Point83.com

holy moly.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking . sp?ID=5466

"About 10 bicyclists were arrested Friday night after their group delayed traffic in downtown Spokane.

Officers swarmed the bikers on Main Avenue near Wall Street soon after 5 p.m. and demanded that they lie on the ground.

The cyclists were handcuffed, lined up in an alley, hauled to jail and booked on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct. Their bikes were seized as evidence, Lt. Dave McGovern said."

(more at link above)

That is a bummer that kids got arrested, but the cold reality is that if you willingly and blatantly break the law you put the police into the position of enforcing the law. Taking a second lane when already warned not to is akin to running a stop sign with a cop behind you when in a car, or jaywalking infront across a light in front of a cop on foot.

Hello friends. I was present for the arrests in Spokane. While we were at the initial meeting place, an Officer came and read us the laws for Disorderly Conduct while another Officer filmed. They were clearly planning on making arrests before the ride had begun.

During the ride, there were about ten bicyclists in the street, and about fifteen people walking on the sidewalks as legal observers, camera people and general supporters.

As the riders emerged near the corner of Riverside and Post (not Main and Wall, as was reported in the Spokesman-Review), most were riding two abreast in the far right lane, and the riders were planning on taking a left on Post, so a few riders were moving out of the far right lane for that reason.

It was less than ten minutes into the ride when police announced their presence, and some of the riders were tackled from their bikes, including a fourteen year-old boy and a fifty-eight year-old man. Eleven people were detained, and three were released. The remaining eight were taken to the Spokane County Jail where they were booked on charges of Disorderly Conduct.

The month prior, nine people received citations for “Pedestrian In Roadway.” Those were absolved when they were sent new citations for accusations of violating RCW 46.61.770.

One of the Officers actually told one of the people who received a citation that if it weren’t for Critical Mass, the police could be stopping people from being raped.

Apparently, the Spokane Police Department is spending a huge amount of their resources on monitoring, arresting and booking bicyclists. One of the arrestees learned that twenty-two of thirty Officers on duty were dispatched to make these arrests.

A friend suggested that supporters call the city and demand justification for the amount of resources spent on monitoring/arresting/booking the riders, and that people push for mandatory police identification. Here are contacts in case you’d like to help with that!:

Spokane City Hall
(509) 625-6374
808 W Spokane Falls Blvd., Spokane, WA 99201
www.spokanecity.org

Spokane Police Department
(509) 625-4100
Public Safety Building, 1100 W Mallon, Spokane, WA 99260

Anyhow, thanks for reading and for any support ya’ll have given. We appreciate it.

love and bikes,
Spokane Critical Mass

I just sent an email to the Mayor of Spokane:


Dear Mr. Mayor,

I read online how your police department arrested the people partaking in Critical Mass this month in downtown Spokane. The bicyclists are simply excersizing their First Amendment right to peacefully assemble. Regardless of their reason, they were doing so on public property and causing no harm to anyone. So what if they are doing it in the streets? The first hand reports I have read on the internet contradict the official media reports.

Know this Mr. Mayor, I will not advise my customers to take a vacation to a town that would be so anti-bicycle. Your police have better things to do than hassle bicyclists. ONE officer would have been all that would have been needed in a patrol car. That single officer could have provided escort for the cyclists and protected them and made it less inconvenient for the motorists. It seems to me that your police should have more important things to do.

Critical Mass MOVES and is only temporarily blocking traffic. Do not forget that bicycles are vehicles (by state law) and ARE traffic!


In Seattle the police have hassled Critical Mass but lately have resorted to just escorting us with only a squad car or two. I must say the police in the cars look a little bored! Critical Mass Seattle also turns often and only blocks traffic temporarily. No one gets hurt and auto drivers see that the bicycle is a real vehicle and possible mode of transportation. Most drivers honk and wave in appreciation. We get lots of shouts of encouragement and few angry people. The people that would be angry would be angry anyways, not because of a bunch of bicyclists.

Sincerely,
Aaron Goss Owner & Master Mechanic

Aaron's Bicycle Repair
6521 California Avenue SW
Seattle, WA 98136

(206) 938-9795 Fax(206) 923-1597

RideYourBike.com

Earth 1st, People 2nd, Profit 3rd!
(Saving the Earth = Saving Humanity! A profit driven society (capitalism) cannot survive indefinitely on the planet earth. Continued 'economic growth' will only deplete our planet's finite resources. We all must use fewer resources and energy and the bicycle is one great way!)

__o
_- \_<,
(*) /' (*)

Thank you so much, Aaron! :)

Please let us know if there's ever anything we can do to support bicyclists in Seattle.

[quote="langston] He surfs gay SINGLES sites, and allegedly had relations with questionably legal young man in his office, amongst other gov't locals. Google for it, The Stranger blew this up a month or two ago[/quote]

ya old news, he gave the kid an intership (in man love) i think.

i didnt realize henry worked for the city of spokane

bitch of a commute.

Can you feel the love?!

I'm sure Henry can...