ryanman
07-28-2004, 08:36 AM
Saw this on another site, thought I'd post it here. This is a bunch of fucking BOOSHEET. Fuck the springs.
http://www.cosportbikeclub.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9172
Muffled bikers mad at city
By ED SEALOVER - THE GAZETTE
Motorcyclists from across the West are threatening to boycott Colorado Springs, accusing the city of targeting them with tickets to increase revenues.
Colorado Springs police have written four times as many tickets this year as they did by this time in 2003 for violations of a ban on loud modified exhaust systems.
The citations — more than 400 through May — are going to motorists who have replaced mufflers and whose vehicles are judged to be louder than legal limits because of modifications.
Almost all those ticketed drive two types of vehicles: motorcycles and small, European-style racing cars.
Police stepped up enforcement of the law after being deluged by noise complaints from residents, many of whom are disturbed by revving of motorcycles, said Depu- ty Chief Pat McElderry.
Area motorcycle activists are not opposed to such noise laws. They are angry, however, at how the ordinance is being enforced — by officers without decibel meters who are writing tickets claiming the bikes are too loud.
Some bikers say the police are handing out tickets based on the brand of muffler and that the tickets are meant to raise money for the city, not to curb noise.
“Imagine the outrage if they started handing out speeding tickets without radar guns,” said Jim Wear, owner of Pro Promotions, which arranges motorcycle events in the area. “We feel the same way about handing out noise violation tickets without decibel meters.
“The perception is that Colorado Springs is anti-motorcyclist, and they’re looking to gather revenue off motorcyclists.”
The city’s ordinance does not outlaw modified exhaust systems per se. It says modifications are illegal if they make the bike louder than it was originally.
This prohibition has been on city books for 30 years and is part of state law. Where Colorado Springs stands apart is through its noise ordinance, amended in the late 1990s.
The city got rid of most of its decibel meters because of budget problems in the 1980s, when meters were larger and more expensive.
City law was changed 10 years later to let officers cite noise violations without specific decibel readings.
Vice Mayor Richard Skorman said during his five years on the City Council, he has gotten as many calls about noise problems as any other subject.
Motorcycles roaring down Tejon Street particularly disturb patrons at sidewalk cafes, he said.
“It’s not fair to everybody else out there,” said Skorman, who owns three businesses on North Tejon Street.
Traffic officers got additional training late last year on how to spot modified exhaust systems, McElderry said. They were told to watch especially along two corridors — North Nevada Avenue by Fillmore Street and Tejon Street running through downtown.
Since then, $50 tickets with $10 surcharges — but carrying no points — have been going out at record pace. McElderry said he hopes riders learn lessons about modified exhaust systems if their wallets are lightened.
That’s not the way the bikers see it.
They think they are being targeted because of what they drive.
Harley Davidson rider Mike Quintana said officers have no idea how loud exhaust systems on the bikes were before they were replaced. When he was ticketed near Academy Boulevard and Austin Bluffs Parkway in April, the officer looked just at the brand on the muffler before writing him up, he said.
Wear, who owns a decibel meter, said there is little difference in noise between stock and modified mufflers, which usually are installed to increase bike performance. He charged that police ignore loud trucks and cars.
McElderry said the department does not keep a breakdown of the types of vehicles hit with modified exhaust violations.
Wear estimated after a day in court, however, that the ratio is 100 motorcycles for every car.
Jim Waldrep, a freelance journalist from Denver, spoke with Sgt. Steven Weber about the enforcement policy and claimed Weber told him: “If you are riding a motorcycle that does not have stock pipes, we don’t want you in our town or in our state.”
Weber denied saying that. Waldrep insisted the quote is accurate.
When Waldrep included it in an article published in the July edition of Southwest Scooter News, which circulates to 18 states, indignation spread.
Terry Hartnett, a biker from Tucson, Ariz., recently sent letters to Harley owners’ groups across the country asking members not to travel to Colorado Springs.
Waldrep said he’s heard from several motorcycle groups promising a boycott. Those include a Harley club from Denver and a woman from California, who said she and 30 friends skipped bike week at the Pikes Peak International Raceway this year.
If a boycott takes hold among major groups, the effects could be serious, said Tim Anderson, editor of Southwest Scooter News.
Anderson cited two annual events that bring bikers to town: the Run for the Wall trip from California to Washington, D.C., and the veterans bikers rally in Cripple Creek. Thousands of motorcyclists stay in area hotels, eat at restaurants and buy gas during each event.
“It would be fair to say that since we started publishing what’s going on down there that people are asking questions and saying, ‘Screw it, we’re not going there,’” Anderson said.
James Reed, a local attorney who does work for Wear, said the city’s enforcement of the law is unconstitutional.
When officers give noise violations without noise measurements, they are making arbitrary decisions, he said.
No one has challenged the law in court, Reed said.
Police are standing their ground. McElderry said he thinks officers are capable of identifying problem motorcycles and are sending the message that their noise is unacceptable.
Among City Council members, only Tom Gallagher has pushed to change the law or enforcement methods. A Harley owner, Gallagher said he thinks the city has lost $100,000 in sales-tax revenues because of riders staying away.
“Motorcycle enthusiasts are usually bankers, lawyers, accountants, doctors — it’s not like it was 20 years ago,” he said. “(Their business) could be a good thing for the community. But there’s this perception out there that they’re not welcome.”
Others, such as Councilman Larry Small, stand behind the police.
Small reiterated the sentiment while discussing Waldrep’s complaints that bike activists have used to whip up their furor.
“I would say that if he isn’t comfortable in Colorado Springs with our ordinances, he probably shouldn’t come to Colorado Springs,” Small said.
http://www.cosportbikeclub.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9172
Muffled bikers mad at city
By ED SEALOVER - THE GAZETTE
Motorcyclists from across the West are threatening to boycott Colorado Springs, accusing the city of targeting them with tickets to increase revenues.
Colorado Springs police have written four times as many tickets this year as they did by this time in 2003 for violations of a ban on loud modified exhaust systems.
The citations — more than 400 through May — are going to motorists who have replaced mufflers and whose vehicles are judged to be louder than legal limits because of modifications.
Almost all those ticketed drive two types of vehicles: motorcycles and small, European-style racing cars.
Police stepped up enforcement of the law after being deluged by noise complaints from residents, many of whom are disturbed by revving of motorcycles, said Depu- ty Chief Pat McElderry.
Area motorcycle activists are not opposed to such noise laws. They are angry, however, at how the ordinance is being enforced — by officers without decibel meters who are writing tickets claiming the bikes are too loud.
Some bikers say the police are handing out tickets based on the brand of muffler and that the tickets are meant to raise money for the city, not to curb noise.
“Imagine the outrage if they started handing out speeding tickets without radar guns,” said Jim Wear, owner of Pro Promotions, which arranges motorcycle events in the area. “We feel the same way about handing out noise violation tickets without decibel meters.
“The perception is that Colorado Springs is anti-motorcyclist, and they’re looking to gather revenue off motorcyclists.”
The city’s ordinance does not outlaw modified exhaust systems per se. It says modifications are illegal if they make the bike louder than it was originally.
This prohibition has been on city books for 30 years and is part of state law. Where Colorado Springs stands apart is through its noise ordinance, amended in the late 1990s.
The city got rid of most of its decibel meters because of budget problems in the 1980s, when meters were larger and more expensive.
City law was changed 10 years later to let officers cite noise violations without specific decibel readings.
Vice Mayor Richard Skorman said during his five years on the City Council, he has gotten as many calls about noise problems as any other subject.
Motorcycles roaring down Tejon Street particularly disturb patrons at sidewalk cafes, he said.
“It’s not fair to everybody else out there,” said Skorman, who owns three businesses on North Tejon Street.
Traffic officers got additional training late last year on how to spot modified exhaust systems, McElderry said. They were told to watch especially along two corridors — North Nevada Avenue by Fillmore Street and Tejon Street running through downtown.
Since then, $50 tickets with $10 surcharges — but carrying no points — have been going out at record pace. McElderry said he hopes riders learn lessons about modified exhaust systems if their wallets are lightened.
That’s not the way the bikers see it.
They think they are being targeted because of what they drive.
Harley Davidson rider Mike Quintana said officers have no idea how loud exhaust systems on the bikes were before they were replaced. When he was ticketed near Academy Boulevard and Austin Bluffs Parkway in April, the officer looked just at the brand on the muffler before writing him up, he said.
Wear, who owns a decibel meter, said there is little difference in noise between stock and modified mufflers, which usually are installed to increase bike performance. He charged that police ignore loud trucks and cars.
McElderry said the department does not keep a breakdown of the types of vehicles hit with modified exhaust violations.
Wear estimated after a day in court, however, that the ratio is 100 motorcycles for every car.
Jim Waldrep, a freelance journalist from Denver, spoke with Sgt. Steven Weber about the enforcement policy and claimed Weber told him: “If you are riding a motorcycle that does not have stock pipes, we don’t want you in our town or in our state.”
Weber denied saying that. Waldrep insisted the quote is accurate.
When Waldrep included it in an article published in the July edition of Southwest Scooter News, which circulates to 18 states, indignation spread.
Terry Hartnett, a biker from Tucson, Ariz., recently sent letters to Harley owners’ groups across the country asking members not to travel to Colorado Springs.
Waldrep said he’s heard from several motorcycle groups promising a boycott. Those include a Harley club from Denver and a woman from California, who said she and 30 friends skipped bike week at the Pikes Peak International Raceway this year.
If a boycott takes hold among major groups, the effects could be serious, said Tim Anderson, editor of Southwest Scooter News.
Anderson cited two annual events that bring bikers to town: the Run for the Wall trip from California to Washington, D.C., and the veterans bikers rally in Cripple Creek. Thousands of motorcyclists stay in area hotels, eat at restaurants and buy gas during each event.
“It would be fair to say that since we started publishing what’s going on down there that people are asking questions and saying, ‘Screw it, we’re not going there,’” Anderson said.
James Reed, a local attorney who does work for Wear, said the city’s enforcement of the law is unconstitutional.
When officers give noise violations without noise measurements, they are making arbitrary decisions, he said.
No one has challenged the law in court, Reed said.
Police are standing their ground. McElderry said he thinks officers are capable of identifying problem motorcycles and are sending the message that their noise is unacceptable.
Among City Council members, only Tom Gallagher has pushed to change the law or enforcement methods. A Harley owner, Gallagher said he thinks the city has lost $100,000 in sales-tax revenues because of riders staying away.
“Motorcycle enthusiasts are usually bankers, lawyers, accountants, doctors — it’s not like it was 20 years ago,” he said. “(Their business) could be a good thing for the community. But there’s this perception out there that they’re not welcome.”
Others, such as Councilman Larry Small, stand behind the police.
Small reiterated the sentiment while discussing Waldrep’s complaints that bike activists have used to whip up their furor.
“I would say that if he isn’t comfortable in Colorado Springs with our ordinances, he probably shouldn’t come to Colorado Springs,” Small said.