05 December 2018

The City of Mesa "Mulls" Drafting New Rules For Threats and Risks To Public Safety 10 Months After They Were Visible??

Hey! How long does it take for the city officials to get a grip on threats and risks and dangers to public safety from conditions they allowed here to benefit Vulture/Venture start-ups making billions on the collection or personal data from unsuspecting users of e-bikes and e-scotters dumped on the sidewalks of downtown??
Your MesaZona blogger first reported on this abuse of the public right-of-way months ago.
In fact that was first on February 15, 2018 - the bikes were clearly visible right across Main Street from City Hall.
Any reasonable person might ask if the people whose salaries are paid by taxpayers even bother to get-out-of-their-bubble?
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15 February 2018
Bike-Share War Here in Downtown Mesa???
NO, dear readers, IT'S PREMATURE OVERKILL! These self-propelled two-wheeled machines, funded by privately-owned Chinese VCs [venture capitalists[ are getting free parking on the public sidewalks - or maybe we should call it "foreign direct investment" in our hyper-local "Donut-Hole" where we now see more bikes than people who might use them on the streets of our downtown community where not everyone is affluent enough to own a Smartphone to download the app on these bikes to pay to rent them                         
Now seeing a second and third company dumping on public sidewalks here this time dockless bikes that you can find all around to use and drop off any time and anywhere you like - if you use a Smartphone there's an app you can download to rent the bike. What they don't tell you is that you rent at the same a GPS tracker that can track everything you do and collect your data: that's the money-maker to get "big data" - your data - start-ups can capitalize on in the new Sharing Economy to deliver back dollars to initial funding investors. It's got to be on an a big scale-up quickly, ca-chinging transactions and getting your data. Oro bikes, seen in the image to the right, is offering free rent for February. 
They just need your butt on the seat . . .
READ MORE > Tim Mello on MesaZona
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There are more posts published on this blog that readers can access below after this report from KJZZ yesterday . . . that's 10 months after my reporting right here!
They might vote on some regulations next year.
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Mesa Mulls Dockless Bike, Scooter Regulations
By Mariana Dale    Published: Tuesday, December 4, 2018 - 5:07pm
Updated: Tuesday, December 4, 2018 - 5:08pm
Valley cities are increasingly looking at new rules for scooters and bicycles you rent with a smartphone.
Mesa council told staff this week to draft regulations for the vehicles that could be voted on in early 2019.
Mesa Transportation Department Director RJ Zeder says where the vehicles are parked when someone isn't riding them can be the source of problems.
“Because it’s dockless, literally folks could leave the bikes and now scooters anywhere,” Zeder said. . .
The rules could include an annual license and fees for having to relocate or impound the vehicles.
“We’re not looking to make money off the scooter companies,” Zeder said.
The money would pay to help manage the vehicles within the city.
Zeder says companies such as Lime and Bird have been cooperative with the city.
See the report from KJZZ > click here 
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RELATED CONTENT ON THIS BLOG:
9 months ago, the City of Mesa tried to put the blame on the companies, shirking any responsibilities at all for allowing these VCs to dump dockless bikes and scooters in the public rights-of-way.
Here's the announcement dated March 22, 2018 from MesaNow about what started on February 14, 2018: THIS IS ALL THE CITY'S NEWSROOM HAS TO SAY:
Dockless Bicycles in Mesa
March 22, 2018 at 2:31 pm
"Dockless bike share companies have begun operations in Mesa and have placed bicycles around the city. These bike share companies are privately owned and operated and are not affiliated with the City of Mesa. The companies and their customers are responsible for obeying all state laws and city ordinances when using and parking bikes. If you have a concern about a bike's location, it's best to contact the appropriate company directly. Below is contact information for the companies currently operating in Mesa, or they can also each be contacted through their associated smartphone app:
LimeBike (Green bikes with yellow fenders)support@limebike.com
Call or text: 888-546-3345
Ofo (Yellow bikes)support@ofobike.com
The Mesa City Code states "no person shall park a bicycle upon a street other than upon the roadway against the curb or upon the sidewalk in a rack to support the bicycle or against a building or at the curb in such manner as to afford the least obstruction to pedestrian traffic." (Title 10, Chapter 1, Section 14). "
 
This is OUTRAGEOUS:
Why are these bikes getting dumped downtown now in February? It's Spring Training season for a few weeks. The bikes might be rented to get from bus stops or Valley Metro Light Rail station platforms to get to Sloan Park . . .  
LimeBike is a bicycle-sharing company headquartered in San Mateo, California. It operates dockless bicycle-sharing systems in several cities and college campuses across the United States, using a mobile app for reservations. The founders are Brad Bao, Toby Sun who re-tweeted this just hours ago - they just got $70,000,000 more bucks yesterday! 
Retweeted
3 hours ago
Thrilled to announce $70M series B extension round on Valentine's day and Lunar New Year! Look forward to partnering with leading real estate focused fund Fifth Wall Venture to bring more family products to more users!
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20 October 2018 
Threats To Public Safety Here in Downtown Mesa: Dumping E-Scooters On Public Sidewalks
Don't know about you, dear readers, but your MesaZona keeps his eyes open walking around our shared public spaces and sidewalks downtown.
There were some obstacles in the way the other day in what was otherwise a wonderful day: 2 e-scooters.
Where  did they come from and why are they here? They didn't look  like personal property with corporate logos, attached gizmos and "Start for Only $1". 
 
Some money-making scheme under the guise of furthering personal freedom, mobility and protecting the environment?
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That's exactly what it is, once again - 'a foil' disguised as a good thing.The first question any reasonable person might ask is if the city government had knowledge in advance of these plans (not just one but two companies) and approved their dockless distribution and dumping on downtown sidewalks without any evaluation or any kind of public information or public notice ahead of time.
Each and every one of them are endangering the health, safety and welfare of riders, pedestrians and the general public.  
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Typical of way too many things in a city where the public is not engaged, people in other cities are taking action:
INNOVATIONS
Class-action lawsuit accuses e-scooter companies of ‘gross negligence’ 
 
 
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