In what appears to be an overreaction to the removal of the Alice Swanson Ghost Bike Memorial at 20th and R Streets NW, sixteen twenty-two new ghost bikes have been placed around the intersection this morning. We haven’t seen a formal statement from the Washington Area Bicyclist Associate so it’s hard to say who’s responsible for this demonstration. There are many different types and sizes of bikes scattered around, but none of them are locked down except for the bike that is located where the original memorial was. We’d love to hear from you if you know who’s responsible and what their message may be, but it’s safe to say that these bikes won’t be around for long. More awesome camera phone photos after the jump.
Update: According to this “quickly done” blog, the project is the work of “DC native, cyclist, and anarchist Legba Carrefour”. The site claims that if the bike is removed by the city again, “We’ll put it back again. And Again. And again.”
The bike in the distance (and below) is located where the original ghost bike used to be before it was removed and is the only bike with a lock on it.
Greater Greater Washington has a post on the new bikes this morning as well. Here is the blog about the new ghost bikes: http://aliceswansonridesagain.wordpress.com/
Cool, thanks for the link, Annie Nonymous. I only counted 16 bikes this morning but apparently there were 22. It looks like this fight with the city will go on for some time.
The bike placement is distracting-distracting to drivers and to the point that the “ghost bikers” are trying to make. To be associated with an anarchist is not productive.
Free bikes in DuPont!
i think this is a nice project. as a city bike rider, i get chills every time i see a ghost bike. more attention needs to be brought to the seriousl dangers of careless and reckless driving.