Council repeals city’s bicycle registration fee

KINGSTON, N.Y. » An unenforced section of Kingston’s municipal code regarding the registration of bicycles has been repealed.

The Common Council voted 8-0 last week to repeal Chapter 160 of the City Code, which, in part, requires a fee to be charged for registering bicycles. Alderman William Carey, DWard 5, was absent.

“I think it’s a great idea,” council Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress, D-Ward 3, said prior to the vote. He said the repeal was an example of looking through the code and removing something that stands in the way of improving the city.

Scott-Childress also said removing the chapter of the code makes it more possible for people to have bicycles and ride them through the city.

“And hopefully by encouraging more bicycle riding and other forms of transportation like that, we’ll reduce our dependence on automobiles that have gasoline-powered engines and thereby make our community less dependent on oil products,” Scott-Childress said.

The move to repeal the chapter on bicycles was proposed by Mayor Steve Noble.

“After speaking with numerous community organizations and bike enthusiasts, it has come to my attention that we have an outdated piece of code, titled ‘Chapter 160: Bicycles,’” Noble previously wrote in a letter to Common Council President James Noble, his uncle. “This code focuses on bicycle ownership and mandates bicycle registration. This code is not followed nor enforced here in the city, and I believe it is time to remove this chapter of the code.”

The mayor said the chapter on bicycles was introduced as a local law in 1984.

The Common Council held two “readings” of the proposal to remove the local law before voting to repeal it.