Crank mob in the news
Thread started by
stillline at 03.22.09 - 5:25 pm
Here's the text of a news story about crank mob last night. Apparently the cops think its just critical mass. Guess with all the people they handcuffed last night they didn't bother to find out what the ride was called.
From the atricle:
About 1,000 bicyclists jammed the streets of Hollywood overnight, causing disruptions to traffic, police said.
The bicyclists rode through red lights and "stampeded like a herd of wild buffalo," said the watch commander at the Los Angeles Police Department's Hollywood Station.
No arrests were made. Though no injuries were reported, he said the late-night riders were dangerous and someone would eventually get hurt.
Similar problems were reported earlier around Third Street and La Brea Avenue.
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The riders were believed to be part of a Critical Mass ride, which, according to Critical-Mass.info, is a "monthly bicycle ride to celebrate cycling and to assert cyclists' right to the road."
According to the site, Critical Mass has no leaders and no central organization, it is not an organization, but rather, an idea and an event.
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Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
vor03.22.09 - 5:31 pm
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From the comments to that article:
"F350mantruck Today at 10:35 AM FLAG COMMENT these ideots don't have no license or insurance to ride on my streets, so they should all be arrested. the wise ones stick to the sidewalk. spandex ain't no match against 400# of mantruck steel."
LOL
JB03.22.09 - 5:39 pm
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Good job posting that "it is called CRANK MOB" now if the police to really start some trouble with this ride they will know how to find it, who organized it and where it meets. Should have just let them call it critical mass.
sexy03.22.09 - 5:44 pm
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No, they could find it if they wanted anyway. They shouldn't confuse it with critical mass.
kryxtanicole03.22.09 - 5:47 pm
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what should we be afraid of? i am curious to know why we should hide behind another name.
bondink03.22.09 - 5:47 pm
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did you see why they detained those ridazz? did you read the reasons why?
they were looking for reasons. would they do that to a driver?
bondink03.22.09 - 5:49 pm
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The cops can't tell the diffrence between us and them
rayrayray03.22.09 - 5:50 pm
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Allow me to put on my tinfoil hat for a moment. I wonder if maybe the cops asked NBC to call it critical mass, believing that an activism-based ride would be less attractive to those reading the story and thinking "oh, neat!" than "Police believe the ride to be CRANK Mob, a monthly party on wheels."
monovsstereo03.22.09 - 5:54 pm
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Also this is only tangentially related, but I was cracking up at some of the drivers in Hollywood last night. So many of them were just LIVID with the cyclists, and I couldn't help but think "dudes! it's midnight on saturday and you're cruising Hollywood blvd. Are you SERIOUSLY bitching about traffic and congestion? Are you in that big of a hurry to wait in line outside of a night club?"
monovsstereo03.22.09 - 5:56 pm
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The only ride of the calibar that they know is probably Critical M.
Thus, thats what they think it is.
But, it doesn't really matter.
I mean. What are they gonna do?
rayrayray03.22.09 - 5:57 pm
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The media always gets the news wrong, not surprising.
vor03.22.09 - 5:58 pm
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well, they're gonna get it again next week
Gav03.22.09 - 5:59 pm
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along with the weather as well...... yawn!
bondink03.22.09 - 5:59 pm
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well, they're gonna get it again next week
Gav
03.22.09 - 8:59 pm
+1000
YES!
rayrayray03.22.09 - 6:00 pm
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"what should we be afraid of? i am curious to know why we should hide behind another name."
From a legal perspective, there's the potential for liability on the part of the ride "organizers" for the unhelpful acts of the riders, (using conspiracy (in its legal sense), public nuisance, whatever else the city attorney might think up, etc.), which would be a total drag, as these could be a total hassle and very expensive to fight, despite the dubious likelihood that they'd actually hold up in court.
I believe this is why the MR site was created the way it was, so that anyone who wanted to could post a ride under an alias, without being publicly recognized as one of the "organizers" of the ride. Now the organizers have publicly made themselves known on various websites, which is a little risky.
I think the question going forward is how to keep crankmob fun and self-policing so that it doesn't get cracked down on.
Or maybe it's time for crankmob to go legit, and talk to the watch commanders of the various precincts and explain that this is a monthly ride that's going to happen, and if there are steps that can be taken by working with the police and retail establishments, to have police cork the intersections for us as per a parade (with the fees waived since it's a not for profit endeavor), and the grocery/drug stores notified ahead of time, we might be able to have a much safer time and work positively with the greater community. The police are going to accompany crankmob anyway, so it would be great if we could have them working on our behalf.
Most of the ridazz are against stealing, against tagging, against violence, against drunken 15yr olds wrecking themselves and others, so there's a lot of common ground we can build on.
YMMV.
JB03.22.09 - 6:04 pm
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I'm about to explode.
All this cool shit happens when I'm away, hell, there were dipnuts dragracing on my street last night and none of them even crashed!!!!
bentstrider03.22.09 - 7:01 pm
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CM + buffalo = win/win
btw, Franz has got some splaning to do when he gets back!
http://crankmob.com/
User103.22.09 - 7:17 pm
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seems like the comments on the article are getting a little heated.
Gav03.22.09 - 7:24 pm
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Am I the only one that thinks that the theme for next month's CRANK Mob should be buffalo/bison??
Team Creanberry03.22.09 - 7:33 pm
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the cops aren't retarded. they already know that it's C.MOB. there was a cruiser that drove past us last night and the officer in the passenger side yelled "CRANK MOB!" at Jaz and i. C.MOB's been going for a year and a half now and it doesn't take a genius to figure out who we are when everyone is chanting the name as we ride down the streets.
onethirtynine03.22.09 - 7:35 pm
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If that's the case, the costume theme will be:
Buffalo's vs.Indians vs. Cowboys vs. Mounted Cavalry vs. Buzzards!!!!
bentstrider03.22.09 - 7:36 pm
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yeah, that's definitely something for the formal organizers to decide: do we want to go legit? even if the police arent receptive, we might want to put it out there. then, when they complain to us about the dangerous nature of what we're doing, we can point to the olive branch sitting in the lieutenant's rubbish bin.
or we just go one being the outlaws that we are and love to be.
tortuga_veloce03.22.09 - 7:36 pm
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Wait...really? Buffalo? I felt we were way more like Jumanji
Capn Chlamydia03.22.09 - 8:13 pm
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Is it just me? I don't see comments:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29823564/
daymen03.22.09 - 8:34 pm
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Q. What's a buffalo's favorite mode of transportation?
wiz_vanmeter03.22.09 - 8:48 pm
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Thanks DS, I'm working on a Streetsblog story for tomorrow...
daymen03.22.09 - 8:57 pm
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"These kids are just out here having a good time in a cost-effective and health-sustaining way. Why waste hundreds of dollars in one night at the club when you could just pull out the beach cruiser and roll with the party? If you want to be bland and not see a single bicycle on the road, move up to the Desert, where wannabe clubs and dude-bruhs congregate."
lol i wonder whos post that was. hahaha
theladiesman03.23.09 - 9:44 am
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i still had the best crank mob when crank mob did NOT happen.
maybe it needs to NOT happen again.
_iJunes03.23.09 - 9:52 am
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after that shit, very likely. i think we need to get a more manageable crowd to work out the task force.
tortuga_veloce03.23.09 - 9:55 am
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haha, I say critical you say mass? critical.....
pporras03.23.09 - 10:44 am
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Full 328 schedule:
Noon - meet at Echo Park
1:00 pm - ride from Park and Sunset
Option1 - Hollywood
2:30pm - arrive at Pan Pacific Park (drink beer)
3:30pm - leave Pan Pacific Park
Option2 - Tacos at Taco Bell
5:00 pm - arrive at Crank Mob Park (drink beer)
6:00 pm - leave Crank Mob Park
Option3 - Go get some licor
7:30 pm - arrive at Santa Monica Pier (drink beer)
8:30 pm - leave Santa Monica Pier
Option4 - Go to the top of Mount Baldy
User103.23.09 - 6:28 pm
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Hey alan why did you post this bogus schedule here?
All the info is wrong.
Whats your problem today not enough Geritol in your bran flakes?
stillline03.24.09 - 1:58 pm
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