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bike stolen — Brooklynian

bike stolen

izisharp
izisharp
edited November -1 in Prospect Heights
Question for all you cyclists and bikers, who might be able to help point me in the right direction --

I locked my bike to a parking/street sign in Dumbo, on York Street just by the F train on Jay, at about 6pm Friday night. When i returned at 12:30am it was gone :( Obviously it's possible the bike was stolen, but since the bike was locked illegally and there was no broken chain/lock left behind, i thought it could've been confiscated by the NYPD or DOT. But after calling 311 and the local police precinct, I'm told its a virtually impossible the city confiscated the bike, and that the city ever confiscates bikes period.

Is this true? Isn't there a place I should look or call to determine if the city did in fact claim my bike? Any past experience y'all can speak on?

Thanks.

Comments

  • alex
    alex
    It was stolen
  • king without a crown
    king without a crown
    I've never heard of the City doing this. For further reference; your next bike you can go to any Police Precinct and have a unique seriel # etched into the frame of the Bike in an inconspicuous place. This way if your Bike ever turns up, theres a way to track you down. 1000's of bikes a year never reunite with their owners because theres no way to link the Bike to them.
  • homeowner
    homeowner
    King, what happens to bike's the PD gets back but can't return because they can't ID the owners?
  • izisharp
    izisharp
    and how does the city enforce bike-locking regulations if not by confiscating bikes?

    the city never removes locked bikes? ever?
  • raulism
    raulism
    There have been several articles, especially over the last few months, of police confiscating locked bicycles. Here is a selection:

    http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/runninscared/archives/2007/07/parks_departmen.php

    This is from back in 2005:
    http://www.transalt.org/press/media/2005/154.html

    http://www.streetsblog.org/2005/11/10/billyburg-bike-bandits-strike-again/

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06EFD91E3EF933A15752C1A9639C8B63

    http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/runninscared/archives/2007/06/bike_raid_on_ea.php

    Of course this doesn't mean that your bike wasn't stolen.
  • izisharp
    izisharp
    raulism wrote: Of course this doesn't mean that your bike wasn't stolen.
    I am realistic and have basically resigned to the fact that my bike was almost surely stolen. But it is a little frustrating when, as the articles you linked reiterate, the city DOES confiscate bikes yet provides absolutely no information thru 311 or NYPD as to how, when, or where to retrieve them. Is this an FBI or Homeland Security issue or sumthin!?!?! Even if my bike WAS confiscated by the city, not a single city employee's been able to lead me to how to go about retrieving it. And that's unacceptable.
  • pitu
    pitu
    It's true, the city sucks at that.
    There was a guy who won a bike in an essay contest.
    His essay, "The NYPD stole my bike"

    (The new bike was presented on Good Morning America, or Today or one of those network am shows. If I'm remembering this correctly, his bike was clipped off a post during a Critical Mass gathering.)
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    in my life time here in nyc. i have 3 bikes stolen. that was left outside chain for less than a few hours each.

    edit: a 4th bike wasn't chained. saw the guy ride away with it. couldn't chase the thug down.
  • king without a crown
    king without a crown
    Unclaimed bikes are usually auctioned off. Heres 2 links that I found http://www.propertyroom.com/ http://home2.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/ssb/property-notice.html
  • raulism
    raulism
    izisharp wrote: I am realistic and have basically resigned to the fact that my bike was almost surely stolen. But it is a little frustrating when, as the articles you linked reiterate, the city DOES confiscate bikes yet provides absolutely no information thru 311 or NYPD as to how, when, or where to retrieve them. Is this an FBI or Homeland Security issue or sumthin!?!?! Even if my bike WAS confiscated by the city, not a single city employee's been able to lead me to how to go about retrieving it. And that's unacceptable.
    There are other people that have dealt with this, for instance I found this link:
    http://www.streetsblog.org/2007/07/12/report-new-parks-dept-policy-to-clip-locks-and-seize-bikes/

    Also, Transportation Altnernatives has been advocating new policies regarding this. Check out
    http://www.transalt.org/e-bulletin/2005/May/index.html
    Transportation Altnernatives wrote: Act to Stop Illicit Bike Clipping and Impounding

    Untold numbers of bikes are clipped each month because the New York City government has no policy to deal with abandoned bikes. In recent months this lack of policy direction has also given the NYPD a pretense to clip and confiscate bikes.

    To put an end to reckless clipping and confiscation of bikes, T.A. is pressing the City to adopt a policy to deal with abandoned bikes. The City should designate one agency to run an abandoned bicycle removal program. Today, the Police, Fire and Sanitation Departments periodically clip abandoned bikes en masse without any notice (the Parks Department usually tags bikes before clipping them). After the bikes are clipped, there is no way for owners of legitimately locked bikes to know what happened or retrieve them.

    The DOT is the most rational agency to take the lead on this, since they have the clearest jurisdiction over the sidewalk. Email the DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall and urge her to adopt a rational abandoned bike policy: www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/maildot.html
    Finally, our elected representatives were elected to represent us. Try giving Council Member Tish James a call at 718-260-9191.
  • evan
    evan
    cops also randomly clipped bikes along 6th st a few months ago without warning and any sort of notification to the owners.
  • erikka
    erikka
    I would check with the local precinct to see if any sort of clipping took place that night.

    BUT, more likely than not, it was stolen. What kidn of lock did you have?
  • izisharp
    izisharp
    erikka wrote: I would check with the local precinct to see if any sort of clipping took place that night.

    BUT, more likely than not, it was stolen. What kidn of lock did you have?
    Yep.. i called the local precinct immediately. They said something ignorant like "uh..i never heard of the city confiscating or clipping bikes." 311 was equally unhelpful (except that they connected me directly to the local NYPD precinct).
    I had a decent $40 Masterlock chain, not top of the line, but a good deterrent for a 70s cruiser that cost me $80. Or so I thought.
  • doctorj
    doctorj
    I always use 3 locks; 2 D-bolts and a wire. Front and back to frame and frame to fixture, interlocking. With Mrs DrJ, it's 3 bolts and 2 wires criss-cross both frames and wheels. The idea is to make it harder to remove the bike(s) than it would be to dig up or dismantle the pole or fence.
  • erikka
    erikka
    doctorj wrote: I always use 3 locks; 2 D-bolts and a wire. Front and back to frame and frame to fixture, interlocking. With Mrs DrJ, it's 3 bolts and 2 wires criss-cross both frames and wheels. The idea is to make it harder to remove the bike(s) than it would be to dig up or dismantle the pole or fence.
    Yeah, I second this--I use a U lock on my rear wheel and the NY Kryptonite chain. The only thing not locked down is my seat (must remedy this) and stem.
  • armchair_warrior
    armchair_warrior
    thats alot of work dr j. should be easier if they allow would be bike thieves to be publicly beaten on site by the mob.
  • doctorj
    doctorj
    armchair_warrior wrote: thats alot of work dr j. should be easier if they allow would be bike thieves to be publicly beaten on site by the mob.
    That might work for thieves, but it seems it's the police and parks dept. we need to be worried about.
  • vanilla
    vanilla
    erikka wrote: [quote=doctorj]I always use 3 locks; 2 D-bolts and a wire. Front and back to frame and frame to fixture, interlocking. With Mrs DrJ, it's 3 bolts and 2 wires criss-cross both frames and wheels. The idea is to make it harder to remove the bike(s) than it would be to dig up or dismantle the pole or fence.
    Yeah, I second this--I use a U lock on my rear wheel and the NY Kryptonite chain. The only thing not locked down is my seat (must remedy this) and stem.

    yeah - a friend of a friend's with a circle-a bike had her fork and bars stolen last week ---- totally sucks!!!!

    also, becareful b/c often poles are way weaker than the locks you are using to lock up---- some bike locking posts are already sawed through and then swivled back together to make the structure appear solid and perfect again. or poles without signs on top .... you know.
  • evan
    evan
    to lock up your seatpost and stem you can put a ball bearing in the allen key hole and fill it with super glue. it's tough to get out, but you can do it when you need to.

    anyone who thinks someone in nyc would stop a bike thief should watch this. sure, some people might, but not most - and bike thieves know this.

    you should also pay attention to what's on top of what you lock to. you should always try to lock to something that you cant lift things straight up off of, even if it has a sign on top. some thieves use poles with hooks to pick up your bike and push it off the top of street sign posts.
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