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Thread started by outerspace at 09.24.10 - 1:03 pm
We have been working hard to improve the image of cycling and cyclists in Los Angeles because we want the public to accept us and treat us with respect.
We have been trying to get this message out to and through the media so that our mantra can be heard, with limited success.
Then yesterday the following news outlets reported on CRANKMAS:
- ABC primetime local news
- KCRW primetime commute-hour news
- LA Times
But all they said about it was that hundreds of cyclists gathered, made a ruckus, drank and smoked pot in public, and rode their bikes through a supermarket.
Is their coverage biased? Yeah, of course, they're media, they're sensationalists, they're assholes; all three reports portrayed CRANKMAS as a representation of the state of the cycling mentality in LA. But the point is that a lot of hard PR work was undone with one poorly contained party ride.
This community seems split between those who are here to improve the image of cyclists and promote cycling in LA, and those who are here to have their fun at any cost, including the costs of alienating the police and the public.
As far as PR and political capital goes, CRANKMAS was very a very expensive setback. I hope the fun was worth the aftermath.
As far as PR and political capital goes, CRANKMAS was very a very expensive setback
Who gives a crap? Not only that, you have no proof to back up that claim. You're just supposing thats the case.
At least some people are trying to offer rides, and are trying to push the limits. You know what, everything before Ross was fun. Even Ross had fun moments. The ride ended, but many of us have been on so many rides, that you get spoiled.
Getting that many people to ride even for the short time is a success in my book. Years ago riding ten blocks with that many people would have been awesome. Now if it doesnt go until 7am, its deemed a failure.
I am not supposing that primetime media coverage bashed cycling via CRANKMAS. That is a fact.
I have no seen other primetime coverage of this scale in our favor.
That's all I'm saying, maybe I went overboard saying it.
I admit I can't show you straight numbers proving exactly how a certain percentage of the public perceives cyclists based on what they see in the news. But unarguable empirical proof of anything that has to do with social dynamics and public impressions is unattainable.
But seeing as this is an uphill battle already, it seems like common sense that this kind of exposure is not helping.
anyone who gets on the news and talks about WHAT THE FUCK! THE RIDE! , WILL GET A FREE FOUR LOKO ON EVERY WTF! THE RIDE! YOU ATTEND FOR THE THE REST OF YOUR LIFE
It's too bad that is the media's only coverage of CRANKMAS. Because I remember a lot of people standing outside restaurants and homes and businesses waving and cheering as we rode through the west side.
Litter sucks. Litter is what happens anytime 2000 people get together. Go to a dodger game and check all the litter in the stands.... These rides happen with no budget and therefore no on to clean up the litter. We have to go the extra mile and pick up after ourselves.
Were people really riding through Ralphs?
At least we know why the ride was broken up by the cops. Hope people are more aware next time....
Roadblock responding to a comment by outerspace
09.24.10 - 2:17 pm
By Andrew Blankstein
Los Angeles Times
Published: Thursday, September 23, 2010
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles officials vowed to arrest and prosecute bicyclists for incidents like the one Friday night in which hundreds of riders swarmed a grocery store parking lot and broke out beer and marijuana, with some riding into the store and through the aisles.
Participants would be cited for violating traffic rules that endanger motorists or pedestrians, said police Commander Andy Smith. Those who engaged in violence would be immediately arrested.
The warning during a news conference at the downtown Los Angeles Police Department headquarters comes ahead of a mass ride scheduled for Friday and is aimed at protecting the rights not only of cyclists but also of those who share the roads and sidewalks with them.
LAPD officials have been trying to forge better relations with bike activists, even advocating department-wide training to highlight the rights of bicyclists on the road and ensure that officers know how to deal with incidents involving bikes.
The improved communications follow an incident in Hollywood in May in which a video appeared to show an officer kicking at a passing bicyclist during a protest ride against BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The video footage, which was posted on YouTube with the title “Hollywood Cops Attack Bike Riders,” inflamed many bicycle activists, who complained about mistreatment at the hands of the LAPD.
Ramon Martinez of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition said Wednesday that better communications have led to a reduction in tension with police as well as a better experience for cyclists.
“It’s been increasingly positive in the last six months and is heading in the right direction,” Martinez said.
Smith said Wednesday that it was important to remind participants in mass bike rides that they must obey the law and respect others’ rights. Increasing numbers of cyclists appear to have been ignoring that warning during recent rides, he said.
Last Friday in Los Angeles’ Venice section a group calling itself “crank mob” broke away from the main body of 600-800 riders and swarmed a Ralphs store parking lot.
During the impromptu party, deejays began playing music as some in the crowd began drinking beer and smoking marijuana, Smith said. About a half dozen broke off and rode into the store.
Three people were cited and a juvenile was arrested after allegedly hitting a police officer.
Smith said the warning was aimed at those who are failing to adhere to the spirit of the riders.
AGREED!!! PICK UP YOUR LITTTER =D THat's why we carry back packs...or messenger bags if your hip...and oddly enough thats where the good stuff is kept too...If you are caught littering we will tie black trash bags to your bike while you go take a piss....LOL j/k
I admit I can't show you straight numbers proving exactly how a certain percentage of the public perceives cyclists based on what they see in the news. But unarguable empirical proof of anything that has to do with social dynamics and public impressions is unattainable.
--we all make crazy claims. maybe not all. but saying Crankmas set cyclist back is bullshit. that doesn't even need to be said, unless you're RBI; and at least he can be funny.
But seeing as this is an uphill battle already, it seems like common sense that this kind of exposure is not helping.
--for all the attention we're receiving in such a SHORT time, whatever hill we're on, I'm sure it's kid friendly. Again, you're picking on the organizers or at least taking cheap shots. No one, absolutely no one, can truly manage these rides.
I have my opinions about the LAPD on Crankmas, but I would not charge Crankmas or their organizers for any fault. Imagine having to deal with the weight of 2000 riders following your lead. They still do it, year after year. Some of you would fold under the pressure. The officers have Richie and others on radar at those rides. They know who they are and yet, with the LAPD on their asses, and not only having to talk to them, and organize; they try to HAVE FUN on top of it all -- even I can respect that shit.
And why? They definitely dont have to. They dont have to do one god damn thing, but every year they give back. You have to give credit, where credit is due.
Support your local Ridazz.
md2 responding to a comment by outerspace
09.24.10 - 2:42 pm
We live in a society of laws. You don't like it and say fuck it then deal with the consequences and don't cry that you got a ticket or thrown in jail.
--We also live in a society of homelessness, poverty, obesity, racism, greed, etc.... If I go against these aspects of society, would you have any qualms?
Do you think Prop 8 was a just or fair law? You seem to suggest that we need to always act within law and policy. Are all laws right, just, fair?
Or maybe you can just elaborate a bit more
md2 responding to a comment by Foldie
09.24.10 - 2:50 pm
It is your personal choice to do what you feel. Within the context of riding your bike in the street I think we should follow the laws. On one side we are saying we wanted to be treated fairly and given equal protection under the CVC yet then we are saying fuck it I don't care what you think. I do what I want.
The other issues you brought up have no bearing in this discussion. Bring all the straw man arguments you want but if you want to critique my opinion on the issue of laws and riding then address those.
Foldie responding to a comment by md2
09.24.10 - 3:07 pm
Not to thread hijack here, but there were literally 2 different bike-themed press conferences on Weds -- the ciclavia press conference in the morning, & the LAPD critical mass press conference in the afternoon. Both made channel 7 and some other mainstream outlets.
I'm not saying the bad elements of the Crankmob story weren't pounced upon by the media (to no one's surprise), but Wednesday wasn't such a bad bike news day as these things go. I assume dudeonabike was probably the only one who made both press conferences. Must be the 10 bikes....
saying Crankmas set cyclist back is bullshit. that doesn't even need to be said
I'm not talking about CRANKMAS itself setting cyclists back. As I've said myself elsewhere, I like party rides and I think they're fun, and Roadblock made an excellent point, that civilians who simply saw CRANKMAS pass by had fun just watching it roll through. That's good. I'm just talking about the media coverage here.
Show those news clips to random people who weren't there, out of context as they were broadcast to millions, and see how those people react. I would be amazed if you really thought that sort of exposure was good for the cycling community. If you just don't care whether it is good for the community, I can understand that but it would make me sad.
I don't consider Prop 8 to be a right, just or fair law. But it is the law. If you already know that a law exists and you willfully break it right in front of the police, what do you expect them to do (regardless of what you want them to do)? It is their job to stop you. If you don't believe in the police, I'm sorry but you're stuck with them until the state finishes running out of money.
I am learning more from this thread than I thought I would. Constructive after a fashion. I just never realized how pervasive the "fuck everyone and everything except for me and my fun" approach was.
I do see the irony in complaining about the complainers... does that make me a hipster? It's my dream come true.
Look, all i was trying to draw out of you is that we obviously don't think following certain laws is good because we live in a society of laws, right? Thats circular.
We live in a society with many features, laws being one of them, but just because they are something we can say society is "of"; doesn't really make them good, right, or just, etc. Or does it?
Hence, we have many features of society that need to be changed, and we shouldn't just follow x,y,z, because everyone else does.
We should (maybe) because as you note "On one side we are saying we wanted to be treated fairly and given equal protection under the CVC yet then we are saying fuck it I don't care what you think".
Theres a reason to think about, right? Way better than: this is a society with laws, so either follow them or suck it up in jail, and dont cry about it.
md2 responding to a comment by Foldie
09.24.10 - 3:29 pm
My binary logic was just to mimic the "fuck it attitude".
Of course society does not fit some utopia everyone follows the rules, we are all happy paradigm. But when you have a discussion of bike rides and following the laws and the public's perception with "fuck it" then there is not much discourse that can take place to find a common ground.
Everyone has a right to their opinion and a right to live their life they want to. I would just like to see a world where we can have fun and be respectful to others around us without causing too much trouble.
Like I said in another thread yesterday I haven't found too many that like the cut of my jib.
So there you have it.
Foldie responding to a comment by md2
09.24.10 - 3:36 pm
"On one side we are saying we wanted to be treated fairly and given equal protection under the CVC yet then we are saying fuck it I don't care what you think."
We want equal protection under the CVC when the code is rational and increases are safety. We say fuck it when the code is irrational and has nothing to do with safety. There is a distinction, and it's no different than previous acts of disobedience by any group who think a law is unfair.
Um that sounds like exactly what happened fun was had and I was sober. But I hate local broadcsat news... I hate almost all mainstream news and the fact that they're a freaking week late means they suck more. It also means that if they all had a story on it yesterday, someone tipped them off, this is a narrative that some politician, LAPD or lobbyist created for (who'd be anti-bike) on the eve of Critical Mass. I wonder if anything will go down tonight. Not that the criticism wasn't invited but something is FISHY.
at least the world can see now that cyclists know how to party and they aren't all dorky Lance Armstrong wannabes in spandex who should be riding on the sidewalk.
mainstream cycling archetypes:
pesky messengers, Lance Armstrong wannabes, the Dutch, commuter dorks, EXTREME! mountain bikers, fixie hipsters and now those crazy West Coast party kids. hey, let's keep absorbing more archetypes until cycling is less of a sub-cultural thing and more of a cultural thing.
I stand corrected since this LA Weekly author somehow managed to put a negative spin on ciclavia. wtf?
via bikinginla:
LA Weekly
by Dennis Romero
If you were mad about the traffic trauma created by President Obama's Westside visit last month, if the annual Los Angeles Marathon's street closures raise your blood pressure, or if you're simply tired of being passed by bicyclists as you crawl down Wilshire Boulevard, be prepared for more of the same next month:
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's CicLAvia bike-ride event will shut down 7.5 miles of city streets Oct. 10 in order to open them up to cyclists, the only L.A. commuters who don't have to worry about traffic and who don't need to shut down streets in order to find room to move. Genius.
After breaking an elbow during a bike accident this summer, Villaraigosa seems to have downed a margarita pitcher of enviro-cylist Kool-Aid.
Don't get us wrong -- two wheels is often better than four. But don't make the world's most car-dependent city suffer because you want whiz down deserted streets like a school boy on his his first Schwinn.
So study this map, because it includes the streets you'll want to avoid on Oct. 10:
champagne responding to a comment by outerspace
09.25.10 - 7:11 am
That guy... Dennis Romero... He always says shit about cyclists because he knows we're all online and will bum rush his blog with comments. Pay him no mind He's just trolling for web hits.
Roadblock responding to a comment by onethirtynine
09.25.10 - 12:52 pm
I agree.That douche is like a lame howard stern.
He just wants your attention and shit.
Besides what do we care?
Are we riding for him?
I'm not.
Fuck what he says and Fuck what he thinks.
They have as much value as a fart.
Nasty when it's here but forgotten in a minute.
now let's go on to more important issues...
Like in the Lindsay thread... :D
Unlawful assembly without a permit and other violations from now on will resuilt in arrests, sobriety check points, and crowd dispersal techniques.
Several law enforcement officers have been assigned to ride undercover and document rides and riders. LA's City Attorney has assigned two prosecutors to handle the hundreds of arrests that will result in this sting operation..........and it will continue until the consequences of being stupid outweighs safe and legal riding.
Its up to you, if you like jail, then wear an orange jumpsuit while on your ride so you won't have to strip down at county lockup.
"This community seems split between those who are here to improve the image of cyclists and promote cycling in LA, and those who are here to have their fun at any cost, including the costs of alienating the police and the public.
As far as PR and political capital goes, CRANKMAS was very a very expensive setback. I hope the fun was worth the aftermath."
As with most black & white - either/or arguments ... I strong disagree with your proposition.
---------------
Lets look at the civil rights movement.
The media was long biased against blacks in general and only started eventually to give somewhat fair treatment to figures like Martin Luther King Jr. once the civil right movement was in full swing and people demanded it.
So the media turned its, hate, ignorance, bias, and unfair treatment to more "militant" civil/ human rights leaders.
Would you say that Malcolm X, The Nation of Islam, The Black Panthers, and other groups "set back" the civil rights movement?
Those groups were lambasted by the Mainstream Media, hated by politicians, and became the focal point for fear and hatred for white racists all over. Yet some how ... MLK and more mainstream civil rights advocates pushed ahead, arguably with more influence and more relevance than ever.
------------------------
The bottom line is we can not live our live in fear of media misrepresentations.
And we must take responsibility for holding them accountable and not blame fellow cyclists for the negative stereo types that are manufactured by the media.
This is a city of hundreds of thousands of cyclists and the media trying to define them all by the actions of a few hundred or a few thousand is ridiculous and unacceptable.
The things is we need a good 100% pure clean ride that was close to 10X times the size of the rides that make us look bad. Then for every time we look bad this good ride would have to make us look good.
DrMcFishy responding to a comment by trickmilla
10.2.10 - 1:13 pm
No. I disagree.
We have the LA Marathon bike tour, easily 10x larger than your average party ride. What does that prove.
Ciclavia will be several times the size of LACM.
But what will it saw about LACM or CRANK MOB or anything?
-----------
We are not the civil rights movement.
But we are a movement.
We are lumped together by the media regardless our differences in approach or opinion.
How many radical hippies were bummed out at the amount of attention that was given to Woodstock or Altamont?
I guess what I am saying is that today's news stories seem like the biggest thing i the world. Tomorrow they will be lining birdcages and being used to make piñatas, and many people will have forgotten about the misrepresentations and exaggerations.
Most people know that the Mass Media is full of crap, we only believe it when it reenforces our world view.
The people who allow negative CRANK MOB or LACM coverage to disproportionately color their view of bicycles more than likely already have a negative bias against bikes in the first place.
Hippies may not have been bummed about it, but woodstock from a conservative parent's view at the time was probably not going to be favorable. In an ideal world cycling as a form of transpertation needs every bit of support it can get.
The hippies at Woodstock were fortunately afforded a clean up crew to collect all the trash. The group bike rides are not commercial ventures as woodstock was and therefore people have to clean up after themselves.
Roadblock responding to a comment by trickmilla
10.2.10 - 10:50 pm
OMG !!! THEY were drinking beer and smoking marijuana.......dj music.....in an empty parking lot........civil unrest.......too funny......The police started a riot ,,,,in front of the bikes.........again.........running amuk,,,,,,,spilling blood .....bashing heads............power to the people yo.........ALL POWER TO ALL PEOPLE !!!!! BIKE REVOLUTION !!!
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