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Berkeley Critical Mass
Berkeley Critical Mass rolled through Berkeley on its regular East Bay Ride. Highlights included costumes in anticipation of Halloween Critical Mass in San Francisco (Oct. 27); a festive and jubilant rolling rendition of "Fuck tha Police" on Telegraph (site of recent police abuses), replete with dancing pedestrians; and an echoing velodrome in the Unsafeway Parking Garage.
Berkeley Critical Mass rolled through Berkeley on its regular East Bay Ride on Friday, October 13, 2006.
Highlights included costumes in anticipation of Halloween Critical Mass in San Francisco (Oct. 27); a festive and jubilant rolling rendition of "Fuck tha Police" on Telegraph (site of recent police abuses), replete with dancing pedestrians; and an echoing velodrome in the Unsafeway Parking Garage.
A summary of some change points in the piece:
00:00 I like dirt intro montage
00:20 Fuck the Police on Telegraph
03:23 Metal meets James Brown at Ashby BART
(ride through the concourse)
04:38 Pickup truck alert -- dancers instead
04:53 Over the bluff to Safeway
05:37 enter the Safeway Parking Garage
06:22 Enter the Magic Shopping Cart
07:17 Have a global warming day montage
Berkeley Critical Mass meets every second Friday at the Downtown Berkeley BART plaza (Constitution Plaza), gathering at 5:30 to leave after 6 PM. The ride celebrates its 14th birthday in March, and five years of almost zero police harassment. For more information about the Critical Mass movement around the globe, including times and places when you're traveling to any of the over 425 cities where it has occurred, check http://www.critical-mass.org/
Highlights included costumes in anticipation of Halloween Critical Mass in San Francisco (Oct. 27); a festive and jubilant rolling rendition of "Fuck tha Police" on Telegraph (site of recent police abuses), replete with dancing pedestrians; and an echoing velodrome in the Unsafeway Parking Garage.
A summary of some change points in the piece:
00:00 I like dirt intro montage
00:20 Fuck the Police on Telegraph
03:23 Metal meets James Brown at Ashby BART
(ride through the concourse)
04:38 Pickup truck alert -- dancers instead
04:53 Over the bluff to Safeway
05:37 enter the Safeway Parking Garage
06:22 Enter the Magic Shopping Cart
07:17 Have a global warming day montage
Berkeley Critical Mass meets every second Friday at the Downtown Berkeley BART plaza (Constitution Plaza), gathering at 5:30 to leave after 6 PM. The ride celebrates its 14th birthday in March, and five years of almost zero police harassment. For more information about the Critical Mass movement around the globe, including times and places when you're traveling to any of the over 425 cities where it has occurred, check http://www.critical-mass.org/
For more information:
http://berkeleycriticalmass.org/
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
1) It's kinda big, so: Downloading it to your computer before watching has benefits: it
may allow you to resize it where you otherwise couldn't, will be less
likely to hang, and if you watch it more than once, you'll be sparing the
server the extra traffic...
2) "Have a Global Warming Day" by Jan Lundberg and The Depavers. Jan is of course,
the High Priest of Petrocollapse. "I Like Dirt" by the Red Hot ChiliPoppaWheelers.
may allow you to resize it where you otherwise couldn't, will be less
likely to hang, and if you watch it more than once, you'll be sparing the
server the extra traffic...
2) "Have a Global Warming Day" by Jan Lundberg and The Depavers. Jan is of course,
the High Priest of Petrocollapse. "I Like Dirt" by the Red Hot ChiliPoppaWheelers.
For more information:
http://www.critical-mass.org/
Yeah! Wheee!!!
Mark your calendars!
Nov. 10
Dec. 8
Jan. 12
Feb. 9
Mar. 9
Apr. 13
May 11
June 8
July 13
Aug. 10
Sep. 14
Oct. 12!!!
The Count counts: One whole year, AH! Hah-HA-ha-Haaaa.
Mark your calendars!
Nov. 10
Dec. 8
Jan. 12
Feb. 9
Mar. 9
Apr. 13
May 11
June 8
July 13
Aug. 10
Sep. 14
Oct. 12!!!
The Count counts: One whole year, AH! Hah-HA-ha-Haaaa.
This dialogue occurred on an area bicycle organization email list.
Read from the bottom up.
==========================================
Y,
1) Frustration with motorists
I'm glad you're looking to direct your rage at the intolerable situation
we face into productive action. Have you considered citizen's arrests?
2) Critical Mass
Sounds like your frustration goes across modal lines.
I've participated in probably over 1,000 Critical Mass rides and I
STRONGLY disagree that they can be characterized as breaking all laws and
assaulting drivers. I encourage you to take your own video to prove your
point. Critical Mass is a first amendment protected event and operates
much as a parade. A law could and perhaps should be written to codify and
further protect its operation. There are many participants who have
developed protocols to de-escalate confrontations and who act on them
whenever problems occur. In my experience, problems come from primarily
from motorists.
The "cursing" in the video, if I've identified what you're referring to,
sounds to me like someone's shout for joy. It could be anyone and was
probably someone on the sidewalk. Their location appears to have been
behind the camera, and thus had nothing to do with the traffic, which very
likely couldn't hear it anyway and further likely wouldn't have perceived
it as directed at them. The idea that a car flying through the
intersection was clearly driving too fast for conditions (California law
was violated), is based on the fact that Critical Mass was entering the
intersection, and that the area has heavy pedestrian traffic. Actually,
rewatching the video, I see that there was an SUV stopped in the middle of
the intersection, which then progressed out of the intersection. This
appears civil to me. The element of speed is introduced by a small
scooter whizzing through, not by a car. The scooter was going too fast.
Stopped traffic (the red car and white SUV) suggest that the intersection
had become safe for Critical Mass, despite the sudden appearance of the
scooter. The limits of the video prevent fully understanding how each
actor evolved the events. I will not further debate whether the few
riders at the front made a bad decision in entering the intersection or
whether the driver of the scooter was justified in speeding through a
pedestrian area with a bicycle demonstration entering the intersection.
X
p.s. Guns and cars have many very similar characteristics and associated
statistics.
On Tue, 17 Oct 2006, Y wrote:
> Too fast for the "conditions"? The cars had a green light. While
> yes, I'm sure they were most likely going over the speed limit as 99%
> of the drivers in the Bay Area do, how are they to know of the
> "conditions"? From what I can see, the cyclists don't even yield
> before entering the intersection against a red light and into cross
> traffic. And yes, I am sure I heard cussing, I just re-watched the
> crossing of the intersection a few times and heard the same voice
> cussing multiple times.
>
> As for other Mass' I reference, I reference every Critical Mass I've
> witnessed over the past few years. Blatantly breaking all traffic
> laws, verbally (and on occasion physically) assaulting motorists, etc.
>
> This is a bit of a stretch, I understand, but it makes my point of the
> current format being counter-productive painfully clear. Imagine every
> gun owning, card carrying NRA member setting up targets in
> intersections once a month for target practice. While yes, they can
> legally own guns (we can legally own bikes) and they can legally shoot
> their guns (we can legally ride our bikes) they are blatantly breaking
> the law in an attempt to win over public interest. Do you think that
> would work? Do you think riding your bike into an intersection
> against a red light and cussing out the cars wins over public
> interest?
>
> Mass, to me, should be a means by which cyclists, en mass, exert their
> right in order to show that the current laws are, quite frankly,
> fucked. Cyclists may ride three abreast in order to pass (and you're
> always passing someone if you're riding in that large of a group),
> cyclists may take full use of the lane if they feel that riding
> conditions are unsafe (if there's not a bike lane, riding conditions
> are unsafe). Just taking up the entirety of a lane would get the
> point across (to those willing to listen).
>
> Now, believe me, I've had my share of confrontations. Three days ago
> while making a left onto Russell off of Milvia I caught a guy in an
> Escalade about to drive East through the barricade put in place to
> limit the traffic on the bike route and I immediately swerved over and
> blocked his path. It wasn't until he physically dragged me, my bike
> and my bike trailer out of his way that he was able to pass. The week
> before someone selling pottery out of their house (again on a bike
> route) put their A-Frame sign in the middle of the bike lane, so I
> moved it to the middle of the vehicle lane. When they confronted me,
> I told them it was in my way... Their response was that it was illegal
> to put things in the middle of the street, but they seemed to have
> missed my point when I told them it was illegal to block the bike lane
> as well. And just yesterday I hand delivered an "Open House" sign to
> a Realator who placed their sign in the middle of the bicycle access
> on an island on the Channing bike route and she threatened to call BPD
> for theaft. And let's not forget my almost daily protests in the
> middle of Channing and MLK since the motorists thing that "RIGHT TURN
> ONLY" really means "GO LEFT OR STRAIGHT AND SIDE SWIPE A CYCLIST".
> But, these confrontations start off as me attempting to explain the
> law to the motorists, not immediately breaking the law and blaming the
> motorists as most of the confrontations I've seen at Mass' in the Bay
> Area.
>
> Quite honestly, I'm fed up with Bay Area drivers and the governments
> inability to enforce Public Safety (anyone remember the head of
> Pedestrian Safety getting hit by a motorcycle on Bike To Work Day in
> San Francisco a few years back... anything change there?). As of the
> past few months, I've been detailing every enfraction I see and
> sending it to the Berkeley and/or Oakland Police Departments Traffic
> Enforcement requesting increased enforcement of the Bike Routes but I
> warned both yesterday (after a hit and run I had on the Channing
> route) that I will now be calling them and waiting for officers to
> come out to take reports. I'm going to be spending money I don't have
> for a digital video camera that I'm going to mount on my handle bars
> and I'm going to be sending video evidence of all of the shit that
> goes on in an attempt to get the government to start cracking down on
> motorists blatant disregard for cyclists.
>
> I'm on my bike the majority of the day. It's my only means of
> transportation, it's the means by which all errands that I do for the
> business I manage are made and it's my means to just get out and enjoy
> myself. I see a lot of shit out there as I ride throughout Oakland
> and Berkeley on a daily basis and the frightening thing is, I use the
> bicycle networks (however far and few between) extensively. If
> motorists are as bad as they are on designated bike routes, you know
> they are even worse on the regular city streets.
>
> On 10/16/06, X wrote:
>> Hi Y,
>>
>> Thanks for your support!
>>
>> I agree, Critical Mass is a great thing. Any city that cares to make good
>> on the promise of promoting cycling will nurture and support the blessing
>> of its Critical Mass rides wherever they appear. I totally disagree that
>> it is counter-productive in the Bay Area, however -- I think the most
>> counter-productive thing related to Critical Mass is people (and various
>> automobile-funded interests) insisting that it's counter-productive, or
>> otherwise attacking it. Critical Mass should be a celebration open to
>> all, and its benefits widely recognized and embraced.
>>
>> Glad you liked the music on Telegraph. Personally, although various
>> police officers have done a great deal of harm on Telegraph to all
>> interests, I wouldn't have chosen the song; I was surprised at how many
>> people, particularly passersby, responded positively. But they did;
>> clearly there's a special place for the song across many lines in this
>> culture.
>>
>> The problem of stop signs is a daily one for us all; I hope you support
>> the application of the Idaho law.
>>
>> I'm curious about the demonstrations you reference from the past.
>>
>> X
>>
>> p.s. Don't you think those cars were going too fast for conditions? And
>> are you sure you heard cussing? I didn't notice any.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 16 Oct 2006, Y wrote:
>>
>> > I'm all for Critical Mass, always have been and always will be, but
>> > Mass in the Bay Area does more harm than it does good. I remember a
>> > time in the Bay when the cyclists took to the streets because it was
>> > THEIR RIGHT! They obeyed all traffic laws but went out into the
>> > streets en masse to make their presence known.
>> >
>> > Now, it seems, Mass has been co-opted by cyclists more intent on
>> > pissing off motorists than educating them. Case and point, in the
>> > video shortly after passing the BPD vehicle while playing "Fuck Da
>> > Police" (good timing!) they all blaze through an intersection, against
>> > a red light yet cuss out the motorists who are legally driving in
>> > their lane with a green light. Is this supposed to make motorists
>> > like cyclists more?
>> >
>> > Ironically, it's gotten to the point in the Bay Area that I get yelled
>> > at by motorists if I STOP at a stop sign! Sure, like everyone else,
>> > I'll roll through a stop sign or red light but only if it's a 4-way
>> > stop and there are no other vehicles. If I'm coming up to a stop sign
>> > and there's cross traffic, I stop; if I come up to a 4-way stop and a
>> > car has gotten there first, I stop. But then I get yelled at for
>> > stopping?
>> >
>> > Mass in the Bay Area does more harm than good for cyclists. How do we
>> > expect to lobby for more rights when those most vocal and most seen
>> > are breaking every law we fought for?
>> >
Read from the bottom up.
==========================================
Y,
1) Frustration with motorists
I'm glad you're looking to direct your rage at the intolerable situation
we face into productive action. Have you considered citizen's arrests?
2) Critical Mass
Sounds like your frustration goes across modal lines.
I've participated in probably over 1,000 Critical Mass rides and I
STRONGLY disagree that they can be characterized as breaking all laws and
assaulting drivers. I encourage you to take your own video to prove your
point. Critical Mass is a first amendment protected event and operates
much as a parade. A law could and perhaps should be written to codify and
further protect its operation. There are many participants who have
developed protocols to de-escalate confrontations and who act on them
whenever problems occur. In my experience, problems come from primarily
from motorists.
The "cursing" in the video, if I've identified what you're referring to,
sounds to me like someone's shout for joy. It could be anyone and was
probably someone on the sidewalk. Their location appears to have been
behind the camera, and thus had nothing to do with the traffic, which very
likely couldn't hear it anyway and further likely wouldn't have perceived
it as directed at them. The idea that a car flying through the
intersection was clearly driving too fast for conditions (California law
was violated), is based on the fact that Critical Mass was entering the
intersection, and that the area has heavy pedestrian traffic. Actually,
rewatching the video, I see that there was an SUV stopped in the middle of
the intersection, which then progressed out of the intersection. This
appears civil to me. The element of speed is introduced by a small
scooter whizzing through, not by a car. The scooter was going too fast.
Stopped traffic (the red car and white SUV) suggest that the intersection
had become safe for Critical Mass, despite the sudden appearance of the
scooter. The limits of the video prevent fully understanding how each
actor evolved the events. I will not further debate whether the few
riders at the front made a bad decision in entering the intersection or
whether the driver of the scooter was justified in speeding through a
pedestrian area with a bicycle demonstration entering the intersection.
X
p.s. Guns and cars have many very similar characteristics and associated
statistics.
On Tue, 17 Oct 2006, Y wrote:
> Too fast for the "conditions"? The cars had a green light. While
> yes, I'm sure they were most likely going over the speed limit as 99%
> of the drivers in the Bay Area do, how are they to know of the
> "conditions"? From what I can see, the cyclists don't even yield
> before entering the intersection against a red light and into cross
> traffic. And yes, I am sure I heard cussing, I just re-watched the
> crossing of the intersection a few times and heard the same voice
> cussing multiple times.
>
> As for other Mass' I reference, I reference every Critical Mass I've
> witnessed over the past few years. Blatantly breaking all traffic
> laws, verbally (and on occasion physically) assaulting motorists, etc.
>
> This is a bit of a stretch, I understand, but it makes my point of the
> current format being counter-productive painfully clear. Imagine every
> gun owning, card carrying NRA member setting up targets in
> intersections once a month for target practice. While yes, they can
> legally own guns (we can legally own bikes) and they can legally shoot
> their guns (we can legally ride our bikes) they are blatantly breaking
> the law in an attempt to win over public interest. Do you think that
> would work? Do you think riding your bike into an intersection
> against a red light and cussing out the cars wins over public
> interest?
>
> Mass, to me, should be a means by which cyclists, en mass, exert their
> right in order to show that the current laws are, quite frankly,
> fucked. Cyclists may ride three abreast in order to pass (and you're
> always passing someone if you're riding in that large of a group),
> cyclists may take full use of the lane if they feel that riding
> conditions are unsafe (if there's not a bike lane, riding conditions
> are unsafe). Just taking up the entirety of a lane would get the
> point across (to those willing to listen).
>
> Now, believe me, I've had my share of confrontations. Three days ago
> while making a left onto Russell off of Milvia I caught a guy in an
> Escalade about to drive East through the barricade put in place to
> limit the traffic on the bike route and I immediately swerved over and
> blocked his path. It wasn't until he physically dragged me, my bike
> and my bike trailer out of his way that he was able to pass. The week
> before someone selling pottery out of their house (again on a bike
> route) put their A-Frame sign in the middle of the bike lane, so I
> moved it to the middle of the vehicle lane. When they confronted me,
> I told them it was in my way... Their response was that it was illegal
> to put things in the middle of the street, but they seemed to have
> missed my point when I told them it was illegal to block the bike lane
> as well. And just yesterday I hand delivered an "Open House" sign to
> a Realator who placed their sign in the middle of the bicycle access
> on an island on the Channing bike route and she threatened to call BPD
> for theaft. And let's not forget my almost daily protests in the
> middle of Channing and MLK since the motorists thing that "RIGHT TURN
> ONLY" really means "GO LEFT OR STRAIGHT AND SIDE SWIPE A CYCLIST".
> But, these confrontations start off as me attempting to explain the
> law to the motorists, not immediately breaking the law and blaming the
> motorists as most of the confrontations I've seen at Mass' in the Bay
> Area.
>
> Quite honestly, I'm fed up with Bay Area drivers and the governments
> inability to enforce Public Safety (anyone remember the head of
> Pedestrian Safety getting hit by a motorcycle on Bike To Work Day in
> San Francisco a few years back... anything change there?). As of the
> past few months, I've been detailing every enfraction I see and
> sending it to the Berkeley and/or Oakland Police Departments Traffic
> Enforcement requesting increased enforcement of the Bike Routes but I
> warned both yesterday (after a hit and run I had on the Channing
> route) that I will now be calling them and waiting for officers to
> come out to take reports. I'm going to be spending money I don't have
> for a digital video camera that I'm going to mount on my handle bars
> and I'm going to be sending video evidence of all of the shit that
> goes on in an attempt to get the government to start cracking down on
> motorists blatant disregard for cyclists.
>
> I'm on my bike the majority of the day. It's my only means of
> transportation, it's the means by which all errands that I do for the
> business I manage are made and it's my means to just get out and enjoy
> myself. I see a lot of shit out there as I ride throughout Oakland
> and Berkeley on a daily basis and the frightening thing is, I use the
> bicycle networks (however far and few between) extensively. If
> motorists are as bad as they are on designated bike routes, you know
> they are even worse on the regular city streets.
>
> On 10/16/06, X wrote:
>> Hi Y,
>>
>> Thanks for your support!
>>
>> I agree, Critical Mass is a great thing. Any city that cares to make good
>> on the promise of promoting cycling will nurture and support the blessing
>> of its Critical Mass rides wherever they appear. I totally disagree that
>> it is counter-productive in the Bay Area, however -- I think the most
>> counter-productive thing related to Critical Mass is people (and various
>> automobile-funded interests) insisting that it's counter-productive, or
>> otherwise attacking it. Critical Mass should be a celebration open to
>> all, and its benefits widely recognized and embraced.
>>
>> Glad you liked the music on Telegraph. Personally, although various
>> police officers have done a great deal of harm on Telegraph to all
>> interests, I wouldn't have chosen the song; I was surprised at how many
>> people, particularly passersby, responded positively. But they did;
>> clearly there's a special place for the song across many lines in this
>> culture.
>>
>> The problem of stop signs is a daily one for us all; I hope you support
>> the application of the Idaho law.
>>
>> I'm curious about the demonstrations you reference from the past.
>>
>> X
>>
>> p.s. Don't you think those cars were going too fast for conditions? And
>> are you sure you heard cussing? I didn't notice any.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 16 Oct 2006, Y wrote:
>>
>> > I'm all for Critical Mass, always have been and always will be, but
>> > Mass in the Bay Area does more harm than it does good. I remember a
>> > time in the Bay when the cyclists took to the streets because it was
>> > THEIR RIGHT! They obeyed all traffic laws but went out into the
>> > streets en masse to make their presence known.
>> >
>> > Now, it seems, Mass has been co-opted by cyclists more intent on
>> > pissing off motorists than educating them. Case and point, in the
>> > video shortly after passing the BPD vehicle while playing "Fuck Da
>> > Police" (good timing!) they all blaze through an intersection, against
>> > a red light yet cuss out the motorists who are legally driving in
>> > their lane with a green light. Is this supposed to make motorists
>> > like cyclists more?
>> >
>> > Ironically, it's gotten to the point in the Bay Area that I get yelled
>> > at by motorists if I STOP at a stop sign! Sure, like everyone else,
>> > I'll roll through a stop sign or red light but only if it's a 4-way
>> > stop and there are no other vehicles. If I'm coming up to a stop sign
>> > and there's cross traffic, I stop; if I come up to a 4-way stop and a
>> > car has gotten there first, I stop. But then I get yelled at for
>> > stopping?
>> >
>> > Mass in the Bay Area does more harm than good for cyclists. How do we
>> > expect to lobby for more rights when those most vocal and most seen
>> > are breaking every law we fought for?
>> >
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