Lock your trike here

Editor's note: Choking heat, a chilled shot of bourbon and a smattering of sinus congestion lead to an inaccuracy in this post, which was pointed out by a sharp-eyed reader today, then later corrected. Indeed, there's bicycle riding allowed in the city’s business district, just not in many places where it could be construed as safe.

Grab your bikes and head for downtown Saratoga Springs, because the Public Works department has a treat for you. And so do the strapping uniformed officers of the Saratoga Springs Police Department.

In a move to generate more bike traffic and less vehicle traffic, public works has decided to bring in 16 nifty-looking bike racks, designed in part to mimic the hitching posts of yesteryear that once adorned every storefront in the city.

Unlike the more traditional racks, the new designs are shaped with a single pedestal of steel and two semi-circles on either side for bike riders to lean or lock their hogs. Topping these innovative racks are metal horse heads holding small tie rings in their noses, just in case someone comes riding into downtown atop a burro.

Public works guru Tom McTygue says the smaller racks are designed to go in front of stores in spaces where the traditional racks wouldn’t fit. Thus, the city’s biking community –previously relegated to chaining their rides to street signs, trees or other stationary objects –will have more adequate spaces throughout the city’s business district to stow their rides.

This would make perfect sense, were bike riding in downtown Saratoga Springs legal, which it’s not. The city’s code specifically prohibits riding a bicycle, skateboard, or in-line skates on any sidewalk within what’s referred to as the “C-1 business district,” an area which the beat cops will insist is every street located within two blocks east or west of Broadway –even though this prohibition extends much further than this.

On a side note, it should be mentioned that tricycles are a perfectly legitimate forms of transportation that can be operated freely on all sidewalks and streets within the city limits, according to the “play vehicle” section of the code. It should also be noted that bicycles are legal to ride on city streets, provided the rider is intrepid enough to brave the barreling semis, non-exsistent shoulders and choked traffic of the outlined business district.

Bicycles, in fact, have an entire section aimed at regulating them. Among the provisions is a law stipulating that all city residents are to license their bikes with city police and keep a “license plate” affixed to their ride where the cops can readily identified it.

Any violation of these rules is punishable by a fine $50o or a 15-day jail sentence, according to the law. Persistent violators are subject to a $100 fine or imprisonment for up to 45 days –or both. Three convictions within 18 months can bring a fine of $250 or a jail term of 90 days, which, incidentally, is more time than one city man got for killing another with his car in February 2005.

City cops aren’t afraid of chasing down bikers either, although most residents know their general preference is to simply to warn cyclists. It’s the skateboarders who usually have to contend with tickets or having their boards confiscated by police.

Still, it’s ironic that city leaders are now tacitly advocating for people to break the ordinance they passed during the 70s and reaffirmed in the late 80s. And if anyone among the illustrious city council argues that bike riders will walk their bikes from the edge of the so-called business district to where the prominently located racks will be placed, then they’re quite out of touch with reality.

Perhaps the reason they’re not too worried about this legal conundrum is that the police department’s lead bike cop has reportedly has been suspended without pay. Dan Noeker, an oft-ornery police sergeant who once shacked up with former deputy Public Safety Commissioner Erin Dreyer, is apparently no longer on active duty, according to The Saratogian.

Perhaps this has something to do with his leadership over the generally useless bike patrol which more or less exists solely to enforce the bike and “play vehicle” ordinance. In grand jury testimony, Noeker said he ostensibly nicknamed the bike patrol “Satan’s helpers” even after his superiors told him that this would reinforce divisions forming within the department.

“At the time, it was a esprit-de-corps thing, getting everybody together, but I noticed at that time the administration seemed to think it was too much of a [clique] I was creating among the bike patrol members,” testified the officer in 2004. “I did it to further that [clique], mostly because the administration didn't like it.”

Despite Noeker’s reprimand –more than likely for violating the department’s chain of command or perhaps just being an ornery fascist –the bike patrol continues to ride the city. But many frequent downtown patrons say these patrols are in a much diminished capacity.

Still, don’t be surprised if one of these riding cops skulks out of the shadows to issue a nice fat ticket to anyone dismounting their bike by downtown’s spiffy new racks. Given this risk, the best bet is to stay off the traditional bicycle and instead find a good tricycle or burro to park at the racks while on a downtown shopping excursion.