be
secured to public shade trees or to other street furniture, such as benches or trash receptacles.
Bicycles not secured properly are subject to impoundment at the discretion of the Chief of
Police. Bicycles properly secured which have not been moved in fifteen days may also be
impounded. Bicycles secured in violation of this provision shall be subject to a penalty of fifteen
dollars and/or impoundment.

Re: Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking

[elements.livejournal.com]

Huh. Well in that case, IMHO I was not in violation:

* I absolutely had used the bike within the 15 days prior to its removal. True I didn't use it during the week of constant rain immediately beforehand, but that wasn't *15* days of rain. I don't keep track of all the times I ride anymore, but I know I biked to the Capitol to see Thor on Thursday the 12th, and I probably used it that weekend before the rains started.

* The sidewalk on Broadway there is double wide, and my bike definitely never extended farther into the sidewalk than the mailbox just down the block does. There are cutouts for trees that extend farther than my bike does.

* Yes, there is technically a single loop bike lock in front of the Family Practice, but it wiggles like a very loose tooth and is in no condition, until it's fixed, to be considered bike parking facilities. I also didn't think it would be fair for me to monopolize that loop rack that's clearly there for the doctors' office. The street sign I used was in front of the unbroken brick side of their building, and not in front of a house even - I tried to pick the very lease inconveniencing spot.

I'm gonna have to ask the DPW guy for clarification when I get the bike Tuesday. I think the claim in the complaint must have been abandonment, but anyone who lives in this little stretch of B'way should have seen the bike come and go or at least be absent at least once over the past year, only 3 winter months of which it was regularly kept anywhere other than this sign. I have biked for overnights at friends' places so it would have been gone for 24-hour periods occasionally. Heck, I was out of town for two weeks last summer and had no trouble with it being in the one spot either. Not using it for a few miserably cold and rainy days shouldn't constitute abandonment.

I wonder if they expect the bike to rotate its parking arrangements every 15 or fewer days. Otherwise how are they to be sure that it's not being moved? It was being moved and used, but I can't bike for 24 hours straight just so I can be sure it'll be noticed to be elsewhere. I'm going to make sure I do rotate any street parking I do in future regardless of what the DPW assumes though. Or LOL maybe I could reverse which direction I aim it every couple days.

Re: Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

I wonder if they expect the bike to rotate its parking arrangements every 15 or fewer days

Cars are supposed to move parking spots every 2 days, lest they be considered abandoned. Having to move your bike parking spot every 15 days is luxury by comparison! :)

Re: Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking

[elements.livejournal.com]

Do cars get regularly towed for this? Most of the people I know who street park and don't use their cars daily just switch parking spaces once a week for street sweeping. And when people who street park go on vacation, they get friends to move their car for street sweeping (or snow emergencies) but not to swap parking every 2 days.

Not that I object about needing to rotate every 15 days. I just wish I'd known that going out and then coming back to the same spot wouldn't count as moving the bike.

Re: Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that they don't get regularly towed, but it happens when they're covered by snow, or there's a complaint. So, like your situation, "fine unless someone (including feuding neighbor) reports you, and then you should have known all along." :-\

My vague recollection is that there was an alderman-led popular support attempt to change this a number of years ago, but the police were very strongly against getting rid of the policy, and the parking office decided to not change it.

(I don't mean to sound unsympathetic to your bicycle being temporarily stolen! I think this whole set of rules is unreasonable and the "enforced only when someone else is mad" is crazy.)

Re: Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking

[elements.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I definitely didn't take it as being unsympathetic. I'm just trying to get a sense of what happens to analogous cars. I wonder for example if they are towed without warning or if there is a ticket first (akin to the stickering system I'm hoping to push for).

And also because my housemate often parks right in front of our house, mainly because nobody else would want that space as much as she does (the other building tenants have driveway use), and sometimes we leave and come back and it's the only nearby spot. I guess that as long as she's moving for street sweeping once a week she's safe, but I'm curious now whether technically she could be at risk of neighborly retaliation or who knows what just for returning to the same spot.

Re: Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking

[xuth.livejournal.com]

First off, Yay on you getting your trike back.

Second you should petition the city for the cost of replacing the lock(s) that they cut off in violation of city ordinances.

Finally, you should definitely complain to your alderman and the mayor about the fact that it was impounded improperly.

Re: Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking

[on-reserve.livejournal.com]

I was just about to say that you should request reimbursement/replacement for the locks that they destroyed in violation of city ordinance.

Re: Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking - Update

[elements.livejournal.com]

I should update a bit:

I got the bike back from Mike at the DPW. He was super nice. I asked him why it had been taken, and he didn't know. He said that it's not allowed to lock bikes to street signs. He said that you can only lock bikes to signs and meters that specifically have the circular bike lock thingie built into them. I asked if someone would have had to have complained for the bike to have been taken, and he thought yes. He said "it could have been an old lady who was upset because she couldn't get out of her car where she wanted to" (because the bike, while it absolutely did not remotely block the sidewalk, did make a short stretch of curb inaccessible if someone didn't have the foresight to let out a passenger before parking. Before I left, he said I should "be careful where you park." He also mentioned the abandonment possibility, but he thought it was 5 days.

I got the strong sense that it's Mike's belief, and that of the DPW as a whole, that bikes are not allowed to be locked to signs, period, and that when they get a complaint, they remove. He said something about the DPW getting the orders from city hall, and that then they go out and remove the bike. My theory is that maybe they assume that any necessary due diligence on whether the bike is in fact in violation of anything is done by city hall, and that maybe city hall is thinking the DPW is doing the due diligence.

Meanwhile, I had also made a phonecall and left a voicemail with Officer Barnard, in charge of evidence at the police and therefore keeper of bikes suspected of being stolen. He left me a return voicemail in which he said that I should try the DPW to see if they had cut the locks and removed it, because "you're not supposed to leave bikes chained to poles, and sometimes they'll do that". He thought maybe the Memorial Day parade upcoming might have had something to do with it, but my bike was not on the parade route.

So here we have both the DPW and the police who seem to believe that you can't lock a bike to a street sign. Then we have the ordinance, and 311 (including whoever was manning their twitter a few days ago who confirmed the ordinance to me) saying that indeed it is allowed. Also a friend called 311 and asked hypothetically, and was told the same thing I have been. 311, again, is the place with the info, and the correct into. The 311 operator my friend spoke to confirmed that the abandonment bit is at 15 days.

On the issue of potential abandonment, and how that is determined, if anyone had been doing due diligence on my bike, they would have seen it in regular use, generally a few hours at a time, up until the streak of heavily rainy cold days immediately before it was removed. If the city had a system, such as a sticker they could place on a potentially abandoned bike, that someone could then call a number to say, no, that's mine and I use it regularly, that would completely solve this problem.

In the meantime, I am out about $100 that I really can't afford right now to replace the locks. We have the DPW bike impoundment crew and the Police bike evidence crew who don't appear to be able to share any kind of centralized database or talk regularly or have a solid system for ensuring that at minimum an affected citizen can be told right away that they need to check at both places completely independently. And we have branches of city government that end up enforcing rules by impounding bikes while apparently not being up on the actual current relevant ordinance.

Again I want to note that everyone I dealt with was very nice to me, and seemed quite competent. I just don't think they've been given guidelines to enforce that match the actual rules.

Re: Section 13-8 Bicycle Parking - Update

[elements.livejournal.com]

Currently, I am avoiding the particular street sign where the bike was taken, and rotating between the other 3 nearby signs, none of which is as ideal in terms of placement least likely to inconvenience anyone. I'm looking into some sort of weatherproof tag I could put on my locks begging the DPW to call me before cutting them if the bike is ever reported abandoned again.

Beyond the lack of communication within the city, the thing I'm upset about is that it seems that right now, anyone with a grudge or a misunderstanding of the ordinance can report a bike and cause that bike to be impounded, locks ruined, without any real review or recourse. We have a suspicion that a neighbor we've had to call the cops on for loud week-night early morning partying a few times (after being unable to get them to even answer their door w/o cop intervention) may have done this as retaliation. The fact that this is an option even possible to consider is insane.

Bottom line: I should be able to trust that I can leave my bike legally parked and still find it there, with my locks intact, so long as it hasn't been abandoned. And abandonment needs to be something that is thoroughly checked into, ideally through stickering any bike suspected of being abandoned. Sticker me on day 1, and if by day 15 I haven't noticed, *then* maybe you have cause to impound.

I am OK with the idea that I should need to rotate parking spots. I am absolutely willing to make sure I am never parked in the same spot for more than 15 days in a row (right now I'm switching every couple days). But if that's the rule, then the ordinance needs to reflect that. The current wording makes it seem that if you're using your bike, it will be observed often enough that someone will see that.

Also, in my specific case, I just have to vent and say that, really, who abandons a bike that they have carefully locked with 2 separate u-locks and also 2 cables through the wheels? Does that look like abandoned to anyone? Really?

OK, enough venting for now. I promised Ron to add this update so he can put this issue on the bike commission agenda.

[ron_newman]

Can DPW tell you who made the complaint, so you can talk to that person and assure him/her that the bike is yours and not abandoned?

[elements.livejournal.com]

I don't know if that would be legit - I know I wouldn't want the city telling someone if I felt I had to make a complaint about them.

I am going to go talk to the Family Practice, and see if it might have been them, and if so whether they'd be willing to negotiate me using the official lock that's more directly in front of their office once the city repairs it.

Some of my Facebook friends have suggested it could be the neighbors we don't get on with, but I honestly don't see them being this petty.

[trtls.livejournal.com]

Yay!!! I'm so glad this had a (mostly) happy ending. (I lurked around your story before, having nothing of interest to add.) It does suck they removed your bike without waiting very long though.

I love 311! I think we are so lucky to live somewhere that you can contact city hall so easily. I have called them on several occasions with instant or at least quick response.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Thanks for paying attention, even if you didn't have anything to add!

I'm seriously happy with 311. Not only did he solve things fast, we've had a follow-up discussion on Facebook. I was able to get the work order for the official rack on the block to be repaired by sending a Facebook message!

whew!

[dahdahdahdancer.livejournal.com]

I'm so happy to hear this! Today I found myself inputting "trike" into the Craigslist search box to see if it would come up....

Re: whew!

[elements.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It really made this whole thing so much easier knowing I had a whole community pulling for me.

Re: whew!

[kpht.livejournal.com]

I was pulling for you! I lost my vintage Schwinn town and country trike to theft last summer and I'm forever sad.

Re: whew!

[elements.livejournal.com]

Damn, that sucks. Now that I know how it feels, I can truly say I empathize. Sorry that happened to you!

[gingicat]

So glad you have it back! Hopefully the DPW guy will have some good suggestions as to where to keep it. Good luck!

[elements.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yeah, I am going to be asking him for more info and to be sure I am 100% clear on where is and isn't kosher.

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

Yay! So glad it's found. I wish you much luck finding a place to lock it that works for you.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

So glad you found it! If you write a "Dear Neighbor" note to the person who reported the bike as 'abandoned', perhaps the DPW will pass it on to them?

[darxus.livejournal.com]

"...and looks like it could be defeated with a good wrench on its bolts..."

So take it apart, and put it back together with permanent (red) loctite?

"It is only removable once cured by heating up parts to 500°F (260°C)."