Karen Cole – For the Review. For years, Linfield College and the McMinnville Police Department have worked together to clear the campus of abandoned bikes. This week, the process is happening again.
The Linfield College Community Public Safety & Security Department began its abandoned bike program Oct. 15, which aims to decrease the number of unclaimed bikes and increase the amount of space available to lock up frequently used bikes on campus.
Currently, bikes are being locked not only to bike racks but also to fence posts, street lights and stairway railings. Securing bikes to railings, such as those used for wheelchair access, is against federal law, and CPS has the authority to remove them.
Students should have received a registration form to attach to their bicybles. The form includes space for contact information and the make and model of the bike. As of Oct. 15, every bike on campus needs to have a registration form attached to it displaying the appropriate information.
CPS will conduct campus sweeps, placing bright signs on the bikes that do not have registration forms attached. CPS inspected the north side of Linfield Avenue, which extends from Malthus Hall to the Kappa Sigma Fraternity house, on Oct. 15. The south side will be inspected Oct 16.
If a bike has a bright sign attached to it, it is still possible to save the bike until Oct. 23 by simply removing the tag.
The bikes with signs attached to them will be removed after Oct. 23. If, for some reason the owner was unable to get to his or her bike during the week between notification and removal, the bike will be available for one week in Cozine Hall. After that, the bikes will be taken to the Linfield Bike Co-Op and other causes, such as transportation for international students or offender restitution, where bikes are given to people who have recently been released from prison.
“We hope to do two things,” Robert Cepeda, director of CPS, said. “Reduce the carbon footprint and donate bikes to worthwhile causes.”
The program has been implemented before, typically during summer months.
“I’m glad they’re doing it again [now that school is in session],” junior Stephan Guttridge, a student who uses his bike regularly, said.
Before, when bikes were abandoned, they went to Mac PD. The bikes were then sold, and the money went to charity. Although the police are no longer involved, CPS has made plans to give half of the bikes to organizations such as LBC.
Last year, the Associated Students of Linfield College Senate Campus Improvement Committee, in conjunction with Facilities Services, erected five additional bikes racks across campus, giving them to residence halls that previously had none and reducing the burden on the halls that did, Duncan Reid, campus improvement committe chair, said.
“Cepeda’s plan is really good,” he said. “Originally, the LBC was to get the bikes at the end of September. Doing the program again slows down the process.”
The committee does hope to acquire more bike racks before biking picks up again next spring when the weather is nice, Reid said, creating even more space for students to be environmentally
friendly.