[dc-critmass-list] Video and DC Indymedia coverage of Friday Sep 30 ride

[Luke Kuhn]

Video on Liveleak:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9cf_1317588954

This was a very energetic ride with unusual vigor, right up to the end. Had it stopped in a different place I would have considered it the best ride in many years, and the results still conform our decision to move the rides to the last Friday of the month in my opinion. I especially liked the fireworks, the tea  effort to fix that flat at the same place, and the tighter organization to keep the ride together. The sound bikes also worked very well this time!
The video cuts off rather abruptly at the end, this is because I could not endorse ending the ride at a location that exists because the entire former Gay Enclave(MY turf!) at O and S Capitol sts was  replaced by the baseball stadium. I am assuming whoever made that choice was unaware of the history there, as it happened five years ago and the fight began 9 years ago. The land was stolen from the Gay community in 2006, with armed US marshalls removing club staff by force. This was after  4-year eminent domain fight, and nearly one billion dollars in DC taxpayer money was spent to give Major League Baseball a totally-taxpayer funded stadium as the price of getting the team.  In addition, a homeless shelter at the nearby and still boarded-up Randall School was closed, causing several hypothermia deaths, because Jack Evans and former mayor Williams decided it was too close to the baseball stadium to have homeless people. All of those are reasons I don't patronize the Nationals or their spinoff businesses.
Again, I am assuming this happened because people were unaware of the history of that site, and I would prefer that future rides not end at any place that leads to spending money with the Nationals or their friends.

Critical Mass DC moves to last Friday of the month with energetic Sep 30 rideAuthorLukeDate Created01 Oct 2011More details...On the 30th of September, Critical Mass DC moved to the last Friday of each month, the same day as almost all other cities, with an energetic kickoff ride of 60-70 riders.

Video of Sep 30 Critical MassBikes in Dupont Circle as the ride gathersGeorgetown: We were the only traffic that wasn't blocking itself into knotsSparklers at Sylvan TheaterPassing under a bridge in SWThe ride was better organized than most past rides, with the group splitting apart only once an being immediately rejoined within a block. 

Riders went to Georgetown, where as usual the excessive numbers of cars was blocking traffic something fierce. Next, a winding route as the sun set to the Washington Monument. This was followd by a pit stop at Sylvan Theater for a tire change and some fireworks(sparklers) to mark the change of the seasons to a darker time of year. For once, these were the only fireworks of the ride-none with the usual SUV bandits.

After that, Chinatown, then the waterfront, before the ride eventually ended at a bar in SE.

 		 	   		  
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