community-based, non-corporate, participatory media
Pittsburgh Critical Mass
by Nathan shaffer
Saturday, Aug. 31, 2002 at 6:04 AM
PITTSBURGH—Nearly 60 bicycling activists tied up traffic during the evening rush hour on Friday August 30.
PITTSBURGH—Nearly 60 bicycling activists tied up traffic during the evening rush hour on Friday August 30. The cyclists demanded recognition of their vehicles, forcing cars, trucks, and SUVs to acknowledge their presence and right to the road.
The ride’s route snaked from Oakland in front of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History down 5th Avenue to Downtown Pittsburgh. The ride then crossed the Smithfield Bridge into the South Side. From South Side, the ride crossed the Hot Metal Bridge back into Oakland, ending at the starting point.
The mood of the ride was festive as riders received cries of support from onlookers and sometimes motorists.
Downtown
by Nathan shaffer
Saturday, Aug. 31, 2002 at 6:04 AM
Hot Metal Bridge
by Nathan shaffer
Saturday, Aug. 31, 2002 at 6:04 AM
Carson Street
by Nathan shaffer
Saturday, Aug. 31, 2002 at 6:04 AM
More Info
by Nathan Shaffer
Sunday, Sep. 01, 2002 at 9:11 AM
Sorry, I forgot to add some info:
This critical mass was much larger than Pittsburgh's Critical Masses have been in the past. The organizers worked very hard to get more people out and were successful. The Critical Mass will meet the last Friday of every month at 5:30 next to the giant dinosaur on Forbes Avenue in Oakland.
how were the cops
by carrot juice machine
Sunday, Sep. 01, 2002 at 3:30 PM
bakunin@dartmouth.edu
hey gang.
that sounds great...
how were the cops? I just recently read something on how a few years back the SF critical mass had to fight back for their right to ride. the cops would aggressively harass them back then. I don't know much about their struggle, though now the police allow them to legally protest in this way.
Cops
by Nathan Shaffer
Sunday, Sep. 01, 2002 at 9:18 PM
The cops were nonexistent. Yeah, SF's have gotten beaten up pretty badly in the past, but theirs are also much larger than Pittsburgh's.
no cops--awesome--for now?
by rosy cheeks with that fun thang
Monday, Sep. 02, 2002 at 10:43 AM
bakunin@dartmouth.edu
coolio, but does critical mass in SF have a strategy we can use for handling cop presence? i haven't participated, yet; i've only gotten my fixed-gear road bike a few months ago... right now i'm riding hard in hanover, new hampshire, but i'm really looking forward to the next critical mass in pgh (i should be back pretty soon)! critical mass posters rock, btw...
more info on critical mass
by i can hug my Bianchi Pista all day long
Monday, Sep. 02, 2002 at 11:26 AM
bakunin@dartmouth.edu
hey, this is a Critical Mass Guide to Cycling (in Melbourne, though still relevant & interesting): http://www.vmore.org.au/~damon/cm/gui.html. Please post some more links on Critical Mass!
dealing with cops
by alex
Monday, Sep. 02, 2002 at 8:38 PM
hey, just some comments.
There will be INEVITABLE police problems. Unless CM stays small sooner or later we're going to encounter problems.
After cop incidents one city started a jar of justice that people contribute to at each mass. In the event anyone has a problem they use the money to pay citations, bail, lawyer, etc. Something like this is probably a good idea.
The most important thing is to have good documentation of any arrests or incidents. Video is critical. In the event something does happen you need to go after the police really really hard the first time. File complaints, take it to the media, SUE, etc.
Don't let the cops goad you into physical altercations. It may seem like a lot of other people are around, but no one is in a position to help in the event of a incident. DO NOT TOUCH THE COPS!
if the cops are hassling someone don't leave that person. it puts a lot more pressure on them not to do anything if all the traffic is being tied up by people.
It's important to understand that the police are probably not going to hassle the mass unless it's for a specific reason. At least that's been the pattern in other cities, but you never know.
the reasons are usually one of the below
a: the mass gets big enough that it becomes a issue in the media. this puts pressure on the city/police to act!
b: the police want to get back at activists for something (this just happened in Portland)
c: a business district entity complains. basically enough complaints from anyone will do it.
if the mass can stay below the radar until it grows things will probably be okay. Pittsburgh doesn't have the protest exposure other places have so the cops would have more problems painting people riding bikes as a big problem. Other places they can use the it's the same punk anarchists blah blah....
media can't be the primary pressure on the cops
by coppa skalpa
Tuesday, Sep. 03, 2002 at 9:25 AM
bakunin@dartmouth.edu
it seems like you're saying media coverage really amps up the cops' aggression. it probably is true, but seattle was different (first the vicious cops, then the apologetic & criminalizing media). the cops probably didn't have the media on their minds when they cracked down hard on the modest mayday '01 protest downtown Pgh. it'd be nice to have a feature on local police brutality on indypgh.org
media.
by 45675
Tuesday, Sep. 03, 2002 at 12:16 PM
what I meant by media is this-
Other CM's have encountered problems once the mass media had some type of coverage of the event. This doesn't always happen, but it can
The mass gets big, the media decides it's a story to cover, they look for the different angles on it and find people upset about the traffic disruption element of it, a bunch of stupid people watching tv call the city or police to complain, some politician or police official sees the possability to score political points so they make some statement about keeping things moving or whatever, pressure gets put to have a public show that the city/police is DOING something, cops crackdown on some little infraction to have a show arrest/citation, etc.
tying up straffic is cool.
by bob
Friday, Sep. 06, 2002 at 8:34 AM
Hopefully some ambulances couldn't get through, too. That'll show those stupid fucks for getting sick and dying!
Seriously, how does pissing people off help anything? And don't talk around my question by talking about how bikes should be shared on the road, how cars use too many resources, etc. I know all that already. What I want to know is, how does pissing people off help anything?
rthtgh
by uill
Friday, Sep. 06, 2002 at 1:20 PM
your right!!! how does pissing people off help. it's the same as when I'm stuck in my car and I have to wait at a traffic light for pedestrians to CROSS THE ROAD! Who is stupid enough to think that forcing me to respect pedestrian rights is actually going to work. I just want to hit them instead of wondering whether what they are asking for is reasonable. I mean I have to wait, it isn't fair. If they want rights then they shouldn't do anything that pisses me off. That will solve problems the quickest. If I'm happy then maybe I will consider granting people rights as part of my benevolence
Some people just don't get it.
by Nathan
Friday, Sep. 06, 2002 at 8:35 PM
First of all, it's not about pissing people off. Bikes are legal vehicles allowed on all of our city streets, but it seems as though most motorists refuse to recognize that. Until PA passes legislation like CO's that mandates any new road must have a bike lane, then the roads must be shared. Currently it's unsafe for cyclists to use the road because motorized vehicles do not respect them as the legal vehicles that they are. Secondly, cyclists are bound by the same traffic rules that cars are. If an ambulance needs to get through, it's a hell of a lot easier for a bike to get out of its way than a couple of SUVs. It wasn't an issue on this ride, but I'm fairly confident that the CM wouldn't consider blocking an ambulance as part of any sort of progressive action.
gives them time to take a leak, and think
by leaky fuel injection
Monday, Sep. 09, 2002 at 12:36 PM
bakunin@dartmouth.edu
yo,
challenging the norm will always provoke people; it's a truism that some will be inspired by it, and others enraged. trying to be acceptable and accomodating is a consumerist, bourgeois impulse. what's great about CM is that it's a creative way to disrupt an absentminded, environmentally, and arguably socially destructive status quo. disruption of the usual is a neat device in general, because it gets people to think about what they're doing, even if at first, from a defensive point of view (it may be a universal reflex to first defend what you're comfortable with). CM seeming radical may also be a symptom of how high and mighty drivers asume they are, and how many legal rights we've given away culturally/in practice to owners of cars.
hey there uill
by disenchanted rockstar
Monday, Sep. 09, 2002 at 1:12 PM
"If I'm happy then maybe I will consider granting people rights as part of my benevolence"
woah! so YOU'RE the guy who grants the rights! next time you're feeling benevolent do you think you could take another look at that "right to free speech" thing? i've noticed lately that it's not as universal as people like to think . . .
Rob
by RPA
Sunday, Oct. 27, 2002 at 1:13 PM
I just finished 5 years of living in Pittsburgh, specifically South Oakland. I didn't own a car in all those years and I either walked or bussed to destinations. Mostly, I walked. A handful of times I was nearly injured by a bicycle on the sidewalk, sometimes in the dark, coming up behind me, no noise, no lights, often nary a reflector. (5th Ave. between Oakland & Shadyside is particularly dangerous for pedestrians) I realize not all cyclists ride so carelessly. But show me one that actually has a noisemaker! No rings no honks--Nothing! I support your Critical Mass against the failure of both City Govt.and automobile drivers to safely support cyclists. However, don't forget the threat that many cyclists pose to pedestrians. For a start, bikes not equipped with lights are unacceptable even on the sidewalk. What happened to Dynamos, come on it's 2002 don't they make those simple inexpensive gadgets anymore?
--Rob.
Critical Mass is misguided
by Michael
Monday, Jan. 20, 2003 at 12:53 PM
mohene1@lsu.edu
Bob was right. Pissing people off does not help. One of the problems with activists is that they refuse to understand that criticism is how they are viewed in society.
Let's take an example: If I drive a car because I think bikes are slow and troublesome how does seeing critical mass change my mind and make me want to ride a bike.
I actually do ride a (3)bike, but I will never particpate in critical mass (again) because of their anti-car as opposed to pro-bicycle messege.
Just because a law is in place does not me you have to take advantage of it unecessarily. Having the right to free speech doesn't mean insulting people, its socially rude.
Just look at how many mountain bikes there are in the picture. Let us see; MOUNTAIN bike, not road. Why would you ride a heavy mountain bike in traffic?
They are for rough terrain and road bikes are for, oh well maybe its useless.
Take a day or a week and learn about effective cycling, learn about road bikes, learn about the hazards of bike lanes, etc.
And Bike Lanes!! Come on. You might as well be an SUV driver. Lose the agenda and become a cyclist.
Im sure some of the people in critical mass have good intentions, but if they would just learn about bikes (Don't underestimate this hurdle in american society) they would shy away from plans dictating that cyclists should be segregated.
www.sheepallies.freeservers.com
Bike Lanes are a Must
by Adam Retchless
Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 at 6:39 AM
Regarding the last two messages:
Bikers primarily ride on the sidewalk because they can't safely ride on the street. Also, it probably never occurs to those bikers that they should be riding on the street because they rarely see other riders in the street, because the streets are only (reasonably) safe for experienced riders. And since the bikers don't consider themselves to be vehicles (since they can't ride in the street), it probably doesn't occur to them to get lights. BTW, I do have lights and a bell.
Bikes and cars are very different vehicles, primarily because of their normal speeds. That is the main reason that there should be bike lanes. When bikes and cars try to share one lane, the end result is either that the cars are slowed down by the bikes or the cars try to force themselves around the bikes, making dangerous situations. If you don't want to explicitly segregate bikes and cars, another possible solution is to just have two lanes on every street so that the slower traffic can stay away from the faster traffic. However, if the second lane is going to be big enough for cars, then the streets are going to have to become A LOT wider...if the lanes aren't wide enough for cars, then they are, in fact, bike lanes.
Another solution, bike paths, are great for safety reasons and also just because cars are so damn annoying (fumes, noise, dust, oil, etc). I want to be as far away from them as possible.
Finally (a bit of a side note), there are perefectly reasonable reasons to have mountain bikes on the road, such as pot-holes, curbs, and the simple fact that this is the vehicle that a novice road biker is likely to have. If bikes are treated as a normal form of city transportation, then more bikers will get bikes better suited for city riding.
Bike Lanes are Debris Strips
by Prodigal Yunzer
Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 at 8:03 AM
I lived in an area with bike lanes and the only good thing about them is that you get some clearance on the right side when you ride directly on the reflective ribbon. All of the road debris gets blown onto the bike lane making it hazardous to road bikes with high pressure thin tires. Your left asscheek will still be in the road, which is where it belongs when you are riding something. Bicycles are vehicles. People who ride their bikes on sidewalks should be ticketed and have their lower bracket sawed in half. Its a sideWALK for a reason.
If it were enforcable...
by Adam Retchless
Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 at 3:54 PM
If it were possible to ticket those bikers who are riding on the sidewalk , then it should be no problem to ticket those two cars that made left turns thru the intersection at Craig and Fifth even though there was oncoming traffic (me-in daylight with lights on). To top it off, these two cars had entered the intersection after the light had turned red.
Again, if bikers could go into the street without fearing for their lives, a lot less would bike on the sidewalk. Just the other day I was biking with a friend who I encouraged to ride in the street, but she insisted on riding on the (empty) sidewalk because she had had problems at that intersection.
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