Author:
Will James - publisher onNYTurf.com
Contributors:
FreeWheels
Fred Askew - Photographer
Barbara Ross - Time's Up! Volunteer
Elizabeth Press - Videographer
Peter Meitzler - Time's Up! Volunteer
Michael Zaidman - Photographer
This timeline project tells the story of the rise of Critical Mass in NYC from a minor, and mostly overlooked summertime activity, to a key litmus test of our changing civil rights. In NYC there is an ongoing effort by the city administration to assert more control over public activity, from where we can ride bikes to when we can protest. The city is using a variety of tactics, including litigation, arrests and ticketing, and new laws and police regulations, to redefine the terms by which we may use public space. Critical Mass is now an activity upon which the city does some of its most bold experimenting of these tactics. This timeline journals the key events, court decisions, and characters in this unfolding drama.
onNYTurf is greatful for the help of the contributors on this project who helped provide the vast majority of historical information and photography that makes up the timeline. onNYTurf is also greatful to Why I Ride Exhibit organizer Carol Wood who proposed the project to me. -Will