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Over seven years of
living here, I've had one bike stolen and the wheels stolen off the
bike that replaced the first one. I've had the battery-powered
lights pulled off and shattered on the pavement. Someone tried to
steal the seat by pulling the seat post out of the frame, but stopped
midway through and decided not to go any further for some reason,
maybe because they were afraid of being caught. On all of these
occasions I had left my bike unattended while working a shift at my
job. Tucson is many things, and one of those things is a nest of
bicycle thieves.
A lot of people in the
Tucson metro area ride bicycles. Many are students, some are
enthusiasts, and others are too poor or too previously-incarcerated
to own a car or a license. In my case, we don't own a car because we
are a) too poor, b) too cheap, and c) too environmentally conscious
(in a certain light you can actually see rainbow colors refracting
through our halos). After a year of riding the bus and finding it to
be a stressful and unreliable way of getting around, I switched to
bicycles, and they've remained my chief mode of transportation around
the city of Tucson. The bicycle I own is important to me, it gets me
to places I don't just want to go but need to go, and without it I'd
find life in the city much more challenging than it already is.
Which is why I've been
in a foul mood for the last few days. On Sept.2, some asshole stole
the seat off my mountain bike, including the seat post. The bike was
locked to the metal rail right outside our apartment door, meaning
the thief was passing by and happened to see a bike with a removable
part he could run off with, or worse, is someone currently living in
the same complex with us. It doesn't matter either way, I'm just as
pissed that I have to replace the seat. On top of everything else
we've been dealing with in the last month (trouble getting a land
line installed in our studio apartment, an apparent bedbug
infestation, difficulty finding jobs) this is the shit-flavored icing
on a big crap cake. At least as far as the seat goes, there's a
great used bicycle collective called BICAS that sells parts. I've
purchased a new seat, but still need a seat post that fits my frame.
Most of the stuff I need will cost less than ten bucks all together,
much less than I would pay at most bike shops.
I hate to keep harping
on the crime in Tucson, but there it is. I've just been the victim
of a property crime. What I hate is that, for the person who stole
the seat, that part means nothing more than a couple more bucks
toward buying drugs. It's not like they're going to get a lot of
money out of it. But for me, it's a part of my single best means of
transportation, my wheels, something I use daily to live my life
here. It was a petty crime, and I can easily replace the part, but
it sucks to be a victim. And the incident serves as a reminder that
to live in Tuscon, you have to tolerate chronic, consistent theft.
That's just how it is here.
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