Bicycle Parking

Cyclists Be Warned: New City Bike Racks May Not be Secure

By Aaron Naparstek

2:49 PM EDT on June 8, 2007

From: stephanie — redbike606[at]yahoo[dot]com
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 11:54 PM
To: tips@streetsblog.org
Subject: atlantic ave bike racks

Hi Streetsblog,

You may have noticed that there are new bike racks all up on Atlantic Avenue [in Brooklyn]. They’ve been installed all along Atlantic, from Clinton to 4th avenue, on both sides of the street.

Initially, I was thrilled to finally have decent bike parking on my block. Unfortunately, I’m writing to tell you that these racks are insecure. My bike was stolen off of one last night. The thieves pulled the entire rack out of the ground, and took my bike and lock with it. The rack was secured into the ground with 3 inch bolts, but this does not seem to be secure enough.

Can you let your readers know that about this, and not to trust these new racks? Can you help me make a ruckus with whoever is responsible, to make sure that SECURE racks are installed, and not superficially? I’d hate to see this happen to someone else.

Thanks Streetsblog,

-Stephanie

P.S. Pictures of my bike, and the rack, can be found here: http://flickr.com/photos/voodoohoodoo/. Also, can you keep your eye out for a red voodoo hoodoo AL mountain bike? It has special wheel and seat locks, that are only unlockable with a special key.

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.