Parking Vigilante Super-Gluing Bike Locks In Brooklyn

BROOKLYN (CBS 2) -- There was a battle brewing Wednesday night over parking. Not for cars, but for bikes along the sidewalks of New York.

CBS 2 consumer reporter Kirstin Cole has more on the "bike brawl."

Street signs, bus stops, parking meters and anything else that's cemented to the ground, it's all fair game for bike parking these days. All those places are illegal to chain up, but as the number of cyclists around New York grows the amount of bike racks hasn't been able to keep up.

"We have to find a way for everyone to fit," said Elizabeth Brown of the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn.

Where some cyclists lament, one bike vigilante is meting out his own justice by gluing bike locks -- stuffing them full of super glue -- as a protest against the bumper crop of bikes clogging sidewalks, especially on the corner of Bedford and north 7th in Williamsburg. Many Brooklynites agree with the bike bandit.

"It's horrendous with the bikes. They fly by, throw bikes anywhere, hook up a chain anywhere. It blocks the path of pedestrians. It blocks the path of me. I fell twice on a bike," said resident Milano Costello.

But bikers say … he should just take a hike.

"He's got a chip on his shoulder 'cause something happened to him. Maybe he's got a thing in for bikes. Maybe someone rode over him one day," said Nikki Cohen.

"I don't see what he'd have against bikes. It's good for exercise, environment and streets," added Nick Burke.

With its dust-laden seat, rusted frame and broken gears one bike CBS 2 saw looked like it had been there for years. And one vigilante hopes a good dose of super glue in the locks will point out the parking problem that exists all across Brooklyn.

The two-wheel rage has grown so loud the Department of Sanitation is just months away from adopting new rules to rid the sidewalks of so-called derelict bikes -- those broken and abandoned by owners.

"If they tow cars and if they're really hell bent on it just break the lock and take the bike," said Eddie Stasic Of Jackson Heights, Queens.

It's a two-wheel war that still has many battles to go.