What you can do about the new "Parade Rules"

You know when you break a vase in the house by playing nerf football and your parents make a RULE about not playing football anymore in the living room...Well the NYPD is trying to make new rules about parading.

This roughly translates into: The NYPD have been unsuccessful in stopping the critical mass bike ride since the RNC in 2004. No matter what they have tried, stealing bikes, arresting people, using orange netting, infiltrating the ride with undercovers, using domestic spying, ramming us with their scooters, tackling us off our bikes, dooring us with their squad cars, handing out false information that the ride is illegal, using thousands of dollars of our tax resources to scare us by their massive presence, using emergency vehicles to try and prove we don't pull over when we do, raiding our fundraisers, smashing our video cameras, ticketing us on our regular commute, lying to us about helmet laws and the speed of our bikes, ticketing us in Central park and illegal bicycle inspections. STILL WE RIDE. The police have lost in court, they had no argument against critical mass so now in a desperate final messusre they are trying to come up with a RULES so we can't play nerf football in the house.

If you think this is a ton of BS and not an appropriate response for the NYPD to be taken against Freedom loving bike riders who should be rewarded with bike lanes and encouraged to ride...Then TELL THE CITY WHAT YOU THINK....

TIMES UP SUGGESTS THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS:

+++TAKE ACTION AGAINST NYPD'S PROPOSED PARADE RULE!+++

NYPD has issued a proposed rule that would dictate how many people could legally ride their bikes or walk down the sidewalk together without a permit. The rule would actively discouraging cycling and make it more difficult for cyclists to ride together for safety. See the full text of the rule

Actions you can take to oppose the rule include:

1. Testify at the August 23 public hearing and attend the rally outside Police Plaza in opposition to the changes. Send notice of your intent to testify to:

Assistant Deputy Commissioner Thomas P. Doepfner
New York City Police Department
1 Police Plaza, Room 1406
New York, NY 10038

2. Attend a People's Public Forum on the proposed rule change. Thursday, August 17 at St. Mark's Church (2nd Avenue and 10th Street) at 7 p.m.

3. If you are involved with these groups, tell them about the proposed changes and urge them to attend the August 23rd hearing.

4. Write Mayor Bloomberg and ask him to withdraw the proposed rule. (City Hall/New York, NY 10007/Fax (212) 788-2460/ email: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html)

5. Urge your councilmember to testify against the rule at the public hearing and at the People's Public Forum. (Find your councilmember at http://www.nyccouncil.info/constituent/contact_member.cfm.

6. Pass along this information
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We must use our representation and our voices and stop this from happening. Forget the War in Iraq or the Massacre of the Lebanese people in the name of OIL...the war is here at home! If we can't even defend our own constitution...forget about what is happening in the bigger front.

This is not just about a bunch of bike riders who are having their fun spoiled...This is the OIL EMPIRE tightening its grip!