Former Seattle mayor compares cutting bicycle brake lines to arson

Cutting the bicycle brake lines is the same as arson, according to former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn.

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Tweeting at the Seattle Police Department, McGinn wrote, “cutting brake lines on bikes isn’t like graffiti or a broken window – it’s the equivalent of arson. Someone could get killed here. Where’s the task force to find and arrest these people?”

In what became a thread, McGinn asks why the city isn’t taking action.

The city is aware of the issue. In March, the Seattle Department of Transportation received reports of vandals cutting the brake lines of bikeshare bikes. People using the free-floating bikeshare services were encouraged to test brakes before riding.

McGinn also took a jab at the media, saying if vehicles were being sabotaged, it would be “relentlessly” covered.

Here’s McGinn’s thread in its entirety:

@SeattlePD – cutting brake lines on bikes isn't like graffiti or a broken window – it's the equivalent of arson. Someone could get killed here. Where's the task force to find and arrest these people? https://t.co/EVuwerwgBU

— Mike McGinn (@mayormcginn) July 20, 2018

If someone were sabotaging cars the way in which bikes are now being sabotaged, the media would relentlessly cover it. Elected officials would have to answer hard questions about what they were doing to protect public safety.

— Mike McGinn (@mayormcginn) July 20, 2018

I speak from experience. During my term there was an arsonist in Greenwood. A spike in murders one year. Stray voltage from electric poles. We didn't hide from it, and we couldn't hide from it. In each case we mobilized resources and we got results. So where's the action now?

— Mike McGinn (@mayormcginn) July 20, 2018

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