Ghost bikes pop up in D.C. as part of memorial

WASHINGTON - Ghost bikes are invading a busy downtown intersection.

It's part-memorial and part-civil disobedience, according to the man responsible for placing 22 bikes around the intersection of 20th and R Streets in Northwest.

The bikes - some adult, some kids bikes with training wheels - all painted bright white from tire to tire are meant to memorialize Alice Swanson, a cyclist who was killed as she rode her bike to work in July 2008.

A trash truck making a right turn struck Swanson as she crossed in the bike lane.

Just days after the accident, Swanson's family and friends placed a ghost bike at the intersection as a memorial.

The bike remained for more than a year until the city removed it late last month. That move drew the ire of Swanson's family and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association.

WABA Executive Director Eric Gilliland, who helped organize the original ghost bike memorial and had asked the mayor's office to delay removing it, criticized the removal.

"To have the original bike removed without the permission of the family, I think is really in bad taste," Gilliland said.

Legba Carrefour isn't as polite as Gilliland when he describes the city's decision to remove the memorial.

"I don't think that grave robbing is OK," said Carrefour, standing at the intersection.

"I feel what the mayor's office did by taking away a public memorial was an act of grave robbing."

Fenty spokesperson Mafara Hobson would only say, "public memorials are removed after 30 days."

In a statement to WTOP, D.C. Department of Public Works spokesperson Linda Grant said,

"The D.C. Department of Public Works is responsible for removing sidewalk memorials, which usually recognize residents who have died unexpectedly, and includes anything from flowers and stuffed animals to empty bottles of alcohol and bicycles. After 30 days, DPW removes all memorial items found at the site. As part of our policy, a sign is posted at the memorial to notify family and friends that they have 30 days to remove any personal effects."

Early Thursday morning, Carrefour decided to take matters into his own hands.

"This is public space and is meant for public use," Carrefour tells WTOP. "And this is my civil disobedience."

Carrefour collected the bikes from donations and dumpsters and then had friends help bring them to the intersection just north of Dupont Circle.

Only one of the bikes is locked to a light pole; the others are just leaning against signs and newspaper boxes.

Carrefour says he expects the city to remove these bikes as well.

"I have a bunch more of these. And I'm simply going to bring them back. I'm just going to put them back up," Carrefour says.

Why 22 bikes?

"One for each year of her life. Miss Swanson was 22 years old," Carrefour says.

(Copyright 2009 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)