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In latest neighborhood scooter sweep, police seize nine mopeds in Downtown Crossing
By adamg on Tue, 07/16/2024 - 10:19am
Scooters away, in Downtown Crossing.
Boston Police report seizing nine scooters whose owners were driving down Washington Street in Downtown Crossing despite the road legally being closed to them.
Police had the vehicles seized at Washington and Franklin streets yesterday afternoon:
The Boston Police Department would like to remind everyone that vehicles are strictly prohibited in the Downtown Crossing pedestrian zone. This area is designated for pedestrian use only to ensure the safety and enjoyment of all visitors. Police say one operator proved particularly recalcitrant and initially refused to give up his scooter, but police seized it and handed him a court summons to answer "various motor vehicle law violations."
Police add:
Additional pedestrian zones in downtown are located at the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall.
Last week, police seized 31 scooters and motorcycles with various violations in Mattapan and seized 13 mopeds and arrested 3 people in the Back Bay.
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Comments
They should seize the cars
They should seize the cars that drive through the DTX pedestrian zone, too.
Mixed Use
Commercial vehicles can use the streets between 6pm & 11am. Utility co vehicles DPW and some senior shuttles can use anytime.
That doesn't explain the
That doesn't explain the random people driving through all day. Not a minute goes by that an entitled driver doesn't illegally enter the pedestrian zone.
It's possible...
...that they have a legitimate reason to be there.
(but since no one ever stops them, I guess we'll never know)
Commercial plates
Wouldn't that be a qualifier for legitimacy here?
But hey the couriers running reds downtown have a legitimate reason to do so (business!) so we can hand wave that away too
It gets worse every day.
One actually came up behind me while I was walking and blasted his horn to try to get me to move out of his way. I just kept walking straight ahead in front of him only slower.
Thank you BPD!
But what took so effing long? I have been sideswiped on more than one occasion by these guys. It's been going on too long.
boundaries
...they've been showing up in the parks, too. Mainly Back Bay Fens and Southeast Corridor paths....
Great to see!
Would love to see similar consequences for all the illegal activity like double parking, blocking the bike/bus lane, parking on sidewalks, blocking the box, blocking crosswalks, speeding.
EDIT: Multiple cars parked in the pedestrian only zone today. To be fair, later in the thread its clarified that these cars were gone by 6pmish and some tickets were handed out. Still, come on with this performance: https://twitter.com/WalkerInBoston/status/1813295327132401927
You know, make motorists answer the "various motor vehicle law violations" that occur daily in this city. Really missing out on the low hanging fruit.
Oh but that cyclist I saw slowly go through a red today, tisk tisk
DTX
there are 10 or more all the time parked at Franklin and Washington by the Millennium tower
Cars?
The ones closest to Millennium (between the planter and door) are their spots. All legal.
The ones parked next to the landscaping and the headhouse are illegally parked.
The city does ignore rich people and their violations.
Next time you go to DTX with a car. Park next to the planter on the side facing the Marshalls. If the valets say anything, ask them why they get to park there? You may encounter some yelling, but you are doing something just as illegal as they are doing.
Property seizures
I'm curious about the selective seizing of vehicles. You never see them citing, let alone seizing pickup trucks, even though they often contain the most dangerous motorists.
I'm wondering if the cops are doing the civil forfeiture scam and they're just grabbing up scooters because they get to sell them off and keep the proceeds.
Confusing
A number of those scooters are licensed, which suggests the owners did their diligence on paperwork and things (unless they're stolen).
If a car illegally drove into the DTX pedestrian zone...would they immediately sieze/tow it away or just ticket the driver and escort them safely out of the zone?
There's nothing in the state moped law that says violations are answerable by immediate seizure or anything.
So unless they're claiming all these scooters were involved in drug crimes, I don't know how they're seizing them all legally.
I don't think they seized all they encountered
Reading the report I think they just seized the ones which had additional violations, like maybe expired registrations and/or lack of insurance? (Or possibly stolen?). If that's the case, imagine just how many scooters there were in that area that they just warned or ticketed!
But it is possible I'm misreading, and then yeah, not sure how they're justifying the seizures.
Better late than never
Better late than never
Great!
Now, just instantly confiscate any scooter with "150" on it without a plate. "150" denotes that it has a 150cc engine, and all unlicensed scooters, by law, must be less than 50cc. If a 150cc scooter is on the public way, and it doesn't have a license plate, then its being operated illegally. Get it off our streets, sidewalks, bike lanes, paths, and walking trails!
Good!
I hope to see a lot more of this. Have a nice day everyone!
It is good news. Now ticket
It is good news. Now ticket and tow all the car and truck drivers who think "PEDESTRIAN ONLY ZONE DO NOT ENTER" doesn't apply to them.
OK
Let's not forget to ticket all the people who bike on all of the parts of the Greenway, Common, and Public Garden where biking is not allowed as well.
Applications are being accepted
If you really want law and order, give up your gig and apply to BPD/BTD traffic enforcement divisions. Get on that.
Otherwise you gotta clam up, right?
Have things changed?
Cycling wasn't allowed in the Public Garden since forever, with signs at pretty much every entrance, but last I heard, the Common was not posted as no bicycles.
I’ve never seen no cycling signs …
… on the Greenway either.
Look Down
It says on the pavement along the sidewalks near High Street and Rowes Wharf.
Use the bikelanes provided in the street.
So only part of the Greenway is posted no cycling.
.
Not sure if it's posted, but
the website has a document that indicates no bicycles.
Page 4 of this link:
https://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Greenway-...
And on this page of the Greenway website:
I've been looking on Streetview^tm for signs with these rules, but I am not having luck
An empty political gesture
This is a good start, but little more than an empty political gesture as allowing this sort of lawlessness in the first place is a conscious and willful decision and appeasement by Ma politicians to burnish their so-called “progressive” and to boost progressive dopamine levels in general. Not only are politicians virtue-signaling, but what politicians are truly doing with non-enforcement is corruptly serving firms like Uber, Grub Hub, Go Puff and all the rest by using their position to maintain these companies’ competitive advantage by not only exploiting their drivers, but inducing them to take risks and break the laws.
Can anyone translate this
Can anyone translate this into words that make sense?
allowing this sort of
My Translation:
More racist cop maneuvers.
They target the less dangerous vehicles mainly used by the low income and people of color while giving a free pass to the far more dangerous monster pickups, Jeeps, SUVs and passenger cars driven mainly by the wealthy white elites.
Speaking specifically about
Speaking specifically about the lawbreaking delivery drivers on scooters and not about the miscellaneous hooligans on scooters…
… life seldom hands us easy-to-parse morality plays with clear and clean ethical frameworks. On the one hand the rampant low-level lawlessness infuriates me, and the prospect of some of these assholes who drive scooters at high speed the wrong way down one way streets, or on the pedestrian paths in the parks, getting flattened under a truck or brutalized by the police certainly has its moments of appeal…
… on the other hand they’re living at the margins of the economy and I’m not, and wishing them harm isn’t a good look on me.
I’m not in the slightest suggesting that being poor gives you a pass on acting like a civilized person; I’m suggesting that there may be better places for me to be demanding that the state exercise its power.
Today Thursday
Vehicles, private and commercial parked solid along the so called "pedestrian zone" on Washington St at 1pm. Lots of cops around but no one is ticketing...
Waiting to see if multiple scooters have common owners, or straw
Waiting to see if multiple scooters have common owner, or straw owners to defect racket/syndicate.