Your U-Lock won't protect you

By RAPHAEL LUCKOM

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On May 5th, bicycles locked to parking meters began to disappear from Comm. Ave. Many of the owners received no notification that the bikes were to be removed, and no notice was left of where to go to claim them.

Nicole Freedman, director of Boston Bikes, a city program that promotes bike riding, could not say if it's legal to lock bikes to parking meters. "I don't want to answer that, because we've been having some problems with BU that might turn the answer upside-down." Boston Bikes' website suggests that owners "Lock your bike in a highly visible area close to pedestrian traffic and streetlights [and] to a large metal immovable object."

Boston University Assistant to the Dean of Students Katherine Hasenauer had sent an email to the BU community that stated, "Beginning on Monday, May 5, 2008, bicycles attached to anything other than an appropriate bike rack will be removed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This includes trees, parking meters and benches. This action is being taken to prevent the destruction of the new plantings and items installed during the Commonwealth Avenue Beautification Project." The Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project is a joint venture between the Massachusetts Highway Department, the City of Boston and BU that has been in progress since 2006. It's scheduled to be finished this fall.

The Office of the Dean of Students later sent out another email. "The university was merely conveying a message sent to us from city officials, and we apologize for the confusion," it said. "Unfortunately, the university has no sway over city policy, including bicycle removal from city property."

But Masha Serdyukova, a BU student who witnessed the removals, says it was BU personnel—not the city—cutting bikes from the parking meters and loading them onto a flatbed truck. "I saw people cutting the lock on a bike, and my friend convinced them to let him lock it up to his bike while we waited for the owner," she says. "A couple of the guys were from McCourt, wearing McCourt hats, but most of them were in BU Facilities Management attire ... They said they were taking them to 120 Ashford Street, and when that filled up they were getting sent somewhere else."

Personnel at 120 Ashford Street said that no bikes were being stored there.

Colin Riley, BU's director of media relations, said that the bike removal program had been stopped. "I'm not sure exactly who was removing them," he said. "It's a moot point. Bicycles are not being removed. People need to appreciate that [the Commonwealth Avenue Improvement Project] is providing many new amenities along Comm. Ave."