Bike-Pgh BBQ Fundraiser

Bike-Pgh had a BBQ Fundraiser at Whole Foods in East Liberty today and I went to show my support to the cause. I also made flyers with the photograph of Codename P vandalizing my car so that I can spread the word to Pittsburgh's biking community.

On Thursday, three weeks since filing the report with the photographs included, I was contacted by the investigating detective from Zone 4. He had not gotten a response from the people at Bike-Pgh concerning other people who have been vandalized at the Eliza Furnace lot and, without that, he was going to proceed as if I were the only victim. At the BBQ I was able to talk to the Director of Bike-Pgh and remind him to contact the police so that they have everything they need.

One of the suggestions that came up during conversation with other cyclists was to go to UPMC. UPMC leases the lot from Codename P and I am sure they would not want to be associated with his vanadlaous ilk. Shaming someone into doing the right thing is certainly an option but I prefer the legal system. His harassing of bicycle commuters is wrong and I would not want to be thought of as harassing him in turn, going to UPMC or encouraging people to take matters into their own hands.

On the other hand, sometimes justice needs to be served from outside the system. A friend sent me a link about a New York City resident who's friend left her cell phone in a taxi. You can read the entire story here but, the short form is he left a message to the cell phone telling the people who found it how it could be returned for a reward. The people who found it, however, responded with abusive messages that they would not return it. His investigation was able to track down who these people were and he reported it to the police (an adventure in itself). But he also posted his story online and very quickly amassed a following of people not only reading his story but helping him.

The director of Bike-Pgh asked me if it was ok if he made a posting about the Eliza Furnace vandalism and my photograph to the Ride a Bike blog that he maintains. I said, "absolutely." Perhaps some additional coverage will get other cyclists to come foreward with additional reports. Each additional piece of evidence is valuable in bringing Codename P to justice.