KEEP YOUR SHIT UP, AND THEY WILL DO THIS TO YOU GUYZ!
YOU THINK I'M KIDDING?
eddieboyinla07.22.08 - 7:16 pm
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I don't think your kidding.
I do think you are probably wrong.
NYPD is not under Federal consent decree, LAPD is. NYPD did not settle a class action lawsuit with CM in 2000 for significant monetary damages, LAPD did. NYPD = well funded, LAPD, underfunded. NYC, worried about terrorism and cracking down on civil rights. LA, arguably improving their civil rights. LA has an increasingly strong system of NCs. As well, LAs bike culture has become extremely resilient. We've also learned a lot after dealing with SMPD.
It you're gonna stay, stay. If you're gonna go, go. But tell me, what's the point in posting videos and telling us how it can happen hear, when our situation is more comparable to the Bay Area or Brooklyn than it is Manhattan?
Alex Thompson07.22.08 - 7:25 pm
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NYC requires you to have a "parade" permit to do such things after the 2004 republican national convention. I remember groups of friends getting hassled out in Brooklyn for doing nothing but standing in a park while holding a bicycle.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/08/28/rnc.bike.protest/
My roommate was one that was arrested, and held in the bus depot on pier 57 on the wast side. I think she was held for over 24 hours but released without charges.
I too, predict LA will crack down eventually.
Mook07.22.08 - 7:27 pm
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Hey Eddie. Wow. Nice vid. Mook, I hear what you are sayin'.
Just wait for the onslaught coming straight out of New Jack City!
wait, wait....
tern07.22.08 - 7:32 pm
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Well, you might have needed a parade permit before 2004, but that was there excuse for fuckin' with people.
Mook07.22.08 - 7:33 pm
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I doubt anything like this will happen anytime soon, for reasons that Mr.Tompson mentioned....
Just my hazy observations.
Mook07.22.08 - 7:35 pm
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Don't be scared Eddie.
The cops have WAY more shit to deal with than people riding bikes in Los Angeles.
Graham07.22.08 - 7:44 pm
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I agree, Mr. Mook.
tern07.22.08 - 7:47 pm
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let them crack down.
what we as a collective unit need to do is get mad, get upset and fight them... but in appropriate ways. we should have more lawyers riding with us, photographers, media, friends... everybody be a witness to the shit that they're putting us through.
we're letting them do this to us. only when it finally happens to you do people become active participants in fighting what's goin on.
one thing's for sure... we should not be afraid of them. guns or not. we are more... we have a voice and we're smarter (that's why we're not cops)
Jazzy Phat Nastee07.22.08 - 7:49 pm
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The Police went to Times Up and ask them not to have the critical mass ride during the RNC. If they didn't have the ride, none of this would be happening. This is retribution for not following NYPD request.
Times Up put in much work preparing bikes for all the visitors to NYC for that night. I'm glad they didn't stand down. This is a result of NY CM standing up for your right to travel.
MUCH LOVE AND SUPPORT TO NYC
Which leads to the question. If the police asked us to have any rides for a three or four day period, for let just say the RNC was in LA this year, what would be your reaction?
sexy07.22.08 - 7:52 pm
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TO NOT HAVE RIDES
gosh, those little words make such a differences
sexy07.22.08 - 7:56 pm
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@ Alex Thompson
What's a federal consent decree and why do they have it in NYC but not LA?
If it means that you have to consent to get arrested, that would be pretty cool. But somehow I don't think thats it....
pavetheplanet07.22.08 - 7:58 pm
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my last post should have gone right above youre, sexy.
Just some perspective for you. We posted at the same time.
tern07.22.08 - 8:01 pm
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We would ride our bikes like monkeys if told not to.
Also, I thought Eddie was up and through.
NEWB31007.22.08 - 8:30 pm
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Hey newbie....lets ride some mileage. Take us to SD.
tern07.22.08 - 8:48 pm
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@newbie310
Lets ride down again, serious. That was the funnest ride to SD I've ever done.
tern07.22.08 - 8:53 pm
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Welcome back Eddie!
JB07.22.08 - 9:11 pm
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I don't predict a crackdown on riders in LA, but let's not be naive. That consent decree didn't stop the May Day '07 police riot from happening.
PC07.22.08 - 9:41 pm
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@pavetheplanet:
Google is your
friend. Basically, the LAPD has been under federal oversight since 2001 due to heavy-handed (i.e. illegal) use of force, search/seizure, profiling etc. The consent decree won't last forever, but hopefully it will have a lasting effect on cleaning up the corrupt police force.
@Jazzy Phat Nastee:
If LAPD does crack down, of course we will fight them, but let's not give them legitimate reasons to pay attention to us, eh? There is a difference between asserting your right to freely assemble in the streets and asserting your right to, say, shoplift. I think that's what Eddie is talking about here. Taking a "bring it on" approach is no more viable for us than it was for our pathetic president in Iraq. Yes, we should be prepared to handle conflict with the cops. We should not be actively seeking that conflict.
Alex is right about the many reasons that LAPD mostly leaves Ridazz alone, so I don't think we're likely to see a massive crackdown on the scale of NYC, or even on the scale of Santa Monica. But we shouldn't use our current "invisibility" as an excuse to foster increasingly lawless behavior. If there are enough incidents of shoplifting or graffiti during rides, bicycles will be back on LAPD's radar, to the detriment of Ridazz in general.
nathansnider07.22.08 - 10:39 pm
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^^ very well put.
if you need me, i'm going to be doing some reading on some of the more common laws and rights we have regarding bikes.
Jazzy Phat Nastee07.22.08 - 11:32 pm
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the words I am saying are thick. I feel like I have penubutter on my bold face.
tern07.23.08 - 12:43 am
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oh, you cllosed the tag. nevermind.
tern07.23.08 - 12:43 am
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PC,
I agree, the consent decree does not prevent a one time thing like the May Day Melee. However, what it does do is make LAPD leadership reluctant to make policy changes that could result in more federal scrutiny. A crack down to end Ridazz would entail a policy change and a concerted campaign, and I don't think LAPD wants that. Because of their experience with LACM at the DNC in 2000, leadership would suspect that cyclists would make a civil rights issue out of it. What do you think?
Alex Thompson07.23.08 - 12:50 am
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Ridazz Roulette!
PC says - "I Like Turthles."