[WBWC] UofM's Bike Impound procedures/policies

[Mike P.]

I work for the University of Michigan police as the Asst. Records/
Evidence Manager... and part of my job is impounding the abandoned
bikes on campus. I thought I'd pass along some useful info to those
of you who may commute to campus via bike.

1. Ann Arbor is no longer registring bikes nor are they keeping the
records of those they registered. While the Regent's Ordinance
requiring bikes to be registered with the city of Ann Arbor is still
on the books it is obviously unenforcable. We never really impounded
bikes simply because they weren't registered (there are enough
abandoned bikes to keep me PLENTY busy) but this does affect any of
you who have registered your bikes. If your bike is stolen the bike
CANNOT be traced back to you via this registration anymore, and your
serial number will NOT be on file. So, record those serial numbers
for your own records! As for the registration sticker itself... I
guess it's an expensive decal now.

2. We impound bikes all year long, there's no longer just a once-a-
year sweep in the summer. We also tag bikes all year long. The tags
say that you have to fix the problem in 48 hours... which is
technically true. However, since there are literally hundreds of
bikes tagged around campus and they're impounded by basically one guy
(me) that timeframe only applies for dire cases (such as construction
areas, special events, etc.) If bikes are locked to emergency doors
or handicap ramps they can be impounded IMMEDIATLY, so do NOT do that.

3. Impounded bikes have to be tracked for 30 days before they can be
dispositioned (unless they're clearly junk, of course.) This limits
how many we can impound since we have limited storage space. We get a
couple hundred a year. Those that aren't claimed or junked go to
charity (not Property Dispostion as is usually assumed... Property
Dispo is for UofM property, not non-UofM property that is impounded/
found/confiscated.) We don't hold auctions either. The charity that
gets most of our bicycles is Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor, so if you are
looking for a cheap bike I recommend visiting them.

4. If you lock your bikes to anything besides a bicycle loop on campus
and I see it I'll tag it as that's a violation of the Regents
Ordinance. That means don't lock your bikes to trees, those chain
fences (which is a VERY bad idea, might as well not lock it at all!)
parking meters, lightpoles, sign posts, railings (especially railings,
I look for those specifically and if I have room I'll impound them
ASAP as that's a fire code violation as well as a Regent's Ordinance
violation) doors, gates, fences, trashcans, etc. Also, the loops
marked Moped are for Mopeds ONLY, not bikes.

5. I have nothing to do with the number of bike loops on campus or
their placement. Neither does my department (other than some slight
input as to where we'd like to see them, if they ask us, which they
usually don't.) To be perfectly honest I don't even know who does
make that decision, but they certainly don't ask me. I try to target
high-traffic areas to keep as many abandoned bikes out of them as I
can, but it's a big campus and I'm only one guy. My goal every year
is to clear out the previous year's tags entirely before the next year
comes around (I don't want to have to track bikes for two years!) I
usually succeed in that goal, but sometimes I get thwarted when they
decide to do a construction project and at the last minute realize
that they need to remove bike loops and, surprise, there are bikes
there and they want them gone NOW. Since I need at least 48 hours
notice NOW isn't an option usually, but I do them as quickly as I
can. The most recent instance of this was for the North University
Ave. Transit facility construction, if you've been by there you've no
doubt noticed that EVERYTHING that was there is gone, including the
bike loops. I had to clear out those bikes ASAP, so I certainly ended
up with bikes people are "using." I never want bikes that aren't
abandoned, but sometimes I don't have a choice.

6. If you do think your bike was impounded call UMDPS at (734)
763-3434, ask for Records and Evidence and if you leave a message
state where the bike was, when you last saw it, a good description of
it (make, model, color, serial number if you know it, AA permit number
since I do record those still for my own purposes, any accessories/
special markings, even how it was locked may help)... and don't forget
to leave your phone number and name! People forget that all of the
time. If we can verify that one of the bikes we have is yours then
we'll let you know how to reclaim it. Remember, though, that 30 day
limit... if you call after that point your bike will most likely be
gone.

7. You can call the above to let me know about problem areas too...
but keep in mind that I have to cover all of campus, so I have to
prioritize EVERYTHING. If you're calling about one bike you've seen
in the same place for two months don't expect that bike to disappear
anytime soon (unless it's just a frame, I try to clear those out
quickly because, well, they make the campus look like crap and we can
junk them immediately.) The tags we use are basically paper, so they
fall off rather quickly. I use white plastic zip ties, and always try
to put the tags on the top bar of the frame. I look for the zip ties
when I'm impounding bikes (I have a list from my database of all the
bikes in any given area, so if I have a listing for a blue Schwinn
Ranger and I see a blue Schwinn Ranger with a zip tie on it there it
gets impounded.) The easiest way to keep me from impounding your bike
is to cut off the zip tie (notifying me is good to, I can delete your
bike from my database. I don't WANT to impound your bike if I don't
have to!)

8. Finally, if you see someone impounding bikes and they can't
identify themselves as a UofM Police employee (me, a police officer,
housing security, hospital security) then they do NOT have authority
to impound bikes on campus. Call DPS IMMEDIATLY at (734) 763-1131 and
notify us! I don't wear a uniform per se. I generally try to wear my
blue Public Safety polo shirt and blue tactical pants (because bikes
are FILTHY, especially the abandoned ones!) but I may be in business-
casual. However I ALWAYS have my DPS ID around my neck on a lanyard
that says University of Michigan Police, and anyone else impounding
bikes should be in uniform. I drive a blue UofM Dodge Caravan
(municipal plates) when impounding bikes. So, if you see anyone not
matching those descriptions, whether UofM staff or not, PLEASE call
DPS and let us know! Grounds sometimes picks up bikes and delivers
them to us, which they technically aren't supposed to do but if we get
them we treat them like any other impounded bikes.

Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to give you all as much info as I
could about something I'm sure you have a vested interest in. If
there is going to be a major sweep of an area (such as for a special
event) I'll do my best to post something about it here. If you see me
about I can answer questions you may have... just don't ask me when
I'm in the middle of cutting a U-Bolt with the grinder (I don't want
to lose a finger!)

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[Phillip Farber]

Thank you, Mike. This is really comprehensive and should serve to get
everyone on the same page. I'd like to follow up with a few questions.

You don't mention how you determine whether a bike should be tagged for
impoundment. Obviously, some cases are no-brainers. Bike is trashed,
rims bent, stripped or clearly rusted solid and no evidence of wear on
the rusted chain (i.e. not a case where the owner is riding a rusted bike).

How do you determine a bike should be tagged?

What do you do about bikes parked at the dorms where students have no
room for winter storage except in bike hoops?

So, your efforts notwithstanding, there are still dozens, if not
hundreds of abandoned bikes on central campus occupying space making it
unavailable to legitimate users.

Given the need, why DPS has not made it a priority to identify and
allocate more storage space so you can really get the abandoned bike
problem under control?

Thanks again for your effort and for this communication.

Phil

[Mike P.]

How do I determine which bikes to tag... mostly by the tires. If you
ever see me out there tagging I'll be pinching the tires of the
bikes. If they're flat that's a pretty good indication nobody is
riding the bike. Obviously if parts are missing that's a indicator
too, except when people remove tires to prevent theft of course but
that is pretty rare actually. I used to be able to tag any bike that
wasn't registered, but rarely did that (I would have been tagging 99%
of the bikes on campus then!) I pretty much only did that when
someone complained about bikes in an area. Now that isn't an option
of course, I can't tag bikes for not being registered if they can't
register them! And, as I mentioned before, bikes locked to objects
besides loops get my attention. Grounds is ALWAYS complaining about
them obstructing their work, so I try to help them out by "dissuading"
people from locking their bikes to anything but loops. I realize
that's going to happen sometimes, but I rarely impound those bikes
anyway.

As for dorms, I target those more over the summer when most students
are gone. Technically they aren't permitted to leave bikes locked
there for even 48 hours, so legally I can impound any of those bikes.
Practically speaking that just isn't feasible, and I was a student
here once too, I understand that they have to keep them somewhere.
But if they leave for the summer (or graduate) and leave their
bikes... well, then they just become a target for theft and/or
destruction. So that's when I go to impound them. I may tag them
during the school year, but unless they're causing a problem (locked
to railings) I avoid doing sweeps of the dorms during the fall and
winter semesters. Besides, the weather doesn't cooperate that time of
year anyway for the most part.

As for why DPS doesn't allocate more storage space and/or manpower to
abandoned bikes... it all comes down to the budget of course. Every
Department at the U has had to make budgetary concessions of some
sort, so we're hardly alone in that. UofM does have a lot of money,
but that's due to their being very prudent with it. We've been
scaling back services for YEARS. We used to do jump starts and
vehicle unlocks for whomever called us on campus, we don't do that
anymore. There used to be several people who did bikes, now it's
pretty much just me, and as my title is Assistant Records and Evidence
Manager you can see that this is not the entirety of my job (about one
day a week on average is spent on it.) Since I'm the only one doing
it and I can only do so much the storage space we have is adequate for
the most part. Sometimes we have a crunch, but sometimes we have
plenty of room too. We can't just put them anywhere, they have to be
in a secure, easily accessible location since we're responsible for
the bikes in our custody, and we take that VERY seriously. Sure, we
could store hundreds of bikes out in the boonies if we wanted, but
that isn't all that practical from a safety standpoint, and imagine
the headaches of taking that far in the first place, let alone if
someone comes to claim their bike.

I do think we've done a better job getting the abandoned situation
under control... keeping in mind that it's a never-ending cycle and it
can't be "solved" completely. As I said, I try to have a one-year
turn around (two years, technically) for bikes... every bike tagged up
through 2008 was check on and, if still there, impounded by the end of
2009, and right now I'm working on getting rid of the bikes tagged in
2009. I'd be further along if Construction hadn't told me (literally)
the week before they were going to yank out a lot of loops "Hey, we
need these bikes out of here!" but still I'm quite confident that I'll
have every last bike tagged in 2009 wiped off my list because they're
moved or impounded. For every bike I impound there are at least two
that are tagged that I never see again, I don't want to cover the
landscape in tags with little to no chance of actually impounding
those bikes (it would be a LOT of wasted effort.) I prioritize by
various metrics, usually looking for "partial" bikes first (usually
just a beat up frame) then by "high priority" areas (such as the
construction example) then by the age of the tags and/or number of
bikes tagged in the area, etc. Some areas are going to be full of
bikes during the school year no matter what, but I do what I can to
prevent TOTAL chaos.

[Kris Talley]

Mike,

Thanks so much for your posts -- very informative.

One question: can you point us to the U's ordinance that indicates that
bikes can't be locked to anything besides racks? Our link to the
ordinances seems to be broken now, but my recollection was that it was
only a problem if by doing so you blocked pedestrian access, etc.

[Mike P.]

Link to Regent's Ordinance (PDF):

http://www.regents.umich.edu/ordinance.pdf

Section 30 (7) states:

"(7) Parking. No person shall stand or park a bicycle upon the street
other than
in a bicycle rack or storage facility. It shall be unlawful to park a
bicycle
along sidewalks in such a manner as to interfere with pedestrians or
along
roadways where they may interfere with traffic or with persons getting
into
or out of motor vehicles."

Section 31 (4) states (in part):

"(4) Impoundment. The Executive Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer
or the Executive Vice President’s written designee may impound any
bicycle, motorcycle, motor driven cycle, moped, or similar vehicle
used by
any person in violation of this Ordinance, any Traffic Control Order
hereunder, or applicable State law, or which is abandoned pursuant to
the
forty-eight hour test of Section 27 of Article II or, with respect to
bicycles,
is left unattended for 48 hours; left in a manner as to obstruct
unreasonably
the flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic; or is reasonably believed
to be
stolen."

The first section says you need to park a bike on the street at a bike
rack. Odd wording, but since there are no bike racks on the street
per se it's a bit archaic. However, the second quoted section points
out that bikes left unattended anywhere for 48 hours can be
impounded. I don't impound bikes in less than 48 hours unless they
are impeding vehicle or pedestrian traffic (such as those locked to
handicap entrance railings), they're believed to be stolen or if some
extraordinary circumstance exists (the loops have to be removed for an
emergency repair, for instance.) I tag bikes locked to lightpoles all
the time, but I almost never end up impounding them, they're
invariably moved within 48 hours. They are only a real problem in the
winter, when grounds is trying to clear sidewalks, and it can be
argued then that they are impeding pedestrian traffic by preventing
snow removal. Those locked to lightpoles on lawns block the
lawnmowers, which isn't enough to take them immediately (much to the
chagrin of grounds) but if I tag them and they're still there 48 hours
or more later they can be impounded.

My pet peeve are the bikes locked to trees in front of Markley... a
thief could easily cut down the tree (they're quite thin) and steal
the bike which would be TWO crimes. Again, I tag them whenever I see
them, but I have to wait at least 48 hours to impound such bikes, and
I'm not going to get back to them exactly 48 hours later since I have
literally hundreds of other bikes to check on. I also tag any bikes I
see locked to those little chain fences you see around campus. You
can pull those posts out of the ground easily, so you might as well
not lock up your bike if you're going to lock it to one of those chain
fences! That's more of a preventative measure... trying to prevent
bike thefts.

I should note that there are many bikes I tag that I could impound
immediately, but I don't do so unless I absolutely have to. I'd much
rather the bike be moved than destroy the lock, have to haul the bike
to storage, record the serial number, run the serial number through
LEIN, complete a property report, etc. But if you lock your bike to
an emergency exit (yes, it has happened) then my hands are tied, I
have no choice but to impound it immediately. And, of course, by
waiting 48 hours there's no question that the bicycle is in violation
of the ordinance. It not being registered used to be another
violation, which doesn't apply at the moment.

[Jim Rees]

Mike P. wrote:

"(7) Parking. No person shall stand or park a bicycle upon the street
other than in a bicycle rack or storage facility.

Now if we could just get the U to install bike racks we'd be all set.

[Kris Talley]

A few things here:

Section 30 (7) "No person shall stand or park a bicycle upon the street
other than in a bicycle rack..." is another ordinance that Ann Arbor
recently repealed, going instead with clearer wording in the MVC. And
there are several other ordinances that are no longer on AA's books but
remain in the Regents', leaving us with conflicting ordinances in the
city and on campus, making an already confusing situation that much
worse. This is an issue that the U needs to deal with eventually.

In the meantime, I don't see how the current Regent's ordinance implies
that bikes locked to lightpoles or trees can be tagged (much less
impounded) unless that lightpole or tree is in the street, or the bike
is locked in such a way as "to interfere with pedestrians or along

roadways where they may interfere with traffic or with persons getting

into or out of motor vehicles," "left in a manner as to obstruct
unreasonably the flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic," or it is
locked there for over 48 hours.

If I approached a fully-subscribed U-M bike rack (with half the bikes
clearly abandoned in many cases) and no other racks with openings
nearby, I would definitely lock to anything reasonable (lightpole,
signpost) nearby. I would be pretty frustrated to get what sure looks
like a "ticket" for doing so, even though it sounds like no action could
be taken for 48 hours anyway.

Don't get me started on where students or anyone who might have to leave
town for a few days are supposed to keep their bikes. In their dorm
rooms might be one answer, except the U also doesn't allow bikes in
buildings...

[Paul Alman]

Basic question: are either of these conflicting ordinances enforced with any consistency? If not, as Kris says, what is the worst that can happen? A ticket? From whom? And if facilities are not available, doesn't that make it impossible to comply?

What can we (WBWC or individuals) do to clarify and help this situation?

P.

Paul Alman
pda...@att.net
734-775-1156

[Jim Rees]

Kris Talley wrote:

In the meantime, I don't see how the current Regent's ordinance
implies that bikes locked to lightpoles or trees can be tagged (much

less impounded) unless that lightpole or tree is in the street,...

The University can and does impound legally parked bikes with little or no
notice, as recently happened on North U, and has happened to me. Regardless
of what the law says, the man with the gun and the bolt cutters can do
whatever he wants. When I bike to campus I always park (legally) off-campus
and walk the rest of the way.

[Mike P.]

I have no idea how Ann Arbor enforces their bicycle ordinances. When
it comes to impounds there's no ticketing of bicycles on campus. The
tags are basically just warnings, there's no fine attached to them.
If your bike is impounded there's no fee involved either (no storage
fee, no impound fee, etc.) If your bike was locked when it was
impounded then your lock was destroyed and you don't get the lock back
nor are you reimbursed for it per the ordinance... so the cost of
getting a new lock is your only expense.

There are bike loops (racks) all over campus. Sure, at peak times in
certain areas they fill up completely, but short of a bike being
locked to another bike, in a construction zone or some other such
"emergent" situation you have PLENTY of time to move your bike if it
is locked to, say, a lightpole and I tag it. At least 48 hours per
the ordinance, and in practice a lot longer than that.

My goal is to go after abandoned bikes, so if a bike is tagged it will
take significantly longer than 48 hours for it to be impounded. In
practice the time between tagging and impounding ranges from a month
to two years maximum. The average is probably around four to six
months. It's a never ending cycle and as I said before I try to get
the oldest and ugliest bikes when I go out to impound them.

[Mike P.]

If the bike loops are being yanked out for a construction project we
have no choice but to impound the bicycles in that area. There was
PLENTY of notice that the CC Little Bus stop and the Ruthven bus stop
were going to be torn up for the project (which was announced last
year.) Admittedly I was a bit surprised that they were starting the
project right after Commencement, but there were large yellow signs
saying the stops themselves would no longer be in use after May 3rd
and there was bright orange spray paint on the ground near the racks
saying "Demo Racks Monday, May 3rd." That's called a "clue" that you
shouldn't use those bike loops. No bicycles at the CC Little or
Ruthven racks were tagged for less than 48 hours before they were
impounded, and most that were impounded were there for at least a week
after I tagged them. I even put up yellow caution tape on the
affected loops 24 hours before I impounded ANY bikes (and those I
impounded the next day had been tagged for 48 hours or longer),
retagged any bikes the tags themselves had fallen off of and short of
hiring a sky writer did ALL I could to let people know to move their
bikes. While waiting only 48 hours (or even only a week) is far less
time than I normally give bikes it is certainly the letter of the law
per the ordinance, and while I prefer not to do. Even with this
extraordinary circumstance as of now only 20% of the bikes I impounded
from CC Little have been reclaimed. That's far higher than our
average reclaim rate but clearly the majority of the bikes impounded
were indeed abandoned there.

As for other instances where bikes are impounded with little to no
notice, officers may on occasion impound bikes that are locked to
other bikes. That's pretty much the only time police officers cut
locks... and if you lock your bike to someone else's bike without
permission you can't exactly complain when it's impounded. Sometimes
officers bring in bikes they find on campus that they believe to be
stolen... but they aren't cutting locks in those cases. We're talking
bikes that are literally laying out in the middle of nowhere, no
owners in sight or even recovered from people believed to have stolen
them. Any other bikes need to be tagged before they're impounded
unless it's a bona-fide emergency (such as that bike that was locked
to a set of emergency doors, it had to be impounded immediately for
obvious reasons.)

The point is that if you lock your bike to loop for a few hours it
almost certainly won't be impounded. If a pipe breaks and they have
to yank out some loops for an emergency repair, for instance, we'll
take your bike for safekeeping. The alternative would be to leave it
out in the open so someone could steal it, which is certainly a worse
option for all involved. But that happens so rarely that it's hardly
a reason to not use the loops on campus. I can only think of one bike
taken under those circumstances in the past year, and even that
doesn't fit because the bike was already tagged so I could have
impounded it anyway (just had to do it sooner than I was planning on
doing it.)

[Phillip Farber]

Hi Mike,

I have to say your posts on the details of bike impoundment are
fascinating. Clearly it is a multi-faceted problem and it sounds like
the DPS approach is quite reasonable.

I wonder if you have a perspective on how to improve the situation of
abandoned bikes on campus. Do you think it's just an "eternal problem"
or can it be made better?

What about labeling hoops with a warning that "Bike locked here for
longer than 24 hours will be impounded" in particularly high traffic
areas. I'm thinking Library and Mason/Haven/Angell hall areas.

As a solution to storage space, could you turn over impounded bikes to
local charities (more than just Kiwanis) more frequently?

Phil

[Paul Alman]

During the days we were putting on the Tour de Kids in the State Street and Campus area, we had to tow cars on Sunday mornings. What we found and the police confirmed, was that a surprising number of students (and others we assumed) would park their vehicles at 6 pm on Saturday and leave town for the rest of the weekend, knowing that no tickets would be issued until Monday morning.

I wonder if this might also be the situation with bikes that appear to be abandoned. A 24-hour limit appears to be a bit short (if people leave the city for the weekend or during school breaks for example. I also think that it is very obvious when a bike has been abandoned or is not being used - flat tires, rusted and bent wheels, pedals missing, chains that obviously haven't moved in weeks, etc. I think labeling hoops makes sense, marking bikes the way many mark tires with chalk, and having regular patrols to monitor those areas where there has been a history of abandoned bikes.

There are a number of area groups (PEAC, the group in Detroit for example) who are always looking for any bikes that they can rehab and return to the community. Also, the new bike shop on Broadway (by the Northside Grill) also rehabs bikes.

Paul

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[Mike P.]

A 24-hour limit at certain racks would be problematic for several
reasons, not the least of which being that a new ordinance would have
to be written and I doubt the Regents would see it as a priority,
especially for something that would be pretty much impossible to
enforce and even if it were enforced there would be a HUGE outcry from
staff and students. The solution is probably more loops or other
facilities to secure bicycles. Loops have been added in some high
traffic areas (such as the Chemistry Building) in recent years, I
imagine with the increasing popularity of non-motorized transportation
(for various reasons) more loops will be added in upcoming years. The
problem of abandoned bikes will always exists (some students will
simply leave their bikes when they graduate, they always have and
always will) so the trick is trying to find the truly abandoned bikes
vs. those that are just, well, crappy bikes that are being used.
You'd be surprised at the condition of bikes people really are
riding... it almost defies reason in some cases!

As for more charities, that's a call made above me based on polices,
procedures and state laws. My role is to impound the bikes, for
obvious reasons their disposal is determined by someone else. Looking
for good bikes is not my goal, quite the opposite (the junkier they
are the more likely they are to be abandoned of course.) This is part
of the problem with keeping charities interested... they want bikes
but when they see what bikes look like when we actually impound them
they're less than enthused. I try not to damage them as I'm
impounding them, but often they're pretty beat up before I get to them
(missing parts, bent rims, rusted, etc.)

That, and if you've ever put several bikes into a vehicle you know
that pedals and spokes are like velcro, it's maddening trying to get
them to behave when putting them in or taking them out. Sometimes
plastic parts are damaged in the process, try as I might to avoid it.
I'm convinced that some pedal designers are determined to torment us
by designing them so they not only go into spokes but literally lock
into place when they're there. Is there ANY real need to make hook
shaped edges in pedals that appear to serve no purpose BUT to latch
onto the spokes of other bikes? Sheesh!

[Paul Alman]

Multiple issues here, Mike.

1. 24-hours is not realistic. I don't know who is suggesting that. It is obvious to most of us which bikes are truly abandoned (bent wheels, chains that don't function, no or rotted tires, etc.) Tagging/marking bikes could work. What is the current requirement regarding time of notification?

2. Charities are not the only destination for these bikes; as I mentioned there are at least two organizations whose whole being is in restoring, repairing and making abandoned bikes usable for riders with no other source of bikes. They would love to be able to have a source of bikes their members could work on.

3. If what you say in the previous paragraph is true (I think it is) the bikes that you pick up are, in fact, barely recognized as bikes, and they will do significant damage to any part way decent vehicle into which they are placed. However, having seen the condition of many of the vehicles I see on Baxter Road near the U/M storage facilities, it would seem to me to make sense to use some of the pick-up trucks for example, to pick up the bikes. If that doesn't work, I would be happy to help you find appropriate vehicles to pick up these crappy bikes.

Paul

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[Linda Diane Feldt]

Mike P.,
Thank you for your posts about the UM bikes and impoundment
procedures. You've made the process human, and I've enjoyed learning
about your thought process and decision making as you do this part of
your job.

Your information also makes it clearer where the deficiencies are,
and the potential process for improving them. Which would not be to
blame you, obviously. I think this sort of transparency is so very
helpful is dealing with an institution as large as the UM.

Please keep us posted with your thoughts, ideas, and also many people
use this as a forum to vent. Although there isn't much we can do to
solve the problems you encounter, I think many of us on the list are
willing to listen and sympathize.

Thanks for your thoughtfulness and care in what is clearly a
thankless job. It does matter, even if you rarely hear that feedback.

Linda Diane Feldt
Holistic Health Practitioner
holisticwisdom.org
twitter.com/wildcrafting
734.662.4902

[Michael Pomorski]

Charities are the only groups we are permitted to donate bikes to, specifically 503(C) registered charities.  We get requests from groups all of the time who would like for us to donate bikes to them, but we have to follow state laws of course.  If they aren't 503(C) registered we can't do it.  That or conduct our own auctions, but it's much better to donate to charity for several reasons.

Most of the bikes I impound have some problems, but usually they're repairable.  I've been using my system (go for the worst bikes first) for a few years now, so the very worst bikes don't stay around as long as they used to... so the quality of abandoned bikes has slowly improved.  I try to tag as much as I can in a given year and impound all of those bikes (that are still there) by the end of the next year, before bikes would be on the list for years, with the expected results.  It's a big campus, and as much as I'd like to focus on, say, the Michigan Union I have to check Northwood areas as well, so it's a challenge sometimes to make everyone happy but I like to think things are improving.  Some areas I only get to once a year, others I check constantly so if there's a problem I can address it more than once a year.  Then there are areas I know I have to check at certain times of the year for certain events on campus.