Ravenna cyclists no longer need bike registration
Where do bicyclists put their bikes when they don’t have the luxury of owning a garage to put it in? These individuals would have to lug their bike all the way up to an apartment complex or often have to worry about securing their bikes to a safe enough post not to get stolen. Majority of the time police aren’t able to retrieve the bikes with or without a registry.
Ravenna residents, however, also have to worry about registering their bikes with the Police Department, specifically the police chief. They would have to pay 75 cents for a metal license plate to hang on their bikes so Ravenna police officers knew the bikes were registered.
The Ravenna City Council discussed repealing this outdated ordinance on March 4, 2019, at the regular council meeting. City Ordinance 2019-022 was passed by the council. This will positively affect Ravenna community members by not having to worry about registering their bike and illegally riding their bikes.
On the other hand, a Ravenna resident spoke on the concern saying how his previous neighbors have had their bikes stolen due to a lack of a secure place to put them. He suggested a system of keeping the registry to make it easier for the police chief to find stolen bikes regarding his experiences.
Council at Large Andrew Kluge oversees the Public Health and Safety committee, said the traffic code chapter 444 section 444.085 is an outdated ordinance that needed to be repealed. Many residents of Ravenna, children included, have not registered their bikes therefore are technically riding their bikes illegally. With the repeal of the ordinance, it will set residents at ease without having to worry about it.
“You still have to comply with any of the traffic laws like you normally would,” said Kluge.
He mentioned the law was put into place in 1973 and has not been updated since then. Not many residents in Ravenna have registered their bike or are aware of the ordinance.
Fellow council member Paul Moskun said he himself has not registered his own bike, however, explains that when it’s not in use, he stores it in the garage. For those without a garage, Moskun recommends securing it to something stable that is visible within sight and/or use a tarp to cover it.
“Nobody has registered for a license in I don’t know how long. So this is just getting it off the books. And as a council person, I think you should really be a steward of the ordinances that are on there already.” Kluge said about how some council members themselves didn’t register their bikes.
This affects not only Ravenna residents but also those part of Bike Cleveland who are not residents and bike in downtown Ravenna. Should they be stopped, they would have to produce documentation that their bike is registered with the police department to legally ride their bike in Ravenna, despite not being a resident.
“It’s just getting it off the books and making sure that not only kids but adults can ride the bikes,” Kluge said about the impact on the community of repealing the ordinance.
