Pants Boy Posted November 12, 2013 Share Many people attending these mass rides drink alcohol before and during the ride....not sure what message you would want to convey as organisers allowing this. With the PTA one it is an excuse for a big piss up and the majority of people attending these events are not regular cyclists and quite frankly give the cycling community a bad name. It is just a matter of time before some incident is going to occur and many regrets will be hadAgreedI won't go near oneErrmm ... have either of you been to a Pretoria Critical Mass? yes, there's a beer stop. Yes, there's people abusing the beer at the stop, but they are in a vast minority. And 90%+ of the guys riding (that I've seen/spoken to) are regular riders ... sheesh. Come join on Nov 29th and see for yourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cpt grimy Posted November 12, 2013 Share Why did the organisers not meet with the City's Event Coordination Committee? RESPONSE TO CITY STATEMENT 11/11/13 : 21:50 Trying to keep #moonlightmass as a social fun ride, we did not share the challenges of negotiating with the city with our community. We did it to prevent the ride from becoming a protest or statement ride. We wanted to maintain the purity of #moonlightmas. From our first meeting with the city officials, it became clear to us that they could not rap their heads around this unique ride. We were questioned how it is possible to cycle while wearing jeans, how is it possible for hundreds of people to cycle through the city without littering, no water points and no toilet faculties… it just didn’t make sense to the officials. At no point did we plan for the ride to become a rebel movement and from the moment the city summonsed us to discussed #moonlightmass in April 2012 we accepted and attended every single meeting in order to bridge and address all safety issues rising from this community driven ride. For the sake of transparency here are the details of the meetings we had with city officials: April 2012: Meeting with Beverly Schafer (Councillor) and Daniel Rezant (event office) to discuss event permit and way forward May 2012: Meeting with Daniel Rezant from event office to apply for event permit (at this point we were applying on a month to month bases) 24 August 2012: 5th floor civic center: Beverly Schafer, Anton Groenewald, Teral Cullen, Terence Isaacs and Daniel Razant. We were given special instruction that Daniel Rezant could wave the 2 weeks’ notice and issue the permit. In this meeting we offered Mr.Groenewald and all parties involved to partner with us on #moonlightmass and have it as a city run/owned event. We rejected Mr.Groenewald suggestion to give the ride to Coca Cola as a sponsoring partner. 13 June 2012: Summonsed to the event co-ordination weekly meeting: We were caught off guard when Daniel Rezant brought us into that meeting, which included representatives of every department. We were not prepared for the line of questions we were faced with, taken completely by surprised this meeting felt like a planned ambush. 28 September 2012: Met with Pierre Grobbelaar at Green Point traffic police to go through route to ensure safety and traffic flow, all agreed on. 28 September 2012: permit issued by the city for the rest of 2012 24 October 2012: Meeting with Beverly Schafer and Eugene Louw (traffic) to discuss public safety and traffic management during the ride. All was agreed on. 26 November 2012: Meeting with Beverly Schafer, Eugene Louw and Metro Police representative to discuss traffic planning. Meeting held at Truth Coffee in Green Point. All was agreed on. 30 November: Meeting with Beverly Schafer to discuss #moonlightmass challenges with the city. 4 January 2013: During the Burry Stander memorial ride, Richard Bosman undertook to support the #moonlightmass and assist with traffic management and law enforcement free of charge. 25 January 2013: Annual permit issued by the city for 2013 12 April 2013: Meeting with Beverly Schafer, Eugene Louw, disaster management at CT Stadium to discuss traffic support. In this meeting we requested a detailed traffic management plan that will address the city event requirements and concerns; detailed bellow is the city plan:17 traffic officials for a min of 3 hours per person, 54 static marshals (trained by traffic officials)Dedicated medics and ambulanceStaggered start with registration, helmet, lights and bicycle check.Demarcated route with conesChange of route due to traffic flow issues. After receiving this plan it was agreed by all parties to keep improving as we go along but to not cancel the ride. This plan requires deep pockets and some form of funding. This would have then change the face of #moonlightmass and take it away from the community who built it. 04 November 2013: Event permit withdrawn using last year dates claiming un-cooperation from our side We were not alone in this engagement with the city. Beverly Schafer was instrumental in keeping the ride going and putting pressure on the city ‘to come to the party’, we are extremely grateful. With 10 meeting over the past 18 month, 2 event permits and regular stream of emails we can safely say that we did our outmost best to address the city concerns over #moonlightmass. Safety has always been our top priority and we never took it lightly, leading by example while educating our followers had started to show results. As a community based ride we received the amazing support of paramedics and marshals, who on their own time and money insured the safety of the riders. We also received a generous donation in the form of a public liability insurance policy from Associated Insurance Brokers(JHB) that covered each and every ride. Olympic cycle provided a FREE sweeping vehicle at every ride. We are grateful for all the love and support #moonlightmass received in the most genuine manner. A micro economy that developed around #moonlightmass with bicycle rentals, sales and repairs, restaurants and bars benefitting and developing around the ride. Occupied streets are safer streets and we are proud that #moonlightmass has contributed to this once a month: bringing different cultures together. Our policy has always been to engage with the city and we will attend any meeting to resolve these issues, as we have done all along. Insuring that #moonlightmass rides on is our commitment! #moonlightmass #iRideCT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kranswurm Posted November 12, 2013 Share Errmm ... have either of you been to a Pretoria Critical Mass? yes, there's a beer stop. Yes, there's people abusing the beer at the stop, but they are in a vast minority. And 90%+ of the guys riding (that I've seen/spoken to) are regular riders ... sheesh. Come join on Nov 29th and see for yourselves. No thanks.....I have read enough about what goes on at the Joburg edition which I am sure is no different from the one behind the boerewors curtain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants Boy Posted November 12, 2013 Share No thanks.....I have read enough about what goes on at the Joburg edition which I am sure is no different from the one behind the boerewors curtainChicken! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants Boy Posted November 12, 2013 Share And Joburg vs Pretoria is as different as Joburg vs Cape Town Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kranswurm Posted November 12, 2013 Share Chicken! Yeah..Not one for mass rides/demontrations/movements etcAlways there is the element that will take advantage and abuse and they will ensure that the whole gets tarred with the same brush.Anyway all this kumbaya stuff freaks me out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pants Boy Posted November 12, 2013 Share Lol no, the Pretoria ride is quite fun actually. It's just a bike ride, albeit with a few more friends than normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy hardtail Posted November 12, 2013 Share By cancelling this event the city has shot themselves in the foot. Now it will be a mass ride with a rebel edge to it that will attract the riders that dont like playing by the rules. And how are they gonna stop it? How do you stop a few thousand riders who want to ride around the city. And the more chaotic it becomes the more fun it will be for the kind of riders that will be there in the first place. And i will be one of them, because i can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy hardtail Posted November 12, 2013 Share And with no organiser other than an anonymous face book page there is no one to meet with and no one to tell to stop the event. Then what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerus Posted November 13, 2013 Share Never once been used. Also, there was something about a disagreement on the fine and it was never set. So technically there is no law? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kranswurm Posted November 13, 2013 Share By cancelling this event the city has shot themselves in the foot. Now it will be a mass ride with a rebel edge to it that will attract the riders that dont like playing by the rules. And how are they gonna stop it? How do you stop a few thousand riders who want to ride around the city. And the more chaotic it becomes the more fun it will be for the kind of riders that will be there in the first place. And i will be one of them, because i can. You are precisely the reason I won't go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJR Posted November 13, 2013 Share You are precisely the reason I won't go No, Jimmy is actually a very decent guy. But like his name says, he is just a bit "hardegat" when deprived of his freedom to ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kranswurm Posted November 13, 2013 Share No, Jimmy is actually a very decent guy. But like his name says, he is just a bit "hardegat" when deprived of his freedom to ride. "And the more chaotic it becomes the more fun it will be for the kind of riders that will be there in the first place. And i will be one of them, because i can." I would not want to be part of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porqui Posted November 13, 2013 Share Just remember do not ask anyone to come ride with you as it then becomes an organised ride but rather tell your friends that you will be riding in the Greenpoint area on Sunday night and make sure your bike is street legal and wear a helmet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porqui Posted November 13, 2013 Share "And the more chaotic it becomes the more fun it will be for the kind of riders that will be there in the first place. And i will be one of them, because i can." I would not want to be part of this. You could not be even if you wanted to be. Kranswurm please take one step forward Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ichops Posted November 13, 2013 Share So technically there is no law? There are plenty of laws - just no interested policing of them where it suits the cops >>> sitting behind a camera trap now that's a different story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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