I-69 News

April Critical Mass Report-back

• Posted by i69news on May 27th, 2007 filed in Resistance

Last month’s Critical Mass was a blast, even though it was small. 15 people hopped
on their bicycles and rode throughout downtown Bloomington and the IU campus. We
did the familiar old anti-car and anti-traffic chants, while also blowing on kazoos
and carrying a banner against I-69. The ride went quickly (as you could expect in a
town of Bloomington’s size), with a good part of the city covered in half an hour.

Towards the end, we biked to the western edge of downtown and rode into the One City
Center building (at 7th and College) where the Bloomington I-69 planning office is.
While having fun in the lobby, we asked other corporate tenants of the building to
evict the planning office (which was itself closed at the time). The planning
office is run by Michael Baker Jr. Inc., an infrastructure development firm
specializing in chilling public opposition to projects like highways.

Afterwards, unfortunately, a group of bicyclists was stopped by police in connection
with the demonstration at the office. The stop and questioning session didn’t have
any basis though, and the riders refused to turn over their IDs, after the police
admitted that they didn’t have any good cause to stop the group. So, the riders
were photographed as they left, while the cops made ridiculous threats that the
riders were banned from the One City Center building.

Regardless of police repression, April’s Critical Mass was a bunch of fun, and we’re
excited to continue the ride this month and from now on.