Berkeley Bicycle Thief

This morning I bicycled from my place in Albany to the Berkeley City Club on Durant Avenue, near the UC Berkeley campus, to attend a breakfast for the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce. I wanted to introduce the new business membership ($100 per annum) for the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, which just moved to the Berkeley Bike Station downtown. I locked up my bicycle across the street from the City Club -- designed by Julia Morgan -- and noticed the building was draped in black and a construction crew was busy working on the roof.

At the meeting, I introduced myself and the coalition and told potential members they'd get exposure to our 3,000 members by joining on at the business rate. I also told them I had bicycled to the breakfast and they gave me a cheer.

When I walked out of the breakfast, after about an hour, I looked across the street. No bike. Nada. I must have looked shocked because Damon Guthrie, a commercial artist and mapmaker who came out with me, immediately asked my if my bicycle was missing. 

When I went to the pole where I had locked it, my heavy steel lock had been neatly sliced open. Damon suggested we call the Berkeley Police, which we did and made a report. When I got home (I bought another bicycle right away at Mike's Bikes since it was nearby and I cannot live without a commuter bike), someone from the breakfast called about joining the EBBC. I told him the story about my stolen bike and he suggested I call the City Club to see if they might have an outdoor camera that could have filmed the theft.

No camera at the venerable City Club, but the head of security told me that two construction workers had witnessed the theft of my bicycle that morning. They were working on the roof, saw a young fellow with a sack walk up to my bike, pull something out of the sack, cut my lock, and ride off. They were too high up to do anything, and they didn't call the police either.

If it's so easy to cut through a steel bicycle lock to steal a bicycle, I think from now on I'll park my bicycle at the new Berkeley Bike Station and walk to my destination downtown or on campus. Someone needs to invent a far more sophisticated theft device for the bicycle, maybe using mobile communications. Or maybe it (a chip embedded with an owner's recognition software program? ) should come built into the frame of each new bicycle. Whatever is clever. Bicycle thieves would all but disappear if their brawny tools no longer sufficed.

Comments

[Ryan Tate]

I live in West Berkeley and have been thinking about investing in a bike from Rivendell (over in Walnut Creek) to cut what remains of my car use. By far the number one thing holding me back is concerns about theft, and more broadly that the Berkeley PD does not investigate bike thefts seriously (based on past experiences my wife had).

Since I mostly would cycle to the Y, I could use the new bike station, but it is really terrible to have my cycling limited to places where I could have my bike physically enclosed.

When I was a freshman at Cal, one of my roomates was a cyclist. He told me Berkeley was the "bike theft capital of the West Coast," based on per capita statistics. His security system involved an expensive high-end u-ring, some supplemental cables/chains, and endless paranoia.

That was in 1994.

Given how little has changed in the intervening 16 years, my faith in this city's ability to curb theft is basically zero.

Which is why I will probably continue to drive my car. Berkeley city officials say -- and have said endlessly for many years -- they want to end auto use and curb CO2 emissions, but it doesn't seem like they've had any impact on the bike theft situation. Maybe they'll spread more bike stations around town, but I'm not holding my breath.

[WordyDoodles]

So sorry to hear about the bike theft, Sylvia. I'll be interested to see what advances in bike locking are made.

And cannot wait to make it back to Last Friday Lunch one of these days, coming from the deeper East Bay!

[Anna]

There are advances in bike locking! It is called a bike tree and it is used in Europe. It's not the best video, but you can see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcSD5MsQuVo