Cyclists in NYC embroiled in lawsuit with government Santa Monica cleaner, healthier and more community-oriented, organizers say.
By Daily Press staff
SM PIER — Last Friday’s critical mass of hundreds of cyclists who gathered here was an organized coincidence with no leaders and no set agenda, its supporters say.
At 6:30 p.m., Santa Monicans gathered at the pier and rode throughout the city, sending a message that they want their road back.
The last Friday of every month in more than 100 cities around the world, cyclists, roller bladers and boarders come together for what’s been dubbed a festive rolling celebration. People come together for many reasons, — to assert their right to cleaner air, less congestion, safer roads, and to celebrate and ride in solidarity with other cyclists and like minded individuals, Critical Mass organizers say on their Web site.
The Critical Mass concept started in San Francisco in September 1992 and has spread to cities all over the world. Biking, walking, and other non-polluting forms of transportation will make Once a month, they take to the streets with their message that bicycling is a viable form of transportation. As their movement grows, they hope to touch more people until they reach a “Critical Mass,” a large enough force to make the decision makers and transportation planners listen to them.
Critical Mass has no leaders and no centrally-organized licensed rides. In every city that has a Critical Mass ride, some locals just picked a date, time, and location for the ride and publicized it, and thus the ride was born.
Some Critical Mass riders try to tie up traffic as much as possible and be otherwise confrontational with motorists. But organizers say those riders are missing the point about Critical Mass — it’s celebration of cycling, not a war against motorists, and asserting their right to the road, not denying others their right to the road.
Since its inception, police in cities all over the world have cracked down on Critical Mass. Sometimes the crackdowns have resulted in police assaulting and injuring cyclists, and arresting and ticketing cyclists.
The city of New York filed a lawsuit earlier this against Critical Mass, in an effort to end their rides in the city.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 4, 2005. Read the original PDF.