"Roadblock" and Other Cyclists Revolt at LAPD Ticketing for Bike Riding Without a License
Ticket to Ride: Fighting over a $3 license, midnight riders claim harassment
Cyclists in the audience nodded in solidarity. At least 100 delegates of the bike lobby were present, and they knew their talking points. Others who followed Roadblock to the microphone brought typed notes and an earnestness that was somewhat new to a community known for its outlaw spirit. And yet, in the middle of a report from the Department of Transportation, Roadblock couldn’t help yelling out: “They’re talking like they’ve never spoken to a cyclist before in their life!” (As it turned out, the comment was directed at Senior Bicycle Coordinator Michelle Mowery, who is not only a cyclist but a former semi-professional racer, and the owner of no less than 11 bikes. Of the outburst, she said later, “I have more miles on my legs than they do.”)
The council denied Roadblock’s request for rebuttal, but his pleas did not go unheard. Both council members LaBonge and Bill Rosendahl asked Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger if the LAPD might suspend enforcement of the code until “the confusion is cleared up.”
Paysinger politely declined: “I would hesitate to give you an answer right now, as we have not finished our research.”
Cyclists in the crowd hissed at this but still seemed optimistic that their protest had been noted. (One of the bikers even high-fived Councilman Rosendahl in the hallway on his way out.) On the matter of bike licenses, however, there was little agreement about whether to continue ignoring the law. One young cyclist who had earlier recommended to the council that the code be “taken out back, shot and put out of its misery,” to wide applause, remained steadfastly opposed to any “license-gathering missions.”
“We shouldn’t be claiming that a law is invalid and defunct while at the same time scrambling to comply with it.”
Another cyclist, carrying a copy of J. Harry Wray’s Pedal Power, also declined an invitation to purchase a license at Central Station. “I’m never getting a license,” he said later in an e-mail, and then added, “Rebel for life!”
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