Hollywood Ridazz Trouble
Thread started by
skd at 03.29.08 - 2:31 am
I bailed out when the eight patrol cars blocked the streets and the helicopter was shining it's light down on us.
What the hell happened?!
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nothing really.
They just wanted us to stay in the 2 right lanes and not run reds.
After a few blocks and at the next stop they left us alone for the rest of the night and we saw quite a few more cops.
Wasn't as bad as it looked....
-J-
Justin03.29.08 - 2:51 am
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This ride got better and better as the night progressed.
The cops were an inconvenience, but as far as I know, no one received ticket. The guy that was being "talked to" at that stop was singled out from the crowd because he was obstructing the sidewalk (amongst a group of about 20 others). He was talking to the cops for so long because he also did not have an ID on him; not a huge deal.
There was one police cruiser, much later, who was corking traffic for us. I heard from someone (I can't recall who) that the female officer driving is a former rida of 2.5 years (Badger Song, they said).
It was a great time.
SPOOK03.29.08 - 3:32 am
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I arrived late and rolled by the cruisers on Vermont and it looked like some unfortunates who had stopped were getting tickets. However after that the rest of the night was great, and will only get better.
franz03.29.08 - 3:45 am
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Good! I got the impression from other threads that you were hassled all night long.
Though 8 squad cars and a helicopter and motorcycle cops is still outrageous.
katiepoche03.29.08 - 1:42 pm
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sounds like that might have been likely to be a spill over latent response to LACM.
Roadblock03.29.08 - 2:28 pm
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Didn't make it to LACM but I heard that some BMX guy got into an altercation with a driver and banged his bike (the side with the pegs) on the car's hood.
The cops I talked to during Hollywood Ridazz did not mention that event. They just said that they got lots of calls about bikes running red lights.
I thought it was funny when the one person they picked at random "to have a talk with" was the one person who has tatooed on his arm; "WORDS MEAN NOTHING TO ME".
All in all we had so many liquor store stops (about one per mile) that the cops got bored following us and left us alone after awhile.
In the end it was a good ride and riding past all the pretentious Hollywood nightclubs with all the nicely dressed people on a Friday night is just priceless. Thanks Mike for putting it together.
marino03.29.08 - 2:46 pm
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Traffic was congested throughout Hollywood last night. The cars couldn't make it through the red lights anyway. The drivers must have been pissed that the bicycles just glided in between the idling cars and through the intersections. It figures that some of them, stuck in traffic, breathing those noxious fumes, decided to make 911 calls to the police.
All in all, if we showed the people in the cars that there is a better way to go out on a Friday night and have fun, then maybe we accomplished something.
My concern is the resources that LAPD used to follow and question a few hundred bicycle riders was misplaced. Particularly since there were probably lots of drunk drivers, gang-related violence and general mayhem in the city that certainly needed their attention more than chasing bikes for an hour.
skd03.29.08 - 3:01 pm
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CORRECTION:
it was as bad is it looked.
anyone who says otherwise obviously
didn't have squad cars driving into them only
to then get penalized with a ticket for supposedly
running a red that they didn't run.
i'm just a little girl on a bike trying to have a nice time-
don't shake your fuckin' baton at me.
jaq03.29.08 - 3:28 pm
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Yeah, the ride was great in spurts, and after the big confrontation it was smoothe sailing. I'm definitely up for more Hollywood Ridazz. (And, of course, LACM.)
I posted this in another thread, but it's definitely relevant here:
"Last night LACM and Hollywood Ridazz was the first time I've seen such behavior by the LAPD and LASD (sheriffs)
Not only were people ticketed, but we were followed, then surrounded. At Vermont and 1st, where the ride (100+) had stopped for refreshments and to regroup, the cops that had been nagging and trying to take us down, converged and surrounded. Seriously. Nine squad cars were counted, forming a half circle around us (The other half: buildings.) There was a ghettobird suspiciously, perhaps not coincidentally close hovering for a few minutes, too.
Richie spoke with one of the cops and then through the megaphone that the ride would not be running red lights, and they let us through to continue.
If we don't Storm the Bastille now, at least begin the discussion with officials, in LA, it will get much worse, and soon. Well, it probably will anyway, but let's get a little organized and stand up for our rights (LA Ridazz especially) 'cause we've got nothing to lose (except almost everything.)
I'm looking into LA City Council Meetings. Email me if you wanna help get things going:
micheleappel@gmail.com."
@skd: couldn't have said it better.
@SPOOK.: you're such an upper. i love it.
@jaq: I feel you there, but it's important for some ridazz to keep us more serious gloom and doomers from the depths of despair and frustration. Too much talk of the negative keeps a lot of people from riding, I've found, (even though it's important for change.) I'm sorry you didn't have the best time last night, hopefully you ride often and know it is not usually like that.)
vspangle03.29.08 - 3:37 pm
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The cops on the street have a lot of discretion whether to harass us or not. What has worked great in the past is to be nice to them.
Yes officer, thank you officer etc. Just be nice and respectful. They hate attitude. If they see attitude then they want to keep things under control and they become a pain in the ass.
There is nothing for us at City Hall.
What are we going to get there? A special permit to run red lights and drink in public?
Cops also get annoyed when we interfere with COMMERCE. I'm not saying don't ride on any commercial strips but when things get hot it's a good idea to move to quieter roads.
marino03.29.08 - 3:54 pm
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can we stop calling "entering into polite negotation" "Storming the Bastille"? I think it casts a certain tone on the whole thing...
stevestevesteve03.29.08 - 4:05 pm
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Even if we want to run red lights, isn't that our choice? Our risk? Our hand playing the sad song when we get tickets?
What the LAPD was doing was Minority Report shit! The possibility that we MAY run red lights does not give them the right to dog us for blocks and blocks.
"Richie spoke with one of the cops and then through the megaphone that the ride would not be running red lights, and they let us through to continue. " - I had no idea we were negotiating with the LAPD to LET us continue. They're drunk if they think it's within their power to decide whether or not we're allowed to continue riding our bikes.
I have no qualms saying "yes officer" and being generally flexible and polite with police; it's good social grease that can ease everyone through a potentially arduous run-in and keep all cyclists in good standing with the LAPD. But when is it beyond being flexible, when am I giving away my rights in an effort to appease overstepping cops?
C'mon LAPD!
Eric Hair03.29.08 - 4:10 pm
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By the way, I'm not saying that I feel like anyone's rights were violated last night, just thinking ahead.
Eric Hair03.29.08 - 4:14 pm
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@vspangle
There definitely was a different vibe from law enforcement last night. Usually they are helpful and supportive, sometimes blocking the red light intersections for us. Something had changed, let's hope it's temporary.
The battle between the cars and the bicycle is heating up. The drivers are more frustrated, the price of gas at $3.65 to $4.00 a gallon (depending on where you fill up) will only escalate. The unraveling of the "LA car culture" is evident...and some people are not too happy about it. Bicycles, a viable and environmentally sound alternative, is viewed as the encroaching enemy. One guy yelled from his black BMW on Hollywood Blvd, "you all look like the Mongol hordes". I guess to the decaying car empire, we are the barbarians.
It will take time, and our presence on the streets, to show that we bring a new culture and way of life to this city. One that will benefit everyone.
We were clear from the start of LACM, we were not to antagonize the cars. "Educate not aggravate", was the call at the beginning of the ride.
As far as Jaq's experience with LAPD, that was how they acted as they attempted to stop the riders on Vermont. Again it was out of character for LAPD and hopefully not an indication of a new attitude or edict.
@ marino
As far as commerce, Bogies Liquor made a lot of money off of LACM last night. They were grateful and gracious. We are like a rolling ATM, where ever we stop...money flows out of us. Again, it does not benefit the bars or the nightclubs. Those mainstay institutions of Hollywood, who cater to the dying car culture.
I agree LAPD is more reasonable than say SMPD. You can usually engage in a dialogue with them and work out any difficulties in a civilized and courtesy manner. Hopefully the immense show of force, including the helicopter, does not augur a change in our relationship.
skd03.29.08 - 4:18 pm
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You're no lil' girl Jaq. YOU'S A WOMAN alright!!!
Welcome to RIDAZZ!
cheerio!
GOpez
Eddie GOpez03.29.08 - 4:19 pm
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What exactly is there to negotiate, or storm the Bastille for? This isn't Santa Monica, where there is obviously a policy in place from above to harrass cyclists. LA City and LAPD very clearly have no policy toward nighttime social group bike rides. It's clear because the reaction from the cops always depends on which cops are involved. They make up their own policy on the fly. Some of them adopt the sensible policy of leaving us alone and allowing us to just move through and be gone, and others hit the panic button, like "we must start ENFORCING...stuff. NOW!" Some cops even cork for us, and just seem to think the whole thing is hilarious.
It's also worth noting that LAPD is broken up into divisions. Last night's Hollywood ride started in Northeast, went through Rampart, and ended up in Hollywood Division. It doesn't look like too many of these guys really want to chase us too far out of their own divisions. That's probably one of the reasons we shook those guys who were riding our asses in the beginning. (FWIW, the nice cop--female driver with male partner who corked for us--was in Hollywood Division.)
It's also also also also worth noting that no matter what their attitudes, they all get really perturbed if you don't leave at least one lane open for other traffic. So if any of this matters to you, you might want to try NOT to be one of the handful of douchebags who deliberately or just stupidly stay in the far left lane after they've been asked repeatedly to move out of it.
Also also also also also also: West Hollywood Sheriffs have a real thing about loud music. So don't assume that they're being "anti-bicycle" or anything like that--they're just anti-noise to a weirdly high degree. I saw BBD being given a ten minute lecture about the trailer being too loud on the Hollywood Sleaze Ride last year. It didn't seem like they could care less about the other couple of hundred Ridazz.
PC03.29.08 - 4:35 pm
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"Bicycles, a viable and environmentally sound alternative, is viewed as the encroaching enemy. One guy yelled from his black BMW on Hollywood Blvd, "you all look like the Mongol hordes". I guess to the decaying car empire, we are the barbarians."
. . .
While I freely identify as a Lady Barbarian, I like to think of us as more like pirates.
Counter to the predominant culture (in this case, cars). Confronted with a system that's not working for us, we adapt, nimbly and often, to work around it. (Safely running reds, yielding but not stopping at stop signs, and bike driving on streets without bike lanes are all examples of bikers adapting their behavior to work around a system created and enforced without them in mind.) We have our own set of moral and social codes. (There are generally accepted but unwritten ways of breaking vehicular law, and also No Ridaa Left Behind.) And we know how to party.
Between all that and our propensity for tattoos, piercings, and filthy talk, we're very much pirates on the streets of Los Angeles. I wouldn't have it any other way.
katiepoche03.29.08 - 5:08 pm
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Interesting note about the "dying car-culture" in the LA area.
At least it's nice to know that the presence of bicycles is being noticed to a degree like this.
Myself on the other hand, I'm having to deal with the refugees of this crisis.
Over the last month, obnoxious honkings and intimidation-through-revving have been on the rise.
Lots of former LA/OC/Ventura county residents moving up here to seek out even cheaper housing to balance out their fuel costs.
Down there, they were probably too scared to do anything when an armada of cyclists came charging down the street.
They see me out on the road, they fear their enclave has been spotted.
bentstrider03.29.08 - 5:09 pm
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PC = +1
Everyone take a hard look at who did the harassing. Was it brought on by West Hollywood Sheriffs, and then continued by an LAPD division. I guarantee that LAPD is not going make a large effort to "crack down" on social bike rides anytime soon = they're under federal oversight after the May Day Melee and they really do not want any more scrutiny.
I wasn't there, so I don't know. Could this be just a few officers escalating?
Sorry for those who got tickets. You got your stripes fellas. I got mine too . . . unfortunately that means we take orders from Franz cause he has the most tickets.
Alex Thompson03.29.08 - 5:44 pm
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The involvement of police with LACM has been totally random over the last four or five years I've been riding it. Sometimes I am amazed that they'll be sitting in their car oblivious (or seemingly so) to hundreds of people on bikes flying past them. Other times they pounce like it's a crack bust. Once someone was ticketed at the Hollywood/Highland 'Circle of Death' for corking. They tackled him off of his bike and handcuffed him. And when the ride rode through the Pavilions on Melrose in 2004 to support the striking workers (two other Vons had been ridden through earlier in the night) they showed up with six patrol cars and a gheto bird! But, granted, that is a much different scenario.
Maybe it is related to commerce? Or division? Or just some cops take it upon themselves to use their power to control something they do not like?
Last night CM rode past a few cop cars who paid us no attention before the La Brea/Sunset incident.
bike punk03.29.08 - 6:01 pm
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PARTY COPS!
11 police cruisers and a helicopter for 3 hours cost me $11,500. To read this thread makes it all worth it.
Btw, Harry's ticket was only $200 extra! I suggest we take this option again, next time we rent from LA Party Dept.
SKIDMARCUS03.31.08 - 10:55 am
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to be honest I didn't think this ride had THAT many issues at all. I had a blast, and thank you for bringing up the cop that was corking for us, and call me square, but yelling out "fuck the pigs!" was the dumbest thing to yell while Harry was being talked to and ticketed by the cops. It's a sure way to make us all look like assholes.
riss03.31.08 - 11:07 am
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riss,
I must have gotten to the scene a little late but I didn't hear the "fuck the pigs" statement. I did hear the sheriff tell Harry that the attitude of the crowd pretty much insured he was going to get cited. Since I must have gotten there late, all I saw was a bunch of us just standing around watching Harry get nailed so I was a little surprised the sheriff said that. Maybe the person who shouted out should be the one forking over some cash for Harry to pay the ticket. I know Harry was trying to be cooperative in spite of the circumstances.
Glad you back OK at the end.
mk452403.31.08 - 11:33 am
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"Maybe the person who shouted out should be the one forking over some cash for Harry to pay the ticket."
+1
Roadblock03.31.08 - 12:04 pm
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great video. posted it on the front page i did.
Roadblock03.31.08 - 1:00 pm
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"...yelling out "fuck the pigs!" was the dumbest thing to yell while Harry was being talked to and ticketed by the cops. It's a sure way to make us all look like assholes."
+1
Similarly, I hear countless people yelling at cars that are politely waiting for hundreds of us to pass. WTF!! Again, this is not us versus them; if that is your agenda then please make it you versus them. If you yell 'fuck you' at a waiting car I think you owe it to them to stop, yell it to their face and then explain why you're such a hostile butthead.
Eric Hair03.31.08 - 1:13 pm
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"Similarly, I hear countless people yelling at cars that are politely waiting for hundreds of us to pass. WTF!! Again, this is not us versus them; if that is your agenda then please make it you versus them. If you yell 'fuck you' at a waiting car I think you owe it to them to stop, yell it to their face and then explain why you're such a hostile butthead."
+11111
Roadblock03.31.08 - 1:15 pm
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the girl with the megaphone was really annoying. she was the one that kept saying "fuck the cops". i wanted to tell her to shut the fuck up!
and yes dont yell at cars that are waiting for us to pass by. it just makes us look bad.
funanu03.31.08 - 1:21 pm
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Yeah some people are best left without a megaphone. If you can't handle it, then leave it at home. I know the girl you are referring to. I found her very few times entertaining.
User103.31.08 - 8:19 pm
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Yeah, you guys are making all of us from Critical Mass look bad.
..........oh, wait.
PC04.1.08 - 3:37 am
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Granted the girl with the megaphone was a bit much, but I don't think she was yelling "fuck the cops" we high fived because we're both cop daughters. I dunno.
riss04.1.08 - 8:31 am
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She is the daughter of a cop in Cincinnati. I heard her announce that at Pan Pacific Park.
skd04.1.08 - 8:46 am
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Yeah, you guys are making all of us from Critical Mass look bad.
..........oh, wait.
PC
04.1.08 - 6:37 am
rofl
jchungerford04.1.08 - 9:19 am
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Oh Thank God !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I needed to read this thread.....Lets do it again and again and again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!and again...
skano04.1.08 - 2:01 pm
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