What it is! Ten
Nine Radio, a concept I had put together in the late 90’s and also was
a short run in live streaming earlier in this millennium and is now
being renewed once again in a “podcast” style format.
Speaking of Format, (if it isn’t blatantly obvious), will all be Bike
Messenger related: a large collection of music from all genres, as well
as messenger news and information, comedy and commentary from myself
and special guest’s.
This new creation of Ten Nine Radio has been designed to be able to
enjoy the program on your own time, whether it is on the ride to or
from or bit by bit through out the day on your Mp3 player. Or hell,
even feet up at home through a decent system with a sparkly beverage.
The request line will always be open at dispatch@109radio.com
As we hear from you, we hope it grows into something really diverse and
into a product of our time, but most importantly a fun way our global
community can all collectively gather around the radio and feel
connected to one another.
Our Mission Statement (as Ten Nine Radio) is simply just that,
“connecting messengers”.
We will be trying to post our program releases to as many lists and
people as possible and hope you will not only join us, but help pass
the message and programs along. Our thinking… The more people we reach,
the more feedback we will get, and the better the shows will be.
There are instructions on how to be included on our show available on
our website, so check into that and lets “hear” from you! If you’re
quick, you could be on the “New Years Special” (Coming January 1st). So
send us your “New Years Cheers” dedications as soon as possible!
If we choose your submission, you will win a prize and be entered into
a draw for this summer’s grand slam Ten Nine Radio messenger prize
package! Likely be a bag full of goodies… and if you would like to
contribute to it, please contact us.
Scheduled for the 1st and 15th of each month. The launch of the
“Voyager Episode” will be available December 15th from our site.
On August 31,
2009, former attorney general for Ontario, Michael Bryant, killed
cyclist Darcy Allan Sheppard in one of the most violent and horrific
cases of road rage in Toronto's history.
Neither Michael Bryant nor his wife, entertainment lawyer Susan
Abramovitch, gave statements to police regarding the circumstances that
led to Darcy Allan Sheppard’s death. They will have many months to
tailor their testimonies to fit the known evidence and weave it
seamlessly into a vigorous defense mounted by one of the most elite
criminal lawyers in the country.
Bryant’s victim, Darcy Allan Sheppard, who was known as Al to his
friends, will not have a voice at the trial. He will not have an
opportunity to challenge Michael Bryant’s carefully scripted and
rehearsed testimony. He will not have a chance to correct Bryant's
devoted wife and an experienced lawyer when she unconditionally
supports her husband of twelve years on the witness stand.
Al’s voice needs to be heard. It's important that people have an
opportunity to understand his life's last moments. Al could have been
any one of us. He just happened to be the cyclist who crossed paths
with a driver on the verge of a road rage meltdown.
I have attempted to rebuild those last moments of Al's life from his
point of view. All of the events are based on the factual evidence
contained in security camera video, witness statements and news
reports. Al's point of view is also primarily based on the factual
evidence as well as my own experiences as a bike messenger and cyclist.
Toronto like
most cities has a massive problem with bike theft and many of its
victims are bike messengers. The possibility of having my bike stolen
is always in the back my mind whenever my bike is out of my sight and
every time I walk out of a building I am relieved to see my bike still
there.
For years most cyclists in Toronto suspected that Igor Kenk, owner of a
notorious used bike store on Queen Street West, played a part in the
stolen bike racket. Anyone that had their bike stolen was first advised
to go and check out "Igor's bike shop" on Queen Street just east of
Strachan. Despite what was common knowledge amongst Toronto’s cyclists,
it appeared that Igor would never be held accountable for his sketchy
dealings with stolen bikes.
I first met Igor
in 1993 when his shop was located further west on Queen St between Shaw
and Ossington, across from the Queen Street Mental Health Centre. At
the time I was living on Shaw Street, a little south of Queen Street
and I just started working as a bike messenger. I was happy to have a
bike shop nearby, especially one that was often open as late as
midnight.
Bicycle
Coalition
of
Philadelphia,
December
4,
2009
City Council
received an overwhelming response to the proposed bicycle legislation
and they are listening and responding to our concerns. We have been
assured that there will be no action on the two bills for the time
being and we do not believe the two bills can pass City Council in
their present form.
In an opinion-editorial that should appear next week, Councilman
DiCicco writes that he was surprised at the "passionate and emotional"
response to his registration bill. Recognizing problems with
enforcement and that the "fee structure may be onerous," Councilman
DiCicco states that his proposal "is not the be-all and end-all in
dealing with bicycle safety" and that the registration bill "may need
to be abandoned altogether."
All of the
attention the bills have generated may actually result in a positive
for bicyclists. We met this week with Police Commissioner Ramsey's
staff to discuss how the city can better enforce existing traffic laws
equitably on motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians to calm our city's
streets and make them safer for everyone.
Members of the Philadelphia Bicycle Messengers Association gathered
Monday night at Love Park to protest new proposals at City Council they
say would make it more difficult for them to do their jobs.
The Philadelphia Bike Messenger Association (PBMA) would like to
declare our stance on new cycling legislation proposed by councilmen
DiCicco and Kenney and respond to the rise of an anti-cycling climate
in our city.
We do not oppose the enforcement of existing laws regarding bicycle
riding, but believe that equal and consistent enforcement amongst
cyclists, pedestrians and motorists is key. Consistent enforcement of
traffic violations would improve the lives of everyone in this city no
matter what their mode of travel might be. It is our membership's
consensus that the proposed laws put forth by Councilman DiCicco and
Councilman Kenney would be specifically harmful to bicycle messengers.
No working bike messenger in this city could afford a $1,000 fine or
possible confiscation of a work bike deemed "brakeless" according to
the proposed laws. The PBMA does not think that a registration program
is feasible in a city under so much budget distress and would rather
see resources allocated to better causes.
A few days after one of their own suffered serious facial injuries in a
hit-and-run crash, city bicycle messengers upset with what one courier
describes as "rising anti-cycling sentiment" are rallying at LOVE Park
this evening.
Rachel Fletcher, a 30-year-old experienced and well-known Center City
courier, was struck at 23rd and Locusts Streets early Thanksgiving
morning and remained at Hahnemann Hospital until Saturday after surgery
to repair her face and jaw.
Despite the severity of the crash, police did not take a report until
12 hours later Thursday, which some in the bicycling community said
yesterday is part of a culture in Philadelphia that treats cyclists as
less important on streets than cars. A sergeant at the Ninth District
declined to comment on the incident last night, citing an ongoing
investigation.
The number of bike couriers zipping around Ottawa has plummeted in the
past two decades, and those hanging on to their two-wheeling careers
are blaming technology for the demise of their kind.
"The first thing that affected our business was the fax," said veteran
Ottawa courier Eric Moisan Tuesday as he paused for a break outside the
World Exchange Plaza in downtown Ottawa, "Then the internet ate up a
chunk of our business."
When Gary Watson first started working as a courier 20 years ago, there
were around 100 couriers dashing through the city's streets. Now, local
couriers estimate there are only around 20.
The nature of the deliveries made by couriers has also changed, he
said, without pausing to take off his helmet and drybag backpack.
Cyclist takes city
to labour board, claiming roads are unsafe workplace for those who bike
for a living
Toronto Star, November 24, 2009
Ten years ago,
bike courier Wayne Scott won an epic battle against Revenue Canada. His
arguments persuaded the Federal Court of Appeal to rule that bike
couriers could claim food as a fuel expense on their tax returns.
Now Scott is taking the city to the Ontario Labour Relations Board,
claiming Toronto's streets constitute an unsafe workplace for those who
cycle on the job. Three months after former Ontario attorney general
Michael Bryant was charged in the death of bike courier Darcy Allan
Sheppard, Scott is asking the board to force Toronto to make its
streets safer.
He wants the city to study the dangers on its roads and address the
problems with better street design, enforcement of traffic rules and
more bike lanes, within two years.
Scott, a once and future federal Green Party candidate, says the city
has failed to apply the provisions of the Occupational Health and
Safety Act, which says employers must take reasonable precautions to
protect their workers. On Monday, city officials said they didn't know
how many employees use bikes on the job, but police, EMS workers and
bylaw officers are among those who cycle on duty.
They run the same risk as any cyclist or bike courier of having a car
door opened suddenly in their path or being hit at an intersection.
That's because the rules of the road are poorly enforced and the city
is years behind on completing its own bike plan, contends Scott, who
retired from the courier business about four years ago.
The tragic death of Toronto bike messenger,
Darcy Allan Sheppard and the resulting charges faced by Michael Bryant
highlights the risks cyclists endure on our roads and the challenge all
road users cope with sharing our streets. But this is not an unfamiliar
situation for Toronto. Cyclists and motorists have confronted these
challenges for at least a hundred years with little progress.
Seventy-five years ago, in 1934, another Toronto bike messenger was the
victim of a selfish and negligent driver whose only concern was
himself. Similarly to Michael Bryant, the killer from long ago employed
advocates to construct a narrative that blamed the dead victim.
Downtown Toronto streets in the 1930’s were not much different than
today. The glory days of cars from the 1950’s through the 1970’s were
yet to come. Cyclists, pedestrians, motorists and streetcars shared the
roads and cyclists were well represented in the mix.
The streets were filled with hundreds of bicycle messengers too. They
worked for telegraph companies, courier companies, department stores
and drug stores. In 1937, the Tamblyn Drug Store chain boasted of
employing over 300 Toronto bicycle messengers in their drug stores
alone.
The case of the road rage killing of Toronto bike messenger, Darcy
Allan Sheppard by former attorney general Michael Bryant has many
similarities to the murder of another bike messenger, ten years earlier.
Sheppard was killed on August 31, 2009 after Bryant deliberately rammed
his car into him knocking Sheppard to the ground. Before mowing
Sheppard down, Bryant had threatened him twice by accelerating his car
up close to Sheppard and then stopping without hitting him. After the
initial attack Bryant attempted to flee the scene on the wrong side of
the road with Sheppard holding on to Bryant’s vehicle. Bryant killed
Sheppard by smashing him into trees, a mailbox and fire hydrant before
driving away.
On the morning of April 26, 1999, Thomas McBride was riding eastbound
on West Washington on his way to work as a bike messenger in the
Chicago Loop. Witnesses reported a near miss or minor altercation
between McBride and the driver of a green 1997 Chevy Tahoe.
The SUV, driven by Carnell Fitzpatrick, cut McBride off after running a
stop sign. McBride slammed his hand against the SUV as a means of
alerting the driver to his location and that Fitzpatrick was coming
perilously close to hitting him. The two exchanged words and
Fitzpatrick like Michael Bryant steered his vehicle up close behind the
cyclist before accelerating forward to deliberately hit him.
The TKBMA is about 3'000'000Yen (roughly 34'000$) short after throwing
an unforgettable CMWC for the world wide messenger community. It
doesn't seem to be right to leave this huge dept to the organizers who
spared no effort
in order to show the competitors a good time.
After the award ceremony couriers from various continents were bragging
that the courier community in their hometown would donate more money
than any other city to help the TKBMA. That's how the my city kicks
your city's ass-fundraising competition" started. So lets stick to it
and be really competitive.
Step forward and show the whole world what your community can pull off
to support the TKBMA! Organize alleycats...throw parties...whatever it
takes to raise money and win this competition.Whichever city
respectively community has raised the most money for the Tokyo CMWC
organizers by Christmas Eve wins a sweet trophy, 2 free registration
spots for CMWC2010 and the respect of the worldwide bicycle messenger
community.
The donations will be collected by the treasurer of the IFBMA.
Lawyer Michael Cochrane wrote a piece in The
Mark advocating the acquittal of Michael Bryant in the killing of Darcy
Allan Sheppard. The problem with reading anything written by lawyers is
that they sometimes cherry pick the facts and set up flimsy
straw men to knock over.
After examining Cochrane’s facts, the public would be better served by
listing all of evidence and facts:
Bryant was driving home with his wife
from an anniversary celebration, through an area under construction on
Bloor Street. As he stopped at a red light Sheppard passed him
and stopped his bicycle in front of Bryant’s car.
While stopped, angry words were
exchanged with Sheppard. Video evidence shows that Bryant deliberately
rammed his car into Sheppard knocking him to the ground.
It’s unknown if either Sheppard or
Bryant were impaired. Police say Sheppard had been drinking that day
but that he was not impaired. Bryant was celebrating his 12th wedding
anniversary. We will find out if Sheppard was impaired as his body
underwent toxicology tests. We will never know if Bryant was impaired
as police never submitted him to a breathalyser test.
After getting slammed by Bryant’s car
Sheppard hit Bryant’s car with his backpack.
After ramming into Sheppard Bryant
reversed his car and tried to drive around Sheppard and flee the scene.
Sheppard grabbed on to Bryant’s car in an attempt to prevent Bryant
from leaving the scene of the accident.
According to eyewitnesses, Bryant then
sped away at about 90 km/hr on the wrong side of the road. He mounted
the curb and intentionally drove into obstacles to knock Sheppard off
his car.
Bryant’s reckless driving caused
Sheppard to smash into a mailbox, fire hydrant and other solid
obstacles until he could no longer hold on and fell. Bryant ran over
Sheppard with his rear wheels as Sheppard lay bleeding and battered on
the ground. Bryant once again fled and Sheppard died.
What would a reasonable person in Bryant’s
situation have done? Would a reasonable person deliberately ram
their car into a vulnerable cyclist? Did Bryant have control of his
car? Even if Sheppard somehow could control the steering of the car
while hanging on for dear life, Bryant still controlled the car. Bryant
controlled the acceleration and brake pedals. He controlled the car’s
speed.
Based on the facts currently available, a reasonable person would come
to the conclusion beyond any reasonable doubt that Michael Bryant
is guilty.
Project Green: Bike couriers are
inexpensive, quick, and eco-friendly
WHAS11, Louisville, Kentucky
In many big cities, bike messengers are part of the street scenery
dodging traffic to make deliveries from one company to another.
They serve a business purpose, but they're also part of the charge to
'go green' and in this week's Project Green, they want the rest of us
to join in.
First thing in the morning the phones start ringing at the Bike
Courier’s Bike Shop, Louisville businesses are calling with deliveries
they need made.
Couriers at the Bike Shop on West Market get on their bikes and head
out.
“The alternative is to put an 8 ounce letter in a car and send that car
halfway across town to deliver an 8 ounce letter. It doesn't make
sense,” said Jackie Green, co-owner of the Bike Couriers Bike Shop.
Green began the messenger service 8 years ago as an
environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional business delivery.
“It reduces congestion, it calms traffic, it minimizes the, well, it
practically eliminates fuel consumption,” said Green.
WHAS11 followed one of the couriers as he easily navigated his way down
clogged streets on a morning run.
“We like to use them because its environmentally friendly and they're
so friendly,” said Katie Coulter of Coulter Reporting.
But being a bike courier can be dangerous. Bike courier Daniel Penrod
said, “as long as you're careful about it and you just try to be, have
some personal responsibility about the whole thing, it’s really not
that bad. You've just got to be careful.”
Couriers say they're being used more in the downtown district and as
increasing businesses and residents re-locate there, they see cycling
as an easy way many of us can "go green."
“Green depending on the context and circumstances and this is an
alternative we need to be exploring as a city,” said Green.
And bike deliveries are cheap, too. The average delivery costs
companies $6 and takes about 15 to 30 minutes.
The International Federation of
Bike Messenger Associations (IFBMA) is
pleased to announce that Zurich messenger Luk Keller has been awarded
the 2009 "Markus
Cook Memorial Award" (MCA) for Services to the
International Messenger Community. The IFBMA has awarded the Markus
Cook Award (MCA) since 1998 to the person who has inspired and
empowered the wider messenger community, and who put all messengers
before themselves.
For over ten years messengers around the world have benefited from
Luk’s commitment to community. He was one of the organizers of one the
most influential Cycle Messenger World Championships, CMWC 1999, the
race that brought “Goldsprint” roller racing to the international
messenger community. Luk has also been a driver behind many other major
events such as the Swiss Messenger Championships and the X Days Side
Show.
But Luk is much more than an ordinary race organizer. Human Powered
Rollercoaster champion, Dirk Dijkhuis notes that Luk
“organizes races to
benefit other people.”
Nothing demonstrates that more than the annual Global Gutz benefit race
which was created by Luk and others in 2000. Global Gutz is a race that
occurs simultaneously around the world so that messengers can race
against the each other without leaving their city. Funds raised from
the
race are used to send the winners to the current year’s CMWC. The base
for Global Gutz organizing has passed around the world over the years,
returning to Zurich this year as Luk took the reigns of organization
once again in 2009.
After a very successful CMWC 2009 in Tokyo. The Tokyo Bike Messenger
Association (TKBMA) found themselves about $34,000 in debt. Luk
stepped forward to again to benefit others. He announced the “Tokyo
Fundraiser Cup” which challenged messenger communities to organize
local fundraisers to help erase the TKBMA’s debt. The city
that raises the most money will receive a trophy as the most supportive
city and two free registrations for the 2010 Cycle Messenger World
Championships in Panajachel Guatemala.
As fellow 2009 Markus
Cook Award nominee, Steve Froehlich said, this year has once again
shown the world that, Luk "is the spirit of our community."
Province
takes
a
pass
on
health
and
safety
for
bike
couriers
facing
daily
road
risks
Now Magazine,
October 14, 2009
By Wayne Scott
Toronto’s world renowned more than century old human-powered delivery
industry is ailing.
Battered further by the horrific demise of much missed bike messenger
Darcy Allan Sheppard, it seems now to have reached a new ebb in its
storied history.
A dozen years after Canada began working in earnest on a Sustainable
Transportation Strategy, the busiest streets of the nation’s most
congested urban centre are still clogged with more and more huge,
motorized (often illegally parked) courier and postal cube vans when
the number of active transportation workers continues to dwindle.
The reasons as to why won’t soon be publicly addressed.
A complaint I filed over a year ago with the Health and Safety branch
of the Ministry of Labour – that our streets are an unnecessarily
unsafe workplace for occupational cyclists – has been dismissed.
It’s 10 a.m.
and Ted Webb weaves through traffic in downtown Toronto. He jumps the
green light, hugging the curb as he makes a tight right hand turn. A
slow cyclist putters along in the bike lane. He quickly passes them.
Webb has five minutes to deliver a bulky envelope to Bay and Queen
Street, if late; he has an angry client and dispatcher to worry about.
He races down University Avenue, overtaking taxis and family sedans.
Now on Queen Street, he brushes shoulders with a moving streetcar,
nearly knocking him off his bicycle. Aware of perilous parked cars,
Webb dodges a car door that flings open in front of him. With a minute
to spare, he delivers the package to the receptionist.
All of this for $3.
As a bike courier, Webb’s weekly pay cheques would amount to around
$200 for 50 hours worked. He lived on these wages for an entire year
before he quit in October 2008.
It’s
time
to
call
for
nominations
for
this
year’s
Markus
Cook
Award
for
services
to
the
international messenger community.
This will be the 12th year that the award is presented. It was
started by Buffalo Bill in 1998, to remember Markus and to draw
attention to messengers whose work benefits all of us.
From the
IFBMA’s Markus Cook Award page: “The MCA for
services to the International Messenger Community is not a prize for
winning a
race. At the time the Award was conceived, CMWC was beginning to be
more about
the racing than the happening. I [Buffalo
Bill] wanted to re-establish the spirit of the championships, to
restate the
reason that we all come to this event every year. The MCA is a
reflection of
the axiom that everyone who comes to a CMWC is a winner, whether they
race or
not.
Markus
himself
was very much in love with the CMWC, and in many ways he was the
unlikeliest
bike racer imaginable. He was several other things, of course. Editor
of
Mercury Rising messenger zine, unofficial spokesperson of the SFBMA,
leader of
L Sid, and a friend to all. The enthusiasm of Markus brought CMWC and
the
international messenger community to San Francisco, and it saddens many
people to this day that
he did not live to see it.
This award is
for people that inspire and empower the wider messenger community, that
put all
of us before themselves.”
Toronto - 230909 // The Toronto Bike
Messenger Association (TOBMA) has called a press conference for
this Friday at 2:00 pm. They want to speak ahead of their Saturday,
September 26 evening memorial celebration to raise money for the
children of Darcy Allan Sheppard, and help his family pay for his
burial.
Since the cyclist lost his life in a high-profile accident with Michael
Bryant on August 31, TOBMA has chosen to remain silent, making no
“official statements” until emotions had calmed. In that time, major
media including Maclean’s, Globe & Mail and the Toronto Star have
featured articles
damning the life, personality and background of their co-worker Al
Sheppard.
MORE:
Read the letter - http://www.tinyurl.com/allans-family-
(pdf)
handed
"To
Allan's
Family"
by
a
stranger
at
his
memorial
service.
It
shares
a touching story from a woman who had crossed paths with Al
Sheppard many times before his death
The night of August 31, Darcy Allan Sheppard
was on his bike on Bloor Street, riding home from his fiancee’s
apartment. It was 9:45 p.m. As he approached a traffic light, he passed
to the left of a Saab convertible that we now know was Michael
Bryant’s. After passing Bryant, who was stopped at the light, Sheppard
cut in front of his car and also came to a stop. Shortly thereafter, as
the light turned green, Bryant drove forward, perhaps bumping
Sheppard’s wheel. Sheppard turned his head back, in Bryant’s direction.
Witnesses reported that when the light turned green, there was a toot
of the horn from Bryant, and a shout to “get moving,”
followed—perhaps—by a return shout from Sheppard. Then, incredibly,
Bryant hit the gas, pushing Sheppard forward into the intersection,
knocking him off his bike. As Sheppard struggled to get to his feet,
Bryant backed up, stopped, turned his wheel and began to drive past
Sheppard as he sped away.
Sheppard gave chase, grabbing onto Bryant’s car as it sped by.
Witnesses reported hearing shouting, and noted that Bryant was “very,
very angry.” They also reported that as Bryant sped down the street
with Sheppard clinging to his car, he was driving on the wrong side of
the street, at about 60 miles per hour, driving up onto the sidewalk,
driving against the trees and posts and newspaper boxes lining the
street in what they reported appeared to be an attempt to brush
Sheppard off his car. Down the street 100 yards, Sheppard was slammed
into a mail collection box, and crumpled into a heap in the street as
Bryant’s rear wheels ran over him. Witnesses reported that Sheppard,
who lay in the street bleeding heavily from his nose and mouth,
attempted to get up, but was advised to remain still until an ambulance
arrived. Bryant continued driving down the street to the end of the
block, before turning in to the driveway of a luxury hotel, where he
finally stopped his car.
After killing Darcy Allan Sheppard,
Michael Bryant immediately called
his lawyer and then his PR firm Navigator Ltd. He held his first news
conference as he stepped out of the police station the next morning.
Other than his resignation letter from Invest Toronto we haven’t heard
from him, even though it sounded like the PR plan was for further
statements.
Navigator Limited senior partner Robin
Sears confirmed Mr. Bryant had
retained the top-tier communications firm. He said Mr. Bryant will
speak publicly again in the coming days.
- Globe
and
Mail,
September
3,
2009
Perhaps the exposure of Navigator as the
source of speculation set them back or perhaps Bryant does have a side
to the story.
To see it best watch it in high quality on full screen
From the video
description:
This
is security camera footage edited in the time sequence according to
eyewitness accounts from August 31, 2009 9:45pm Eyewitness
accounts
are
avaible
here There may be gaps of time between the
available footage.
Security camera shows Bryant repeatedly charging Sheppard with his car
and running the bike down, throwing Sheppard over the hood. (@ Bay and
Bloor)
Car backs away from a bike and man getting up from the ground. The car
accelerates away, driving past the man who runs down the street
after/beside the car as it passes him. The bike is left behind.
Car drives speeds down the street on the wrong side.
Bryant leaves the scene of the killing and is apprehended, apparently
1hr 45 minutes later. Questions remain about the intervening time. His
second phone call after the accident was to the PR firm Navigator:
www.navltd.com
Update: Below
is improved footage of Bryant deliberately ramming into Sheppard
The Toronto
Bike Messenger Association (TOBMA) has opened an account at TD
Canada Trust for donation to help pay for Darcy Allan Sheppard's burial
arrangements and for his children. If you should wish to donate you can
go into any TD branch and donate into account number 06906676860 for
Darcy Allan Sheppard. Or you can go to tobma.com and donate via pay pal"
Sheppard will receive traditional Aboriginal burial rights before he is
laid to rest in his home province of Alberta.
A ceremony for Darcy Allan Sheppard will be held on Monday at the
Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, where an elder will lead a solemn
service of prayers and drumming.
The service will only be open to close friends and family -- some of
whom have made the trip eastward. On Wednesday, Darcy Sheppard Sr.
arrived in Toronto to collect his son's remains.
Michaels
Bryant’s killing of Allan Sheppard has garnered a vast amount of media
attention but how much of the media coverage is generated by Bryant’s
PR firm. Rick Salutin of the Globe and Mail
reports on the PR campaign to contoll the media message.
Salutin reports that Bryant's
second phone call in custody
was to hire the PR firm. From that moment the facts of the story have
been crafted by those employed by Bryant.
Remember Bryant is a skilled
politician with ten years of
experience in holding press conferences, public self-promotion and
political campaigns. And that's what this story is turning into -
political campaign by Bryant and his PR firm, only in this campaign the
"opponent" is dead.
Another aspect of Bryant's campaign is to flood the media with
speculation, rumour and in some cases outright lies. The Globe asks:
When a
news story says, “We have new information from a source …” is that
source Navigator? Or someone egged on by Navigator? We won't know
because Navigator “prefers to be inconspicuous.”
Reporters talking to them have to agree
that everything is off the record.
The Toronto media have given Al Sheppard's death vast coverage. The
have investigated his background.They have reported speculation and
rumour. But most of them have virtually ignored one critical aspect of
this tragedy.
How did it begin?
The media have said that it began after a minor accident in which
Sheppard's bike was damaged. What are they leaving out?
Christie
Blatchford
of
the
Globe
and
Mail
is generally not a friend of
cyclists but she has reported that it all began when Michael Bryant hit
Sheppard's bike from behind.
Earlier
eyewitness accounts describe an angry clash between Mr.
Bryant and Mr. Sheppard - a toot of the horn and a shout to get moving
from Mr. Bryant; a refusal and perhaps an answering shout from Mr.
Sheppard; Mr. Bryant edging his convertible closer, and by one account,
actually hitting Mr. Sheppard's bike
Former Ontario attorney-general Michael Bryant was charged Tuesday with
criminal negligence causing death and dangerous operation of a motor
vehicle causing death in relation to the violent road rage death of
bike messenger Darcy Allan (AL) Sheppard after a traffic altercation on
August 31.
It was a senseless and tragic event that in a few short moments altered
the lives of many, leaving one young man dead.
On August 31, around 9:45 pm Bryant
was driving his sports car along Bloor Street. Finding himself behind a
cyclist, Bryant reportedly grew impatient. Witnesses report an angry
Bryant honked his horn and shouted at Sheppard to get moving.
Unsatisfied with Sheppard’s response, Bryant edged forward
intentionally hitting Sheppard’s bike. Sheppard then allegedly
dismounted his bike and walked over to confront the shouting Bryant.
As the confrontation escalated, Sheppard grabbed hold of the door or
mirror of Bryant’s car and Bryant sped off, tires squealing, with
Sheppard holding on for his life as Bryant dragged him through the
street.
Construction workers reported Bryant veering his car into oncoming
traffic and mounting the sidewalk several times in an attempt to throw
Sheppard off the car at high speeds.
One of the workers said Bryant was “yelling pretty loud and he sounded
very, very angry.” The other worker said, “He meant to knock him off.”
Another witness said, "The driver was going so fast that at one point
the biker was holding on to his car and there were sparks coming from
the bottom of his shoes."
Three players sit tall in their saddles at each end of the tennis
court, staring down their opponents. An orange ball rests on a yellow
line at centre court. “Three, two, one — go!”
A lead player from each team charges toward the ball, swinging a mallet
fashioned out of an old ski pole and plastic tubing. It is a Sunday
afternoon in an Ottawa park and the six riders are playing polo — on
bikes.
It’s not uncommon to spot polo players on bicycles at the court at Ev
Tremblay Park, just west of Preston Street.
Three days a week, members of the Ottawa bike polo club, Mallets of
Mayhem, many of whom work as bicycle messengers, gather to practise
skills and play a pick-up game.
Beryl Fine is a photographer based in San Francisco, who strives to
find beauty in the unconventional; her photos are bold, yet they expose
a frailty that is so inherent in human nature. For this project, she
photographed 23 bike messengers, men and women, who are all represented
in the book.
Known as urban street messengers, today the modern bike messenger
stands synonymous with their predecessors, the pony express, but rather
than a horse or pony their trusted steed rides between their legs on
two wheels. They’re gritty. Foul mouthed, rough and tough street
couriers.
Glamour aside, these men and women have an unforgiving job keeping them
outside in sun and sleet, rain or shine, riding for good or bad. They
remain lurkers of the urban streets wheeling between buses, semi
trucks, taxis and oblivious street pedestrians, delivering the valuable
documents that keep the wheels of progress turning.
This is a trailer for an
independent documentary film. This documentary shows the process of
designing a bicycle for and with Ugandan bicycle couriers, known as
Boda-boda. Filmed primarily in Uganda, it shows the realities of
current day East Africa, from the chaotic streets of Kampala to the
inside of gritty mud-thatched homes in rural Hoima. In Uganda many
residents use cheap, clunky bicycles for their primary means of
transportation. Through a unique collaboration between an American
designer and Ugandan couriers, a new bicycle design was conceived and a
prototype was
made. I then traveled to Uganda to meet the couriers and to have the
bike tested and critiqued. The completed doc was awarded best
documentary short at the Northwest Projections Film Festival 2009.
Bank of Ireland Business Banking announces,
today, Tuesday 24 March 2009, the four finalists selected to the take
part in the Dublin final of its 'Bright Ideas Challenge' which takes
place on Wednesday 25 March from 4.00-9.30pm in the Stillorgan Park
Hotel in Dublin. The four selected companies for the Dublin final of
the competition are ASimil8, which is based at NovaUCD, iFoods, Trezur
and Velocity Couriers who will present to a panel of judges and a
public audience on the day. The final will form part of the Bank's
first Business Advice Show during the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Enterprise
Week.
Held in conjunction with the City & County Enterprise Boards the
'Bright Ideas Challenge' aims to encourage and support both innovation
and enterprise in business start-ups, SMEs and individuals who are in
the beginning of early stages of development. The chosen winner will
receive a cash prize of €5,000, along with a mentoring and training
package from the associated County Enterprise Board valued at €5,000.
They will also go forward to the national final of the Bright Ideas
Challenge in early 2010 with the opportunity to win another attractive
investment package.
Couriers pointed to a unique vulnerability due to exposure to both the
ground-level ozone and particulate matter present in smog and to
exposure to
peek levels of pollution together with long-term exposure to non peak
levels.
“Bicycle couriers work all day, year round in the midst of smog. Our
lungs have minimal opportunity to recover from the effects of polluted
air. We are chronically exposed to high doses of dangerously polluted
air for long term, extended periods of time.”
The athletic nature of the profession requires messengers to “spend
more time outdoors, breathe faster and engage in vigorous physical
activity.”
This danger to couriers is exacerbated by the location of the athletic
activity which means that a bike courier’s “lungs are not more than
about 10 feet from an exhaust pipe for most of the day.”
Since the release of “Choking us to death,” many studies have confirmed
couriers’ concerns.
February 21,
2009 9:00 pm at Dufferin Grove Park, presented by The Bike
Joint
Icycle 09 Ice bike race is ready to roll
again. Come for the action,
stay for the rubber race. thrills, spills and definitely Chills. After
party at the Bike Pirates @ 1292 Bloor West
Bike
Portland's three-part story on Portland's bike messengers
As Portland’s reputation as a green business boomtown gains momentum,
bike-centric ventures emerge as quickly and viably as organic brewpubs
and cafes. While a new era of entrepreneurs seeks to capitalize on this
evolving economy, one of the oldest bike-based businesses, bicycle
messenger services, faces challenges that impact workers and business
owners alike.
The danger-to-compensation ratio of bike messenger work starkly
contrasts with that of other jobs that require constant exposure to
hazardous elements. For example, construction workers typically receive
relatively higher pay rates and are protected by workman’s compensation
laws, if employed by law-abiding companies. Food and beverage service
workers in Oregon are granted an hourly wage by law, plus workman’s
compensation protection and - in some cases - options to purchase into
group health plans. Despite the injury-rich nature of their work, bike
messengers typically do not. More....
If you believe the FedEx spin doctors, the
only reason their employer decided to fork over $27 million - after
nearly 10 years of litigation and in the worst economy since the
Depression - to settle the Estrada case is that it just wanted to "put
the matter behind us." They claim that their decision to call it a
decade in the biggest FedEx labor and employment case ever had nothing
to do with the merits of the driver-misclassification case.
What's more, FedEx said that the agreement in the landmark case "has no
bearing" on any other pending legal case, such as the huge Federal
misclassification litigation on behalf of 27,000 drivers working its
way through U.S. District Court in Indiana.
Is FedEx to be believed in its post-judgment rhetoric? No! As anyone
who has been following the FedEx follies knows, the company has long
lived in a state of fantasy and denial when it comes to trying to
defend in court and then publicly rationalize its sham, independent
contractor model. Even in the face of a $27 million, final stipulated
judgment in California, it continues to misrepresent what has occurred.
Free of any sugar-coating or spinning, here are the facts behind the
Estrada judgment:
The 203 drivers will receive a total of
more than $14 million in documented damages, which comes out to about
$70,000 on average per plaintiff. The minimum reimbursement is $2,000
and the maximum is about $280,000. Part of the drivers'
recovery is pre-judgment interest from the date the drivers paid for
FedEx's operating expenses.
Those reimbursement amounts were
determined after the Court-appointed retired judge painstakingly
reviewed thousands of pages of records, including expense receipts for
everything from the purchase of insurance, fuel for trucks, tires and
oil. These were all business expenses that the drivers should not have
had to pay, and would not have paid for if they had been properly
classified as employees.
The legal fees that FedEx likes to focus
on are being paid by FedEx, not the drivers, for work by counsel during
nearly ten years of litigation. The company conveniently fails to
mention that no driver ever paid out-of-pocket for their legal
services, and that all attorneys fees were reviewed and preliminarily
approved by the Court, who commended the Plaintiffs' lawyers for
ensuring the drivers got the full measure of their damages without
reduction for legal fees.
The relevance of Estrada to the Federal
class action will not be determined by the FedEx PR department but by
the U.S. District Court Judge overseeing the huge, multi-district case
in his Indiana court, where single work area and multiple work area
drivers are included in the certified class and are challenging - right
now - FedEx's business model.
The Plaintiffs have asked the Court to
rely on the Estrada judgment in determining the drivers' employment
status, so FedEx's claim that the California case is irrelevant is
wishful thinking. Ultimately, FedEx faces an exposure in the
billions - not millions - for its misclassification practices across
America.
FedEx has once again tried to sidestep the
real issue -- how it treats its drivers like employees, refused to pay
taxes and provide benefits that all employers are required to provide.
Clearly, this strategy failed in Estrada and we believe it will fail at
the Federal level, as well as before the IRS when that agency completes
its full tax audit for the years under scrutiny.
In
September 2007 then-Senator Barack Obama introduced legislation that
would close the
safe
harbor
loophole
that
the
messenger
industry
relies
upon
to
exploit
labour
laws.
The
messenger
courier
industry
was
a
pioneer
in
misusing
independent
contractor
status
to exploit child labour in the late 19th
and early 20th century.
Now
that
Obama
will
be
president
on
January
20th
there
will
be
a
renewed
focus
on the misclassificaltion of employees as independent contractors.
Here is the information once again on Obama's bill:
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) introduced the "Independent Contractor
Proper Classification Act of 2007 (S. 2044)," which addresses the issue
of classifying employees v. independent contractors.
Behind the introduction of the legislation is Obama's belief that
employers misclassify workers as independent contractors rather than as
employees to avoid compensating for minimum wage, overtime pay and
benefits.
His legislation closes a perceived loophole in the tax code that occurs
if an employer has been consistently reporting workers as independent
contractors to the IRS and if the employer can verify its
decision-making based on reasonableness in that the employer relied on
the advice of an attorney or accountant's interpretation of the
statute.
Sponors include Senators Durbin, Kennedy, and Murray. The bill
introduced on September 12, 2007 addresses what the sponsors view as
weaknesses in the current laws regarding independent contractors. The
bill would:
allow
the
IRS
to
require
employers
to
reclassify
workers
misclassified
as
independent
contractors;
authorize
the
IRS
to
issue
regulations
and
revenue
rulings
establishing
standards
for
properly
classifying
workers
as independent contractors;
eliminate
the
ability
of
employers
to
rely
on
industry
practices
as
a
reasonable
basis
for
classifying workers as independent
contractors;
require
the
IRS
to
develop
a
procedure
by
which
employees
could
challenge
their
classification
as
independent contractors;
provide
protections
against
retaliation
for
workers
who
take
advantage
of
the
challenge
procedure;
require
IRS
audit
of
employers
that
have
misclassified
workers
and
require
misclassifications
to
be
reported
to the Department of
Labor;
require
DOL
to
investigate
industries
that
are
revealed
by
IRS
data
to
have
high
rates
of misclassifications;
require
the
DOL's
FLSA
poster
to
inform
workers
of
their
right
to
challenge
their
classification
as independent contractors;
require
employers
to
notify
independent
contractors
of
their
federal
tax
obligations,
of
their
right
to
obtain a determination of their
independent contractor status from the IRS, and of the labor and
employment law protections that apply only to employees; and
require
employers
to
keep
certain
records
relating
to
independent
contractors
for
three
years.
Strong, brave, fast and free. No wonder we
admire messengers and their style
For years
civilians have watched and immitated the functional fashion of bike
messengers. From bags to clothing to accessories the bike messenger's
influence on urban lifestyle continues to grow. Why?
Jeffrey Kidder's paper in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, "Style and Action: A Decoding of Bike
Messenger Symbols" concludes that "messenger style is intertwined
with messenger practice." The marriage of style of and function lends
an authenticity to messenger style. And it's a piece of this
authenticity that civilians seek in their immitation of messengers.
In the introduction to the photography book, "Messengers Style", Valerie Steele,
Chief Curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology,
notes that "when high fashion draws on street style, it’s not only
because there is something special about the clothes. It is the
lifestyle and attitude associated with subcultural clothing styles
which attracts attention. Sometimes straight people want to live the
life."
Everywhere you look the media is hyping some new aspect of messenger
culture as the next big thing. And they may be right. Messenger culture
and its youth oriented styles, street edge and outlaw image has been
making inroads into the mainstream since the first Cycle
Messenger
World
Championships
(CMWC) in 1993 in Berlin Germany.
Since then messenger bags have become the accessory of choice for
office workers and students.
And now recently many urban cyclists have started trading in their city
mountain bikes for the fixed gear bikes associated with bike
messengers. They even refer to messenger events as part of their “fixed
gear culture.” Stylist John Steinberg describes messengers
as being “ahead of their
time.” He says “They’ve got that edge. You see something on a courier.
Maybe in a year later it will hit the mainstream. They’re slick.
They’re cool. For want of a better word, they’re cool. The real world
for them is cool.” More....
The
original Alleycats now have a site up with information and flyers from
the historic first Alleycat Scrambles in Toronto.
Child
Labour - Messenger Boys
Messenger
boys
(and
girls)
were
the
poster
children
for
child
labor
in
North
America.
Western
Union alone was the single largest employer of child
labour in America. Messenger companies shamefully exerted a tremendous
level of control over these young boys and girls yet they still were
able to claim them as independent contractors.
In response to the exploitation of children by messenger companies and
others, the National Child Labor Committee was organized in 1904 and
was chartered by Congress in 1907. Photographer Louis Hine documented
many violations of child labour laws in the messenger industry. As a
result of his pictures the many states passed laws banning the
employment of under age children culminating in the Fair Labor
Standards Act, (aka the Federal Wage and Hour Law). Companies fought
the law all the way to the Supreme Court, which upheld the law and
declared the Act constitutional in 1941.
