Urban Biking: It’s For Everyone

Are people on bikes "white, middle-class college students and well-to-do transplants"?

Decidedly not... just look around the city, other than right around East Rock, on any day. Most people riding bikes are not white, and are most likely on the lower end of the income scale.

People who drive are at least twice as wealthy as everyone else.

Go ahead and complain all you want about other people using the roads, but anyone who actively pushes for improvements for drivers at the expense of people who walk, bike, and take buses in our city is using their power to be racist, anti-child, and anti-poor.

Just to clarify, although the city encourages the use of all standard parking meters for the purpose of locking your bicycle to, we ask that you please refrain from locking bicycles to blue handicapped meters and signposts denoting handicapped parking spaces.

Why isn't the New Haven Police Department participating in the National Bicycle Registry? Having people report their stolen bikes to the Devil's Gear shop is lame. I love Devil's Gear, but keeping a registry of serial numbers of stolen bikes is not their job, it's the job of the police department. I have sent emails to Chief Esserman and to the district manager of my police district saying this - and I have gotten no response.

A stolen bike registry doesn't mean a thing if the city lacks the will to arrest people who steal bikes (really...how many arrests for this crime are on record in the past several decades? If it's more than zero I'd be surprised. If it's more than 10 I'd be shocked.)
This is even though theft of a property worth $2K and up is a felony and many bikes can exceed that cost dramatically. Or even below that as a misdemeanor, think about the affect upon someone of limited means that uses their bike to get to a job. NHPD has to stop regarding bikes as toys and start taking this seriously.

Here's a few clues;
When you see a teenager being driven on the handlebars of another teenagers bike and a few minutes later those two both ride by on bikes, there's probably been a theft.
When you see someone riding a bike completely out of adjustment for their body there's probably been a theft.
When you see teenage boys riding women's bikes (something that boys never did when I was growing up) there's probably been a theft.

i had a great experience with the devil's gear stolen bike registry. my bike was stolen, and several months later it was brought in by a customer that needed a new tire tube. i thought it was a miracle that they recovered my bike, and am grateful still.