Frances Bula header image 2

City manager’s bike stolen from city hall

May 21st, 2010 · 28 Comments

I ran into Penny Ballem at Bob Rennie’s UDI speech at the Hotel Vancouver yesterday and was surprised when she waved a booklet of bus tickets, saying they were her way of getting around these days. I’ve only ever seen her on her bike until now. What happened, I wanted to know, thinking perhaps she’d decided the traffic in Vancouver was too awful or the status of her job required something more formal than rubber boots and a bike.

No, alas, Ms. Ballem has suffered the awful fate of hundreds of cyclists in this town. Her yellow Brodie Energy mountain bike was stolen from right in front of the security office at city hall. She parked it at the bike rack around 2 p.m. a couple of weeks ago and saw it again at 4 p.m. But when she came out at 10 p.m., all that was left was her Kryptonite bike lock, twisted like a pretzel.

She hasn’t bought a new one yet because she hasn’t had time. And I got the sense that she isn’t sure she’s going to find something else that fit her so perfectly as the Brodie that she’s had since 2003. So if anyone sees it (it also has an MEC rack on the back with “a little cushioned thing for milk”) around town, they could think about returning it. Who knows? Perhaps your tax bill would be forgiven for the year.

Categories: Uncategorized

  • jesse

    Even Kryptonite has its kryptonite apparently.

    What do readers here do for securing their state-of-the-art bikes around Vancouver?

  • Joe Just Joe

    I’ve been lucky more then anything and haven’t had a bike stolen since my teen years. I just use a thick coasted aircraft cable with integrated lock, couldn’t even tell you the brand. I did remove all brand markings off my bike so it looks like a cheap bike, maybe that’s the secret. As my collegues haven’t had the same luck.

    I am surprised by the location of this theft, wonder if it’s polictically movitated or just a very brazen theif. Either way it appears the security at City hall isn’t keen on city managers.

  • spartikus

    I doubt politics had anything to do with it. I wouldn’t be too hard on the security either – someone leaning over a bike…who’s to tell if that’s not the owner unlocking it, especially if you’re viewing the scene from a CCTV.

    If it’s your time, it’s your time.

  • IanS

    Best technique to avoid getting your bike stolen is to have a cheap bike. It’s always worked for me, anyway.

  • Michael Geller

    I am sorry to hear about this theft, but do hope it leads to better security provisions for other bikes around the city. While it is difficult to prove, I believe many people are reluctant to ride bikes because they fear they will be stolen, especially if they are to be left near remote bus stops and other similar locations around the city.

    As Vancouver creates safer cycling facilities, and more people start to ride, it will be all the more important to have more secure storage lockers, etc for bikes. Video monitoring may also have to be part of the solution.

    I would also like to see a ‘bait bike’ program instituted, if it is not already, with very severe penalties for anyone getting caught.

    I’m told that the police know who steal many of the bikes around the city. Maybe Penny’s loss will lead to greater efforts to put the thiefs behind bars….hopefully secured by Kryptonite locks.

  • spartikus

    Although it sounds intriguing, I’m not sure you would be able to recreate the bait car program with bikes. Being able to shut the cars off remotely is one of the keys to the thing, and you wouldn’t be able to camouflage the automatically triggered brake locks very easily.

  • Westender

    …but as GPS units fall in price, why not install a GPS sending unit on the bait bike? They’ve started installing them on the high-end household appliances that were disappearing from construction sites.

  • michael geller

    Thanks Westender…I too was thinking of GPS tracking devices.

    Now Frances, since you went to Rennie’s talk, for those of us who had other commitments, what did he have to say?

    Let me guess….everything’s going to be alright…

  • East Vancouverite

    I use the Dutch system, which is to never use less than two locks. One is a micro u-lock that is no more than four inches across, so just enough to lock the seat stay to a bike rack.

    I also use a very high grade chain and disc lock. I also have locking skewers on my wheels instead of bolts or quick release.

    So far so good.

  • East Vancouverite

    My heart goes out to Penny Bellam. That’s really unfortunate that her bicycle was stolen, and at City Hall no less. My bicycle was once partially stripped in front, ironically, of the Vancouver Police Museum, which is of course right next door to the VPD headquarters.

    I also wish there were harsher penalties for bike theft. Right now it seems to simply earn a slap on the wrist and is treated like petty theft or minor shoplifting.

    I helped catch a bike theif once and the case went to trial. The arresting officer phoned me to follow up and he told me the thief plead guilty and the judge let him off easy since it was his first conviction. He only had to serve a bit of community service and certainly was not faced with prison and even escaped a fine. When he was arrested he had a backpack full of saws, bolt cutters, and every imaginable tool required for bike theft. This was clearly a professional thief and you can be certain he picked up where he left off when he got back on the street.

    Another time myself and another good samaritan attempted to stop a bike who was sawing away at a bike lock one night on Commercial Drive, right in front of JJ Bean. I immediately took a picture of the guy with my phone and then called the police and simultaneously the two of us confronted the guy. After first claiming it was his bike he ended up taking a few swings at us with the powered up angle grinder, which is basically two foot long club with a circular saw at the end. We backed off and the guy rode away. Once the police arrived we gave statements and I showed them my admittidly awful photo (thanks for nothing Blackberry). All that was left for the police to do was leave this sad little hand written note impaled on the cut u-lock hanging from the bike rack telling the owner to phone the police to make a formal report.

    Finally, a former landlord of mine once told me that there is a loophole in the law that says once a bike is dissassembed it is not technically stolen property. He encountered this once when a tenant, in another building I might add, was evicted and his entire suite was covered in disassembed bike parts and full of bike theft tools. The Sheriffs who participated in the eviction were the ones who told the landlord that there were simply no charges for the Crown to press since the bikes were in pieces and were no longer technically stolen bicycles. Can this possibly be true? Can you imagine a car ceasing to be stolen once you take the wheels off the thing?

  • commercialdriver

    I would never stoop to relating the high frequency of property crime in our city to our overly tolerant attitudes towards needle drugs…

  • grumbelschmoll

    There is a big gap between the size of the frustration by the owner over the theft of something they care about, and the size of the response of the police. Bike theft isn’t on their horizon, theft from cars or break and enter bring forth a sympathetic shrug if that much.

    These violations without a response that re-establishes the comfort of living in a civil society are a catalyst for disengagement and a source of fear.

    We need better ways to deal with this. The incidents may be small, but the consequences for society are large.

  • Michael Geller

    Hopefully some of the Vancouver Police Officers who read this blog will decide that the theft of Penny’s bike should be the turning point for new, vigorous action relating to bike thefts in Vancouver. After all, if we’re spending millions on improving bicycle lanes and other facilities, we should start to address this problem with an equal amount of concern…

    Perhaps if we could get this story on the front page of local papers, along with stories of other thefts, maybe we could collectively initiate a change in attitude.

    My daughter told me the story of her friend who’s a DJ at the Astoria Hotel. One day someone stole her treasured bike…so in between sets she described the bike and asked those in attendance to help her find the asshole who took it. The next day, she had it back!

    The fact is, this is one Vancouver problem that could be addressed with some changes in attitude.

    (PS…nobody wants to steal my bike…it’s too heavy to lift!)

  • IanS

    I’m not certain what kind of special treatment the police are really able give to bike thefts, when much more serious property crimes are not giving rise to significant sentences. Perhaps a private system of bike registration coupled with a GPS device might do the trick, though I have no idea of that is feasible.

  • Higgins

    Are we talking about a stolen bicycle in here? Penny gets to take the transit. Wow. Her booty of $313,000 per year,provides enough for her to charter a taxi if she wants to. But mingling with the plebes looks god on paper…24 Hours, the courier, van Sun…Michael, you are trying too hard. Penny noticed you, all right! Could stop jumping up and down now? I especially liked where you said “I would also like to see a ‘bait bike’ program instituted, if it is not already, with very severe penalties for anyone getting caught.” Sure put those buggers in jail, and let the poor developers like Concord get away with $500, 000 Assesment bikes. Are you people for real?

  • A. G. Tsakumis

    Is this a story?

    No wonder the Mayor continues to get glowing praise from the local city sloggers…

    Miro and his laziness….Allen and his friendliness…and Fabula with her fawning…

    Absolutely incredible that this is a story considering how many real stories you didn’t even tough Frances.

  • spartikus

    Frances apparently hasn’t gotten the memo regarding the fatwa.

    Dear Frances: Penny Ballem’s mode of transportation is to be only referred to as a broom.

    I’m here to help, Alex.

  • Glissando Remmy

    The Thought of The Day

    “Theft proof? One word. Unicycle”

    Penny Ballem proof? Two words. Seatless Bike.

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • Anonymous

    Okay Ms. Ballem listen very carefully — call the police, or one more boneheaded move and the bikes gets it!

  • Bike Thief

    Shiny objects — in this case it’s a stolen bicycle. A question asked previously “are you people for real?”.

  • Dan Cooper

    At the risk of sounding like one of Orwell’s sheep, I will chant along with East Vancouverite: “One lock bad; two locks good!” I’ve never lost a double-locked bike, although I’m sure it happens.

    My wonderful employer also kindly provides inside parking, which helps. Oh, and I ride a bike I bought 15 years ago second hand for $200 (after a nice bicycle was stolen). It gets me there!

  • RS

    Okay. Ms. Bedlam has suffered an egregious violation.

    I suspect A.G. Tsakumis may be holding the yellow Brodie Energy hostage in an abandoned warehouse somewhere, or perhaps he’s already tossed it from the bike lane on the Burrard St. Bridge.

    Alright Tsakumis – where were you between 4 p.m and 10 p.m. on the evening of, well – a couple of weeks ago?

    How could someone worth (strike that), receiving in excess of $300,00 per annum be so naive as to leave a bike unattended at that time of day? It would seem that Ms. Ballem’s decision making ability i.e. her pretzel logic is as twisted as her Kryptonite lock.

    Note to Ms. Ballem: If you haven’t purchased a new bike yet, you’d better do so before the HST kicks in and adds another 7% to your purchase, or are you not concerned about the 7% because the the citizens of Vancouver will be covering the cost of your new bike as part of your “travel” expenses or some other extraneous expense account?

    Either way, take it inside next time your working late!

  • landlord

    @Dan : No, not locks. The correct formulation is “Four wheels bad, two wheels good”.
    Some (but probably not Spartikus) maintain that property is theft. That leaves only two possible alternatives : a vow of poverty (tough sell); or State ownership of everything (works OK in China, not so hot elsewhere).

  • Chris Keam

    “How could someone worth (strike that), receiving in excess of $300,00 per annum be so naive as to leave a bike unattended at that time of day?”

    I’ve run bike thieves off my patio in Kits at 5 in the morning. I’ve left my bike unattended for five minutes beside a friend’s back door and had it stolen (Commie Drive). I’ve had a bike stolen from a secured underground garage (Kits again). I’ve had my back wheel stolen (Metrotown). I’ve had my front light stolen in the middle of day(Waterfront Station). The list goes on and on. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suppose your locked bike might be safe outside City Hall. Some thieves just have more chutzpah than others is all.

  • Betapug

    Vancouver, City of Thieves! Maybe Sharia law has a point? No, disabled thieves would be entitled to income replacement.
    We should be providing warnings at the border.

  • Dave

    I apprehended a bike thief caught in the act (I saw him cut the cable with cutters.) The police came and the scumball claimed it was his bike. The police said they couldn’t prove it was a theft. I insisted they not let him get away with it. The police took the bike and told the scroat he’d have to prove it was his to claim it.

    The police took a chance doing this. (We all know how worthless our courts are.)

    I looked into the problem and found the best thing one can do is engrave your driver’s license number onto the bike. Police in the field are able to check a D/L against an ID. Vancouver police do not register bikes. And, as they are unable to check them in the field, so-called “bike registries” such as the scam promoted by Mountain Equipment Co-op are all but worthless.

    Maybe the City Manager could ask the police to start a proper bike registry. Or have the mayor do it.

  • Mehran Ghadiri

    We all see there are cameras almost everywhere, in shopping malls, different buildings, community centres and even inside the buses where also sounds are recorded for later use. Why not having some surveillance installed looking at bike racks all around the city. Do we say they are too expensive to be installed? I don’t think so.
    My bike was stolen today at 8th street and Cambie. I had it for one year and used to bike to work and everywhere.
    I think bike racks are the only things in this city which are left unsupervised! Strange.

  • Mehran Ghadiri

    Hi,
    I have my perfect bike stolen now and I feel so ashamed to write now, I should have done it before, however better late than never.
    A few weeks ago I was cycling with a friend on seawall and we were talking about Vancouver and I said Vancouver is a perfect city, ‘if you can find something which can be improved in this city, you should be rewarded’, I added, and he thought and admitted that he had not been able to come up with any issue.
    Now that my bike is stolen and I surfed the web, I realized that this is a major problem in this city and after looking for different solutions to stop bike theft all around the world, I noticed the solution is so easy but surprisingly we just ignore!
    We saw how Vancouver hosted the Olympics and we all appreciaed, we have been watching great tourists admiring Vancouver and … and we certailny saw junk bikes all around Vancouver and heard that owners said they use these sort of non standard bikes just to be safe and secure ad not to get victimized of bike theft. Don’t you think this is wiping out the problem instead of solving them? When you read ‘Vancouver is a high theft bicycle city’ don’t you think it’s an uglyness to our fantastic, beautiful city? How many persent of people living here in Vancouver are bike thieves? Do you think they are majority or minority? Do you think we should leave them alone to make the city full of junk bikes, just pieces of metal which are hard to call bike and more importantly they have no ergonomy standard and have a bad impact on human body? Don’t you think there should be a way to solve the issue?

    Well, I have been looking for different articles and I saw there are different locks and at the same time there are different ways to open a lock or break them up. There are some expensive technological ways such as installing GPS trackers on bike and … but people claimed thatnon of these ways are 100% secure.

    I came up with some simple and nice ideas, they are practical and if you look at them positively they can push away thieves and finally Vancouver will be a city full of nice, beautiful and standard bikes with no risk f theft.

    And the solutions, please consider them as brainstorming and feel free to add your ideas:

    1. Using human resource to watch the bikes while they are locked to racks. Cyclist can pay something around $100 / year to get a membership card and then when they lock the bike to bike racks, they should show their cars to the security person who is watching the bike. The salary of these security people will be provided with the membership annul fee.

    2. Usung volunteers to watch out the bike racks, of course bike racks should be reorganized so that the volunteer can sit in a kiosk for his/her shift and can study, do his/her research… and at the same time can watch the bikes which are locked around the kiosk. Shifts can be 4 hours and I am sure there will be a lot of volunteers to help. I will be the first one. Shifts should cover at least 6:00am to 1:00am, 24 hours will be ideal, but we can start with less.
    Cyclist should know by being volunteer the guarrantee a safety to their own and others’ bikes. Let’s get united so.

    3. Bike racks can be reborganized to get attached to coffee shops suh as Starbuck, Tim Horton, Blenze,… so the people who are having coffee can be educated to use the special telephone which is accessible to report any suspicious behaviour immediately to police.

    4. Use of surveillance which is not that expensive, looking at the bike racks to see who is stealing the bikes.

    We know that the the existing solutions, such as locks and bike racks and … are the ones that thieves know how to deal with, so it might be the right time to get ourselves update and change the prevention ways. This will make people of Vancouver happier and the city more beautiful.

    Just imagine, in a city full of BMWs and Toyoya’s, cyclist choose to use junk bikes just for security reason! Isn’t it bad?