  E_hemingway Member Username: E_hemingway Post Number: 1726 Registered: 11-2004 |
Finally! Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News DETROIT -- A City Council committee voted Monday to repeal a little-enforced, but controversial ordinance that allows police to issue $55 tickets to those who don't register their bicycles. The full council is expected to vote on the repeal on Tuesday. On the committee, council members Sheila Cockrel and JoAnn Watson favored the repeal, while Alberta Tinsley-Talabi was absent. The move followed a public hearing that featured complaints from bikers. The Detroit Police Department announced this month that it would begin Aug. 7 enforcing a 1964 ordinance to require all bikes to be registered for $1. Police have said they aren't pushing the measure to collect money, but several speakers told the council they already have received tickets. Cockrel proposed the repeal, saying the police should be focusing its energy on responding to dangerous calls for service, rather than ticketing bike riders. "That should be the priority, not going after whether someone has a license on a bike," Cockrel said. Ron Scott, president of Bike Riders United, spoke for the repeal along with a number of other bike riders. "The city of Detroit ... does not need punitive measures that keep people separate," Scott said Police officials say they aren't concerned about the fines, but are just trying to return property to owners when bikes are stolen. Some have speculated that bicycle thefts could soar as gas prices rise. "Our focus is on being able to return property to their rightful owners," said Assistant Chief Robert Dunlap. You can reach Christine MacDonald at (313) 222-2396 or cmacdonald@detnews.com. http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.d ll/article?AID=/20080728/METRO /807280410 | ||
Fishtoes2000 Member Username: Fishtoes2000 Post Number: 630 Registered: 06-2005 |
Thanks to all those who came to the committee meeting today. Yes, it was a successful day. Hopefully this momentum will carry through until tomorrow's Council vote and when it ends up on the Mayor's desk. | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 1589 Registered: 07-2007 |
Just write down the serial number from the bottom of your crank hub (underneath the pedals) email it to yourself. It your bike gets ripped, just give the cops this serial number. thats it. | ||
Bvos Member Username: Bvos Post Number: 2298 Registered: 10-2003 |
Like the cops are going to look for a bike or bother to figure out who owns it. They can't even get stolen cars back to their rightful owner. This is one stupid law I'll be glad to see off the books. | ||
Thegryphon Member Username: Thegryphon Post Number: 57 Registered: 11-2007 |
I don't understand. What was wrong with bikes being registered so in the event of a theft they have info. on the cycle? There are far more annoying pieces of legislature that deserve attention &/or repeal than this! | ||
Gannon Member Username: Gannon Post Number: 13602 Registered: 12-2003 |
So now you know the process can work, why don't you list them for us! I'm all about repealing silly laws, it ain't easy being the only outlaw in the room most times. | ||
Gravitymachine Member Username: Gravitymachine Post Number: 2211 Registered: 05-2005 |
quote: there is nothing wrong with registering them so that in the event of theft they can be returned. the over riding problem with the ordinance was the part where non-registrants were open to a $55 fine in the event the police felt like ticketing them. secondarily, detroit's registry is not part of the national registry which would make far more sense should a stolen bike be stolen or taken out of the city limits and found in another juresdiction. edit: oh yeah, thanks to fishtoes and the rest of the advocates working on this (Message edited by gravitymachine on July 29, 2008) | ||
Fnemecek Member Username: Fnemecek Post Number: 2866 Registered: 12-2004 |
quote:quote: There's also the fact that DPD went out of its way to make it impractical for most Detroiters to get a bicycle license. The licenses were only available at a police station, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. | ||
Professorscott Member Username: Professorscott Post Number: 1490 Registered: 12-2006 |
Here's another problem: there are quite a few folks who like to ride their bikes to work, not as many as in other cities but still quite a few. Let's say you live in, oh, Clawson and you work in Detroit, and furthermore let's say every community decided to require bicycle registration. You'd have to register in each of several communities in order to be "legal" all the way through your route. And if they all were as brain-dead as Detroit seems to always be about customer service, they'd all require you to register at an inconvenient location at an impossible time. The whole idea is ludicrous, and then beyond that the City managed to make it bizarrely and unnecessarily inconvenient. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Not unexpected, but stupid. |
