Hi Chainlink community!
I'm in the process of a launching a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of safety issues and laws related to bicycle lanes.
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The Frontier is a new restaurant at 1072 N Milwaukee Ave that's been placing their Valet signs in the bike lane.
Can you stop by and kick their sign down for me? Bell ringing and vocal harassment hasn't worked so far.
I'll keep an eye out for it if I get down there.
As I mentioned in another thread this morning I rarely get more than a few blocks south of North. The last time I was down there was going to critical mass a month ago. I didn't notice it but there was a bunch of construction going on and the lane moved over. I felt like kicking down a few of those construction signs but instead decided to be a good boy...
Sometimes it takes going inside and talking to a manager about signage left in the bike lane like this. Sometimes talking to your alderman helps too. The Aqua-teen Colon Alderman in Logan Square has been helpful a few times to my wife when she complained about stuff.
I posted a request on their facebook page. maybe that'll help.
Oh and they already responded - "Sure thing, Kevin! Sorry about that!"
H3N3 said:
Sorry, we all need to show some stewardship for our own neighborhoods. Not sure why you guys can't handle a situation like this, considering the area is swimming in cyclists.
The car wash places along Elston don't like it either.
As far as the sticker thing is concerned, I think I read somewhere that it might be illegal to place something like that on someone's car (that includes things like restaurant flyers, etc.) - might be wrong though.
You can post pictures of bike lane offenders here: http://chicago.mybikelane.com/
James Baum said:
They get really mad when you kick their stupid middle of the bike lane signs over too...
I just made a post on their wall on facebook.
Here's 50/Fifty's response: "Hey, Kevin. Thanks so much for bringing that to our attention. We'll make sure it doesn't happen anymore."
Cameron Puetz said:
Be careful with 50/Fifty on Division. The valet started wieghting their sign so that it doesn't just trip over when you kick it. Sort of hurt my foot on Saturday.
A link to http://chicago.mybikelane.com/ should be a 'sticky' post up there with the forum rules and 'what to do if your bike gets stolen'. I've only not posted because hitherto I didn't know about it. And when I did find it wasn't via The Chainlink. I especially like how the offending license plates are given prominence. Also, if you check out the city of Cardiff in the right hand column, you'll see this link to stickers that get put under windshield wipers of offending motorists:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50824599@N06/4666543262/
Sure, a lot of motorists will just trash it in the gutter, but if it raises awareness in just some of them, it helps. Is there a pdf out there or similar file that can be printed for distribution?
James BlackHeron said:
I never understood why this site, MyBikeLane/Chicago never really took off. If everyone on this forum were to take the time (like 20 seconds to stop and yank out your camera) to photograph these violators and post them (another 5 minutes) on a daily basis there'd be a huge database of the worst offenders in town. Maybe something could be done. At least it would be something to point to when trying to convince city leaders that there is a real problem. But anyone looking at that site must only conclude that bikelane violating is not a problem in this city due to the almost lack of any posting on that site.
http://chicago.mybikelane.com/
I posted a few last year but I didn't want to be the only one posting so I cut way back on it. It has less authenticity if it is just a few people making all the noise.
Another good idea and hopefully one that actually takes off someday.
I find that cops thinking they have a free pass blocking the bike lane while on lunch break especially egregious. I know they might have to respond to an emergency, etc, blah, blah, blah, but we all know that is not the real reason they can't run a few extra yards to a legit parking spot for the odd occasion they might get called in a hurry....
The funny part is that pretty much all of the stickers are cycling related. If I had to guess, the owner races in both road and mountain bike races. I'm sure if you got some half-acre racers to look at the pics they could tell you whose car that is.
djm said:
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