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Video: Clowns Liberate More Bike Lanes from "Toxic" Cars
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 22, 2010
Modified Mar 22, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 22, 2010
Modified Mar 22, 2010
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On Friday, a group of bike-riding clowns associated with Times Up! staged another bike lane liberation action, using slapstick humor to dispel a widespread misconception that bike lanes are parking lots. Dressed in cartoonish hazmat suits and acting as "agent-technicians from the Bureau Of Organized Bikelane Safety (B.O.O.B.S.)," the jokers patrolled the Sixth Avenue bike lane, treating the cars that blocked it like toxic crime scenes.
Equipped with fake parking summonses, the six agents set cones around the illegally parked cars and reenacted crash scenes. According to City Room, "of the half-dozen lane-blocking drivers ambushed by the enforcement team — from a Fresh Direct delivery truck to a silver Lincoln Town Car — all moved without hesitation, except for a cement truck driver who shrugged his shoulders and said he had nowhere else to park." Explaining their buffoonish approach to activism, one biker remarked, "Whenever we don’t dress up like clowns, they don’t move as fast." Check out some video of the shenanigans below:
Tagged
bike lane
clown
liberation
love your bike lane
protest
time's up
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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