visit www.battleofthebikeban.com
In 1987, Mayor Koch issued an edict banning bicycling on Fifth, Madison and Park Aves. from 31st St. to 59th St., between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The ban was a clear attack on bike messengers, who were being scapegoated in the press and public for unsafe streets. In response, six messengers rode up Sixth Ave., taking up the road width, slowing down traffic, and stopping at red lights to let pedestrians cross safely. The rides were repeated almost daily and soon attracted thousands of participants. Pedestrians joined the demonstrations, and the press began to criticize the mayor's action. In less than two months, the ban was defeated. The courts pointed out that the regulation had not been published in the public record, and instead of going back and doing so, Koch dropped the idea.
This victory was a testament to the powers of direct action: to humanize a cause, create dialogue, demonstrate a possibility other than the mainstream narrative, and most important, to cultivate community. When those six messengers took the streets, they cut through the ideological arguments for the ban by showing the faces and bodies of the people whose jobs were on the line, and gave others the opportunity to talk to those messengers. They certified that cycling could be city-friendly, and they formed communities between formerly disparate groups of cyclists, and between formerly oppositional road users.
The cycling community will once again gather in the spirit of direct action. At 6:30 p.m. on Fri., Sept. 28, the 20th anniversary of Critical Mass, we will meet at Sixth Ave. and Houston St. and bike the ride that defeated the 1987 ban. At 9 p.m., we will convene at Cooper Union's Great Hall, at 7 E. Seventh St., for a free movie screening about the ban, followed by a panel discussion on how to cultivate community and create positive change with cyclists and other road users. For more details, visit www.battleofthebikeban.com