Some members of the League of American Bicyclists are frustrated and disillusioned with the League due to its recent policies and actions, and are considering allowing their membership to expire. Ian Cooper and Mark Sauerwald are two such members. Each of them expressed their feeling in a letter to the League's Director of Membership, Scott Williams. I am publishing these letters below, with the authors' permission. (I have made a few minor corrections.)

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I submitted this letter to Big Y through the "Contact Us" form on their website. It concerns their bicycle parking facilities and their policy of prohibiting bicycles in their stores.

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Since the start of my campaign with the Coalition to Reform LAB (LAB Reform) to become a director of the League of American Bicyclists, I have found the League to be more desperately in need of reform than I had previously suspected. I knew that the League's directors and officers were consistently unresponsive and uncommunicative, which had frustrated me earlier. I knew that the League often put out messages that seemed to undermine its mission. But, during my campaign, I discovered, beyond these problems, that the League's governance, which is nominally democratic, was quite dysfunctionally undemocratic in reality. The problems came in several forms:

• unreasonable bylaws
• other unreasonable policies, written and unwritten, generally involving the withholding of information;
• deviations from bylaws and other written policies;
• nonsensical interpretations of bylaws and written policies by directors and officers;
• directors failing to perform their duties.

In this article, I document my experience of the League's governance during the campaign.

CONTENTS

1. A Note on the Writing Process
   
2. Bylaws, Policies, and Deviations Thereof
   1. Bylaws
   2. Policies
   3. Deviations
3. My Correspondence with Directors and Officers
   1. The Petition Process
   2. "Written" Correspondence
   3. A Message to the Members
   4. Petition Signing Eligibility
4. What Now?

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Good News

On 09/14/2010, I received an email from my lawyer regarding the hearing that had been held on 09/08/2010. It included this page from Judge John Payne, indicating that he was allowing my motion to dismiss the criminal charges. (It is totally illegible but trust me; that is what it says.) The charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful wiretapping have been dismissed. The judge did not dismiss the traffic ticket. However, the traffic ticket was dismissed at a hearing on 10/05/2010 before a magistrate.



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I hereby officially announce my candidacy for a director position at the League of American Bicyclists. I am running in partnership with fellow candidates Bill Hoffman, John Brooking, and Khalil Spencer on behalf of the Coalition to Reform LAB (LAB Reform). Also see this statement from John and this statement from Khalil.



The board of directors did not appoint or nominate us, so we are petitioning the members for nomination. Fellow reform candidate and current director Bill Hoffman was nominated by the board and we (me, John, and Khalil) hope to meet him on the ballot. If you prefer, you can print this signature form and either submit it by mail, or scan it and submit it by email. If you are not currently a member, you must join the League before you can sign. Family memberships count for two votes. You can use the online form to pay by credit card, or print the form and mail it to the League office with a check or money order. As soon as you join online, you will see a confirmation page. Your membership number (an eight-digit number beginning with "5") will be shown following the word "Password". We greatly appreciate your support of our work to reform the League of American Bicyclists. Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions about the campaign. Read on.

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Inspired by a visit with my cousins in Frederick, Maryland, I wrote a letter to their state delegate (i.e. congressman), Charles Jenkins, and senator, Alex Mooney, regarding the state's laws relating to cycling, and sent it, along with a cover letter from my cousin, David.

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I ask you, as my friends, for a favor: to read this article. I acknowledge that you might not find the topic so engaging, but the article is short, and the topic is important to me. It might not be obvious, but this does concern my saga that began over a year ago, when I was stopped by Hadley police officer Mitchell Kuc. This is only relevant to residents of of Franklin and Hampshire Counties and Athol, Massachusetts.

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I sent this letter to the editors of the radio show Living on Earth, from Public Radio International, about their piece It's No Copenhagen, about cycling advocacy in Los Angeles, which aired on 09/03/2010.

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The Situation

Reed Bates's troubles began only a week and half after mine did and followed a very similar pattern. For almost a year, Reed (also known as ChipSeal; formerly of Ennis (Ellis County), Texas; currently of Dallas, Texas) has been terrorized by the Ennis Police Department and the department of Ellis County Sheriff Johnny Brown because they disapprove of his assertive cycling technique. His technique accords with both Texas law and well-established principles of cycling safety and furthermore constitutes the safest and most efficient possible cycling behavior. Not only have they repeatedly harassed him by stopping and detaining him without cause while he was traveling, and not only have they they issued him citations for violating non-existent regulations, they have gone so far as to arrest him and hold him in jail on three occasions for a total of three weeks and to charge him with the crime of reckless driving, a charge that is extremely rare even in cases where a collision occurs.

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In a comment on my recent article "Case Update: A Distant End in Sight, or at Least a Middle", Mike asked, "What is all this about Eric Perkins? I have been following your saga, but do not recall reference to an alleged altercation with someone. Is he a motorist?" Here is the story.

On 03/30/2007, I was riding East on Route 9 in Hadley approaching the Amherst border. A pickup truck driver, who turned out to be Eric Perkins, the owner of Amherst Motel, began tailgating me and laying on the horn. When I got near Dominos, he moved into the passing lane, passed me, and turned into the Dominos driveway. I naively thought that I might confront him and calmly discuss the conflict, so I followed into the driveway. ...<< MORE >>

Since the arraignment, I have had three hearings, Pretty much nothing happened at any of them. Now it seems that something might finally happen at the next hearing, on 09/08/2010.

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Through my recent experiences with the police and the criminal justice system I have reached some disturbing realizations about the institutional dynamics of the criminal justice system. Rather than mete out justice, it seems to often serve as a mechanism of retaliation for corrupt police officers against those they dislike. Rather than assign punishment to the guilty, it serves as a form of punishment in itself to many people who end up caught in it.

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I was given a link to a recording from a radio show on KTAR in Phoenix Arizona in which the host, John Hook, expressed some typical misconceptions and offensive attitudes about cycling. The recording was posted by the Southwest Bicycles Cycling Club (SWBCC) along with a letter that the Club had sent to KTAR at <valleyvoices@ktar.com> in response to this segment. I combined parts from my letter to Maureen , who commented on my entry The Third Hadley Encounter: Relapse, with parts from my letter to Umbra Fisk to create the letter below, which I sent to John Hook at <valleyvoices@ktar.com> and copied to the Southwest Bicycles Cycling Club at <Info@SWBCC.org>.

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I have been accused of suppressing comments that express opinions that are contrary to mine. These accusations are false. To clarify my policy, I approve all comments except for spam and personal attacks, regardless of the opinions they express. I suppress comments that include spam or personal attacks, regardless of whether I sympathize with the attacker. I do insist that discussions remain civil and rational and I suppress all and only those comments that fail to be civil and rational.

Some people do not understand or appreciate the difference between a civil, rational argument and verbal abuse. This is unfortunate because the distinction is crucial to a healthy and peaceful society. The best rule of thumb I can offer to these people is this. Imagine that we are college students engaged in a classroom discussion and imagine that what you type you are saying out loud in this discussion. Ask yourself if what you intend to say would be appropriate in this imagined scenerio.

Umbra Fisk writes the advice column Ask Umbra for Grist magazine and hosts the associated video podcast Ask Umbra for GristTV. The magazine, based in Seattle, is focused on environmental news and, through her column and podcast, Umbra Fisk gives tips for people on reducing their environmental impact.

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On the morning of 04/27/2010 I went to the courthouse in Belchertown, as summoned, to be arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct and unlawful wiretapping. Naturally, I was extremely nervous and it was much more educational than I would have liked but the outcome was quite good, due in large part to the help I received from a number of people.

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I just discovered that, while many comments on my blog were posted automatically, some were flagged by the server and not posted. I have gone through all of the flagged comments and approved those that were not spam or personal attacks. I apologize to those of you whose comments were delayed in being posted. I will be sure to check for flagged comments regularly from now on.

This is a response to the following comment made by Racerx on my post The Third Hadley Encounter: Relapse,

A Hadley cop is messing with me now, a charge of something like Corruption, and he is flat out fabricating words that he attributes to me. Is there a website or a group anywhere that is a watchdog on this corruption of Democracy?

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Stemming from the encounter on Saturday, 03/20/2010, with three Hadley police officers, during which I was given a traffic ticket, my camera was seized, and the threat of arrest was renewed, I found a notice in my mailbox on Thursday, 04/01/2010, summoning me to the courthouse in Belchertown on Tuesday, 04/27/2010, to be arraigned on charges of disorderly conduct (M.G.L., c. 272 §53) and unlawful wiretapping (M.G.L., c. 272 §99). A few observations on the summons:

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After reading the recent article in Wired magazine, I was inspired to send the following letter to Ray LaHood, the United States secretary of transportation.

Dear Secretary LaHood:

I recently read an article from Wired magazine that talked about how you recently made a declaration that you had committed your department to ensuring that travel on foot and by bicycle be treated as legitimate and valuable and that pedestrians and cyclists be given equal access to the roads. As someone who cycles as a primary mode of transportation I, as well as a cycling educator and advocate, I share these goals and values. However, my enthusiasm at reading about your declaration was constrained by my concern that you misunderstood the barriers to cycling and that your misunderstanding will lead to policies and actions that undermine the goal enabling people to do more their traveling by bicycle.

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Dear Maureen:

I thank you for participating in this discussion with me. This opportunity to engage in a civil and rational argument is extremely refreshing. Brandon already expressed some of my thoughts (Thank you, Brandon.) but I put a lot of effort into writing this response so I will leave it complete, even if redundant. Including the links, there is a lot of material here and I hope you have the patience to look at it all. However, I urge you to watch the two short videos at the links below. For the benefit of other readers I am including your most recent comment on my post The Third Hadley Encounter: Relapse, which this letter is in response to.

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I have set up this page for the purpose of collecting comments on the draft of the AASHTO Guide for the Planning, Design, and Operation of Bicycle Facilities since Google Groups is not letting me set up a page on the bicycledriving group.

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On Saturday, 03/20/2010, at about 10:45AM, I was traveling Weston Route 9 in Hadley, just East of Bay Road, when I heard a siren behind me. I had been recording video of my trip with camera attached to the side of my helmet. I looked back, saw a police patrol car, and pulled over. Mitchell Kuc, whose name I found out is pronounced like"cook", emerged from the patrol car. Due to imperfect memory some events might be out of order in my recounting of the encounter.

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I wrote this in collaboration with other members of the the bicycle driving email discussion group.

Questions

1. What is bicycle driving? Why do you call it "bicycle driving"?
2. Why would you want to drive a bicycle rather than ride a bicycle in some other manner?
3. Isn't it dangerous to ride a bicycle in traffic? Won't I get hit by a car?
4. Isn't it safer to stay out of the way of cars as much as possible?
5. Bicycledriving might be okay where you live but it would never work around here. The other drivers are crazy and drive too fast.
6. Bicycle driving might be okay for a skilled athlete like you but I could never do it.
7. Your arguments in favor of bicycle driving make sense in principle but the notion terrifies me nonetheless.
8. Is bicycle driving legal?
9. Is bicycle driving the same thing as obeying the law?
10. Are you opposed to all bicycling that is not bicycle driving?
11. Are you saying that I should ride my bike just like I would drive a car?
12. Are you saying that bicycle drivers should always drive in the middle of the lane? What is an appropriate position for a bicycle driver to takeon the road?
13. Is road positioning for bicycle drivers as important as it is for motorcycle drivers?
14. Does riding on a shoulder count as bicycle driving?
15. Does riding in a bike lane count as bicycle driving?
16. Are you opposed to bike lanes?
17. Shouldn't we support bike lanes because they help promote bicycling?
18. Are you opposed to bike paths/trails?
19. How can I promote bicycling in a manner that is consistent with bicycle driving?
20. Where can I learn more about bicycle driving?

Questions and Answers

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Dear Captain Gundersen:

I had hoped to talk to you in person but I supposed you have enough to deal with already so I will just send you what I have. I would like to address the pamphlet “Cyclists and Motorists: Same Roads, Same Rules, Same Responsibilities”, which came to my attention a few weeks ago. As I mentioned during our short phone conversation, I am a cycling instructor, certified by the League of American Bicyclists. The mantra of the League's cycling education program is: “Cyclists fare best when they act and are treated as drivers of vehicles.” I attempt to teach cyclists that they can travel with astounding safety, reliability, efficiency, flexibility, and freedom by assertively following the Rules of the Road. I believe that the idea of this pamphlet has great potential for educating both cyclists and motorists about the Rules of the Road and I congratulate you on having initiated it.

I would like to share some ideas with you that I believe can bring the pamphlet much closer achieving its full potential. I have attached my comments on the current version of the pamphlet and a sample revision of the pamphlet that implements many of my suggestions. I hope that you will consider my suggestions. I also hope that you will continue to consult me on this project. I believe that I can be helpful not only in refining the design but also in distributing the pamphlet once it reaches a sufficient level of refinement.

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Problem: Wavering headlight beam.

As you ride a bicycle, you must constantly turn the handlebar back and forth to maintain balance. If you mount a headlight on the handlebar (the typical place to mount it) then the beam of the headlight will waver. The unsteady beam makes objects you approach less noticeable and makes you less conspicuous to drivers approaching from the front and sides. If you mount a video camera on the handlebar the camera image will waver as well.

Solution: Mount the headlight (or video camera) on a bracket that is rigidly attached to the bicycle's top tube.

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Recipients

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Subject Lines

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Special Formatting

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Temporal References

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Links

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Quoting

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Attachments

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Proofreading

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This note was inspired by the piece The Right to be Naked (08/08/2009) (alternate link) on the radio show The State We're In (podcast) produced by Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

This is an aspect of the broader issue of whether it is acceptable to restrict people's liberties because certain acts make a large number of people uncomfortable or offended. My answer is emphatically "No." Here are my thoughts:

I feel uncomfortable around people when either I am or they are naked (unless I am or I anticipate having sex with them). I consider this a weakness in my character. If I encountered naked people more often, I would probably overcome my discomfort.

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• It must tolerate any question or challenge to its legitimacy and must not dictate suppressing such questions and challenges.
• It must encourage everyone to learn its entire nature and must not dictate that any of its nature be kept secret or revealed only at the discretion of a ministerial authority.
• It must only declare metaphysical entities that are both self-consistent and consistent with all observed facts.
• It must allow for the possibility of being practiced by everyone for a time period of arbitrary duration.
• It must not dictate the extinction of its followers.
• It must be independent of any particular residential region, religious community, or ministerial leader.
• It must not grant any special rights or obligations to its ministers.
• It must grant all people the same opportunity to practice and minister.
• It must accept those who practice other religions and those who do not practice any religion and grant them the same status and the same rights and obligations as it grants its own followers.
• It must make it a major goal of its teachings to maximize peace and minimize suffering throughout the world.
• It must praise compassion, generosity, and honesty and condemn hatred, greed, and dishonesty in some manner.
• It must allow its followers to be concerned with their own health and happiness.
• It must only dictate ritual practices that are sufficiently flexible that they can be adapted so as to be appropriate and meaningful under the circumstances of its followers.
• It must only dictate moral obligations that are in accord with the subtlety and complexity of human nature and social interactions and must allow conflicts between different moral principles to be resolved in a balanced manner that takes into account the details specific to each situation.

I sent some letters to Radio Netherlands Worldwide concerning the right to travel as a possible topic for their show The State We're In (podcast), and received responses from editor Greg Kelly and content coordinator Michele Ernsting. Unfortunately, they have not followed up on the issue despite the interest they expressed. The two episodes of the show mentioned are "The Right to Freedom of Movement" (01/10/2009) (alternate link) and "The Right to Bike" (08/01/2009) (alternate link). The second of these episodes has a discussion page. I have inserted some content, highlighted in blue. I have made minor correction and added formatting and hyperlinks without comment.

Eli

Hello.

A human right that concerns me deeply is the right to travel freely. I believe that you have already discussed this in some aspects. For example, I remember you discussing the severe travel restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians. While I feel complete sympathy for the Palestinians and complete indignation at their treatment, I think that you should also consider how the right to travel is restricted in the United States.

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"Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker." - character Jules from the movie Pulp Fiction

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I originally posted my saga in a note on my Facebook profile titled "my legal troubles". I included many of the comments that were made on the note in Questions and Answers on Vecular Cycling / Bicycle Driving. I thought that some of the other comments were valuable enough to be worth preserving so I have included those comments here.

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League Cycling Instructor Keri Caffrey contacted me and we had the following exchange. I have made a few changes to my part of the exchange for the benefit of other readers.

Keri

Eli,

I'm contemplating a post on the effect of cultural bias on law enforcement, cyclists who have been victims of this and strategies for dealing with improper demands from officers.

Is your story published online where I can link to it?

Do you have any advice or observations from your experience to help other cyclists?

I'm also using ChipSeal's story (link attached if you haven't seen it yet)

Thanks
Keri

The story of Chip Seal that Keri refers to can be found at <http://chipsea.blogspot.com/2010/01/while-minding-my-own-business.html>

Eli

Hi Keri. What I have written is in my Facebook note "my legal troubles". The pages of the police report that it refers to are in my Photos section. I assume you want a link to a generally accessible location so I uploaded it to the BicycleDriving discussion group's Files section. Go to <http://groups.google.com/group/bicycledriving/files> and then select "The Eli Damon Saga.txt".

As for advice, I will be able to offer more advice once this thing is resolved but, for now, this is what I can offer.

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There is a ubiquitous myth that a cyclist who takes a position too far to the left puts himself/herself at a great risk of being rear-ended by a motor vehicle. However, as the League of American Bicyclists teaches in their cycling education program and is explained in several books that have been written on the subject, such collisions are extremely rare. Most of them occur in the dark when the cyclist is not properly lit. In many rear-end collisions, the cyclist is positioned far to the right so it cannot be argued that the cyclist being positioned too far to the left is a cause of the collision. In fact, taking a position too far to the right makes a cyclist less conspicuous and consequently more prone to being rear-ended. There are several reasons why motorists can fail to notice cyclists who are too far to the right. Drivers' vision is often tightly focused on the space directly in front of them. This effect increases with speed. Motorists will notice an object sooner if it is more directly in front of them. Edges of roads are much more visually cluttered than their interiors. In the perception of approaching drivers, small vehicles, such as bicycles, can easily blend in with the many other objects near the edge of the road. The space outside of the travel lanes (which is statutorily excluded from the definition of “road”) is not designed for vehicular travel and drivers rarely consider it as a place where they might encounter other drivers. It is a known phenomenon for a motorist to drift off of the road proper and collide with a cyclist who is riding on the shoulder.

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When I first posted this story, I had the following interchanges with friends, Erich, Steve, and John.

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I write on behalf of Eli Damon, whose statutory right to use the public way has been questioned and threatened by your department, which has also violated his constitutional right to travel.

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Earlier, I had asked Bill Newman, an attorney who works with the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, for help. While I was at my first pre-trial hearing, my lawyer, Don Frank, told me that Bill Newman had called him and that, from their conversation, Bill had concluded that he was not interested in pursuing my case. At the time, my understanding of what Don had told me was that Bill was not interested because he thought that the consequences were not substantial. Over the next few days, I exchanged email with Bill.

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I found out that the State Attorney General's office accepts complaints of police harassment. I filed complaints against both Mitchell Kuc and Joseph Reed using the form provided. I received a letter in reply from Alan Jay Rom (pronounced like "Rome") indicating that the Office would not help me. I later called Alan Jay Rom. In this phone call, he suggested that I get a lawyer to write letters to the two police departments. I had already hired attorney Andrew Fischer, who works with the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition (MassBike), to write such letters and was waiting for him to write them. Alan Jay Rom said that if the two police departments would not respect these letters than I should contact him again and he would write similar letters, which might command greater respect by virture or originating from the Attorney General's office. I encourage other victims of police harassment in Massachusetts to file complaints.

Arraignment

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First Pre-trial Hearing

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First Pre-trial Hearing

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Second Pre-trial Hearing

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Third Pre-trial Hearing

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Charges Dropped

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These sections of the Massachusetts General Laws are relevant to this case.

• Chapter 85: Section 11B (the rights and duties of cyclists) - "Every person operating a bicycle upon a way, as defined in section one of chapter ninety, shall have the right to use all public ways in the Commonwealth ... and shall be subject to the traffic laws and regulations of the commonwealth..."
• Chapter 85: Section 11C (Police officers may not arrest a cyclist for violating traffic laws) - "[N]o person shall be arrested without a warrant for any ... traffic law violation committed while operating a bicycle."
• Chapter 89: Section 2 (A cyclist may control an entire lane) - "If it is not possible to overtake a bicycle or other vehicle at a safe distance in the same lane, the overtaking vehicle shall use all or part of an adjacent lane if it is safe to do so or wait for a safe opportunity to overtake."
• Chapter 265: Section 37 (violations of constitutional rights)
• Chapter 272: Section 53 (Disorderly Conduct)

These court decisions are relevant to the case.

• Commonwealth versus Weston (and a companion case) (the right to travel)
• Alegata versus Commonwealth (and four companion cases) (the definition of "disorderly conduct") - In regard to appellant Donald G. Chartrand, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts defined "disorderly conduct" as follows: "A person is guilty of disorderly conduct if, with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he: (a) engages in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior; or (b) makes unreasonable noise or offensively coarse utterance, gesture or display, or addresses abusive language to any person present; or (c) creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor."My conduct fails to meet even a single condition mentioned in this definition, let alone the definition as a whole.
• Commonwealth versus juvenile (Exercising the right to freedom of speech is not disorderly.)
• Commonwealth versus Feigenbaum (Political protest is a legitimate purpose.)
• Commonwealth versus Zettel (another example of a legitimate purpose)

Below is the main text of Officer Reed's report. See the full police report here.

On 09/28/2009 at approximately 19:30pm while traveling north on Rt5 in the area of East Elm St traffic was was traveling at about 10mph in the travel lane this is a 40mph zone. I also heard several vehicles blowing their horns and swerving into the passing lane. The vehicle in front of me moved over into the passing lane at this time I observed a bicyclist traveling in the travel lane of Rt5. I activated my emergency lights and turn the siren on then off, the bicyclist at this time waved for me to go around him.

I again gave the siren a short burst again at this time the bicyclist pulled over to the shoulder of the road. The bicyclist was identified as Eli Damon(06/07/1977) he was advised that he could not ride in the travel lane of Rt 5 that he could be struck by a vehicle and that he was causing a hazard. He advised me that he has every right to ride in the road. I again told him that it was to dangerous to ride in the middle of Rt 5. At this time he stepped into the travel lane of Rt5 stating and pointing to the center white line stating that is the middle of the road, I was riding here pointing to the travel lane of Rt 5. Several vehicles had swerve from the travel lane into the passing lane to avoid hitting him.

I again told Eli Damon to stay out of the road he again stated that he could ride in the road. I again told him to stay out of the road. Several vehicles where slowing down to see what Eli Damon was doing which was causing traffic to start backing up. At this time he was placed under arrest for disorderly conduct and transported back to the station where he was booked and afforded all rights.

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Similar to Officer Kuc, Officer Reed claimed that it was illegal to ride a bicycle on a State highway and that I was obstructing traffic and causing a hazard. He was very angry and I did not try to lecture him but I did assert my right to the road. He asked a number of questions, which I answered calmly and concisely. However, my answered seemed to make him increasingly more angry and agitated and he repeatedly told me to shut up while I was attempting to answer his questions. He put his face right up close to my face and yelled at me for more than a full minute, during which he asked me more questions that I attempted not to answer so as to avoid angering him further. Much of what he said was quite insulting. He clearly did not like that I rode a bicycle, that I lived in Amherst (a town with a politically progressive reputation), and that I knew something about the law. Eventually, he asked me what the problem would be with riding on the shoulder. I answered that it would be dangerous.The other officer, who had been silent until then, said questioningly, "But riding in the travel lane would not be dangerous?" I answered, "Yes." Officer Reed then handcuffed me and placed me under arrest, claiming disorderly conduct as the charge, and had me sit in the back seat of his patrol car. I should point out that my behavior during this incident in no way constituted a physical threat so handcuffs should not have been necessary.

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It was then very clear that, with the constant, looming threat of arrest, I was not safe in Hadley. I am avoiding traveling on Route 9 in Hadley while I await a resolution to this problem but this is greatly inconvenient and humiliating.

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Hello and welcome to my blog.

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