Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about enforcement

Waymond Smith and Angela Ford. Photo: Alberta Dean

Black Bike Advocates Say They’ll Fight the CPD’s Biased Ticketing Practices

By John Greenfield | Apr 6, 2017 | No Comments

In the wake of a Tribune report on disproportionate bike ticketing in African-American communities, two local cycling advocates say they're determined to hold the police department accountable for ending its unfair enforcement practices.

A crackdown on cyclists in Wicker Park last January. The Trib editorial board argues that the solution to police aggressively targeting bike riders on the South and West Sides is for ticketing practices on the North Side to become equally unfair. Photo: Photo: @hurmsolo

Tribune’s Answer to the “Biking While Black” Problem: Crack Down on North Side Riders Too

By John Greenfield | Mar 28, 2017 | 15 Comments

Leave it to the Chicago Tribune editorial board to take an important expose on police targeting bike riders in black communities and use it as an excuse for yet another another call-to-arms for more ticketing of cyclists citywide.

Are Lawbreaking Divvy Riders Really Causing Major Safety Issues?

By John Greenfield | Oct 7, 2014 | 49 Comments

[This article also ran in Checkerboard City, John’s column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.] Chicago’s master bike-baiter, Tribune columnist John Kass, was one of the first local pundits to warn the public about the dangers of Divvy. “I can’t stand those Divvy bike people,” he griped in an online video […]

Enforcement Events Educate Drivers and Cyclists – If They’re Done Right

By John Greenfield | May 22, 2013 | 64 Comments

Last week while pedaling downtown on Milwaukee, I came across Chicago Department of Transportation Bicycling Ambassadors and 14th District police officers doing safety outreach to people on bikes and people in cars. The ambassadors were handing flyers to motorists and cyclists reminding them not to use phones while driving and to obey traffic signals while […]