MORNING BULLETIN: MAN ON AN ELECTRIC BIKE MISSION, JOYRIDE IN A COP CAR
Photo of 170-pound Moksha the Mastiff and Moksha’s owner (servant) by Bette Kerr.
July 31, 2017 Weather: Sunny, with a high of 84 degrees.
Notices:
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News:
Upper West Sider Matthew Shefler has been on a mission to stop people from riding electric bikes, which he says are dangerous. “‘Listen, this is not personal,’ Shefler explains. ‘I’m just a member of the community, not a government person. There’s been a lot of electric bikes that are driving in the bike paths and a lot of you guys go really fast, and this is a very big vehicle. This is a motorcycle.’… Like many citizens turned activists, Shefler tries to balance his life and not let this issue become all-consuming. But even he admits it makes him a little nuts..”
A North Carolina man was arrested for allegedly stealing a police car and taking it on a joyride last week. “A pair of cops from the 20th Precinct had just pulled over a car for a traffic violation on Amsterdam Ave. near W. 74th St. about 1:20 a.m. when Joseph Pinkcett noticed the unlocked squad car with its keys in the ignition.He jumped into the car and barreled off, the car’s emergency lights still flashing, police said.”
That dog is HUGE!!! I hope that guy has a very large apartment and has plenty of free time to take him for long walks in the park every day.
Anything else would be cruel and in my opinion kinda selfish. I just don’t get people that think it’s appropriate to have an animal this large in the city.
A lot of big dogs are serious couch potatoes. In some ways, a Corgi has a harder time in a confined space than a mastiff will.
Also, he has all the markings of a good boy.
He lives in my building and is a nice guy. The dog is well cared for I suspect as I see them walking often enough. Keep in mind that large dogs like a Mastiff do not require a lot of exercise due to their size and the energy requirements of just being that big. You wouldn’t want to run with a Mastiff because it’s bad for their hips. Indoors they need a bit of space but not a lot as they are very affectionate and like to lye down next to their owners. They aren’t a high energy breed of dog.
It would be more cruel to have a high energy dog in the city than a Mastiff. For instance, I think it would much harder to give a breed like a Border Collie or a Beagle a proper life as they like to be out in the fields running around as much as possible. Having a breed like a Rhodesian Ridgeback would be very difficult as they need miles of walking and running each day and prefer large, open spaces.
So, yes it is very appropriate to have a dog this large in the city.
Good points. A so-called “working dog” needs to be running around all day basically. I must admit I don’t know much about Mastiffs except that they are big and kinda awesome looking.:) I just assumed that the were very active due to their size.
I’m glad to hear that he is a happy and healthy dog. Some young guy in my neighborhood has a husky and I’m sure that beautiful doggie is miserable, probably living in a studio apartment and alone all day. Just makes me very sad.:(
Oh yeah, and PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOGS PEOPLE!!! no matter big or small or happy or whatever. Thanks.:)
Why would you make yet ANOTHER assumption about the Huskie?! Every dog owner that I know cares about their dog and gives them the very best of everything this city has to offer. And it doesn’t matter if a dog lives in a studio apartment if it’s taken out for walks/runs. Even a dog living in a 4 bedroom co op doesn’t spend the day racing around room to room. And how many times are you going to post in this forum about cleaning up after dogs? If it’s really a problem for you then go out and do something about it!
Fact: The Siberian Husky was originally developed by the Chukchi people of the Chukchi Peninsula in eastern Siberia. They were brought to Nome, Alaska, in 1908 for sled-dog racing.
They suffer terribly in the summer.
In apartments the air conditioner is probably on 12 hours or more to keep them cool.
You think a husky, a dog that loves to be in the snow and in a big pack and in NATURE, is happy to be alone in a studio apartment in the city in the 90 degree heat?? I just want to be clear or maybe I am misunderstanding something.
Maybe you should stick to cats, Cat.:) See what I did there??
Also, when you get so angry and defensive about people not picking up after their dogs it makes me think that you might be one of the offenders. Please say it ain’t so Cat!
“probably living in a studio apartment and alone all day. Just makes me very sad.”
“You think a husky, a dog that loves to be in the snow and in a big pack and in NATURE, is happy to be alone in a studio apartment in the city in the 90 degree heat?? I just want to be clear or maybe I am misunderstanding something.”
I don’t know what it is that you’re misunderstanding, but why are you assuming that the husky is left alone in a studio apartment in 90 degree heat? My neighbor has a beautiful GIANT St. Bernard that she rescued after he was abandoned in a parking lot. Should she send him back to the Alps, lol?
The poop cleanup issue seems to be your problem, certainly not mine, as I’ve never seen anyone NOT clean up after their dog in my neighborhood.
I don’t know about mastiffs, but I was astounded to learn that Great Danes apparently are not at all active.
The truth is, I think the dogs I have now get more actual exercise and adventure than the dogs I had as a kid in the burbs. Mine get walked three times a day (one long, two short), spend time at the dog park and in daycare with their friends, and know everyone in the neighborhood; my dogs as a kid lived in the house and got let out from time to time to the back yard. The biggest difference was that there was family at home most of the day, which is less true in the city.
In any event, the point of this is that while it may appear to you, as it did to me before I got to know people with dogs, that being a dog in the city is worse than being in the burbs, but that isn’t necessarily the case.
Interesting perspective. Never really thought about it like that. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I’ve met Saint Bernards, Bernese Mountain dogs, and Irish wolfhounds in my neighborhood. They all seem perfectly content. And I met them all out on walks, panting and happy as clams.
I think the lesson here is that ill-informed people often express opinions.
Oh Mark. What are we going to do with you? You really need to lighten up.
Ever hear the expression that “some people aren’t happy unless they are miserable”. I know it sounds sort of Yogi Berra-ish but I think I describes you perfectly. Love ya anyway and there is nothing you can do or say about it…so there.:)
Hmm, I’m already married to UWSHebrew. But since he has been absent for awhile I guess we can have an affair.
I agree with Matthew Shefler about banning electric bikes. They are dangerous. It is bad enough that regular bicyclists do not obey traffic lights, don’t have lights on their bikes or ride on sidewalks or the wrong way in traffic, but electric bikes are even worse. Keep up the good work Matthew and maybe it will be safer to cross the street again.
Joan, I’m afraid your claims are not borne out by statistics. “E-bike riders have been involved in zero traffic-related deaths during the time that the city has collected data on their use” (NY Daily News, 4/19/17)
Sadly our elected reps don’t use hard data to make policy; they traffic in impressions and “what happened to me last Tuesday.” This is why e-bikes are currently banned (aside from being a huge revenue raiser for the NYPD).
A triple threat here, I walk, I ride and I drive.
And I can assure you that electric bikes are a threat. They are too fast given the way they can corner and how close they can get to curbs. They are silent, so they are on you with no warning. And many riders take them on the sidewalks.
I have been cut off by idiots on electric bikes while walking on sidewalks, while riding on the bikeway along the Hudson, and while driving through intersections with a green light.
The ban is more than justified.
While I can see arguments for both sides,as a biker (good ol fashioned foot pedals),they do whiz up the bike Lanes without making any noise. If they are going to use them,there should be some sort of sound so you can hear them .
I want to get an electric bike. They look cool and aren’t that expensive.
Next it will be electric walkers.
I agree with Matthew. I’ve been nearly run over by delivery guys on several occasions who are zipping down the street at 30-40 mph our these electric bikes. Matthew – how can others get involved to assist you?
The tragic reality is that people on the UWS are actually getting run over and killed by motorists, while police resources get diverted to targeting and harassing hard-working, low-status people of color / immigrants on ebikes. It’s such an unfortunate shame. We don’t target the lawbreaking behavior that actually routinely kills people. Our neighborhood’s annual death count is the result. And while USPS trucks and 18 wheelers can and do blow down Columbus at 40 mph, routinely injuring, maiming, and killings our neighbors, there is just no way ebikes hit those speeds.
I shake my head every time I see this ebike hysteria. You can set your watch till the next time a driver whips around a turn, blows through a red, or jumps a curb and injures or kills someone.
“…while police resources get diverted to targeting and harassing hard-working, low-status people of color / immigrants on ebikes”
Exactly when and where are police (resources) targeting and harassing these people on ebikes on the UWS?
Hi Cat, both UWS precincts spent resources targeting delivery cyclists who hurt no one in June.
I’ve never seen the police doing anything except stand in from of the subway station talking on their cells. I’m missing all the fun!
I’ve actually seen ebike delivery men hit and injure two pedestrians this year. You don’t have to kill someone to make a negative impact. I fully support the NYPD enforcing ALL the bike laws and applying the laws to all cyclists. In all my years of living in NYC I have had food delivered exactly once (I was very ill and 8 months pregnant and ordered soup while my husband was traveling for work). Otherwise I have two working legs and prefer to keep more of my money and save for retirement. If more people went out and sourced their own food the delivery guys would have a lot less reason to speed recklessly around.
The stats on bicycle-pedestrian injuries are available from DOT. In the Upper West Side, there’s an incidence roughly once every two weeks. (14 a year in the latest available data).
Cars injure people much, much more often, unfortunately. UWS had about 10 car crashes a day in June, injuring 2 people a day.
A 59-year-old delivery cyclist was among the UWS cyclists killed last year. He died on Broadway at 89th Street when caught between a double-parked vehicle and run over by a white box truck.
Ugh, should say ‘stand in front of,’ lol.
E-bikes should be legal. They are in most parts of the country. Obviously people who ride on the sidewalks and the wrong way down one way streets should be ticketed. And I see plenty of manual bikes exceeding 20 mph and blowing through red lights without any concern for people or pets. There is nothing inherently more dangerous about e-bikes, and they get many people with physical ailments out doing errands they might otherwise be doing with cars.
Electric bikes are fine for city street use; they’re like motor scooters. But clearly they don’t belong in our bike lanes, which were designed for people-powered bicycles moving at speeds of up to 10-15 mph tops.
Maybe the North Carolina man thought it was a Zip car.
he looks like a good boy
Before we go after the e-bike, maybe we should all realize it isn’t the bike’s fault. The bike never asked to be ridden by someone who doesn’t follow traffic rules. Don’t ban the bike, enforce the laws (and yes I know its illegal now but it shouldn’t be.) To paraphrase. It isn’t guns who kill people it is idiot people w/ guns who kill people.
A man was stabbed over the weekend by an electric bike rider who hit the man with his bike and then stabbed him.
This weekend on the Hudson River path I observed bicycle with a small gas engine speeding up the path. Not surprisingly this bike (essentially a motorcycle) was moving much faster than other bikes and creating a hazard.
Between NYC cyclists tendency to believe they are entitled to make up the rules as they go along and the increased speeds of electric bikes it should make being a pedestrian in the city more miserable than it already is.
Remember you share the city with 8 million other people.
And mostly tourists on the UWS!
Way to go Matthew! The e bikes are only used by delivery people who don’t live in the neighborhood. I am amazed how fast they travel down the bike lanes. My daughter today said, wow did you see that? It was an e bike (Chinese delivery) in the bike lane going faster than I’ve ever seen one go before. So I had another talk with my two young children, this is why you can never step off the sidewalk without looking both ways. If you get hit by one of these bikes, good luck. Just a matter of time before someone gets killed.
“Delivery people who don’t live in the neighborhood,” yet they provide a service that makes living in this neighborhood so convenient and pleasant, and people complain and withhold tips if delivery is too slow. Of course they don’t live in the neighborhood – they’re not paid nearly enough to be able to afford to live in the neighborhood!
Meanwhile, drivers are *already* killing people.
I assume you don’t order in, then, or that if you do, you are very patient.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be patient, or that you have to order in – but I have noted that it is not uncommon for these kinds of posts to put up by the very people who benefit from, and even demand, the behavior they condemn.
If you want to ban e-bikes, you should have to do one shift as a delivery person on a regular bike to see what it is like to ride 20+miles a day under your own power. You should also commit to never ordering Seamless and tipping 20+% when you do. This is a non-issue created by unbelievable privilege. We should be focused on creating more consequences for drivers who are continually injuring and killing pedestrians and bicyclists and not on penalizing a marginalized population of workers who make everyone’s life easier with their quick deliveries!
I have never ordered Seamless and have ordered delivery once in over decade. I’ve also biked 50+ miles in a day many times. So I guess I’m on solid ground to think these delivery men should be punished for breaking the laws?
Find something useful and productive to do other then picking on electric assist bicycle riders. Also, as a rule ebikes are not designed to exceed 30 mph.
Not sure why WSR decided it is something worth publishing. We all care about certain cases and this one, with all due respect to the person, doesn’t come across as most pressing or important issue.
Hi –
His name is MASKA (not moksha)
Learn more about this incredibly sweet & amazing gentle giant on Instagram
@maskamastiff
Wow, that is one pampered pooch, lol! Love all the pics but my favorite is the one on the sofa. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Had a large and hairy wonderful 80 pound dog for many yearsthat I found on the highway. He lived very happily in the city and in a small apartment. Got lots of exercise in the park and slept many hours, as most dogs do, very comfortably in our apartment.
OMG this is so over due. this practice of riding electric or gas operated bikes has been going on for quite a while (10 years?) There’s certain organizations sponsoring this illegal motorized vehicles. They are very rude people who operates the bikes, and I heard they have been involved in lots of accidents in which pedestrians got injured. Who gave these people the right to operate this bikes without no rules whatsoever. they should be held accountable.Its about time they put this particular group out of service.
“..put this particular group out of service..”? You heard they are “very rude people”? I don’t know where to start responding to this completely out-of-touch comment.
There are electric socks too.
I agree with you Sean.