Photo: Anthony Rebholz/This is FYFVia Gothamist, local blog This is FYF posts this scene from Houston Street earlier today. Apparently, with President Obama due in town for a speech at Cooper Union, NYPD jumped at the chance to drastically overreact by confiscating New Yorkers' personal property. We haven't been able to confirm with the public information office yet, but This is FYF says police cited "security concerns that bikes might be secret pipe bombs" as their excuse:
NYPD officers clipped the locks of hundreds of bikes along HoustonStreet this morning in preparation for President Obama's speech atCooper Union. The bikes were unceremoniously put in the back of thetruck. There was no prior notification of the bikes needing to becleared along the route by NYPD and onlookers were not giveninformation as to what would become of the bikes.
NYPD's penchant for equating bikes and cycling with security threats is, historically speaking, a recent development. If they were doing this stuff forty years ago, Governor Rockefeller might never have made it to his Earth Day speech in Prospect Park.
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog New York City
Report: Road Violence Hits Record in First Quarter of 2024
Sixty people died in the first three months of the year, 50 percent more than the first quarter of 2018, which was the safest opening three months of any Vision Zero year.
Street Sweepers Could Nab Illegal Parking Under State Bill
Smile for the street-sweeper!
Thursday’s Headlines: The Way of Water Edition
The "Blue Highways" campaign wants the mayor to convert a downtown heliport into a freight delivery hub. Plus more news.
Gotcha-Heimer! Anti-Congestion Pricing Jersey Rep. With a City Speeding Ticket Drove to Manhattan on Wednesday
New Jersey's most vociferous opponent of congestion pricing parked illegally and once got a speeding ticket.
