Statement to the
United States District Court
Southern District New York
From
Chris Carlsson
San Francisco
October 2004
I have learned about the
legal proceedings between Bray et al and the City of New
York et al. I have read New York's Memorandum of Law and
their Answer with Counter Claim, as well as Lieutenant
Albano's Declaration.
I have participated in
Critical Mass rides since their inception in San
Francisco in September 1992. I have ridden in more than
100 rides in San Francisco, as well as Critical Mass
rides in Berkeley, California, Minneapolis, Chicago, New
York, Milan, Italy, Rome, Italy, and Mexico City.
Critical Mass rides take place across the planet in over
200 cities on the last Friday of each month.
I have witnessed
first-hand every imaginable police and municipal response
to Critical Mass, from totally ignoring it to violent
repression, with many variations between. In July 2003 I
rode with over 1,000 cyclists through the glorious
streets of New York, making our way on a meandering route
through mid-town before finally crossing the
Queensborough Bridge. It was a peaceful, balmy evening,
the culmination of the BikeSummer month. The euphoria and
vibrant urban pleasure of that July 03 Critical Mass will
always be remembered by those who rode it.
A narrow interpretation
of the law as presented by the City will ill serve the
spirit of the law, the quality of life in New York, or
this vital urban space for peaceful, creative dissent. As
Lt. Albano notes, the guiding philosophy of Critical Mass
is that there are no leaders, no organizers, and that for
its duration it is self-organizing. Naturally some people
are louder and more assertive in sharing knowledge of
this remarkable experience, this unprecedented public
space, and from the narrow point of view of the police
department, that makes those people responsible. But this
is to fundamentally misunderstand the new and profoundly
democratic impulse that animates Critical Mass.
It is precisely
impossible for Critical Mass, a non-entity, but a
recurring organized coincidence, to apply for a permit.
It is profoundly inappropriate for any individual or
group to try to assume responsibility for a self-guiding
social phenomenon. Critical Mass is a monthly experiment
in direct democracy, in reshaping the city, in
reconnecting New Yorkers with New York, a broad,
occasionally wild, but always peaceful and
pleasure-oriented exercise in living together
creatively.
Lt. Albano's declaration
is instructive and offers a relatively easy way out.
After pointlessly building his case against Times Up! as
the responsible party, he finally concedes the obvious in
his point eleven, that
"Critical Mass truly is 'a happening of a group of
people,' [and] does not present an impediment to
the Department issuing a permit for the event."
But still the NYPD
insists that this permit must be issued to an individual.
Why? One presumes so that that person can be held liable
for the actions of others. It would be unfair and morally
wrong to expect anyone to assume that kind of
responsibility for an event that moves through the
streets, picking up and dropping off participants all the
way, going to unknown destinations, shedding small groups
from time to time who then ride off in groups of dozens
to their own alternate destination. In a real sense,
Critical Mass is a public gathering where friends meet,
ride for a while, and go on to the rest of their evening.
In that sense it appears much like the lost public
commons of years gone by, with the added twist of being
in motion. Thus it is the law's inability to adequately
define this event that has led to New York City's Counter
Claim.
As we've discovered in
San Francisco, and nearly all cities where Critical Mass
enjoys benign, even bemused tolerance, with or without a
permit, the police have the choice to neglect, facilitate
or repress the ride and its participants. The latter
choice always leads to protracted legal battles, and so
far has usually led to apologies and cash settlements
from cities to the wronged riders (San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Minneapolis, Austin, Portland).
As Lt. Albano correctly
suspects, the unwillingness to apply for a permit is
central to the philosophy of Critical Mass. The police
need a permit process so they have a bureaucratic
mechanism of control. But the need to know a destination
and to enforce a prescribed route is particularly
antithetical to the spirit and experience of Critical
Mass.
The New York PD should
just issue a permit to itself to ride along with Critical
Mass, preferably on bicycles. All Critical Mass rides I
have been in have been remarkably quick to clear a path
for emergency vehicles. It is rare for anyone to get hurt
during Critical Mass, at least when the police refrain
from physically attacking. Most Critical Mass rides I
have been in have been greeted by cheers and horns by the
vast majority of motorists and passersby. Critical Mass
does NOT decrease safety. For the few minutes it takes to
pass through, it turns streets filled with polluting,
hurtling multi-ton vehicles into broad boulevards teeming
with good cheer, tinkling bells, and interesting
conversation. It is an unambiguous assertion of the right
to peaceably assemble, and to engage in free speech. A
strict application of the City's Administrative Code
would effectively obliterate this form of social
expression, violate basic rights, and set back the
quality of life in New York.
There are a number of
practical problems that arise. Is it now illegal to park
bicycles in Manhattan? Can the police impound any
"unattended" but locked bicycle at any time anywhere? Do
they impound cars so freely? Other possessions? Why are
bicycles being subjected to this selective enforcement?
What about people who commute by bicycle and are riding
home on a Friday evening? What if they find themselves
with 25 other people who are riding home too? Will the
police insist on a permit? Why do 1000 bicyclists need a
permit but 1000 motorists do not? Is this not a political
decision to reward the atomized and punish the socially
engaged? Will this improve life in New York City?
Because finally Critical
Mass is about much more than just bicycling. It is about
how we live together, how we re-engage with each other in
large anonymous cities, how we reanimate a basic
democratic culture. It is also about reshaping the city
itself, moving us away from blind dependency on a corrupt
and wasteful use of public space for cars. If Critical
Mass is subject to tight regulation by the police
department, it will only further erode the credibility of
policing in New York more generally. What could be more
glaring than the hypocrisy of repressing bicycles out of
a fake concern for public safety, while the condition of
our streets considered "normal" and "safe" is the daily
insanity that has earned New York its deserved
reputation?
I hope common sense will
prevail and the Court will dismiss this outrageous
counterclaim by New York City against persons unknown and
the poor bicyclists who had their bikes stolen by the
police with no evidence, no due process, and a strangely
politicized enforcement of administrative code. Critical
Mass is a gift to New York. It breathes life into the
wheezing lungs of a suffering city; it asserts a
profoundly democratic and public sensibility against the
growing tide of conformity, control, and passivity.
Sincerely,
Chris Carlsson
Critical-Mass.info
