Scooter Wars

Residents Do Not Appreciate

As The Los Angeles Times reports locals are getting quite frustrated with the rental scooter industry in many seaside California cities.

Having visited Venice Beach a few weeks back I couldn't help but notice how omnipresent these two wheeled scoots have become. From having to dodge getting run over by them on the sidewalk to having to avoid running them over in the street, I can sympathize with the locals and their disdain for these unregulated vehicles. I can also see that they're quite useful and practical for tourists and sightseers to employ.

Notwithstanding their practicality, they do have a tendency to annoy. They are also not without liability. The scooters can travel at upwards of 15 mph and with very few people donning helmets or other safety gear prior to setting off, injuries are mounting.

No worries though, new industry is springing up to address rental scooter related injury, hooray, more lawsuits.

This tendency to annoy the populace is beginning to elicit destructive behavior against the scooters with scores of the offending Birds being vandalized openly and without repercussion. There is even an Instagram account, BirdGraveYard which tracks the destruction on social media. According to a moderator their site receives literally hundreds of submissions a day of Bird related vandalism and destruction. They only publish a select few, however.

Bird has already settled one lawsuit against them from the City of Santa Monica relating to vendor permits and business licenses. Given the ubiquitous nature of these scooters I suspect that we will begin to see more regulation and control being exerted by city forces in trying to make the situation workable for the frustrated communities and the riders alike.

This intrusion will likely make the scooters less convenient and more expensive which may, in turn, reduce their numbers to a level that everyone can deal with. And that's how City Hall will "solve" the problem, make them less convenient yet more expensive.

Second City; Twenty-Fifth City

This article from The Chicago Tribune relates how Chicagoans have become much more fearful (justifiably so, it seems) of gun violence in their city.

In addition to this week's rash of shootings, 74 people were shot last weekend. Given the press that Chicago gets with respect to this issue, you'd be forgiven for thinking that they lead the nation in violent homicide, far from it. As this article points out, on a per capita basis Chicago has the 25th highest murder rate in the US, behind such cities as: St. Louis, MO (1st), Baltimore, MD (2nd), Salinas, CA (9th), Savannah, GA (12th) and Philadelphia, PA (24th).

While gun violence in the US has been steadily declining from its peak in 1993, we can see that it is a battle that is far from over, in fact, it seems to be intensifying in particular areas. Also, even though overall trends remain down over the past 30 years, the nation saw an uptick in gun violence beginning in 2015 which continues incrementally to the present.

What stands out about Chicago is that, on a weekend with 74 shootings, there wasn't a single arrest made. There were some leads but no arrests as of yet. What can account for the utter failure of the police in patrolling their city? Some of it may have to do with an attitude among the residents that they won't "snitch" on the shooters, maybe because of fear of retaliation or, in some cases I imagine, a sense of loyalty to gangs and fear of police.

It's worth reviewing this article from ChicagoMag from December, 2011 which details the oftentimes symbiotic relationship between Chicago politicians and gang members, reformed or otherwise. In it, the article found that:

"Most alarming, both law enforcement and gang sources say, is that some politicians ignore the gangs’ criminal activities. Some go so far as to protect gangs from the police, tipping them off to impending raids or to surveillance activities—in effect, creating safe havens in their political districts. And often they chafe at backing tough measures to stem gang activities, advocating instead for superficial solutions that may garner good press but have little impact."

It doesn't seem like much has changed in the Windy City since 2011, with violence continuing practically unabated and increasingly violent street gangs multiplying with no cohesive unified force to oppose them I would imagine that, without some significant political change, the violence and damage to the city will continue to increase.