I pulled up at Billings Bridge this afternoon while I was out running errands, and went to lock my bike up against the sign post because, as usual, the bike racks (those irritating on-the-ground ones) were pretty much full. An older man who was just unlocking his bike offered to let me use the spot he was just leaving, and I declined, telling him I actually preferred to use the street sign. Then the conversation shifted to the damage those racks can do, and the lone naked (and bent, and rusted, with the tire long since gone) wheel still chained to one rack, and the blue kids' bike that, I realized, had been sitting there for well over a year.
The deal is,
as I discovered a while back, the owner of the property has to call 311 to get abandoned bikes removed, and something tells me the owners of Billings Bridge Shopping Centre just don't really give a rat's arse that the bike has been sitting there rusting through two winters. This means that no one, really, has a right to complain if anyone comes by with bolt cutters who isn't employed by the City.
So I stopped and took a picture. Here it is. Free to a good home, or at least to anyone with the wherewithal to cut a U-lock. Put this bike out of its misery.
The Bike revolution in Ottawa is here... Road contruction downtown, high gas prices, and traffic congestion is getting more people onto their bikes. I have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The roads are just friendlier when more bikers are around.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it has Shimano parts I can snatch? Hmmm. ;)
ReplyDeleteWell, take it from me, it'll go to more use if you scavenge it than sitting there rusting. You should SEE the chain. Yeek. And I can assure you it's been sitting there for more than a year. . .
ReplyDelete