bicycles
The bike project is done. I’m so psyched with how the build came out and I can’t recommend Joe from 718 Cyclery highly enough. It’s clear he’s in it for the love of bikes. Joe knows his stuff and the collaborative build process was much more fun and informative than going to a big shop. A couple pics of the finished bike build:
Photos by 718 Cyclery. Photos of the the bike build in progress.
I’ve been working with Joe from 718 Cyclery on the build of a custom single speed bike. The original is an old Schwinn I got for cheap on Craigslist:
11/21. Joe disassembles the bike:
11/23. The frame is dropped off for sandblasting and powder-coating.
11/26. Going to Joe’s on Sunday to work on the build. The components are in and the frame is back from the metal finishing shop (looking sharp in a warm grey):
A year ago today I was one of several hundred cyclists arrested for riding a bicycle during the August 27th, 2004 Critical Mass in New York City. I was detained by the police for over 30 hours before being released with a desk appearance ticket. A few days after I was released, I wrote about my experience and sent it to family and friends:
… Critical Mass is a peaceful bicycle event held on the last Friday of every month in cities across the world. In NYC cyclists meet at Union Square and ride together in mass numbers throughout the city in an effort to promote riding bicycles (rather than driving cars). In the past if police were involved in the ride it was to act as escorts. However, because this past Friday’s Critical Mass fell during the Republican National Convention, there was a heavy police presence from the start…
I met up with some friends at Union Square after work. It was hard to get a good sense of how many cyclists were there because the crowd stretched all the way around the square and a farmers market took up a good part of the north side of the square. There were many police present and there was a police blimp cleverly disguised as a “FUJIFILM” blimp. Once it got underway, the ride was peaceful and positive. Many people on the sidwalks cheered us on as we rode through the city streets and then through Times Square. Everything was cool until we reached 7th ave and 34th st. 7th ave was completely blocked off by police in riot gear. The police were directing everyone to go down 34th st. Many cyclists had already turned onto 34th st but as I got near the intersection traffic slowed to a standstill.
Suddenly rows of cops in full riot gear rushed us. I turned to ride away but a cop yanked me off my bike and I stopped moving. I was handcuffed with plastic handcuffs (that are a lot tighter than I would have thought) as police threw my bike to the ground and stepped on it. I repeatedly asked if I was being arrested and what the charge was. The police refused to answer me or even make eye contact. Finally one said “disorderly conduct.”
They took us to a prearranged area with cement barricades somewhere nearby on 7th ave. There were people with the national lawyers guild who took our names and called them in to get them on record. There were also lots of indymedia people, corporate media people, and people with handheld cameras documenting the arrests. One guy who I met later was an indymedia videographer who was arrested as he was filming the arrests.
They loaded us up on a city bus with our bikes and took us to a facility on the Chelsea piers that was, as we were told, specifically for the convention week to hold protestors. While on the bus I managed to call a few people on my cell phone to tell them where I was but because I was handcuffed I couldn’t hear if they responded.
What we saw of the facility was a huge garage-type room with tons of chainlink fence pens and barbed wire. I asked an officer how long I would be held and he said “they’ll probably just hold you for a few hours and give you a ticket.” After having our pictures taken with our bikes we were put in one of the holding pens. The pen had two gates: the first led into an area where there were porta-potties, and the next gate led to the area where we were actually held. The floor was covered with dirt, gasoline and other chemicals and there were a few benches. However the pen quickly filled up as more arrests came in and it became so crowded people who wanted to lie down on the floor couldn’t lie down fully. Many people developed chemical burns on their arms and legs from trying to sleep on the floor.While in the first holding pen everyone assumed that when they called a name, the person was ticketed and then released. After about 2 hours my name was called and I filled out paperwork for the return of my property. I then saw that everyone I thought was released was actually just in other pens across the room. Ironically the only person I saw released directly from the Chelsea piers facility was a guy who had pot in his backpack at the time of his arrest. He was charged with a minor drug violation and allowed to walk. I asked an officer when I would get my phone call and he said “not until you go downtown.”
Although I was one of the first to arrive at the Chelsea piers facility I was one of the last of over 250+ people arrested to leave. I stayed for about 16 hours in the 2nd set of pens without any idea of what the police were doing. Because of the inadequate space I only got about one hour of sleep. In that time period I was also only fed a sample size box of cereal, a small carton of milk and a powerbar (many people didn’t even get powerbars). Thankfully the police were good about refilling the water cooler we could reach through the fence. We learned from one officer who was “processing” us that he was making $1000/day in overtime and he told us that his buddy bought a car with the money he made in overtime after the last convention.
Sometime around noon on Saturday the last of us were finally loaded onto a prisoner transport bus and driven down to the main police station downtown. There they treated us like maximum security prisoners even though the entire time I was in custody I only saw people peacefully cooperating with police orders. We were handcuffed and chained together in groups and led to a room where we were searched again (for the 4th or 5th time, but not the last). We then waited in a cell to be fingerprinted and photographed. More than 16 hours after my arrest I was allowed my first phone call.
While waiting we were fed bolognia sandwhiches and milk. I also learned that two of the people being held were under 18. They repeatedly informed officers of this but that didn’t seem to make any difference. After waiting for a few more hours and watching the police process us with paper forms (there were no computers!!!) I was chained to some other prisoners and fingerprinted. We waited in another cramped cell chained together until the police took us downstairs to be photographed. We were told informally that it would take about 5 hours to check our fingerprints against any open crimes and that we definitely wouldn’t be released before then. Then they took us down into the infamous “Tombs” where we were held in jail cells waiting to be arraigned. Luckily there were payphones in the cells so we were able to keep calling the National Lawyers Guild to find out what was going on with our cases. We were fed more bolognia sandwhiches. Josh Kinberg, who I knew from Parsons, was there too after he was arrested giving an interview with MSNBC about his thesis project, a bike he invented that sprays chalk messages on the ground as he rides.
After 9pm (24 hours since the first arrests) we learned that the Lawyers Guild was filing a writ to the court challenging our detention without being charged. At about 2:30am, without ever being read my rights, being given the option to see a lawyer or being officially told what I was charged with, I was taken upstairs to sign a D.A.T (desk appearance ticket) and then released. From my understanding, the D.A.T. I received is the equivalent of a parking ticket. I made it home at 4am only to come back in the morning to pick up the stuff I had on me when I was arrested (my keys, my phone, my camera). My bicycle is being held in Brooklyn until the DA deems it is no longer evidence.
I heard from a friend that my arrest was on the evening news on Friday. If anyone has pictures or video of it, please let me know.
When I showed up for my court date, I was informed that two additional charges were added; I was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct and one count of parading without a permit. I took a deal offered by the city, an A.C.D. (adjournment in contemplation of dismissal) which was not an ommission of guilt but an understanding that if I was not arrested again in 6 months, the charges would be completely dropped by the City. Several months later I was finally able to get my bicycle back from the police.
In the past year the City under Bloomberg has continued an excessive, costly, and heavy-handed response to cyclists gathering to ride within thier constitutionally protected rights. Hundreds of cyclists have been arrested by the NYPD, including 49 cyclists during yesterday’s Critical Mass ride. As one cyclist put it: “I got arrested today for riding my bike on a public street. If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will.”
More info on yesterday’s Critical Mass arrests here.