How BU is doing its part to encourage T ridership

Where someone posted this informative followup after a discussion with some of these "Mass Highway" people cutting locks outside the Espresso Royale Cafe:

* NotAMasheen
* CommentTime5 hours ago

Ok, so heres an update...

A few folks were just outside of ERC on comm ave talking to the people who were cutting locks. We managed to save the 2 bikes they were cutting from being taken onto their truck (way to go Kate). I found out that McCourt, the construction company rebuilding comm ave, is getting paid by BU to do this. The workers at the scene were mostly from BUs facilities management, with one or two from McCourt. The bikes are being taken to 120 Ashford Street until it fills up and then they have another location where they are being stored for one year. The phone number to BUs facility management office is 617-353-2111, and the guy in charge is Mike Hathaway. Ray Bourgeois is a name that was mentioned as well. They say that they are liable for the bikes for one year, after than year they get crushed (this is a lie because i know people who have bought bikes from BU). The way to get the bike back is to prove that your key fits the lock (they tape it to the frame).

I know Ray's name from his being B&G's Grounds Manager (the guy who is in charge of keeping BU's gardening green). It turns out Hathaway is in charge of BU's construction projects. 120 Ashford St (where the bikes are all headed according to the people plucking them from their locks) is BU's B&G HQ building.

That doesn't sound like Mass Highway has anything to actually do with this directly. Even if it did, there's still ZERO police presence and this is a law(???) enforcement job. If someone goes to pick up their bike, aside from the obvious complaint that they have destroyed the lock thus leaving me at a monetary loss de facto, what recompense will I have if I feel that they damaged by bike in the process too? This is why the police watch the tow drivers haul away parked cars during street cleaning, so there's an independent witness for the way the city/state handled your vehicle.

In this case, however, it's Vinny, Bobby, a pair of bolt cutters, a person's property, and a flatbed truck. So, so, not the way this should be going down.

But this is how BU treats bikes. Over at BUMC, if you don't use one of their bike racks, then they'll at least mark the bike with a note that it's about to be removed by "BU Public Safety". But it's still BU acting on a person's property on a public way. Just crazy.