Bike Amici Blog -- bikeamici.org

busted on a sidewalk, response to Mark

2008-08-28T18:49:00.002-05:00

Hi Mark. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Bike Amici is pretty inactive right now, and the lawyer who helped us has moved away to another state. We miss him. But, I could send him your story (with permission) and ask if he knows anyone locally who might be able to help, if you feel that would be good. Let me know if you'd like me to do so.

I personally have not heard of this kind of thing, but that doesn't mean it hasn't happened.

I have four thoughts:
1. There is an active site called Minneapolis Bike Love and there you might find more information. mplsbikelove.com
2. You should probably talk to Gene at one on one about this, if you haven't already.
3. Maybe this is pre-RNC jitters.
4. Have you considered contesting the ticket? A friend of mine says that any time you contest a traffic ticket (for car, anyway) they cut the charge in half. I don't know if that's true, but why not try?

Good luck!

reminder

2008-07-20T16:51:00.000-05:00

The Court of Appeals oral arguments in the case of State of
Minnesota v. Stephan R. Orsak (who biked at the airport) are coming up:
July 23, 11:35 am -12:10 in Room 200 of the Minnesota Judicial Center:
25 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., near the Capitol.

This is open to the public. Please, no signs or banners.
Observers must sit quietly without food, drink, gum, or hats on heads.
I hope to see you there!

Sidewalks in Business Districts

2008-06-22T10:39:00.002-05:00

Here's the question:
It's not ok to ride on sidewalks in a "business district"
But what defines a business district?

One experienced cyclist claims that means "downtown".

But recently I heard from another authoritative source that it means this:
if there are more businesses than residences on a block, that's a business district.

A lot of experienced cyclists will avoid sidewalks anyway.
If you want to go 20 mph, you should too.

But if you're a beginning cyclist and/or unsure of yourself and going slowly,
I think it's ok to be on the sidewalks sometimes.
Just slow WAAAY down at intersections, take time to look ALL ways,
and please don't terrify the pedestrians. Get off your bike and walk past them, if necessary.

By the way, there are people out there who teach how to bicycle in traffic.
The League of American Bicyclists maintains a list of Minnesota instructors:bikeleague.org
(The link will take you away from this blog.)

Have fun and stay safe!

Smart Trips, Power Trips

2008-06-20T23:02:00.004-05:00

Hey, there's a (sort of) new organization in town, called Smart Trips.
www.smart-trips.org (don't forget the dash between smart and trips.)

It's the result of a merger between the St Paul and Midway TMOs.

Smart Trips is concentrating its efforts on residents in the Summit-University area right now,
trying to help people explore transit options, encouraging bicycling, busing, car pooling, that sort of thing. They also "offer employers consulting services to identify, develop, and support a variety of employee transportation options."

Check it out in your spare time!

And while we're talking about trips,
how about those power trips?

Not the big-head kind,
no, I'm talking about trips where you power yourself to your destination.
Think about it.
There used to be "riding" a horse.
Then there was "motoring" but hmmm, not so attractive a term, so that became "driving" a car.
Nowadays you might hear people talk about "driving" a bicycle.
That's ok, sometimes that means following the road rules just like a car.

But I think "powering" is good.
It takes muscle power and brain power to safely operate a bicycle.
And "powering" sounds, hey, powerful.

I think I'll be powering around town tomorrow, how about you?

Finally scheduled?

2008-06-20T22:45:00.002-05:00

Word is (perhaps) oral arguments are scheduled for State of MN v. Stephan Orsak for July 23.
My, the wheels of justice are slow...

As a reminder, the airport incident happened Sept 7, 2006.
Initial trial was July 16-19, 2007. (Stephan found NOT guilty of all counts but one.)
Appeal date July 23, 2008? a little bit over one year later. (Stephan appealing the one count.)
Reportedly this is open to the public. See you there?

January 24 event

2008-01-16T23:27:00.000-06:00

People interested in Bicycle / Police interactions might like to know about an event coming up on Thursday, January 24 at the Hennepin County Government Center...10 AM. Lawyers for last August's Critical Mass arrestees (taserees? macees?) will ask the court to require the city of Minneapolis to turn over what they believe is highly relevant information.

Full details are at cmsupport.wordpress.com

You might want to go, just to watch and to be visible as a person in support. Lots of people watching might impress the court.

If you want to be there, you should go early, to get through the airport-like security, and you should know that the court does not allow signs, and that people watching must be silent. (You could maybe wear a sticker or something bicycle-y, though)

Full details are at cmsupport.wordpress.com

Maybe you've never been on a Critical Mass ride. Maybe you have conflicting opinions about Critical Mass, or just plain don't like the Mass. You can go to this event anyway. People have been arrested, and are going to be tried, and their lawyers are requesting information for their defense. The city has been refusing to give the information. Showing up would be supporting access to relevant information for a legal case. It doesn't need to mean you support the Mass itself.

That's what I think, anyway.

Full details are at cmsupport.wordpress.com

Happy year-end and New Year

2007-12-29T19:49:00.000-06:00

Well, here we are at the end of December. The amicus has been filed, and there will be no news about Stephan Orsak's case for a while...at least until the end of January. Meanwhile I'm grumpy because I'm not bicycling much. How about you?

Bike Amici is hibernating for a while. Checking into important things like accounting rules, tax status, whether or not to go non-profit, these things are on the "do it pretty soon" list. 2007 is all set and taken care of, not a problem, so I'm thinking and dreaming about 2008 and beyond.

What would you like to see Bike Amici be? I am turning comments on, as an experiment.

Happy New Year!

Deadline approaches

2007-11-18T18:09:00.000-06:00

Just a heads-up that the Bike Amici amicus needs to have its list of supporters by midnight:01 November 25. Give a holler if you'd like your name listed! Laurel at bikeamici dot org

Words from the amicus

2007-11-09T00:56:00.000-06:00

This is great.
This is my favorite paragraph.

Of the approximately three hundred million people living in America, fifty-seven million of them ride a bicycle. Despite almost one-fourth of all Americans engaging in the activity, many law enforcement officers do not understand the statutory and Terry rights of bicycle operators. Bias against bicycle operators by motorists (including law enforcement) has existed since the turn of the 19th century. Bicycle operators continually deal with bias, misunderstanding, and unfair treatment by ignorant Peace Officers. Therefore, this Court must exercise its power to explicitly extend the protections of Terry to bicycle operators, to ensure fairness and just treatment in traffic law enforcement.

The amicus is nearly finished. If you'd like to support it, either join Bike Amici or mail us a small monetary donation. Either way, send an email to info@bikeamici.org - we look forward to hearing from you, preferably by Thanksgiving.

Supporting eco-bicyclists

2007-10-15T10:17:00.000-05:00

One news article reports "riding a bicycle is the new black".
Maybe so.
It's possible that many more people are on bicycles these days,
and more will join,
because of climate crisis information we are getting,
because gas prices are too high,
and because once you get on that bike,
you realize how much fun it is.

How might Bike Amici support new and returning bicyclists?

Would bicycle education be a good focus?
How many people know, for instance, that
statistically it is more dangerous to ride on the sidewalk?
How many people know, for instance, that
yes, bicyclists are supposed to stop for stop signs,
and definitely for stoplights.

And who knows what their rights are when they are
stopped by a police officer when they are on a bike?

Ecology and Biking

2007-10-14T18:39:00.000-05:00

Most people would agree:
bicycles are OK for the environment.
It doesn't take a lot of energy to make one.
It takes human power to drive one, and if the human is a vegetarian or vegan, it's pretty close to a zero carbon emission vehicle. On the other hand, a recent study says that carnivorous people could do the world a big favor by going vegetarian: that would be better than switching your car for a Prius.
Hmmm, what about switching your car for a bicycle? I wonder...

For those of you who have given up your cars, a hearty congratulations.
For people somewhere else on the car - no car continuum, continue, please!
As for me, I enjoy bicycling more than motoring, but I do both.

Send me your story of your journey from car to bicycle and I'll post it.
We can support each other as good friends do.
Bicycle Friends
Bike Amici

I think people should always obey police. They have a hard job.

2007-09-29T11:58:00.000-05:00

It's true, police have a very difficult job. I wouldn't want it. And there are some people who are very good at it.

It's tough being a musician, too. But that's no excuse for dropping notes in a concert. People don't go to a concert and walk out saying "wow, that was really bad, but really it's hard being a musician, so it's ok that the soloist forgot where he was and dropped a bunch of notes and made the orchestra start over."

Policing is a profession and we can expect professional behavior. Can't we?

If they break their own rules, or seem to be going over the edge...

What would you do if you were walking peacefully down the sidewalk and a cop came over to you, yelled at you and said to get down on your knees?

I honestly don't know what I'd do.

I guess since there are signs up there now, the police were right, that road IS too dangerous for bicycles.

2007-09-29T11:47:00.001-05:00

Fair enough.

And yet: it was not posted at the time, unless you think that bicyclists are pedestrians. I guess some people are confused on that point. Officer W... testified that he was trained that that sign applied to bicyclists, and that bicyclists weren't allowed. It's interesting that this was his first opportunity to find out the difference between pedestrians and bicyclists. I think that speaks for the need for some education for local police viz a viz bicycles:what they are, what rights bicyclists have.

So the question really is: can an officer stop a bicyclist from bicycling on a road, a road that does not have a no-bicycles sign, a road that is legal for a bicyclist to be on, ONLY because the officer's personal opinion is that it's too dangerous? We're not talking about stopping children doing trick riding, we're not talking about bicyclists taking risks or deliberately interfering with traffic here. We're talking about bicycling according to the laws of the road, legal cycling.

What lawful order did Stephan fail to comply with?

2007-09-29T11:46:00.001-05:00

Good question. That's not specified.

It's his word against theirs. Where is the video?

2007-09-29T11:39:00.000-05:00

Good question. Where is the video? One was requested. There are a lot of security cameras at the airport. You'd think one would have caught this. Apparently not. Apparently the tape showed nothing. Well, the exact wording on Seargeant K's police report is:

I checked camera footage. Cameras number 420, 305, 54, 191 and 188, which did not show anything prior to the incident.

The words "prior to" are interesting.

Also, I don't know what those cameras point at, but Seargeant K testified in court that he was told by his officers that the incident happened in the alcove of a building. It happened on Outbound Roadway.

I read that Stephan biked away from the officers. That's fleeing an officer, that was wrong.

2007-09-29T11:36:00.000-05:00

First, Stephan had not been advised that he was under arrest. I think (correct me if I'm wrong) Minnesota law says a person who has not been informed s/he is under arrest may leave.
Second, I'm sure that "fleeing an officer" refers specifically to driving a motorized vehicle.

I think airport police should be able to stop anyone suspicious.

2007-09-29T11:31:00.000-05:00

A lot of people would agree with you.
The sworn testimony of the airport police who stopped Stephan was NOT that they suspected he was a terrorist, or wanted to check out suspicious behavior. The reason they stopped him was that they thought his bicycling on Outbound Roadway was dangerous for him and for motorists. Remember, at the time, there was no sign forbidding bicycling on Outbound Roadway. There was a "no pedestrians" sign.

Is bikeamici.org a radical anti-cop organization?

2007-09-29T11:25:00.001-05:00

No. We recognize that police officers have an important role to play in enforcing traffic violations. It would be nice if they would ticket motorists who drive into bicyclists. The recent Summit avenue case comes to mind: I believe the motorist was driving an SUV and suddenly made a right hand turn, right into an experienced bicycle commuter in a bicycle lane wearing lights. Was the motorist charged? I hope so, but I read elsewhere that there was no charge.