3) Bicycles and limited use vehicles.

(i) No person shall ride or operate a bicycle upon any sidewalk area

unless permitted by sign. This prohibition shall not apply to the operation

of bicycles with wheels of less than 26 inches in diameter upon the

sidewalk by children of 12 years or less in age.

I will indulge nonetheless. The “why” is because in this world where we hope and dream of obliterating racism – racism still exists. Sometimes it is blatant and sometimes it is served up as the insidious, covert manner, under the auspices of enforcing the law and making our community a better place to live. As I pointed out earlier, it was an infraction and while admittedly ignorant of the law, you have admitted your liability in the situation. I understand your frustration and anger. It is is driven by the manner and the tactics of NYPD; it is the inconsistency of the application of the laws; it is the unnecessary personal comments often made by officers while doing what they are well within the law to do. When these things occur – they happen because there is an ugly racist, classicist undertone that exists in our communities. You are feeling the pain that most people of color that are our age, education, and economic background, have begun to realize and deal with. That none of that shields you from the evils of the world. And please do not think that just because you share a common skin color that you are going to get “sympathetic” treatment or the “benefit of the doubt” from a police officer! You are smarter than that – I just know it!

By the way for those members of the community that are white, when these things happen please recognize it for what it is because this is discrimination. When it happens in this community to blacks it happens to you too. It undermines the community and the well being of people that you have chosen to live in and widens the door for you too to be mistreated and discriminated against.

I just wanted to say that my partner and I weren’t aware that riding on the sidewalk, even as briefly as we did (I swear that it was less than 10 seconds, there was no one else on the sidewalk, and we ONLY did it to avoid the B46 and oncoming traffic–the street was too narrow for traffic to pass with us in the street as well) was against the law. Neither of us have rode bikes in a really long time (I think the last time I was on a bike was 12 years ago). That said, we understand why we were given the summonses.

What we DON’T understand was the police officers’ derogatory assumption that we were guilty of something OTHER than riding our bikes on the sidewalk. What we DON’T understand is the police officers’ decision to pat us down in front of passers-by like we were common hoodlums. My partner, a lawyer, explained to me that the officers have the discretion to do so once any sort of infraction has been perpetrated, but we were fully cooperating, we did everything they asked, we gave them our driver’s licenses, they radioed their HQ and found that we had no records, so why did they still look at us, talk to us, and treat us like we were suspects in a robbery–especially the black officer?

Why?

That being said, selective enforcement(especially when based on Race) is just fucking ridiculous. I’ve never seen anyone ticketed for this offense, but then again 90% of the folks I see doing this are white.

Lastly, #12, foosball. you are a f%$g idiot. Mexico is not the third world, it is part of North America, hence the “second world” just like the USA (Western Europe being the first world of course). Besides, the concept of a third world is so outdated and just plain offensive.