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points by gobdovan 3 days ago | 0 comments

Dangerous game. In Romania at least, even fixing a pothole would get you a fine, possible jail time and requirement to unfix it.

[0] https://stirileprotv.ro/stiri/actualitate/comuna-unde-fostul...

[1] https://stirileprotv.ro/stiri/actualitate/situatie-absurda-i...

[2] https://www.antena3.ro/actualitate/locale/satul-sa-astepte-d...

[–] classictraffic 3 days ago

Guerrilla urbanism is pretty much illegal to do everywhere, including in the article's subject city of San Francisco. The goal is to not get caught by authorities while doing it

[–] gobdovan 3 days ago

Of course it's formally illegal. My point is that, while in SF authorities accepted and formalised an intervention, in other parts of the world there's a real threat of criminal proceedings, and not for modifying traffic infrastructure significantly, but for FILLING A POTHOLE.

[–] ReaLNero 3 days ago

Seems like what’s different is that in Romania, the administration views it as an insult. In the US, it’s viewed as a political issue (comfort of cyclists vs drovers).

[–] gobdovan 3 days ago

You're onto something. Of course, the cases I linked were pretty different and there's a mix of institutional rigidity in there, but that's how I'd interpret the Romanian attitude as well.

[–] wahern 3 days ago

Other interventions haven't been met so kindly. For example, last year after California passed a state-wide law banning street parking within 15 feet of an intersection (to improve visibility of pedestrians), some people tried to paint curbs (red curbs mark prohibited parking), frustrated the city was acting too slowly to repaint curbs everywhere. I don't remember if they were ever caught, but presumably they would have received a fine as it caused alot of headaches--it cast doubt on the validity of many parking fines issued after the law took effect as the parking enforcers couldn't know which curbs had been officially repainted, yet.

As for the guerilla bike lane on JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park, that entire 1-mile section of JFK was later closed off to cars entirely. It required a city-wide ballot initiative, IIRC, and was very contentious. But the city government was in favor of it, which may have something to do with why they were so accommodating earlier with the bike lane.

[–] tverbeure 3 days ago

> It required a city-wide ballot initiative, IIRC, and was very contentious.

It's still very contentious and was on the ballot again yesterday to undo the previous ballot measure and make it available to car again. The proposal to undo was defeated.

[–] WesternWind 3 days ago

The ballot measure was about a different road actually.

[–] lazide 3 days ago

Did you not see the ‘do not be caught while doing it’ part?

[–] gobdovan 3 days ago

Besides completely missing the fact that I'm pointing out different attitudes and what happens if you get caught, how does "just don't get caught" not apply equally to something like murder?

[–] cowlevel 3 days ago

Murder makes the world worse, but guerilla road painting done right makes it better. So the advice for road painting is "do it right and don't get caught" while the advice for murder is instead "don't do it"

[–] lazide 3 days ago

Depends on if eventually everyone would want the person you murdered murdered or not, eh?

I present… [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_McElroy]

Nice slippery slope, btw.

I bet Romania has something similar.

[–] jcattle 3 days ago

As some guerilla gardeners like to call it, it's not illegal, it's pre-legal.

[–] onedognight 3 days ago

Nor California!

[–] ndsipa_pomu 3 days ago

Here in the UK, it seems the best way to get potholes fixed is to paint a penis around it: https://themanc.com/art-and-culture/manchester-graffiti-arti...

[–] senkora 3 days ago

Society is relatively lenient towards college students being mischievous.

It helps that colleges have their own police forces with a standing directive to not be too harsh on students.

Although maybe that’s a US thing? We are a weird country.

[–] ninalanyon 3 days ago

The college police force is a US thing.

[–] masfuerte 3 days ago

Oxford University had its own police until quite recently.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_University_Police

[–] tonyedgecombe 3 days ago

Heidelberg had a student jail.

https://www.tourism-heidelberg.com/explore/historical-sights...

[–] hinkley 3 days ago

Unfortunately that’s also how the Seven got away with it like generations before them. I’ve been wondering lately if the private force is a net negative on society.

[–] gobdovan 3 days ago

Could be a US thing, but that's very cool to hear that!