CRANK MOB > People Power
Thread started by
Alex Thompson at 05.23.08 - 2:13 pm
So, Santa Cruz CRANK MOB had a run in with a motorist. Here's an article about the fallout.
What really irked me about this article was the paternalistic attitude displayed by bike advocates at People Power. There's no need for advocacy orgs to run around condemning other cyclists (irony of this statement noted.) I think it's way out of line and shows a certain spinelessness. Email People Power and tell them how lame you think that is, or leave comments on the article:
info@peoplepowersc.org
Expect cyclists on Mission this evening
Genevieve Bookwalter - Sentinel staff writer
Article Launched: 05/13/2008 01:32:00 AM PDT
Cyclists are planning a group ride tonight to honor those who have died biking on Mission Street.
Organizers, though, said they expect none of the drama from last Friday evening, when one cyclist was struck by a car and another punched the window out of a Nissan Pathfinder in a similar group ride.
Friday night's ride, called "Crank Mob" by organizers, consisted of about 100 college-age students. The ride drew complaints as cyclists blocked traffic and yelled at drivers as they rode by downtown.
Micah Posner, director of bicycle advocacy group People Power, said mass rides are organized by a number of different people. Those responsible for Friday's ride are not the ones planning tonight's event.
In fact, he said, Friday night's event organizers might not plan many more rides at all, as fellow cyclists complained that the group gave rule-abiding riders a bad name.
"My guess is Crank Mob will be recycled into the annals of bicycle history." Posner said. "The name is descriptive, so hopefully it's over."
The ride this evening will consist of cyclists pedaling down Mission Street to honor the two that have died there in the past year. Riders likely will return via King Street, the site of a proposed bike boulevard, Posner said.
As for future events, Santa Cruz police spokesman Zach Friend said officers are not planning to increase security downtown this Friday
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in anticipation of another ride.
"The onus is really on the bike community to condemn the actions of these riders, to show that such behaviors don't represent the views of the entire community," Friend said.
Friday night mass rides are a common event, usually made up of cyclists who follow the rules of the road, use lights and helmets and don't cause a ruckus, police officers said.
Tonight's ride will begin at 6 p.m. at the Town Clock and end at the 7 p.m. city council session. Council members are scheduled to discuss new signs on Mission reminding drivers that cyclists can take an entire lane of traffic if riding along the side of the road is not safe.
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"My guess is Crank Mob will be recycled into the annals of bicycle history." Posner said. "The name is descriptive, so hopefully it's over."
AWESOME! i WANNA BE RECYCLED!! THAN i COULD ABIDE THE RULES!!!
franz05.23.08 - 2:18 pm
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Friday night mass rides are a common event, usually made up of cyclists who follow the rules of the road, use lights and helmets and don't cause a ruckus, police officers said.
they are talking about midnight ridazz rides, right guys?
ruinedbyidiots05.23.08 - 2:20 pm
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Ridazz Bus to Santa Cruz.
They'll learn what unruly is.
Alex Thompson05.23.08 - 2:21 pm
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someone got hit with a car last time? what happened??
Roadblock05.23.08 - 2:21 pm
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"The onus is really on the bike community to condemn the actions of these riders, to show that such behaviors don't represent the views of the entire community," Friend said.
So.. I suppose it would follow that it would also be our responsibility to ensure that the general public doesn't think that the bike community is composed strictly of pompous "Expert cyclists".
turrican05.23.08 - 2:22 pm
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The police basically say that they normally don't have problems with group rides in Santa Cruz. Here's another article about the SC incident.
Bicyclists swarm streets in Santa Cruz; protest turns ugly
By Jennifer Squires
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Article Launched: 05/11/2008 12:47:19 PM PDT
A hundred cyclists who were apparently trying to remind motorists to share the road caused disturbances downtown and near the Municipal Wharf on Friday night, marking the first time in recent years the occasional protest rides have become violent.
Police issued no citations, but one cyclist, a 20-year-old Santa Cruz woman, suffered minor injuries when her bicycle collided with a Subaru Legacy on Front Street, police reported. It was that collision, which happened just after 10 p.m. as the Critical Mass-style ride got under way, that sparked arguments between motorists and cyclists.
"They've been doing this Friday night laps-around-downtown for probably a few months now," Lt. Rick Martinez said. "Last night, they just decided to step up their presence. There were 100 bicyclists basically taking over the roadway."
The rides are usually well-organized and involve cyclists who follow traffic laws and use lights and horns, police said. But on Friday, a group of mostly college-age cyclists impeded traffic downtown, yelled at drivers and put themselves in harm's way, Martinez said.
The names of cyclists involved in the ride were not available, and none were cited by police.
Piet Canin, who is organizing this week's unrelated Bike to Work event, said he hadn't heard about the protest ride and didn't want to pass judgment without talking to those involved. He acknowledged, however, that the riders probably lost sight of their intended message.
"On
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the surface of it, it kind of exasperates the tensions between cyclists and motorists," he said. "That's not good."
Cyclists' safety has been a hot topic in the community recently; three cyclists have been killed in collisions with vehicles on Santa Cruz streets in the past 10 months.
Canin said group rides can be a positive way to draw attention to cycling issues, especially the importance of sharing the road.
"There's lots of benefits to those group rides and usually cyclists are respectful and safer in those group rides," he said.
Police received several calls complaining about the cyclists, who were riding together from about 10-11 p.m. The event reached a tipping point when the 20-year-old woman popped out from between two parked vehicles on Front Street near Soquel Avenue and into the path of the Subaru, making the accident likely her fault, police said.
Other cyclists reportedly yelled at the driver as he got out to check on the woman. Medics called in to help the woman radioed for police assistance because cyclists started arguing with a second driver caught in the mass, police said. Someone smashed out the back window of that driver's Nissan Pathfinder.
After the altercations, the cyclists continued riding throughout the city, pounding on vehicles, and as Martinez said, "I guess decided to do their best to mix it up with motorists, including lying down in front of the entrance to the wharf."
"We even attempted to talk with the organizer of the bicycle ride explaining that we totally support their cause and that we're doing our best to find that common ground," Martinez said. "But it was one of those situations where they certainly weren't going to garner any support from the community from the kind of behavior they displayed."
Martinez said police would be on the alert for future rides.
"Honestly if they continue to ride throughout the city in the way they did last night, we're probably going to see more bicyclists injured," he said.
tag Contact Jennifer Squires at (831) 429-2449 jsquires@santacruzsentinel.com.
onethirtynine05.23.08 - 2:25 pm
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notice that the writer didn't make any efforts to contact ride organizers. and she also refers to C.MOB as a protest ride.........
onethirtynine05.23.08 - 2:26 pm
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Don't bother to comment on the article at the Sentinel's website - their comment forum makes the trolls on Ridazz look like baby koala's.
Alex Thompson05.23.08 - 2:27 pm
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that ride needs to be hijacked and led off the end of a pier. "People Power"... nice white folks, i imagine.
indigis05.23.08 - 2:28 pm
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'On the surface of it, it kind of exasperates the tensions between cyclists and motorists,' he said. 'That's not good.'
. . . . .
Dear journalist:
It is your job to know how to use the English language, among other things. It is extremely difficult to exasperate tensions (believe me, I've tried). It's totally not, though, to exacerbate them.
Love,
Snarky McSnarkerton
katiepoche05.23.08 - 2:32 pm
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@RB --
what happened was a girl among a MOB of about 150 cyclists rode into oncoming traffic and got hit by a car. at that point everyone stopped in the street to make sure she was alright and that the situation was handled. meanwhile, on the other side of the street, the driver of a white Nissan SUV was growing impatient of the cyclists standing in his way and started advancing his vehicle into the crowd (without honking). he started running over bikes and cyclists and everyone swarmed his vehicle. the bikers shouted at him to stop running people over but he persisted. then one of the bikers decided to smash the back of his window with a u-lock. at that point, the driver jumps out of his vehicle and starts punching cyclists and shoving them. he also grabbed a couple bikes and held them hostage so that the person who smashed his window would show up. once the police arrived, the crowd dispersed. no charges were filed because the rider who smashed the window wasn't present and the riders who were assaulted by the vehicle weren't either. this was all in the first twenty minutes of the ride.
onethirtynine05.23.08 - 2:33 pm
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@Roadblock
According to others around me, I had missed it. A drunk girl, bring drunk, was swerving between lanes and hit a stopped car. As we were all trying to check out if she was all right, the driver freaked out and tried repeatedly to get out of there before the cops got there. Other cyclists, not realizing the implications, allowed him to leave. Before he had left a car going the opposite direction tried to push through the mass of people surrounding the girl. Slowly he began pushing through the group. Then stopped as people didn't move. Followed by a point when he gassed it. He hit a few people, not seriously, but everyone freaked out and all around started to kick the car. At this point I left the immediate area understanding that what was likely to happen was out of my control. As I was on the opposite side of the street on the sidewalk trying to figure out what I could do, I heard glass shatter as someone broke out the driver's(the one who was pushing through the crowd) back window
But yeah, that's what happened. And then later on in the night someone got out of a car and shoved a cyclist over while they were doing a circle of death. CMSC really likes CoDs, and did at least 8 of them in the first hour of the ride.
Jaz05.23.08 - 2:36 pm
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Katie = right on! These people have copy editors. That's a person who just reads things to make sure they are correct. I, being the ignorant dufus son of an ex-journalist that I am, did not know this. Writing for Emerald City learned me though - and it's nice to have someone catch your errors, as well as embarrassing enough that you try not to make them. How can one write professionally and do that kind of crap? It boggles my mind.
Alex Thompson05.23.08 - 2:36 pm
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""People Power"... nice white folks, i imagine."
Hahahhahaahah, but of course. And their first language is probably sheep speak. baaaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaa
toweliesbong05.23.08 - 2:43 pm
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These nice white folks need to add some mustard to their potato salad.
It's an article about a ride to honor two cyclists killed on the same street, and the cycling advocate's main quote is chastising other cyclists. EPIC FAIL.
Alex Thompson05.23.08 - 2:53 pm
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They have copy editors at The Times? You could have fooled me.
PC05.23.08 - 2:54 pm
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HO NOES TEH DRAMA! Sucks about all of the violence though. I haven't been on all that many rides here in LA but mostly we don't seem to have that many troubles with motorists. Maybe the SC Crank mobbers should try wearing more costumes (or alternatively just wearing less clothes) and having more music. Everyone can appreciate a good party!
vladster05.23.08 - 3:13 pm
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Dear katiepoche:
it is the job of a journalist to quote sources correctly. The exacerbate/exasperate substitution was made by Piet Canin, the Bike To Work guy, not the journalist.
Yours pedantically,
Pedantic Cyclist
PC05.23.08 - 3:29 pm
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""My guess is Crank Mob will be recycled into the annals of bicycle history."
kieron you have yourself a new flyer slogan
Roadblock05.23.08 - 4:21 pm
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I was under the impression you were to write [sic] after something that sounds incorrect within a quote.
franz05.23.08 - 4:26 pm
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That's true Franz, but it's not done as much as it used to be.
Alex Thompson05.23.08 - 4:41 pm
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Sic literally means "thus." Putting in brackets after part of a quote essentially says "this is how the person I'm quoting phrased it." It's often used when a verbatim quote is called for, but the person doing the quoting wants the reader to understand that she wouldn't have put it that way.
Of course, it can be, and frequently is, used to indicate out-and-out errors, but it can also be used to explain outdated, offensive, doubtful, or politically incorrect (from the writer's standpoint) locutions in the source material.
No writer is
required to do it that way, though. One can paraphrase without quotation marks, or simply substitute a more appropriate word in brackets:
"On the surface of it, it kind of [aggravates] the tensions between cyclists and motorists," he said. "That's not good."
PC05.24.08 - 4:59 am
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I have to say PC... I will write you tomorrow when I dry out, for this morn I'm quite lubricated.
franz05.24.08 - 6:22 am
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PC -- I made the assumption that Piet Canin spoke correctly, as Canin seems otherwise literate and articulate. If it was Canin who botched it, then I have less of an issue with it; Canin is paid to do other things well.
What's the journalist/editor's responsibility to correct that slip-up? Can they? Or do they have to write exactly what the person said, even if it makes them look like a doofus?
katiepoche05.24.08 - 8:32 am
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I meant "them" to refer to their sources. But it also makes the journalist himself (or herself) look like a doofus.
ruinedbydoofuses,
Katie
katiepoche05.24.08 - 8:33 am
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Maybe I should read better. Maybe I'm a doofus. PC already answered my question with his explanation of [sic].
Thanks for being you,
Katie
katiepoche05.24.08 - 8:38 am
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C.R.A.N.K. MOB! C.R.A.N.K. MOB! C.R.A.N.K. MOB! C.R.A.N.K. MOB! C.R.A.N.K. MOB! C.R.A.N.K. MOB! C.R.A.N.K. MOB! C.R.A.N.K. MOB!
Brittanica05.24.08 - 10:03 am
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I sent this thread in a weird direction, talking about words. I do that. At work, I literally get caught up in the space between letters.
The first reports about that night made the ridazz out to be pretty badly behaved. Drunk, asinine, aggro. But it sounds like ridazz and drivazz both were badly behaved, and it's not clear (or important) who got shitty first. We don't have much control over how motorists act, but we can lead by example with the ridazz.
The People Power folks are fucking themselves over by alienating potentially very strong allies. But maybe those allies could make themselves more of an asset by being less shitty. Can we help? Send more LA delegates next C.R.A.N.K. MOB? Show 'em how to relate to the police? How to talk freaky ridazz down from ledges?
Also, who wants Thai food?
katiepoche05.25.08 - 8:19 pm
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The more I think about it, the less I care so much. Every city that starts C.R.A.N.K. MOB will be different -- just look at all the different C.M. rides in Los Angeles alone. I just don't like hearing "U-lock" and "broken window" in the same sentence.
katiepoche05.25.08 - 8:25 pm
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"Send more LA delegates next C.R.A.N.K. MOB? Show 'em how to relate to the police?'
this actually made me laugh.
indigis05.25.08 - 8:33 pm
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Feral delegates. Talk to the police ... with painted faces. You know. LA-style.
katiepoche05.25.08 - 8:38 pm
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Ridazz Roulette!
