By Brian D. Madden Santa Monica
(Re: “Ticket to ride,” Dec. 15-16) That’s a laugh. Should be “Critical Class.” I won a lot of gold medals on my bike, by the way — national road champ for a hundred kilometers in Clarksville, Missouri, in June; so I know what I’m talking about regarding cycling.
Here’s a hot tip for the mass with too much class. Don’t sign the ticket or don’t complain. What happens if you don’t sign a traffic ticket? Yep, the whoskow, the slammer, jail, behind bars... you know what I mean.
And now for something completely different. Make them take you and your bike to jail. Let Santa Monica pay your rent, being imprisoned in our new luxury jail is nice, compared to South America, I know from personal experience.
You’d be in good company: Martin Luther King, Henry David Thoureau, Nelson Mandella. It’s called civil disobedience. If you’re serious, then make a stand, that is to say, a ride, instead of letting yourselves be cowered on your million dollar, titanium mountain bikes, which have never even seen a mountain. I dare you. Refuse to sign the ticket. But then, that would be putting your cards on the table, instead of dabbling about the edges, like you’re doing now.
And for the cops who are reading this: Why is it OK for you to ride on the sidewalks and the promenade? It’s illegal for the rest of us. Why is bicycle theft OK? I mean, why don’t you do something about it? It’s rampant.
More about the story in today’s paper. If we don’t like the way things are, we can change it. It’s called voting. Like into or outta office.
This is Santa Monica, not North Korea.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 17, 2007. Read the original PDF.