Michael Bowen, owner of Pasteurized Tees — on Elmwood at Auburn Avenue — took to Facebook on Thursday to complain about a flyer he had received warning him to “plan ahead” for the thousands of cyclists rolling by sometime between 7 and 8 p.m.
Bowen acknowledges his profanity laced post and follow-up comments on his personal page were “in bad taste,” but says they were sarcastic and that his Facebook friends understand his sarcasm. The Slow Rollers, however, did not. One comment, in particular, got their dander up:
A screen shot of Bowen’s post found its way to the Slow Roll Facebook page Saturday evening along with a commentary from Anthony Caferro, the lead coordinator on safety and routes for the group’s Monday rides.
Caferro said Bowen’s post “demonstrates exactly the sort of safety concerns we’ve had over sharing the route. They have been notified of our ride via flyer and traffic sign and are now concocting a devious action of sabotage (or at least running their loud mouth about one). Maybe he will see this and we can engage in a civil discourse, or maybe not. We will be sure to lookout for any such actions this Monday. BPD had been notified of this as well and should anything foul transpire, I’m willing to bet he will be the first one questioned.”
Bowen reiterated this afternoon that the comment was in jest and said no one he’s associated with would give the riders problems. That doesn’t negate the frustration that the comment was borne from. Slow Roll — and other events like it — are hurting business in the Elmwood Village.
“I respect that they want to ride bikes. I respect that they want to promote biking. But they’re not doing it in a way that doesn’t inconvenience everyone else,” Bowen said by phone, explaining that by not posting the route ahead of time, they potentially stifle business throughout the city for two hours a week, every week.
Bowen says he isn’t the only business owner with an issue with the group. He’s just the only one willing to say so publicly: “All these other business owners won’t say anything.” They fear retribution.
And Slow Rollers — as based on their comments to Caferro’s post — plan retribution in the form of a boycott of Bowen’s business, although Caferro said that wasn’t his intent:
“That post was not meant to stir up backlash against Bowen or his business, but rather provide one example of our safety concerns,” he said. “His message about spikes may have been a joke, but I’m sure we all realize how some people may take a suggestion and run with.”
While one of Bowen’s complaints are the lack or a published route, Caferro said there are legitimate safety concerns with doing so.
“I’ve had experiences 10 years ago when Buffalo was much less bike friendly of people throwing tacks in front of the critical mass rides,” he said. “So that has always been my example of the worst sort of safety issue. There are a lot of folks who have a poor opinion of Slow Roll (they almost all have never been on one, or have issues that we’ve since addressed), and while we know we can’t make everyone happy, we can minimize the potential for issues. Various forms of sabotage have been heard over the course of the year. Tacks is one of them. I’ve heard some people talk about putting up blockades, the malicious end of this can go on forever. Additionally, non malicious issues are on my mind as well. While we love to ride past residents on the porches or on the sidewalks cheering us on, large groups of people gathered along the route potentially become dangerous – should they squeeze into the street (this happens on the marathon) or should they come out in large numbers for high fives, we’d end up with a lot more wipeouts. Folks joining the ride late or half way in become a problem as well, since we go to great lengths to keep the ridership organized.”
“All that said,” Caferro continued, “we provide almost the entire route should anyone paying attention enough put all of the pieces together on a weekly basis. This has worked to increase advanced notification and I believe that anyone looking to cause trouble isn’t paying attention that closely – so we’ve struck a happy medium with that.”
Bowen is unfazed by the threats of a boycott. “I’m just a t-shirt shop. If you don’t want to shop at my shop because you hate my opinion, fine.” But again expresses that the bike rides are already hurting business — albeit not for him since he’s typically closed on Monday evenings. As a result of this dispute, however, he’s decided to be open for a few hours this Monday night.
The business owner says there are plenty of times and places available for the bike rides. “How about a Saturday morning before noon?” He doesn’t understand why they have to be during rush hour — during the dinner hour — during peak hours for some of his colleagues.
“They’re purposely doing it to disrupt people’s lives,” he said.
Slow Rollers would disagree, saying that the weekly trips through different neighborhoods show off businesses to prospective patrons as they roll by … slowly. The cyclists then have 182-or-so hours to check out those businesses before the next roll.
Bowen said from his perspective, that’s not how it’s worked. He adds that some in the group are arrogantly unapologetic about their weekly disruption.
“I’m sorry that any amount of money that I’m going to lose doesn’t bother you,” he said.
This week’s Slow Roll begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday from Front Park on Porter Avenue. Riders are asked to show up an hour early.
UPDATE: (1:37 p.m.): Comments from Anthony Caferro added.
