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But it doesn't have to be this way. I was in Copenhagen a few weeks ago. I couldn't get over the number of bikes parked overnight that were locked only to thems
by brewdad 10y ago
But it doesn't have to be this way. I was in Copenhagen a few weeks ago. I couldn't get over the number of bikes parked overnight that were locked only to themselves. Many bikes simply had their U-lock run through their front tire as a deterrent to anyone who might ride off on it. The bikes weren't actually locked to anything at all. Amazingly, these bikes were still there in the morning. In Portland, none of those bikes would have lasted an hour "locked" like that.
Ask yourself "why is that?"
- coolsunglasses 10y agoPeople that don't see themselves in their fellow citizen.
- analogmemory 10y agoWhat percentage of Denmark's population is transient/homeless? People with nothing to lose are more likely to steal something.
- brewdad 10y agoThat's a bit of my point. In America, we allow far too many to get to a place where they have nothing left to lose. I'm not sure if Basic Income is the answer. Perhaps an actual mental health system. Whatever the solution, the status quo in the USA is shameful.
- wpietri 10y agoYeah, I'm definitely for an actual mental health system. As well as a free, robust, and easily available addiction treatment system. And an energetic program to get down-and-out people off the street and back into productive lives. People inevitably say, "what will it cost?" But that ignores how much we spend now. Wasted lives, mangled minds, broken families that pass trauma and dysfunction to the next generation. Having personally lost bikes and chased thieves, I applaud join this vigilante's efforts. But that can't be the only thing to do. No 7-year-old wants to grow up to be a meth-addicted bike thief. As doing a Five Whys teaches us, if you're serious about solving a problem, you have to attack multiple levels of causality at once.
- brianwawok 10y agoHomeless guys aren't running the rings in Chicago where they steal 400 bikes, load a U-Haul, and drive them to the west coast to sell.
- tehwebguy 10y agoAlmost every bike I saw in Japan had "self-locks" - these were usually built-in and just locked around the rear wheel.
- crispyambulance 10y agoYou're absolutely right that "it doesn't have to be that way". I don't know if its because everyone who wants a bike already has one (and thus re-selling isn't profitable) or if its because Denmark has fewer drug-addled fiends per capita, or if its because the cost of the grinding wheel to cut a u-lock exceeds the illicit resale value of a bike. Whatever the case... a good ulock doesn't hurt even in Denmark.
- ZanyProgrammer 10y agoPerhaps some culture war antipathy towards New Portland software engineering transplants (who I assume make up the bulk of such people in Portland, and I'm guessing you as well)? Though Portland isn't quite as expensive for cops to live in as SF.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- justinator 10y agoYou see this in say, Amsterdam too. But it's not that the bikes won't get stolen, it's that eventually they absolutely will, and then you'll just buy another bike again for almost nothing (which was also probably stolen - or salvaged from the canal after it was stolen and dumped...) Not all bikes, but the beater bikes in Amsterdam are all just rotating through the population. It's kinda like a game.
- mercurial 10y agoI did hear there were quite a few bike thefts in Copenhagen. Neighbouring Norway has a national registry of bikes, which seems to be quite effective at lowering theft.