'No bike parking' signs are fake and illegal
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
Hotels and restaurants in upscale neighborhoods have made a habit of posting "no bike parking" signs.
With a $41 sirloin puttanesca and a $28 dish of calamari, D'Angelo's Ristorante Italiano Lounge in Rittenhouse Square isn't the kind of place that caters to the average Joe. But something about this particular joint is even more exclusive than the other swanky restaurants on 20th Street — two signs out front proclaim that bicycles aren't welcome.
The signs are affixed to public signposts that otherwise detail parking regulations, but are bolted at a lower height to make locking up a bicycle tricky. One sign reads "Do Not Lock Bicycles Here" in English and Spanish, and (aside from some twisted screws) looks pretty legitimate, as if the city might have installed them.
But it didn't.
"The sign depicted in the photograph is not an official street sign," said Streets Department spokesperson June Cantor, after examining an image of the sign. "We do not have, nor do we post 'no bike parking signs.' No other government authority is authorized to post such a sign."
D'Angelo's manager Michelle DiMatteo said her restaurant put the signs up.
"The purpose of the signs is so people can walk up and down the street," she said. "Bikes would sometimes get in the way of our valet and people parking their cars."
D'Angelo's isn't alone. A 2013 blog post by local cycling advocates the Bicycle Coalition shows another example of an illegal sign, this one outside the Residences at the Ritz. While similar, sometimes less official-looking signs purporting to prohibit bike parking appear across the city, they seem to be particularly common around more upscale restaurants and hotels in the Rittenhouse area.
Not that it really matters where the signs may be — they're still illegal.
"Private owners are not permitted to post any signage on utility poles, traffic poles or street light poles," said Cantor. "There is a $75 ticket for posting signage on utility poles, traffic poles or street light poles."
However, Cantor said the city would first request that the restaurant owners simply take down the signs. DiMatteo said the restaurant "didn't know" the signs violated city codes, or they would have taken them down.
"We always try to be in full compliance," she said.
The city says it "does not encourage" cyclists locking up to public street posts, but it's not technically illegal to do so. However, while D'Angelo's owners attempts at corralling bikes may not have been in line with city regulations, it may be a reaction to a larger issue — the shortage of legitimate bike parking in Center City.
D'Angelo's sits along a miniature restaurant row, with six other restaurants on the west side of 20th Street. Although there are three of the city's problematic "parking meter" racks on that side of the street, on a recent rainy afternoon, nearly every spot that a bike could be locked up to was taken.
