In July the city passed an ordinance regulating downtown bike messengers, and just about everyone applauded. “Some of these riders, the way they zip in and out of traffic and over the sidewalks, are a detriment to the safety of pedestrians and themselves,” says Alderman Burt Natarus, who led the movement to adopt the ordinance. “We’re not trying to take away their livelihood–we’re trying to protect lives. Most of the owners of the large messenger services support it, because it makes so much sense. Just about everyone is for it.”
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Blackfelt’s objections might seem strange given that the new law is also designed to protect bikers. Among other things, it requires them to wear protective helmets and brightly colored vests. It also requires them to register with the city and to have liability insurance. “I don’t understand how the bike messengers would be against this,” says Natarus. “We’re trying to protect them as much as anything.”
The city was moved to adopt the regulations after Natarus, whose ward includes much of the Gold Coast and the near north side, reported that a bike messenger almost hit him. “These cyclists drive you lulu. They ride the wrong way down the street. They don’t obey the rules of the road. They are supposed to stop for a light, and they either go right through or they walk through it. And they are very arrogant people.
The most controversial aspect of the ordinance, as far as Blackfelt is concerned, is the requirement that messengers apply for an operating license. On the street they must wear city-issued identification tags or risk fines as high as $500. The tags will enable the city to identify messengers who consistently break laws by riding through stop signs and red lights, among other things.
Despite his experience, Blackfelt has been involved in several accidents, as well as altercations with outraged pedestrians and motorists. “I once got punched out by a construction worker who thought I came too close to him. I got hit by a bus two weeks ago, and it was my fault completely. I saw the bus, but I had cobwebs in my head and I didn’t realize he was moving until the last second. I pushed off the bike just in time before he crashed into me, and I banged off the windshield, landed on my feet, and started to run off my momentum. I was OK, but the point is that we take the biggest risk in this business. I know of three people who have died on the job, two here and one in San Francisco, where I used to work. I heard the aldermen talk about this one guy who was hit by a messenger and is now in the hospital. Well, what about the messengers who are dead? I find it a double standard for someone to complain that I am a menace because I have to weave through traffic threatening my life to make a decent living. They should be more worried about changing the system that makes me race this way.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Yael Routtenberg.
