I arrived at work and found the area flooded with NYPD. As some may have seen in the news, someone had broken into our storage container in Queens and stolen all the bicycles. There had been several attempts to break into ours including sledge hammer dents, axe impact marks and traces of bolt cutters. As I rolled up, my first thought was that someone had managed to get the container open and that the police were investigating. I sighed with relief when I found the doors shut and the locks intact, but raised an eyebrow at the carnival setup in the adjacent field. I put my bicycle away and went to figure out what was happening. Unable to pull aside one of the bustling NYPD officers I found a local named Barbra. Apparently what I had stumbled my way into was called Harmony Day. Once a year in the summer time, volunteers from every police precinct in the Bronx come out to host a day-long picnic/festival for youth enrolled in summer camps. The idea is simple: police are often viewed as a negative force in some communities , arriving only when there’s trouble and acting as a potential threat. In this case the NYDP is trying to correct that image and show Bronx youth the positive impact of police officers (sounds kind of similar to what we do with bikes doesn’t it). According to Barbra, thousands of kids come from all over the Bronx for this free fair. Cool as this sounded, this presented a little problem for our classes.
Because the NYPD trucks and BBQs were parked in our training area, and the eventual traffic would make any sort of bicycle class impossible I decided to take some alternative actions. My coworker Elena contacted the camps and advised them of the change in plans if they wanted to attend the event rather than our program for the day. Meanwhile I negotiated with the NYPD for a table and a tent space inside the fair. Before long we had our tent (depicted left). Since we didn’t have much in the way of activities compared to the moon bounces and tug of war stations, we had to come up with something fast. We grabbed 2 bicycles and pumps. We labeled parts on one bike and connected pumps to both tires on the other so kids could have an inflation competition. Serendipity is a funny thing. Not only did we manage to acquire space, but we wound up next NYCDOT’s Safety City tent. Safety City is a program for school children which simulates a New York City street to educate students about traffic safety. The program also has classroom activities. At the end of the day they gave us activity books to distribute to our campers and restocked our NYC bike map supply.
Kids began flooding in… a lot of them! One thing I can say about the NYPD is that they know how to get stuff done quickly and efficiently. There were at least six moon bounces, a rock climbing wall and tons of other activities along with a stage full of prizes and a DJ. The kids came in and were quickly brought to a stage set up in the middle of the event. After a while an energetic officer took the stage and rallied the crowd. It’s interesting to see how regional pride manifests itself in the city. There is a very strong connection between the Bronx and its inhabitants. The MC shouted “is the BX in the house!” All of the kids erupted in answer to his rhetorical query.
There’s nothing better than a free lunch and a grilled hot dog; today I got both! Left over BBQ hot dogs from the kids were distributed to all of the staffers including Elena and myself. After that, however, we were informed that there was better food available for any of the adult staffers. I walked over to the NYPD tent and came out with a huge plate of pulled pork among other goodies (depicted left).
At the end of the day every single kid walked away with a stuffed elephant, pig or frog in addition to books, magazines and DVDs. Two kids actually went home with bicycles after winning them in a dance competition. We may not of gotten to bike , but we sure handed out a lot of information about Bike New York's free classes!
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