Ryan's Interview Continued

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You mentioned that you now have a temporary work space. Is this the first time you have had a regular place in which to organize and meet? How does this space, albeit temporary, benefit your organization?

This is the first time we've had a regular space to meet. For awhile we had a space for bike puppet-making & storage. The benefit of having a permanent physical space is amazing. It allows us to do so much more work and build a much stronger community. Our weekly movie nights give everyone a chance to hang out and socialize off the bikes and the mechanic workshops promote a kinship between new bikers and old-time pros. Without this space it would have been much harder to defeat the NYPD during their crackdown. It gave all us bikers a home, a safe-spot.

Watching the video presentation the other night in Los Angeles was inspiring but also painful to view, in particular, watching city bulldozers raze and destroy established community gardens in order to make way for future development. What inspires TIME'S UP to face the obstacles that continually confront the group? These seem like potentially demoralizing challenges, yet your group continues to battle against the injustice.

It's our home so we have no choice but to fight. It does make it hard and that is why we do have volunteers who burnout and disappear. However, there are victories (like the defeat of the Westside Stadium project & the Olympic bid) and it is those changes for the positive that keep us fighting.

With regards to the lawsuit concerning Critical Mass, how many members of your organization are being sued? And why these members? Are any nonmembers included in the lawsuit?

4 members of our organization are being sued (Bill, Leah, Matthew, & Brandon). They are being sued because they spoke out to the press. Bill is the founder and executive director and is constantly doing press interviews under that title; Brandon was the organizer of the bike protests during the RNC and therefore did a lot of interviews under that title; both Leah and Matthew, who were arrested during the RNC BIke Blocs, stepped up to lead the PR committees doing lots of interviews in the press during the Fall. They are being attacked because they dared to speak out about the illegal practices of the City and the NYPD. There were all non TIME'S UP! people named in the original suit filed against the city in Sept. (all these legal docs are available on the website: www.times-up.org)

Let's say, god forbid, TIME'S UP loses the case pending against it. How will this impact the organizations efforts regarding bicycle advocacy if TIME'S UP is restricted from participating, promoting or even mentioning the CM ride?

It would make it a lot harder. And it would make us crazy busy, wasting time on promotion issues rather than real life problems. The idea that over 20 people can't gather in a group without permission of the city and police is absurd and it would affect all the group rides that we promote. I don't think it would be affordable for us to get permits for all the rides we host. The idea that you could only promote things that have an official permit is crazy. In nyc, a lot of the protests aren't given permits until the very last minute so it would make promotion of events impossible. If we lost, I think promotion would continue without the TIME'S UP! logo......I know that people would stand up as individuals to protect TIME'S UP! and continue its work.

Thankfully TIME'S UP has some incredible Civil Rights attorneys representing it, but that does not ensure victory, especially in this current political climate when many political leaders are working hard to strip away American's civil liberties. Does this case have possible far reaching consequences for the rest of the nation beyond NYC?

Great things like Bike Summer would be threatened. I think it would open up more cities to crackdown on Critical Mass. For example, the Phoenix CM has been attacked in the aftermath of NYC's troubles, never getting a chance to even happen. Cops were at the very first ride threatening arrest. I think you would see a lot more of that, especially in conservative areas like Texas, and I think it would be used to stop other peace protests all across the nation.

You mentioned that the NYPD is impounding bikes without just cause. They are justifying these seizures by claiming that the bikes are abandoned property, even if the owner is present during the seizure. This was adamantly denied by the NYPD until they were caught on video. Despite a court ruling against the NYPD, they still continue to use this illegal tactic. How often is this happening and what are you doing to combat it?

We're not sure how often it's going down. It's such a hard issue to prove. Most people assume that if the police are doing something it is legal so they don't really take notice and the cops don't leave a note or anything so the biker can just assume that a thief stole it unless someone tells them differently. We are trying to get the city and the Parks Department to release an official policy regarding cutting locks. And then we plan to hold them to that policy.

Do these seizures by the NYPD appear to be random or does there appear to be some type of profiling involved? If Lance Armstrong for instance, locked up his $ 10K+ road bike to a parking meter, could he possibly be subject to this same threat? In other words, are they going after the elite club rider, or is it the every day rider, messenger or commuter. Do these acts take place at a certain time, in a certain location etc... can you provide more details?

There is definite profiling going on. Bikes that were cut during the month of August came from the Union Square area and the Williamsburg area, both centers of protest and dissent within the city. Typically they had stickers, marking them as "protest bikes". This past month the police followed the Messenger World Championships around using the threat of cutting bikes to harass the messengers at their parties. This would not happen on the Upper East Side to any of the cycle clubs in the Park.

Recently there have been several cyclist's fatalities within a relatively short amount of time in NYC. Is this unusual? Do you feel that this is of any great significance considering the timing of the incidents?

The death rate of cyclists in NYC has risen 50% in 2005. I think that the climate of hate that is engendered on the streets by the NYPD and their CM crackdown definitely filters through to the drivers. When a cyclist is killed, the cops never even question or ticket the driver--even when he is clearly in the wrong. If the NYPD treated bikers with the rights to safety that they deserve, there would be consequences for drivers and you would see a change of behavior in the streets.

How long has CM been in NYC and what was TIME'S UP involvement in its growth?

CM has been in NYC for 10 years. TIME'S UP! as a group has always promoted the fundamental philosophy behind CM, that you need to be able to ride safely in the streets and you need to promote this vision of a group ride that is all about bikes. It's an ideal of what our streets could look like if we were to reduce the use of cars and ride bikes more. We've advertised CM, we've promoted it for a long time, 8 years at least, probably longer. We helped make CM fun by funding theme rides and after parties.

Before the RNC what were the numbers that CM was averaging?

In the winter months 100-300; spring and fall 300-500; early summer 1000-1500 In July and August we would see 2000-2500.

Have the NYC citizens been supportive of TIME'S UP and the Critical Mass participants?

Yeah, NYC citizens have been great. We get cheers and claps on every street. We had random pedestrians coming up to us in Union Square (the CM meeting point) during the months when the NYPD was on corners with nets and setting up traps giving us reports of where the cops were hiding and what streets were clear. People would help bikers escape from arrest.

The cool thing is that while New Yorkers have always been cool and positively responsive to CM, now they know what it is they are seeing and they are clapping not just out of fun or surprise but because they know who we are, what we are doing and why we are doing it. Now they are truly clapping in support.

It was mentioned that despite San Francisco's huge success with Xerocracy in promoting CM, the same effort did not work in NYC. Why is that, and how then did you promote CM?

The idea of Xerocracy is that everyone is making a flier. I don't know if it is the advent of the internet or the fact that the ride grew a lot out of word of mouth, but TIME'S UP! is typically the only one passing out fliers and promoting CM. We always have tons of CM fliers at the space for people to pass out. Xerocracy is growing in NYC thanks to the help of visual resistance, an artists collective who have been very supportive of NYC CM. They put out a call for CM artwork and have been collecting it on their website, www.visualresistance.org.

Incredibly despite the ongoing harassment, the number of cyclists on the streets of NYC has increased. Why is this?

Because it is the best, fastest, most logical way to get around the city--especially during rush hour. It is ridiculously expensive to have a car in nyc with the parking issues, but bikes are way cheaper. Not to mention it has become a "cool kids" thang.

Why is Times Up being targeted? Is it that the organization has been that instrumental in the success of CM? Does the city feel that if it can stop TIME'S UP from promoting or participating in CM that they could in effect kill the ride? Is that even possible?

They are trying to pin on us the role of leader or organizer of CM. It's a case of we weren't comfortable seeing the police arrest and take all these bikes for offenses that would normally just get a situation or summons. They are arresting people, taking their bikes, holding their bikes for long periods of time and holding people for a long period of time. We spoke out against this and we sent out press releases. TIME'S UP! has always been intimately involved with the people riding in Critical Mass. People from TIME'S UP! ride, but there has always been a huge mix of other folks. But, since we were speaking up and being very visible about it, we've been targeted as the ring leaders and organizers, which is untrue. There's a small percentage of people that do the CM that have a membership in TIME'S UP! or are volunteers for TIME'S UP! I don't know what the cops intention is but CM is so popular, beyond anything that TIME'S UP! does, that it would be impossible to kill it.

The city's response against CM and its riders is of course excessive; what is it that seems so threatening about CM and the people that participate in it?

It threatens their power and absolute authority. it gives freedom back to the people. It's the most free way to spend a friday night in the city. It really changes your life...

Los Angeles has a small but emerging bike culture, yet at the same time there seems to be some competition and misunderstanding regarding CM and a new event called Midnight Ridazz. A few Midnight Ridazz participants suggested that New York should organize a ride like Midnight Ridazz, an organized ride that is less than a year old but that has met with greater success than the 10 year old LA CM. Some feel that it is the nonpolitical nature of this new ride that is responsible for its large turnout and relatively few police incidents. What is your take on this?

We do tons of rides like Midnight Ridazz. That is one of the main thrusts of TIME'S UP!--the group ride, the fun-themed ride. I think that Midnight Ridazz sounds more like CM in NYC than the LA version of CM. The thing about CM in NYC was that it took a lot of work to build that ride up from 100 people to the thousands and thousands that came out the last three summers. By inviting the street theater performers to the start point, by building crazy bikes, by ringing out the costumes, we made CM fun. The CM in LA will never grow if it doesn't remember that CM is not a protest, but a celebration of what our streets could look like. That's the part that seems to be coming out of MR. The thing that is sad about the popularity of MR (Midnight Ridazz) over CM in LA is that it detracts from CM. I don't like the idea that people are forced to choose. The beauty about CM is that there are no leaders, no route, just the organic feel of the night. I love our other group rides, where we lead people around but they never feel as free as CM. Honestly, it's such a relief to be in an event where your only reason to be there is to bike and it's not about who you are, what you make, what you do, it's just a ride. It's a bunch of people coming together based on this idea that you can have a ride that doesn't have a leader, doesn't have a route, that it just goes where people feel the inclination to go. It steers itself which is one of the beautiful things about it. And it encourages people to get on their bike for the first time and makes them feel safe in the road...(FYI: we are planning a ride during our BNC called Midnight Ridazz in sort of tribute of our new found lines of communication between LA & NYC.)

Despite all that TIME'S UP is fighting for and up against, you seem to have a very positive, energetic, and sincere group dedicated to achieving its present and future goals. What advice or suggestions do you have for other cities that are attempting to grow bike culture, and is there anything they should be aware of or possibly be prepared for when attempting to increase rider visibility?

Keep it fun. When people realize that riding a bike is fun and cool then they will start incorporating into their daily lives. Work hard to keep the community that sprung up around Bike Summer alive and thriving.

What success (or successes) is the pride of Time's-Up?

That we survived this latest round of crackdowns stronger than ever.

>>If you would like more information about Time's Up!, or would like to donate time or money to the cause, please visit www.times-up.org

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