PRESS RELEASE
Bike the Bridge! Coalition
Contact:
Jason Meggs, BTB!C East Bay Coordinator,
PAGE: 510-720-2818 ; work: 510-643-5722 ; voicemail: 510-273-9288
FAX: 510-486-1528 ; e-mail jmeggs@lmi.net
Web site http://www.bikethebridge.org/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 4, 2000
BAY BRIDGE BIKERS IN COURT
CYCLIST RALLY TODAY, ONE CYCLIST STILL IN JAIL ON "FELONY CONSPIRACY"
PRESS CONFERENCE 1:30 PM TODAY AT 661 WASHINGTON ST., OAKLAND
Quality hi-8 footage of bridge ride provided to press. Banners and supporters p
resent.
The seven bicyclists who were arrested by the CHP on the Bay Bridge
Monday, and then charged with numerous charges including felony
Conspiracy, will hold a press conference at 1:30 PM today at the Wiley
W. Manuel Courthouse in downtown Oakland, at 661 Washington Street (at
7th, near Broadway). Unfortunately, the one cyclist who is still in
jail -- David Wedding Dress -- will not be able to join them in front
of the courthouse, as he is still in custody with a $5,712.00
bail. The crowd will enter the court to attend his arraignment in
Dept. 112 at 2 PM after the press conference.
Cyclists are outraged that the CHP has abused its power to this great
an extent. While motorists who slay innocent people walk away without
a fine, the CHP is locking up peaceful protesters to punish them for
exercising their free speech rights. Biking the Bay Bridge is an
infraction, not an arrestable crime. Indeed, we demand that the bridge
be opened to bicyclists and pedestrians immediately. The riders did
not block traffic -- they ARE TRAFFIC. Cyclists rode in the far right
side of the right-hand lane and shared the road.
We apologise to the press that Jason Meggs was not more available for
contact, as he was arrested and his pager taken apart and broken by
police! Arrestees were illegally held in handcuffs for almost 4 hours
and were without their rightful phone calls for even longer. Arrest
pictures on web site.
ISSUES WHICH WE ARE PROTESTING:
1. Governor Davis' veto of SB 1629 and 1809, and his theft of our tax
dollars by cutting us out of the largest transportation budget the
state has ever seen. 25% of traffic fatalities are suffered by
bicyclists and pedestrians, yet we receive less than 1% of
transportation funding. Davis ignores the epidemic of fatalities which
is plaguing our streets, and the road rage, poor planning and inequity
that is responsible;
2. The Army Corps of Engineers' rubber-stamping of the proposed
replacement of the East Span. The proposed new bridge would be
exorbitantly costly and would remove the invaluable rail access;
3. The proposed "Southern Crossing" which would simply exacerbate the
effects of sprawl and motorcar dependency, drain our precious
transportation funds, and irreparably harm the fragile bay;
4. The system of motorcar dependency which has been allowed to develop
in the Bay Area and across this nation which destroys our communities,
tears out housing, drives up housing prices, promotes urban blight,
leaches tax dollars, paves over our farmlands, destroys habitat,
spreads disease and fuels deforestation, saps huge amounts of our
precious and dwindling natural resources, and sets us up for
inevitable economic and environmental collapse and is environmental
racism. The Bay Area should be focusing on building sustainable
cities, in the form of car-free communities well-served by transit;
Our group is inspired by Car Free Cities, by J.H. Crawford
(www.carfree.com) and Think Big, a new film b
y Eric McCaughrin,
(copies available today!!!), showing what a sustainable Bay Area could
look like;
5. The system of oil dependency which is directly responsible for
genocide of indigenous peoples across the world, for global warming
and its impending holocaust, and for the destruction of habitat and
ecosystems which is causing the earth to lose species at an
unprecedented rate of extinction;
6. The building of motorcar-only structures such as the Bay Bridge
which prohibit sustainable modes of travel. The right to travel under
one's own power is an inalienable right which shall not be abridged.
7. Discrimination and violence against bicyclists and pedestrians by
police, motorists, transportation planners, traffic engineers,
government officials, transit service providers, courts, and
employers.
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PRESS RELEASE