Tomorrow, Parade without a Permit

The Radical Homosexual Agenda is hosting another Parade without a Permit:

PARADE WITHOUT A PERMIT!

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29TH @ 7PM
WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK @ THE FOUNTAIN

Queers, Allies and Everyone affected by the NYPD’s anti-assembly rules:
Join us in the streets as we challenge these rules!

We’re going to assemble in City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s district to PARADE WITHOUT A PERMIT! We’re going to deliver a big FUCK YOU to Speaker Quinn—after all, she’s quashed some of the very civil rights that made it possible for her, an out lesbian, to hold political office.

Bring noisemakers, signs and your dancing bodies out to reclaim OUR streets!

Why target Speaker Christine Quinn?

In 2006, multiple courts ruled the City’s assembly rules unconstitutional, and City Council was charged with fixing them. Instead of conducting public hearings and placing the matter into the hands of City Council, Speaker Quinn abdicated her responsibilities and allowed the NYPD to write these rules behind closed doors.

In February 2007, she rubberstamped the new rules into effect. Suddenly, it became illegal for 50 or more people to gather and process through New York City—unless they request and are given prior permission from the police.

Of course, the NYPD has a long history of attacking political groups, and one of their favorite tools is to deny permit requests of groups—like the organizers of the 2007 Trans Day of Action—who they don’t like.

Why do police decide who can assemble and who cannot? And since when do the police write rules? And why is all of this okay with Quinn?

Quinn so desperately wants to be mayor that she has sold the queer community and her constituents down the historical river for her own political gain. We’ll remind Quinn that she has her pot of gold, but she better not forgot the rainbow that led her to it!

The Stonewall veterans never asked for a permit, and neither will we!

Shout Out for a Pink and Black Block. Anyone who wants to participate, show your colors, jump in and dance to the beats of the Anti-Authoritarians, a queer drum corp.

Check out these two short movies.

Street Films has made two great videos about recent events in NYC.

The first is about the new LOOK campaign that has been launced to encourage more awareness of cyclists on the streets.



The second is about the Park(ing) day, where people reclaimed parking spaces for a day and turned them into little parks, gyms for kids and chill space.



Great job streetfilms.

A few events.

Friday is Critical Mass...remember that bike ride we all used to go to.

Then its the 20th anniversary party at the Time's Up space with Japanther and Team Spider (Bands)

Sunday there is a screening of my 5 minute short about Monster Track 8, fixed gear only alleycat that took place in freezing February.

This is part of an ongoing series called Bikeshorts.

8:00pm at the Larry Lawrence Bar. 295 Grand St. in WIlliamsburg.

Here is the trailer...

NYC screening of M.A.S.H.

Not the medical drama from the Korean War, M.A.S.H. is the movie by Gabe Morford and Michael Martin which propelled the fixed gear bicycle to the next level, a world of tricks and making possible the impossible on a track bike.

Track bikes have been trendy for a while, we all know this, now seeing enough skinny black jeans hipsters whizzin by with brakeless bikes. M.A.S.H. is a video that everyone was peepin on YouTube and quickly became a household name as far as sub cultures are concerned. Its a video like a skateboarding video, mostly riding and doing tricks...but it showed possibilities. Like the first time someone landed a kick flip or a rail slide. Its how these trends expand. How the Zephyr team broke all the molds in Dogtown and Zboys (the documentary) by doing things with their boards that had never been achieved.

M.A.S.H has had that same kind of influence, where the bike community around the world is holding trick events and pushing the limits with new tricks and ridin styles. Of course these trends exist on their own, but this video definitely can be heralded as a benchmark in the trend.

The movie was launched last year at the Bicycle Film Festival and now is playing at select screenings around the country.

Check out there new trailer

MASHSF new website

It is coming to the St. Marks Church


October 7th, 2007

Hosted by Trackstar and Dave's Quality Meats

We hope to be hanging out with at least one of the film makers and ridin.

ah, I forgot

I have been told I forgot to tell people to wear bright colors for tonights video taping. BRIGHT COLORS.

looking for bikers to be videotaped

Peter and CJ are doing visuals for the Time's Up 20th anniversary party on Friday.

They want people to come out tomorrow with their bikes and be video taped mugging for the camera. They say they will have bikes and a bike stand. They will be manipulating the video later into cool visuals to be projected at the party.

They will be at Reboot Pizza on Ave A, between 2nd and 3rd from 6-7pm. Tuesday the 25th. They will probably be there until 8pm. The restaurant is being kind to let them use the space and will be closed on that day.

So come by.

Yesterday was national (Park)ing day

Picture of Time's Up taking over a space on 7th ave. infront of the BirdBath bakery.

The idea is to reclaim public space from automobile storage to green space. People all over the city feed the meters and turned parking spaces into gardens, hangouts, chill spaces and free bike repair.

More Times Up pictures at Flickr set.

More coverage on streetsblog

Safety with a price...

Its safety enforement time here in the big apple, city designed for and catering primarily to the automobile while the pedestrian and the cyclists continue to play second fiddle.

July 26th, a helmet law went into effect for all those who WORK in nyc on a bicycle. Employees are required to wear a helmet and the employers are required to provide them with helmets.

32 spokes is a blog out of London who gave this report...

from 32 spokes...
"Following up from my previous post on this topic, today the new law, that requires bike messengers in New York City to wear helmets, goes into effect. Apart from this law being absolutely ridiculous, I find it hard to see how it will be enforced. As Carlos Ramirez, a 12 year bike messenger, points out in an article from NY Metro:"

"A lot of people who just commute look like messengers. How are the police going to know who’s a messenger? Now they’re going to search your bag?"

Links to related articles:

AM NY
Gothamist
Helmet law provided by Gothamist.
------------------------------------
The enforcement of this law is mitigated on the streets, by the worker themselves and creating an environment where the police are now profiling, at their discretion, who is a messenger or not.

Does the need for enforcement and making money on ticketing out weigh the need for safety?

I've been getting reports from non-couriers that they've been profiled as messengers and told by police they need a helmet. They tell police, they are not messengers and the cops say..."Doesn't matter, you need a helmet anyway."

Exactly how I predicted. When common sense turns into concrete law, the burden should be on the employers to provide their staff with helmets and to keep them safe. When your employer makes you an independent contracter, absolving the responsibility of paying costly health care benefits, then a $30 helmet should be nothing.

Instead you have the worker, riding his duct taped mountian bike on the sidewalk, carrying your Kung Pao chicken the four blocks you are too lazy to walk for, getting stopped by a cop looking to increase his quota and writing a summons of $30. Safety first.

Then you've got a new program being launched...

This comes from streetsblog. Also check out their week in review.

"The city launched its first ever cyclist/motorist safety campaign on Tuesday. Inspired by the 2005 death of cyclist Liz Byrne, ads will appear on bus shelters, buses and taxis encouraging cyclists to "Look" for one another while sharing the road. At the same time, Transportation Alternatives and the New York City Bicycle Coalition -- which helped develop the "Look" campaign -- called on the city to step up enforcement of driving laws and to implement more effective bike lane designs. Shortly thereafter, in the spirit of tougher enforcement, officers in Central Park began issuing warnings to commuters -- bike commuters, that is."

Again the sugar...with the salt.

Yesterday, (9/21/07) I got a call that the police were harassing people at the base of the Williamsburg bridge, Manhattan side. 2 parking police patrol cars were parked just pass the raised concrete platform stopping cyclists and sometimes trying violently to grab them off their bikes while riding by. Parking police? Now granted this is a crappy job, standing on Delancey St all day breathing in fumes...but you hardly see these guys enforcing anything, expect maybe blocking the box. But with new changes to safety regulations its time to target cyclists. So as a nation we continue to let our dying infustructure crumble in the free market economy gone wild, those who find alternatives...i.e. the cyclist, pay the price.

The Williamsburg bridge is a classic example. One minute it has bumps on it, one minute one side is closed for painting...THAT BRIDGE, never ever seems to be completed. One minute its 4 lanes of traffic coming off the bridge, the next its 6. Although we have won some battles, getting the bumps removed is one of them, that roadway still is largely influx and was never a good set up. So the parking police were trying to stop people from Not stopping and riding right into traffic which at the time was mostly to allow vehicles to exit, because one lane of the bridge...was closed. Why? Another coat of paint? Probably because the infustructure can't compete with the overpopulation and too many cars. I say, ride a bike.

So be careful out there, wear a helmet if you can, but also watch you back against, police harassment. If your stopped, you can beat the helmet thing (for now) then the cops, feeling embarassed will look immediately to see if you have a bell or two lights...often you can't win.

Fall Equinox bike ride in Brooklyn

The ride will be a casual late afternoon trek to the Ridgewood Reservoir, an abandoned 19th century water source for Brooklyn. He found a great hill behind the reservoir where we can drink, carouse, and watch the sun set over Manhattan. It will be a great way to officially say goodbye to summer. arghhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The ride will be easy. Feel free to bring a blanket, some food, and beer. Lots of beer. There will even be a cargo bike present that can be loaded up with supplies.

Saturday, September 22nd

5:30PM Grand Army Plaza
6:00PM Brooklyn side of Williamsburg Bridge

Bike Film Festival in San Francisco this week!!

Bicycle Film Festival is in San Francisco. September 19th-22nd...Tickets on sale now!

ALL FILM SCREENINGS AT
Victoria Theatre
2961 16th Street near Mission Street

REBIKE EXHIBITION
in collaboration with PUMA
at film screenings

Valet Bicycle Parking provided by SFBC
Sponsored by Kryptonite

Saturday, September 21st is a block party...

BICYCLE FILM FESTIVAL BLOCK PARTY

Capp Street Between 16th Street and 17th Street
Track Competitions hosted by M.A.S.H. Crew
BMX comp, Cyclecide
Fun Bike Games
Award Ceremony at Program 7

LOOK!

Tomorrow...be safe...

The New York Bike Messenger Foundation will be tabling at Union Square South this Tuesday, September 18 from Noon until 2pm.

We will be handing out NYBMF postcards and also Know Your Rights manuals.

Squid has been working with a lot of different people for two years on this safety campaign for New York City.

The campaign, called LOOK, was developed to raise awareness among drivers and bike riders about cyclists' right to the road and everyone's responsibility to drive and ride safely and be aware in traffic. It will run in English and Spanish on bus shelters, buses, taxi tops and phone kiosks this fall, and there will be a website, posters, postcards, t-shirts and other give-aways to promote cyclist safety.

The ads were produced by international ad firm Publicis in consultation with the NYC Bike Coalition, the City Departments of \ Transportation & Health, the NYPD, the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission and the Office of the Public Advocate.

The DOT will be handing out free helmets and there will be other giveaways as well!

Please stop by if you can and help us get the word out!

the folks at Chunk666...

Makers of tallbikes, choppers and things like this...

Their based out of Portland Oregon and now have a new blog site:

Chunk 666

check em.

here is their wikipedia description

Wacky bikes

Jacob sent me this website about the craziest bikes out there..

Oobject is a website that creats a billboard chart for gadets...here is a little more about them from their site:

There are dozens of gadget sites on the web, these days. Oobject is a bit different.

Oobject is somewhere between a blog and a directory. We pick topics for lists of gadgets . People then suggest items to go into them by tagging things as Oobject in wists. Visitors then vote on items to create something like ‘Billboard charts for gadgets’, voted by everyone.

Some of the topics we pick will be standard categories such as ‘top digital SLRs’. These will be constantly updated over time, with new items. Other topics will be quirky and fun, one offs, where we find a particularly interesting topic such as ‘retro soviet gadgets’.

Each day, instead of single blog posts, we will feature a single topic which is new or has been newly updated.

So here is their list of crazy-bicycles ...my favorite gadget.

Hang out it Zurich and race for 6 days.

What could be more fun then traveling and biking...

Check out the site

picture by Joshua Whitesnake mess nyc

commercial preview of the event on mess nyc


From the site:
X-Days!
A Zurich Bicycle Courier Velodrome Extravaganza Part 2!

Like the year before, this year around New Year’s an army of bicycle messengers
and general bike aficionados from all over the world will be flocking to Zurich.
While the local cycling temple Hallenstadion has the elite of international track
racers competing in the Zurich Sixdays, they will gather to celebrate their own X-Days.
Bicycle messenger don’t just make their mark on the tarmac of the street. They also know
how to look right on the boards that stage the drama of six day racing. Naturally, they
want to see the pros race and they will lend them their vocal support. But the fastest
among the messengers will also race each other in front of the same crowd.
Still, there’s much more to the X-Days! Just like in the early stages of Six Day racing,
an X-day still has 24 hours. Back then, the racers were subjected to around-the-clock hard
labour in smoke-filled venues while the audience gave their best at partying hard. Similarly,
the X-days will bring 7 days full of side events that will test the perseverance of those
partaking, including bike polo, alleycat races, lake jump on ice, fondue BBQ, parties,
a karaoke contest, and to finish things off on a relaxing note, a sauna visit. What more
could a bicycle messenger crave for?

Job opportunity to assist DOT with bike racks and lanes.

Here is a job offer in NYC to assist the DOT with making more bike lanes and bike racks. Hey, but that would encourage people to ride their bikes.
City Planner - Level I - Alternative Modes: Bicycle Program

Job Description:
The New York City Department of Transportation is embarking on an aggressive
campaign to expand the City¹s on-street network of bicycle lanes and routes
to facilitate the use of bicycles as an emission-free mode of
transportation. Coupled with this exciting initiative and the increase in
the number of bicycle racks requested citywide, the Bicycle Program is
seeking a self-motivated person to assist the City Racks Manager in
administering the program. Listed below is a brief description of the
program¹s accomplishments and planned activities:

* To date, over 4,121 bike racks have been installed throughout the five
boroughs; annual installation is 500+ bike racks
* Developing a bike and ride program aimed at improving bicycle parking
at subways stations and bus stops.
* DOT has secured the services of a contractor to install hundreds of
additional bicycle racks, to be completed in the next year.

The responsibilities of the person include processing bike rack requests in
a database; mapping, locations; conducting fieldwork (50% of work) to
investigate and analyze the location of the request; preparing and
submitting correspondence regarding the status of the request; scheduling
the installation of bike racks; conducting follow-up installation
investigation and documentation; preparing reports. The person will also be
responsible for similar type tasks for the bike and ride program. The
candidate may also be requested to perform other duties relevant to the City
Rack program and the Bicycle Program.

Qualification Requirements:
1. A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and two years of
satisfactory full-time experience in city planning, or

2. A satisfactory combination of education and or experience that is
equivalent to ³1² above. Graduate education in city planning, urban
planning, urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, transportation
engineering, or related fields may be substituted for experience on the
basis of 30 semester credits from an accredited college for one year of
experience. However, all candidates must have a baccalaureate degree.

Note: New York City residency is required within 90 days of appointment.

Special Note: While we appreciate every applicant's interest, only those
under consideration will be contacted.

Specialized Knowledge: Proficiency in ArcView, Microsoft Word and Excel.

Other Information: This is an excellent opportunity for a person interested
in urban cycling, transportation planning and project implementation.
Experience in cycling a plus.

Salary Range: $49,493 - $62,155. The minimum for employees appointed on or
after 2/1/07 is $43,037.

Job Location: 40 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013, Room 1035

Number of Positions: 1

To Be Considered For This Vacancy:
1) Place the control code listed below in the upper right hand corner of
your resume and on the lower left hand corner of the envelope.
(2) Your resume must include a chronological work history and salary earning
summary.
(3) Send two copies of your resume to:
Kim Fowler-Jackson
Traffic Operations/ Administration
NYC Department of Transportation
28-11 Queens Plaza North, 8th Floor
Long Island City, N.Y. 11101

Control Code: # W841/08/CTO-833

Closing Date: 9/21/07

DOT is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Check out Street Games

I shot 3 of these shows...yeah for me.

Bicycle Film Festival in Minneapolis

What do we know about bikes and Minneapolis?

Minneapolis is where Black Label Bike Club started.

It is the home to Surly bikes...

There is a cool bike shop that is hosting after partys and goldsprints...


it is hosting the 7th annual bicycle film festival... September 12-15th.

Time's Up 20th Anniversary Party!!

NYC's most loved environmental activist group is having a party to celebrate 20 years of great service

Time's Up 20th Anniversary Fundraiser Party
www.times-up.org


Music By:
Japanther
Team Spider
DJ Suggested D

Video By:
Glass Bead Collective

Friday, Sept. 28,
8pm-late,
49 E. Houston St,
Sliding Scale: $10-$1000

Against overwhelming odds, Time's Up Environmental Organization is
celebrating its twentieth year. Come celebrate twenty years of
achievements and support the future of our environment at our 20th
Anniversary Fundraising Party. Thanks to the steadfast devotion of our
volunteers and supporters, we are happy to announce that nonpolluting
transportation and environmental awareness are at an all time high and
continue to rise. Check out our 20th Anniversary Timeline for more
information about the journey and how you can get involved.

To download a word file with a timeline of Times Up activities...visit my .mac account page here

SNY, Rumble through da bronx...screening

Sometimes you just don't feel like hauling your equipment around, setting up helmet cameras, watching as the rain starts pouring down, wondering if any of them were even recording. You find yourself speeding on the Harlem River Drive trying to get one of the race organizers his forgotten computer so he can start the race. Then you finally getting to the Bronx and realizing a person you lent your road bike to has totaled the back wheel. That was my Rumble thru the Bronx experience only this time we there was another video crew relying on those helmet cams.

Well it turns out that crew was Wonderland Productions and they were talking about doing this show for the mets channel, SNY featuring the famous Rumble alleycat as one of their segments for a new show called "Street Games."

I remember sitting in a conference room with CK and Hodari with this big map of the Bronx going over the checkpoints and trying to explain to the wonderland crew what I had learned from covering Rumble 3 last year. The deal was we were going to provide helmet cameras and any technical assistance and in the end, share footage.

Their main guy, Dan Klein, wanted to profile a messenger on the job and then in the race. Hodari whips out his nextel and within a couple of minutes Redman walks in and gets the part. Messengers, at your service.

The show is premiereing tomorrow, Thursday, September 13th at 10:00 on SNY.

There will be a biker screening at Sophie's Bar at 10:00pm, projected on the wall.

Sophie's
507 E Fifth St (between A and B)
New York, NY 10009-6701
Phone: (212) 228-5680

and here is a NYtimes article on the show that was in today's paper.

A Sports Show for New York’s Weekend Warriors

A scene from a “Street Games” episode focusing on a bicycle-messenger race in the Bronx.
By KATHRYN SHATTUCK
Published: September 12, 2007

The Tour de France it is not.
“Hold up your bicycles, four inches from your chest,” Mike Dee, camouflage and dreadlocks standing in for yellow jersey and helmet, bellows like a drill sergeant to a scrappy platoon.

“Now, repeat after me,” he commands. “This is my bicycle.”

“This is my bicycle,” the chorus shouts back.

“Without my bicycle, I am useless.” More shouts.

“Without me, my bicycle is useless.” Shouts, and grunts.

“All right, hoo-rah!”

And with the clatter of wheels against pavement, 100 bike messengers speed off on Rumble Through the Bronx, an unsanctioned “alley-cat race” featuring enough close encounters — and a scary direct hit — with cars and curbs to send Lance Armstrong scurrying back to Texas.

Which makes it perfect for “Street Games,” a celebration of athletic endeavors as only colorful New Yorkers could perform them. The show makes its debut tonight at 10 as the first original entertainment series on SportsNet New York.

Promoted as “ ‘Wide World of Sports’ meets the Big Apple,” the show will traverse the five boroughs in 10 half-hour episodes that focus on rarely televised activities like handball and rugby in Manhattan, roller derby and dragon-boat racing in Queens, cricket in Staten Island and outrigger-canoe racing off Brooklyn. Kenan Harkin, a former X Games competitor, is host. The show moves into its regular time slot tomorrow, Thursdays at 10 p.m.

That the players in “Street Games” have none of the glossy panache and a fraction of the megamillion-dollar budgets of the professional leagues might seem at cross-purposes with SNY, the television home of the Mets and the Jets.

But SNY’s broader mission, 18 months after going on the air, is to become the home for all New York sports, professional and otherwise. In addition to broadcasting more than 120 Mets games a season and 250-plus hours a year of in-depth Jets coverage, SNY offers four nightly live sports-news shows focusing on the region’s professional and collegiate teams.

The network also is the leader in Big East coverage in the New York area in the combined number of televised basketball and football games. Owned by the New York Mets, Time Warner and Comcast, SNY is available to nearly 11 million households throughout New York and Connecticut, in most of New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania and nationally on DirecTV and Dish Network.

In 2006 SNY had the largest viewership increase in all of Major League Baseball on a regional sports network versus the 2005 season, averaging a 2.9 household rating for Mets games. For 2007 SNY is averaging a 3.14 household rating. (One point represents about 74,000 households.) This year the YES network has averaged a 4.6 household rating for Yankees games.

“When you’ve been in the city for a while, you take for granted that there are all these sports and athletes that are distinct to the streets of New York and that they compete every day,” Steve Raab, president of SNY, said. “ ‘Street Games’ is not about the competition itself. It’s really about the stories and the characters, as told through the competition.”

“Street Games” is also about community, tenacity and New Yorkers’ dogged ability to carve out greener pastures — even if that means only a slice of asphalt — in one of the nation’s most congested environments.

As the tag line puts it, “The street is our stadium.”

“New York is such a space-constrained area, and New Yorkers in their passion for sports have created these games,” Mr. Raab said. “They’re not terribly expensive to play, and they can adapt to whatever is their surroundings.”

Take stickball, “just a game that our fathers and grandfathers started in the ’30s and ’40s,” said Richie Marrero, president of the New York Emperors Stickball League, in a telephone interview. “They didn’t have the money to join Little League, so they got together, bought a rubber ball, broke off their mothers’ broom handles and played in the street.”

These days, stickball thrives in New York, where there is also a children’s division, as well as in California, Florida and Puerto Rico, with teams sprouting up in the Dominican Republic. But the heart of the sport remains Stickball Boulevard in the South Bronx, where more than 2,000 people turned out to watch champions like the Gold, Mr. Marrero’s team, play agile newcomers like the Rookies of Puerto Rico at the league’s Memorial Day Weekend Classic, which is shown in tonight’s episode.

“For a kid who didn’t have the money to be going to Yankee Stadium all the time, this was like the Yankee Stadium in the street,” Paul J. Ortiz, who returns from California each year to play with the Bronx Knights, says in the show.

Basking for a moment in the limelight, Mr. Marrero, the man his teammates call the Steinbrenner of Stickball, can’t help but muster a little attitude, Mets-style.

“I’ll take the best 10 ballplayers in this league against the best 10 Major League ballplayers in this game any day of the year,” Mr. Marrero says, glaring into the camera. “We’re ready to play the Yankees. Just leave the cleats and gloves at home.

“Steinbrenner, you looking?”

Bike blog calender of events.

For now...here is a link to my Calender.

Its being hosted on my .mac account. Go to this page and download the pdf that says bikeblogcalender.

The calender has hyperlinks to the details of the events.

Is there anyway to just put up the url of the pdf? What would be the web address on a .mac account? And thank you to brooklyn surfer for the info on 30Boxes.com. I am working on that.

Bike Shorts are back in Brooklyn

So this guy...

picture by Joshua Whitesnake mess nyc
and his alter ego (some dude who rides around in his underwear) were to busy galavanting in Ireland at this years cycle messenger world championships...

so bike shorts took a little break
But now it's back...

This is the place to show off your movies about bikes...

Bike Shorts

September 30th, Sunday at the bar called: Larry Lawrence 295 Grand St. in Williamsburg Brooklyn. $100.00 cash prize for the best film, voted on by the audience with loud cheering and clapping.

Bike blog is coming back...

So I am working on a monthly calender, that will be a downloadable PDF...if I can figure out how to post a pdf to blogger.

The calender will be per month and have hyperlinks to the details of the events.

Please send me your events so they can get posted to the schedule: Alleycats, tours, races, mutant bike events, screenings, eco-conferences...

Not just NYC, but the US and beyond.

Meanwhile a couple of races are coming up:

September 15th...4th installment of the 5 borough generals race

Its not too late to join the fun...
So far Austin Horse with 60 points and Dan Chabanov, 59, are in a tight battle.



Upcoming in October, Jon of Les Demon Cats wanted me to post the D.C. alleycat honoring the 40th anniversary of the death of revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

D.C. couriers always throw down a great time so come to the nations capital and have some Revolutions of your own, the cadence kind.

Aiiight.