One ghost bike taken, 22 more appear
From Today’s Washington Post.
One Memorial Bike Taken From DuPont Circle, 22 More Appear
By Ashley Halsey III
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 10, 2009; 5:01 PMEven in a city so thick with monuments that only tourists notice the big ones and pigeons get the rest, it was hard to miss the stark white bicycle chained to a lightpost just north of DuPont Circle.
From a distance, passersby were drawn by the bouquets of flowers so often perched in its basket or left beside its wheels. As they neared, they saw the sign: Cyclist Struck Here. And as they leaned close, they saw messages written on the saddle and the frame: “We love you Alice,” and “You made the best cookies.”
For more than a year, the memorial to Alice Swanson stood at the corner of 20th and R streets, just a few feet from the spot where a garbage truck struck her down as she pedaled to work last July. Then, at the end of last month, the city cut the chain and moved it away.
On Thursday, the memory of Alice lived again. Twenty-two white bicycles appeared, commanding a piece of every lightpost at the intersection.
By late afternoon, they all remained, although the only one that had been chained was attached to the same post where the original stood.
–EBR