Allan Appel Photo
Barbara Fair counted bike-riders on sidewalks. Now she has a meeting scheduled with New Haven’s police chief to discuss what she calls selective law enforcement.
Fair aired those allegations of selective enforcement of the bicycle laws at a protest march she organized Saturday from the Q House on Dixwell (where she is pictured) to City Hall. The event, sponsored by the group People Against Injustice (PAI), was dubbed “Biking While Black.”
Although only a handful of people showed up, Fair said she has a meeting planned with Chief Frank Limon on May 15 to press these issues.
“I’m going to ask for bike lanes and information [by race] on who’s being ticketed,” she said.
She added she will also ask for a cessation of fines until New Haven has safe bike lanes throughout town.
Fair, a veteran criminal-justice reform activist, said she parked herself at the corner of Temple and Chapel streets downtown Friday to count bicyclists. At least six cyclists rode by on the sidewalk unstopped by police. Whereas if that was going on in Newhallville or Dwight, where more of the population is African-American, cyclists would be far more likely to be stopped and fined $93, she charged.
“In these struggling times who has $93 to pay! Imagine a mother who can’t pay in 15 days, then it’s doubled,” Fair said.
The police department has been cracking down on bicycle scofflaws as part of a citywide “safe streets” campaign. When it started in 2008, white cyclists complained about being ticketed.
In a phone interview, Dwight District Manager Lt. Ray Hassett, who has overseen the bike enforcement effort, responded to Fair’s charges. “We pretty much ticket everybody we’re able [to]. We don’t selectively ticket,” he said.
Hassett said enforcement of bike laws has also yielded drugs and guns. He said he hopes the new chief would continue robust bicycle enforcement; he sees it as an example of how addressing small quality-of-life problems in a neighborhood can help create an atmosphere of safety and contribute to tackling larger problems. Click here for a story about that.
Fair’s take on that: “[Be]cause a few kids ride around with a gun or drugs, now this gives police the right to stop every kid?”
She said all kids shouldn’t punished for the actions of a few. A steep fine only creates anger, in addition to hardship for families, she argued. If the chief wants to look for longer-term solution to violence, easing up on bicycle enforcement, including better parent education on the matter, and good bike lanes would be among the avenues to pursue, Fair said.
Yale Local 34 union organizer Lyle Hickman (pictured) lives in East Rock. He attended Fair’s rally. He said he sees white people ride on the sidewalk all the time, with impunity, often in full view of the cops. (It’s illegal to ride on the sidewalk.) “I have yet to see a white person stopped,” he said.
Paul Stabach has been stopped — in East Rock. And he’s white.
He said he came to Fair’s demonstration to protest the cost of the fines, especially as bicyclists are driven onto the sidewalk by what he termed “so many irate drivers.” Given that dynamic, he called the narrow bike lane on Orange Street a joke for riders of all races.
Last year, Stabach was ticketed for riding his bike the last few yards on the sidewalk in front of his apartment building. The hit was $75. The fine went up to $93 this year.
Stabach suggested the police make more use of warnings and if necessary modest fines that are “indicative of the [modest means] of many who ride bikes.”
Activist Shelton Tucker and others at the rally noted that Orange Street has bike lines, for example, but Dixwell and Dwight don’t. “It’s unfair to put a big fine on someone without an alternative,” Tucker said.
“Bike lanes would be a great long-term solution. But we go day to day here,” responded Lt. Hassett.
He said the department keeps racial breakdowns for arrests, but not for bike tickets, which are infractions.
Fair said she was disappointed that the people most affected by the issue didn’t show up to her rally Saturday: – There wasn’t a single black kid on a bike – Still, she vowed to press on with the issue, both with the chief on May 15, and beyond.
“I just don’t feel New Haven loves its kids,” she said.
Another slow news day, I guess..
"Fair, a veteran criminal-justice reform activist, said she parked herself at the corner of Temple and Chapel streets downtown Friday to count bicyclists. At least six cyclists rode by on the sidewalk unstopped by police."
...that's because I don't want to get killed. She happens to be mentioning the second busiest downtown intersection. This is the intersection where the main CTTransit bus stop is located. Countless cars drive here. Excuse me for not wanting to get killed by riding on the road, it's better to be on the sidewalk.
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