Biking policy inequality on the South side of Chicago

Last week I was riding on 51st street (on the South side) near Martin Luther King Drive and a SUV with 3 individuals started threatening me because I was using the full lane due to road conditions, they pulled ahead of me, got out of the vehicle and threatened to beat me. I flagged down a police SUV and told them what was happening, the vehicle with the people who threatened me were stuck in traffic, as the vehicle approached I pointed it out to the police (1st District, 51st and the Dan Ryan), the police looked at them and asked if I wanted an escort home! WTF???

I don't understand why they DID NOT pull these people over and question them!

Yesterday I was on a ride with the Chatham Devcorp touring the Chatham area, there were about 30-40 individuals in the ride. We had multiple people in cars the threatening to run us over!

After the ride was over I was heading home on 87th Street and a vehicle pulled up to me and a passenger told me that he would beat my ass if I were not a senior citizen ( just for riding my bike and following the rules of the road)!

Today (July 17,2016) at the Bike Box on 51st and Calumet, 2 customers stopped by for estimates on some repair work, these guys were over 12 years of age, they were riding on the sidewalk (which is illegal in Chicago), they each were issued citations ($25.00 fine). 

They were were riding on the sidewalk because the police will NOT enforce the laws that allow them to ride in the street safely!

I was speaking to another individual who stated that he will not not ride in the streets on the South Side of Chicago because he has been told by motorists that "we don't do that over here (the South Side). He has been threatened also!

The 5th Ward Alderman has stated publicly that "Black people do not ride bikes"(WTF!!!!??????)

How do we (on the South Side) deal with these issues? 

This reminds me of the "broken window" policing policy.

Any suggestions? Or is this an issue only that South Siders have to deal with?

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Permalink Reply by Waymond Smith on July 18, 2016 at 11:44am

There was/is an attempt to put bike lanes on Stony Island, but the Alderwoman Leslie Hairston made the statement "Black people don't ride bikes" and fought against the installation of bikes on a street that is 3 lanes on each side (John Greenfield published an Streetsblog article regarding this. I have friends who tell me that they have been harassed also and have been told "we don't do that (cycling) over here". This is a bicycling infrastructure issue and the race of the individuals has very little to do with it, though I'm pretty certain that the motorists are selective with their targets.

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on July 18, 2016 at 1:53pm

I remember that.  It was a joke.  Stony Island has plenty of room for bike lanes.  But, in Chicago, everyone bows down to the wishes of alderpeople regarding projects in their ward. 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 18, 2016 at 2:22pm

The bigger streets were effectively highways before the Dan Ryan was built. They've never been reduced, even though the amount of traffic using them now is nowhere near their design capacity.

Permalink Reply by Shawn A Conley on July 20, 2016 at 2:01pm

There is a lot that I'd like to say to contribute to this conversation.  Many of you made great points.  

Waymond's experience on the south side is shared by many.  I am a member of the Major Taylor Chicago club and many of our rides begin on the south side.  With over 100 members, if you do enough group rides with the club, you will know hear many stories of cyclists who have had a tough time riding on the south side.  

I agree that the lack of infrastructure perpetuates the problem.  The apathy by the police along with the current relationship between law enforcement and civilians are definitely part of the problem.  

I also agree that we need to mobilize IN LARGE NUMBERS to let people like Alderwoman Hairston know that not only do we exist, but we want cycling infrastructure on the south side, on Stony Island, and we want and deserve to be safe.  Recently, I encouraged members of my club to write a letter to her.  She had a standard answer to most of the letters with some line about a "well attended meeting" stating that her constituents did not want bike lanes on Stony Island and some malarkey about motorist traffic being inconvenienced.  

The fact of the matter is that Black people do ride bikes.  Major Taylor Chicago, Slow Roll Chicago, South Side Critical Mass, etc. are great examples of many black cyclists riding in mass many times on the streets of the south side of the city.  We should all get together and ride to Leslie Hairston's office.  We should invite the police officers who patrol by bike on a ride.  We must let them know that we are here and we are valued citizens of the city.  

Anne Alt, Peter Taylor, Oboi Reed, myself, and others went to the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council's meeting to advise them of our feelings.  We need to continue these efforts.  

Personally, I try to tell my non-cycling friends about how riding is from my perspective.  Because they are my friends, and they care for me, they tend to be sympathetic to my experience.  I can only hope that they take that into consideration when they encounter a cyclist while they are driving.  

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on July 20, 2016 at 3:17pm

Thank you Shawn. So many thoughtful, actionable items. I will happily help anytime we need to get the word out to a larger audience or if there is anything else Chainlink can do to help. 

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 21, 2016 at 4:10am

Well said. We should organize a large multi-group effort and ride to Leslie Hairston's office.

Getting the word out on Twitter might help. Posting images of people riding on the south side in recognizable locations (especially black people) with hashtags like #BlackPeopleBike, #bikeCHIsouth and others, and tagging her @5thWardChicago could help make the point.

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on July 21, 2016 at 4:30am

LOVE the hashtags! Yes! :-)

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin on July 21, 2016 at 5:37am

I would come out for such a ride. It's absurd how an alderman can be so careless towards bicycles, so anything that makes the point that we're here and not going away is something I'm in favor of.

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on July 21, 2016 at 12:05pm

It is absurd, but not hugely surprising. Just see the campaign of Chuy Garcia for a similar example. He stabbed pedestrians and cyclists in the back (by opposing speed and red light cameras) as soon as a vocal minority of disgruntled drivers made an issue out of them. He didn't look carefully at the issues involved, he just took the view that he thought would get him the most votes.

In an era where a crude populism is running rampant, we need to be super vigilant about this stuff.

Permalink Reply by Waymond Smith on July 21, 2016 at 5:54am

Shawn, will Major Taylor be willing to organize a ride to Alderman's Hairston's office?

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on July 22, 2016 at 5:38am

I've been thinking about checking out the Major Taylor group at some point, mostly to break free from my North Shore box (nice box though it is). I checked out the calendar, but most of the upcoming weekend rides seem a bit long (and formal?). Do you have regular group rides on the weekend of shorter duration? I'd be riding from Evanston, so have to consider that extra distance.

Permalink Reply by Writingprincess on July 22, 2016 at 5:47am

Wow, such a great post. Thanks for sharing your experience Waymond. I, like Shawn, am a member of the Major Taylor Cycling Club of Chicago. When I first joined the club we used to do rides through the city on the south and west sides. We have since not done that any more, as many of our rides are on trails or on the East Side of town or in the suburbs. Mostly because we know that the hazard factor goes up about 20x when we ride on city streets. 
I like the idea of riding en masse on the South Side so that we can get rid of this perception that black people don't ride bikes or "we don't do that over here," BS. I'm also a swimmer too so you get how tired I am of hearing black people don't do something. The more we ride the more that phrasing becomes obsolete. 
However, it's just so dangerous riding on the South Side because of the ignorance about cycling and hostility. I personally do not think it's up to us as cyclists alone to educate an entire populous about cycling. I feel a concerted effort that includes increased cycling infrastructure, more organized mass rides, education of community activists and politicians is a good three-prong approach to helping make the south and west sides safer to ride for all people. Done together and often, these three activities can go a long way to fighting the misperception that the south side is not for cycling.  

I'd love to invite more northside riders down to the south side to ride with us so that they can get a feel for our concerns and needs and we can beef up our numbers. A weekly weekend ride could go a long way to shoring up that perception that cyclists don't belong on the South Side. 

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