BY ALEX ELLEFSON | The wheels of change continue to grind slowly, as the city seeks to make its system for removing abandoned bicycles more effective.
The Department of Sanitation (DSNY), which is tasked with clearing sidewalk obstructions, held a hearing on Tues., Aug. 9, to solicit feedback on reforms that would relax criteria for identifying and removing what are called “derelict bikes.”
Speakers at the hearing, who unanimously testified in favor of changing the criteria, said the agency’s current system allows many discarded bikes to rot on sidewalks for months or even years.
“This change is very necessary and long overdue,” said Julia Kite, policy and research manager for Transportation Alternatives. “These abandoned, unusable bikes create a nuisance and occupy space that could be used by responsible cyclists.”
Critics say the stringent criteria make it difficult for obviously abandoned bicycles to be removed.
As Chelsea Now reported last week, DSNY did not remove a bike frame chained for three years to sign post at W. 15th St. and Eighth Ave. because it did not meet the standards for removal. Even after City Councilmember Corey Johnson’s office intervened, the agency said it still could not remove the bike.
Steve Starosta, the Chelsea resident who reported the bicycle to 311, said he hopes reforming the system will allow Sanitation to clear the junked ride on his block.
“I don’t understand, it’s just a rusted piece of metal,” he said. “Everyone knows it’s abandoned. There’s not a single person who says the city can’t take the bike.”
However, Starosta, who did not attend the hearing, said he was unsure if the new criteria would get rid of the forsaken frame.
DSNY is considering amending the five standards used to determine if a bike is derelict. The changes would require a bike frame to only meet two of the criteria, instead of three. It would also eliminate flat or missing tires as a measurement, and reduce the minimum amount of rust from 75% to 50%.
However, Karen Overton, executive director of Recycle-A-Bicycle (recycleabicycle.org), said the city needs to take a more common sense approach to carting away abandoned bikes. She urged DSNY to further lower the threshold so even a single criteria, such as missing wheels, would allow a bike to be classified as derelict.
“The Department’s approach to this challenge has historically lacked the element of common sense required for timely action, good governance and effective management of the city streetscape,” she said at the hearing. “Unfortunately, the proposed rule changes do not take us as far as needed to fully address this challenge.”
The current regulations regarding derelict bikes were introduced in 2010 to make the standards clearer and easier to enforce. However, DSNY’s strict criteria hobbled the agency’s ability to efficiently remove abandoned bikes at a time when ridership is soaring.
A report by WNYC in 2012 found the city received 429 complaints of derelict bikes over a 12-month period. Of those, only 60 bikes were removed.
Some of the speakers at the hearing also said the city was missing out on a golden opportunity to give new life to the discarded rides. They urged DSNY to implement programs that would repurpose abandoned bikes for future use.
“We want the department to adopt a cut and salvage, rather than a cut and crush, approach,” said Overton. “Mixed metal is not worth much money. This would put the bikes back on the street, where it has social value.”
At NYU — located in one of two community districts that have the lion’s share of Manhattan’s derelict bicycles, according to testimony at a 2015 hearing on the issue — the university has formed a bike share program that reuses abandoned bikes found on campus.
Pio Tsai, a student involved in the program, testified at the hearing about the success of the bike share.
“It’s much more than a bike share. It’s also a waste management solution,” he said. “I think it’s a good idea to keep these bikes in use and not just have them crushed.”
However, it’s an open question whether DSNY has the resources to implement such a program. The agency pushed back against legislation introduced last year that would allow bikes left on the street for longer than 36 hours to be impounded because officials said they lacked the manpower to enforce the policy.
The scant resources available to enforce sidewalk obstructions, including removing derelict bikes, can be observed throughout Chelsea. Sanitation enforcement agents can take away a bike seven days after tagging it for removal. However, one bike on Seventh Ave. (btw. W. 21st & W. 22nd Sts.) is still on the sidewalk more than three weeks after receiving a tag.
In a statement, a DSNY spokeswoman said the agency will “carefully consider all comments and written statements it has received on its proposed changes to the current criteria for derelict bicycles so that safe and clean streets and sidewalks can be maintained throughout the City.”
The spokesperson said DSNY is reviewing and evaluating the comments made at the hearing and has yet to set a date for when the rule changes might take effect.
