Dateline Minneapolis: Night patrol

Mark Ambroe lives in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood and works at a West Bank bike shop. That means he commutes twice each weekday on the Midtown Greenway. He uses it even more on weekends.

That prompted him to volunteer when the Midtown Greenway Coalition, the advocacy group for the bike-walk paths paralleling Lake Street, put out a call for volunteers for night patrols. He describes his motivation as "a sense of responsibility to protect a very valuable community asset."

 The night patrols, on which Dateline Minneapolis tagged along one night last week, are intended to raise the level of security for bikers using the greenway after dark. They were prompted by a spate of muggings on the greenway, and also on the Hiawatha trail that runs alongside the light-rail line and connects downtown and the greenway. Those attacks occurred late last fall, the time of year when bike traffic drops and night falls earlier.

They were the last such reports until May 14, when a lone biker was knocked down and robbed by three youths, losing $3, according to police. The bike patrol happened by shortly afterward, contacted 911, helped the biker gather his scattered groceries, and waited with him until police arrived.

It's an incident that gives a renewed sense of purpose to the 45 regular or occasional volunteers signed up for patrol duty.

"It has the same problems every other part of the city has and that's a shame," said 73-year-old volunteer Paul Caspersen of the greenway. "Everybody in the city can do something to make it safer. This is the one place I can do something."

Patrol volunteers are under strict instructions not to physically intervene if they come upon an attack, but to call 911 instead. Since there are reports of previous attacks breaking off when another biker nears, that may be enough. The patrol also reports suspicious loitering to police, provides a kind of escort to lone bikers, reports burned-out streetlights and keeps an overall eye on the greenway. Ambroe hauled a bike trailer that held a push broom he used to sweep glass off one spot. He also stopped at a building to inquire how to contact its manager about redirecting its automated lawn sprinklers away from riders.

The coalition straddles a fine line, striving to make bikers aware of incidents as they occur but not scare them away, which would decrease safety. Part of the problem is the topography that created the greenway. The midsection of the greenway, between Hennepin and Cedar avenues, is a trench that once carried trains across south Minneapolis. Submerged below street level, it offers long stretches without a stop sign, but that also means some areas have few eyes on the paths. Greenway backers welcome apartments, offices and the new restaurant at Lyndale that look out over the greenway, but some stretches still are sandwiched between blank industrial walls.

Some safety features were built into the trench, such as lighting, blue-lit posts where the press of a button rings 911, limited surveillance cameras and greenery that's designed to minimize hiding places. Xcel will be out this week to look at more lighting for the oldest part of the greenway, according to inspector Kris Arneson of the Fifth Precinct. The Hiawatha trail has fewer protections for riders, with little lighting, no call boxes, more hiding places and less room to maneuver.

But people are the greenway's best defense. "It breaks my heart to hear that someone won't ride the greenway after dark because it's not safe," said Nate Kerr, a coalition staffer who coordinates volunteers for the patrol. "That would be the biggest crime deterrent, to make as much traffic on the greenway as possible at all times."

The night we tagged along with the patrol was a mellow late spring evening. Bikers of all stripes pedaled by. There were folks in pacelines on lithe frames and others on superannuated retro machines; people riding no-hands with headphones and commuters with laptops tucked into their baskets. Traffic dwindled noticeably around 10 p.m., when Dateline Minneapolis rode home and encountered just five bikers, two walkers and a jogger in the 1.4 miles between Midtown Exchange and Bryant Avenue.

So how do you improve your odds at those hours?

Kerr's advice is to buddy up with another rider, avoid groups of three or more youths spread out across the bike lanes, and trust your gut. If a situation looks potentially hazardous, turn around. If you can't reverse course, pick up speed. Stopping a 25-mile-per-hour biker is a lot harder than one going half that speed.

Kerr hopes to expand the patrols, now three times per week, to nightly. But that depends on more volunteers. Interested riders can contact him at 612-879-0106 or nate@midtowngreenway.org.

Meanwhile, if you're riding late and happen upon a group of riders with illuminated arm and legbands, give them a shout-out.

Sometimes the fresh eyes of visitors help renew our appreciation for what we have. The patrol got a shot of that perspective when it was asked for directions by Felipe Teran. He's a triathlete from Chile who had biked over from St. Paul, where he's hoping to land a medical residency. He followed the patrol along the greenway, remarking: "It's amazing ... This is like Disneyland for bikers."

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There's something of a back story to the recent contretemps involving Mayor R.T. Rybak, Second Ward Council Member Cam Gordon and Dave Bicking, council candidate in the Ninth Ward.

You will recall that Bicking complained to the state that DFLer Rybak listed Gordon in his campaign literature as a supporter without having the legally required written permission. It's a requirement that's more honored in the breach. Council Member Ralph Remington, for example, said that although he supports Rybak, he never put it in writing, either, before he was listed on the mayor's literature.

In Gordon's case, the mayor's campaign staff admitted a misunderstanding and Gordon endorsed Rybak after the fact.

The same three politicos were involved in a different episode last year. As the council considered appointments to the Civilian Review Authority, which reviews citizen complaints against police, the slate of appointees wasn't filled so Gordon persuaded the council to add fellow Green Party member Bicking. Rybak duly signed off on the appointments, but later changed his mind and tried to undo his approval, telling Bicking he didn't think he was impartial enough for the body. But because the paperwork had already reached the city clerk's office, the city attorney advised that it was too late for Rybak to undo the approval.

A recovering newspaper reporter, Rybak got a renewed lesson in the power of his pen.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438