Comments on: Alice Swanson Memorial Removed

By: Belinda Gomez

Belinda Gomez — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:51:11 +0000

Considering she was killed by a city garbage truck, why not have a white trash truck? HEre in LA, a ghost bike wouldn't last 5 minutes.

By: The Annie Le Media Fest: It’s Not Just About the Ivies - City Desk - Washington City Paper

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:16:27 +0000

[...] her death, her memorial was still standing—and when, two weeks ago, the mayor’s office removed the ghost bike, people freaked. Of course, as one commenter noted: The law says the memorials come [...]

By: don y

don y — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:16:03 +0000

some of the replacement bikes are so poorly done that they do a disservice to the ghost bike notion.
ideally, a ghost bike would solidly and permanently white, not some half baked house/spray paint which doesn't stay on. the new sign put up by DC DoT is a plus, but a well done ghost bike mounted on the post above the sign, not just randomly chained to the post, would be a poignant reminder of the bad outcome of failing to observe. most ghost bikes i've seen have been intact and good condition, to joe q public wouldn't the actual (or other) car-mangled bike ghosted be a more obvious point though? or is that too raw a reminder to f&f of the deceased?

By: Ghost Bikes Return to Dupont Circle: Alice Swanson Rides Again - City Desk - Washington City Paper

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:15:03 +0000

[...] Columbia Heights resident, 27, didn’t know Alice Swanson, the struck-and-killed cyclist whose memorial was removed from the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and 20th and R Streets NW last [...]

By: Nyc Labrets

Nyc Labrets — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:59:12 +0000

PS:

Andrew, my connection to this story is that I was a DC Bike Courier for about 3 years and The City Paper was one of my regular clients.

You probably don't remember me, but I was one of the guys on bike that delivered your Payroll Paychex in all sorts of DC weather.

By: Nyc Labrets

Nyc Labrets — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:54:34 +0000

The Ghost Bike that was removed by Mayor Fenty's Office from DuPont Circle has as of last night been replaced by 22 Ghost Bikes, one for each year of Alice Swanson's life, as of early this morning:

http://aliceswansonridesagain.wordpress.com/

They should be up there right now.

By: The Advoc8te

The Advoc8te — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:42:18 +0000

By the way I'm black, a liberal and I live in Ward 8 and everytime I see a memorial on the sidewalk I call DPW to enforce the law. I have no qualms about it. This is not a "white, republican, yuppie" issue.

By: The Advoc8te

The Advoc8te — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:36:24 +0000

@ Jim. I agree 100%. The law says the memorials come down they come down. If this was am unsightly teddy bear memorial surrounded by liquor bottles and candles for a gun shot victim you would be petioning the Mayor's Office for it's removal.

I have no problem with DPW removing the memorial. The general process is to give the family 30 days and then inform them of the memorials removal. The fact that this memorial was allowed to stay up for a year does not excuse the fact that it was illegal. Perhaps the alternative is to not even give the 30 day grace period and remove the memorials as soon as they go up?

This death was tragic but no more so than all the other unfortunate deaths that occur in the city. If all these memorials were allowed to stay up this would be one crowded city.

On this point I give kudos to the city for doing what was right even at the risk of angering some folks. The law is for everyone.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:16:12 +0000

Also, MR is absolutely right about this having nothing to do with the First Amendment, but anyone with even an elementary understanding of it understands that. Sorry, Angry Al. Does that make me racist, too?

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:03:23 +0000

It's amazing that people don't see the connection between the ghost bike and other memorials that the city takes down on a regular basis. I realize that the ghost bike is important to a lot of people. All the homemade memorials are. But Swanson's death, as tragic as it was, is not more important than any other death in D.C.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:52:01 +0000

R ~ Of course the issue of whether everyone who meets an unfortunate end in DC is entitled to a memorial is relevant! How on Earth is it NOT relevant? If every person who has an early departure via a preventable event like Ms. Swanson, what if every one (or even half) have family/friends/coworkers who decide to erect a memorial on the city sidealk? Will all of them be allowed to stay forever? If not.....why? If yes....why? To suggest that this one can stay....but others can't....good luck explaining that.

By: MR

MR — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:24:30 +0000

I think there are a few things we can all agree on. 1. Yes, it's important to remember a tragic event like Alice's accident. It's important because we want to remember the person and we want to prevent the same tragedy from happening again. 2. On the other hand, there are appropriate and inappropriate ways of remembrance. I agree that the Ghost Bike was not intrusive and certainly served as a reminder (at least for the many familiar with Ghost Bikes). But the "does everyone deserve a memorial?" question is a real one. Therefore, the best approach is asking for permission or working with the City to design a memorial that can serve everyone's interests. Moreover, that approach ensures the memorial will reserve the regular maintenance that it needs (which seemed to be lacking sometimes with the ghost bike). 3. References to the First Amendment won't get us anywhere. For the most part, cities are free to enact reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on "speech." Even if the ghost bike was "speech," it certainly seems (legally) reasonable for the city to bar permanent installations on its sidewalks. 4. The Fenty administration could have handled it better, particularly if they did not contact the family. However, they should also receive some credit for allowing it to stay up for a year, while some other cities would drag it off to the dumpster immediately. 5. LaTomate sucks. But everyone already knew that.

By: R.

R. — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:21:01 +0000

@ Dave

Let me start by saying that I agree about training cyclists to watch for vehicles' blind spots and to look for vehicles to make turns notwithstanding their use of turn signals. Addressing safety problems from only one direction is not what I meant to propose.

But I find your argument that leaving Alice Swanson's memorial up will automatically result in all DC-area deaths getting memorials to be unpersuasive. What we are discussing is the appropriateness of the removal of a particularized memorial, not whether we should allow permanent memorials going forward. The consequences you posit do not logically follow from whether or not we put this ghost bike back where it was.

Anyway, I wrote a nice, polite, reasonable note to Mayor Fenty expressing my hope that he and the Swansons can work together to restore the ghost bike to its prior location.

And what's up with LaTomate tearing down part of the memorial? Sheesh. I believe that lamp post belongs to the District -- not to a tomato. I'd appreciate a link to those photos, Mike.

By: Mike B

Mike B — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:36:04 +0000

I was eating at LaTomate today and witnessed some of their management go outside and rip down what appeared to be part of the memorial on the lamp post. I took pictures of them doing it.

By: Downtown Rez

Downtown Rez — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:26:30 +0000

Good words, Truth Hurts. The mayor is a huge supporter of both public safety and cycling- anyone who stops for a moment to think about it would agree. I'm sure it'll be worked out.