Ghost Bike Installed For Owen McGrory

(photo via U-Hub)

On this blustery rainy day lets all take a moment to think about Owen McGrory. Who lost his life when he was struck by a sanitation truck.  One person dying on a bicycle is one person too many.

THE heartbroken wife of Northern Ireland man Eoin McGrory killed in a hit and run incident in the US last week, has said she wants justice for her husband.

Eoin died when he was hit by a garbage truck in the Charlestown area of Boston on Thursday afternoon last.

The truck driver, Ricky Prezisoso, a father of three, has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident causing death.

He is denying the charge, claiming he thought he had hit a pothole.

The 41-year-old is on $5,000 bail and is due back in court again 19 May next.

However, Eoin’s wife of almost four months, Shanique, is refusing to accept Prezisoso’s account and says she wants “justice to be served.”

Speaking on Boston television, she said: “I loved my husband. He did not deserve to die this way.

“That’s not a good enough answer for me. I’m not agreeing with that.”

Rubbish truck driver Ricky Prezisoso denies charges over Mr McGrory’s death
She added: “All I need is justice to be served. For my whole entire family, we are all mourning and I just need justice to be done.” she said.

Members of Eoin’s family are travelling to Boston from Shantallow in Derry to help with the funeral arrangements.

The youngest child of six (three boys and three girls) of John and Theresa, of Earhart Park (originally of Carrabane Walk, Shantallow), Eoin had been living and working in the construction industry in the US for the past 16 years and married Shanique only two days before last Christmas.

A keen cyclist, the former Steelstown Primary School and Carnhill High School pupil had won several prestigious competitions in Boston and was on a training run when the incident occurred.(via)

Galen sent this in and I thought it was valuable.

I definitely think a post is worthy. Some food for thought, what we’re fighting for at the Statehouse and City Hall level:

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Cyclist Killed By Hit And Run In Charlestown

Our sincerest thoughts go out to his family.

It seems they have found the garbage truck driver they think was involved in the crash. And charged them.

Update: Police have charged the driver of a sanitation truck who allegedly killed a cyclist and left the scene of the accident Thursday in Charlestown.

Ricky Prezioso, 41, of Swampscott, has been charged with leaving the scene of an accident after causing death.(via)

From the BPD

At about 1:40pm, on Thursday, April 3, 2014, officers from District A-15 (Charlestown) responded to a call for a pedestrian struck in the area of Cambridge & Spice Streets in Charlestown. On arrival, officers located a male victim suffering from what appeared to be life threatening injuries. The victim was pronounced deceased on the scene.

The Boston Police Department is actively investigating the facts and circumstances surrounding this incident and is asking for the public’s help in an effort to locate and identify a vehicle seen leaving the area shortly after the accident. The vehicle in question is described as a sanitation truck, white in color with black lettering.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Boston Homicide Unit at (617) 343-4470.

Community members wishing to assist this investigation anonymously can do so by calling the CrimeStoppers Tip Line at 1(800) 494-TIPS or by texting the word ‘TIP’ to CRIME (27463). The Boston Police Department will stringently guard and protect the identities of all those who wish to help this investigation anonymously.

Charlestown has a history of being less than amenable to cycling safety improvements. And this horrible tragedy comes on the same day that the MassBike and WalkBoston are introducing a cyclist/pedestrian safety bill.

I am deeply saddened that one of our own has been killed. More information when I get it.

EDIT:

Some pictures from the scene, does anyone know this bicycle?

EDIT: Warning this might make you hate all humanity.

The Swampscott garbage truck driver who fatally struck a bicyclist in Charlestown allegedly told Boston police that he did not know he had struck someone with his vehicle, and completed his trash pickup a few feet from where the bicyclists crumpled body was found.

The name of the bicyclist has not been released.

Ricky Prezioso, 41, today pleaded not guilty to one count of leaving the scene of an accident after causing death in Charlestown Municipal Court where bail was set at $5,000 cash and Judge Lawrence McCormick refused to ban him from driving.

The bicyclist was pronounced dead at the scene. His crumpled bike was found by police on Spice Street close to the Cambridge Street intersection; his body was about 10 feet further down Spice Street and remained there for several hours while police collected forensic information.

….

Prezioso’s attorney, William Cintolo, said that his client was not responsible for the fatal incident.

“Instead of the truck hitting the bike, the bike hit the truck,’’ Cintolo said. “There is not one scintilla of evidence that there was anything negligent about his operation.”

Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Ian Leson asked for $15,000 cash bail and that Prezioso be held without bail for an assault and battery case in Woburn District Court from last year.

Leson also asked the judge to suspend Prezioso’s right to drive.

But Cintolo told the judge that Prezioso supports his three children who live in Everett, as well as his fiance’s three children who live in Swampscott.

McCormick said he was convinced by Cintolo’s argument that Prezioso should be allowed to continue to earn a living behind the wheel.

“If he’s dependent upon his position to keep six children fed and clothed, I don’t find it necessary to prevent him from doing that,’’ the judge said from the bench.

You can read the rest here…its pretty depressing. Like they say, if you want to murder someone wait until they get onto a bicycle.

EDIT:
A better picture of the bike, anyone know who this is?

EDIT:
UHub is reporting that the victim was a 30 yar old man from Chelsea, but his name has not been released yet.

EDIT:
UHub is reporting that the victim was Owen McGrory, 30, of Chelsea.

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How To Waste Money: Install Bike Lanes, Remove Bike Lanes, Re-Install Bike Lanes

I have written before about the absolutely foolish way the Charlestown Neighborhood Council acted when they found out they had gotten some nice bike lanes from the city (1 2 3 4).

At the time I criticized them for over-reacting, acting hastily, wasting money, wasting time, and I predicted that ultimately these lanes would be re-installed because the times are changing and car centric thinking is no longer appropriate for today’s modern cities. What I failed to mention before was that the people of Charlestown are also massively in favor of bike lanes, so having the council remove them didn’t even reflect the will of the people they were supposed to be representing.

Removing the lanes so quickly was the worst possible response that Charlestown could have taken. Heres why.

If Charlestown had stopped to think about it they would have realized that removing the lanes without any community process, wasted a lot of money, and is exactly the kind of thing Charlestown were so upset about in the first place.

They could have said:

“OK we are not happy that we didn’t get a say in installing these lanes, but since we love cyclists so much, and the lanes have been paid for, and we are in the middle of a massive recession, and they are already installed, and we love community process over here, perhaps we will ask the people of Charlestown if they want the lanes before we spend a bunch more money to remove them.” (via)

The many people who went and told them how stupid they were being seemed to have an impact

On Monday night, members of the council’s Basic Services committee OK’d a proposal from city officials to put bike lanes along both sides of Main Street – a decision that was met with applause from the 70 or so residents who turned out for the bike lane meeting. (via the C-town patch)

So to recap, many dollars were spent to install these lanes, a bunch of “mistakes” were made and many more dollars were spent to remove them, and now additional many dollars will be spent to put them back…These might turn out to be the most expensive bike lanes in the history of Boston.

As I am not politically beholden to anyone (the glories of being a blogger) I think I can say what everyone else is afraid to. This was a massive cluster-fuck perpetrated by a very small group of “neighborhood leaders” who in no way reflected the views of the people they were supposed to represent.

They got in a tiff with the city because the city didn’t sufficiently kiss their ass before installing the bike lanes, so instead of thinking rationally and carefully they wasted a bunch of money and time throwing a tantrum. The end result being that not only will the same exact bike lanes be re-installed, but it looks like a whole bunch more bike lanes are going to get installed along with locations for the bike share.

I would hope that when the mayors statement that the “car is no longer king” finally sinks in, and neighborhood leaders start to reflect the will of the people these sort of embarrassing wastes of time and money will become a thing of the past.

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Charlestown Cyclists Want Their Bike Lane Back!

I wrote before (1, 2, 3) about the completely silly response Charlestown had to having some bike lanes installed in their town. I was pretty unimpressed with their logic at the time, and it seems most everyone else was similarly pissed. The Charlestown Patch reports that many many cyclists showed up to tell the city just what they think about the removal of the bike lanes.

Dozens of residents in Charlestown want bicycle lanes returned to Main Street, and they want answers about why they were removed in the first place. They packed the basement of the Knights of Columbus on Thursday to tell the Charlestown Neighborhood Council just that.

For a solid hour, members of the council heard public comments about bike lanes in Charlestown — all of them strongly in favor. Not a single person spoke against bike lanes, but several criticized the council and the Charlestown Business Association for what they perceived as a position against the lanes.

“We had a bike lane on Main Street. Then it got taken out. Why did that happen? What was the cost? I had a bike lane and now I don’t,” Monument Avenue resident Patrick Murphy said at start the meeting. The crowd applauded, setting the tone for the rest of the evening.(read the rest here)

Bravo C-town riders, and bravo Charlestown patch for keeping an eye on this.

I wrote before that this was possibly the stupidest way Charlestown could have dealt with this entire situation, stating that they could have had some public process before wasting money to remove the lanes. Seems the people of Charlestown agree.

Hopefully this will show the Neighborhood Council who supposedly “spoke for the people” when the vote was taken to remove the lanes that “the people” want bike lanes, and they wont put up with wasting money to install and then remove perfectly good bike lanes.

I highly suggest you read the rest of the patch article as its got some great quotes. Here is a tiny taste

“[The] lesson to learn here is that two wrongs don’t make a right,” Elm Street resident Nate Blanchet said. “It was wrong for the council to decide to take the bike lane out without further public process.”

Council member Bill Galvin clarified the Neighborhood Council did not remove the lanes — the city did. The decision came from the city.

“One of the things we do is protect the process,” Galvin said. “There were a number of people in this community who thought there was a negative impact from the bike lanes.”

“Where are they,” someone from the audience asked out loud.

No one in attendance had any complaints about bike lanes.

Hopefully I will be reporting soon about the new lanes being re-installed.

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Why It Was Wrong For Charlestown To Remove The Main Street Bike Lanes

Now that the dust has settled on the Charlestown bike lane issue its clear that removing them, at least removing them so quickly, was the wrong decision. Before I get to laying out any justification for the title of this post a quick recap on the situation.

If you believe everyone, here is basically what happened. The city of Boston painted some bike lanes on Main street in Charlestown, an elected neighborhood advisory board said “Hey we love bike lanes, and we love bikers, but you didn’t ask us about putting those lanes in, so remove them.” Several days later the lanes were removed under cover of night. When people found out about it, they threw a stink.

Removing the lanes so quickly was the worst possible response that Charlestown could have taken. Heres why.

If Charlestown had stopped to think about it they would have realized that removing the lanes without any community process, wasted a lot of money, and is exactly the kind of thing Charlestown were so upset about in the first place.

They could have said:

“OK we are not happy that we didn’t get a say in installing these lanes, but since we love cyclists so much, and the lanes have been paid for, and we are in the middle of a massive recession, and they are already installed, and we love community process over here, perhaps we will ask the people of Charlestown if they want the lanes before we spend a bunch more money to remove them.”

They then could have had some of that community process they seem to value so much, and the people of Charlestown might have actually said “Yes we want to keep them.” The city certainly would have saved a bunch of money, and Charlestown would have been able to show the city how real community process is done. A win win.

If, on the other hand, the community of Charlestown had said they didn’t want the lanes, the cost would have been the same for removing them, and the principle of community involvement (which Charlestown says they are all about) would have been preserved. Instead the lanes were hastily removed with no public comment period, wasting money, and embarrassing everyone involved.

It also sets an unreasonable speed expectation. Will all future city projects be completed this fast? If we call up city hall asking for something repaired, and its not done instantly by road work ninjas under cover of night should we be up in arms?

The lesson we should learn from this incident is that times they are a changing. There is a shift in the way people get around Boston, cycling, walking, and public transit are growing, and car driving is shrinking. Boston is on its way towards becoming a more livable city, a city designed for people, not for cars. There is bound to be some hiccups on the way towards a better Boston, and this is one of them.

I was heartened to see that people got upset about this, it means they value bicycle infrastructure, and don’t take kindly to it being installed, and then suddenly removed. Even if the way it was installed wasn’t perfect, we can’t allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good. We also need leaders who are forward thinking, when planning infrastructure, and when responding to events like waking up to find surprise bike lanes on your Main street.

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