After seeing her daughter fall victim to bike theft twice in one year, a Yellowknife mother is frustrated, fed up and calling for change.
“Something has to be done,” said Tammy D'Aigle.
On Sunday, an irritated D’Aigle took her concerns to social media after her daughter’s “fat” tire was stolen from her locked bike near Sutherland Drugs on Franklin Avenue a day earlier – in broad daylight.
“I’m just sick of people taking property that isn’t theirs,” wrote D’Aigle on a popular community Facebook page.
It’s not the first time her daughter has been a victim of bike theft. Last summer, D’Aigle told Yellowknifer, the recent high school grad, who works downtown and relies on her bicycle as a primary mode of transportation, had her bike stolen from the same area after a thief cut through its chain lock.
After appealing to social media, D’Aigle said a keen-eyed Yellowknifer spotted the bike and returned it, much to the delight of her daughter, who was “proud of the bike she worked hard to pay for.”
One year later, “here we are again,” said D’Aigle.
D’Aigle said her daughter now feels she's a “target”of theft. Instead of replacing the pricey tire, D’Aigle said her daughter is mulling the idea of buying a cheaper bike instead, so she doesn’t have to worry about an expensive set of wheels being pilfered.
Tammy D'Aigle is fed up. After her daughter fell victim to bike theft for the second time in a year over the weekend, D'Aigle is calling on the City of Yellowknife to consider new measures, including a gated storage zone, to combat what she calls a “constant” problem of bicycle theft in the city.
But D’Aigle doesn’t think Yellowknifers should be forced to make similar decisions just because people choose to steal.
Instead, she’s calling for action.
“I think it’s something the city should look into ... I don’t want my daughter to have this issue again or every season when her bike comes out,” said D’Aigle.
To combat and prevent theft, D’Aigle said the city could consider re-purposing unused parking lots and city spaces into gated, video surveillance areas that allow Yellowknifers to safely store and secure their bikes when at work or elsewhere.
Pointing to other, albeit larger, jurisdictions like Vancouver, D’Aigle said the city could charge monthly fees to users of the protected, membership-based bike zones. Members, she said, could then access the space 24-7 with a registered fob key.
But while D’Aigle sees the problem of bike theft as an issue for city hall to tackle, others see it being more effectively addressed through private players.
“I have seen this system work in bigger cities, but it was offered through private companies to the people with access to their building or to their own employees,” stated a woman – asked not to be named – who weighed in on D’Aigle’s online post.
“I do not think this is a city-wide option for Yellowknife, since you would have to centralize a big enough location,” the online commentator told Yellowknifer, adding that it would be a costly undertaking.
“That being said, the city could incentivize companies and buildings to give a local bike storage area for their own tenants,” she told Yellowknifer.
Echoing D'Aigle's calls for the city to address bike thefts in new ways, Matthew Grogono – a co-founder of the Old Town Bike Works who has long advocated for bicycle safety – said the city needs to take note of other cities to remedy “rampant” bike thefts and a lack of “respect for personal property,” in the city.
Grogono said he's been encouraging the city to implement a online registry system, like one successfully adopted in Vancouver, where cyclists can add photos and serial numbers of their bikes to a database that's shared with the municipality and law enforcement.
“This is an election year and I fully intend to make this one of the questions to city counsellors: what are you going to do to promote bicycle safety?,” said Grogono.
To curb “rampant” bicycle theft in Yellowknife, co-founder of Old Town Bike Works Matthew Grogono says he's urging the city to adopt an online database where cyclists can share photos and serial numbers of their bikes.
According to the city, gated, paid-accessed storage areas or online databases haven't specifically been considered.
Instead, said spokesperson Iman Kassam, the city has focused more on educating kids and the general public about preventing bike theft.
Similar tips are offered by Yellowknife RCMP.
“I would recommend always locking your property and keeping a file that contains a photograph of your bicycle, pertinent descriptors on the bike (stickers or add-ons) and the serial number, make and model of the bike,” stated Const. Heather Cosenzo in an email.
According to Cosenzo, 17 bikes were reported stolen between January 1 and July 15, 2017, while 29 have been nabbed during the same stretch in 2018.
Total thefts dropped from 47 recorded in 2014, to 25 in both 2015 and 2016. But last year's tally jumped to 37 stolen rides.