I recently learned that our police department is giving away bicycles to area youth, chosen by the Housing Authority of Annapolis (HACA). Overall, this is an excellent idea and I applaud the police department, but as I have said before, access to a bike is not the big issue here. The concern is access to places to ride. I've been involved in bake safety, education and planning issues and gave away hundreds of bike helmets to local children through a grant from the Rotary Club. Despite our best efforts to educate the children and their families in Spanish and English, to provide fitting and usage information as well as that for bike safety and laws, I fear our efforts were in vain. I have never seen any of the 450 helmets in use by children. Not one. This is not the place to extol the virtues of bicycling for youth or to lament its decline in our suburbanized, car culture BUT....there are inexpensive bikes available all over the place. The issue is not the bike but the place to ride. I fear that the police department's worthy efforts may not make much of a difference and wonder what has happened to the bikes they have given away over the years. How many were lost, stolen, abandoned or in disrepair?
I wrote the following letter to the Police Department:
I am interested in the bike giveaway program. Were children given helmets? Were they given instruction in how to wear the helmets? Were they given locks and keys? Were they given instructions in safety and how/where to ride? Has this been done in years past? Does the APD check up on where those bikes are?
My concern here is that APD has not thought this through and the program may not be as successful as it otherwise could have been. It may in fact be endangering these children. I know this may sound like I am just looking to dredge up bad news but the issue is not availability of bikes--cheap bikes can be found all over the place--and these kids could also be involved in restoring and maintaining bikes--they are thrown out all over the city on each of the four bulk pickup days a year--the issue is not bikes---it is bike safety , safe operation, wearing of helmets and above all--where to ride??? Where can a kid from Newtowne or Robinwood ride???
My concern here is that APD has not thought this through and the program may not be as successful as it otherwise could have been. It may in fact be endangering these children. I know this may sound like I am just looking to dredge up bad news but the issue is not availability of bikes--cheap bikes can be found all over the place--and these kids could also be involved in restoring and maintaining bikes--they are thrown out all over the city on each of the four bulk pickup days a year--the issue is not bikes---it is bike safety , safe operation, wearing of helmets and above all--where to ride??? Where can a kid from Newtowne or Robinwood ride???
I received the following reply from Jane Schlegel, A.P.D. Public Information Officer:
Yes - helmets provided and instructions from our officers on proper fitting
This is the fifth year for the bicycle gifts
No tax dollars at work, funding for this initiative is from the surplus donations, from the youth fishing camps (also operated by A.P.D.)
Donations for operating fishing camps are made by civic organizations, businesses and private citizens
K-Mart provides bikes at cost
Chief Pristoop has asked me to coordinate a day, hopefully, at Truxtun Park, to place personal identification information on bikes, mopeds, skateboards, etc.
The department has bicycle safety days with area youth, as a regular calendar event.
We have already had one generous resident offer to support the bike give-away and any other positive results from your readers are welcome. Give me a call if I can provide more details.
Hope all is well...
Jane Schlegel, A.P.D. Public Information Officer 410-268-9000 ext. 7294
2 Comments:
My solution is for the HACA to own the bikes and the children can borrow them. That way they are maintained by the HACA.
Well...I suppose it is worth discussing but I don't think it would work for a variety of reasons. Who at HACA would that? (NOTE: Although "fineart" is a personal confidante of CP, I did not solicit nor discuss this comment beforehand)
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