http://tags.library.upenn.edu/tag/NYTimes+critical_mass PennTags Feed http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/31451 http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/31451 <div class="timestamp">August 4, 2008</div> <div class="timestamp">Police and a Cyclists&rsquo; Group, and Four Years of Clashes</div> <p> <div class="byline">By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/james_barron/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by James Barron">JAMES BARRON</a></div> </p> <p>The <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_york_city_police_department/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about the New York City Police Department.">New York City Police Department</a>, with its 35,000 officers, has in recent years been on the front lines of the citywide decline in serious crime. It has protected visiting dignitaries like <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/benedict_xvi/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Benedict XVI.">Pope Benedict XVI</a> at events that drew thousands of people, and it has posted officers in foreign capitals to gather information on terrorism and trends that could threaten New York.</p> <p>But the Police Department continues to be flummoxed by bicyclists riding together once a month.</p> http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/17745 http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/17745 July 1, 2007<br />A Pretend Preacher, a Real Arrest and a Debate About Free Speech<br />By ETHAN WILENSKY-LANFORD<p>A satirist dressed as a preacher and protesting what he called the Disneyfication of New York City was arrested Friday for harassing police in Union Square before the start of a monthly bicycle rally that the Bloomberg administration has been trying to rein in.</p><p>Bill Talen, who performs under the name Reverend Billy, said that he was arrested after trying to defend the cyclists' rights by reading the First Amendment to the police - through a bullhorn. The authorities said that he was arrested after repeatedly being told to stop.</p><p>Mr. Talen was charged with two counts of second-degree harassment. He was released without bail pending a court date in August.</p><p>&quot;We were full of the holy spirit of the First Amendment,&quot; said Mr. Talen, who is in his mid-50s and was dressed like a big-tent evangelist, with a white suit and a dyed-blond pompadour. He sometimes spreads his message with the help of the Church of Stop-Shopping Gospel Choir.</p><p>In an interview yesterday, Mr. Talen defended his performance art. &quot;New York City won't exist if we won't let creativity happen in public space,&quot; he said.</p><p>Mr. Talen said he was at Union Square to support the cyclists taking part in Critical Mass, a monthly ride aimed at promoting nonpolluting forms of transportation. Critical Mass riders gather the last Friday of every month at Union Square.</p>