The number of reported bike thefts at Fresno City College has decreased by half since the beginning of the semester. The first weeks of the spring semester saw six reported thefts, while the months of February and March saw three reported thefts.
Even with this drop in the number of bike thefts, several groups on the FCC campus are working on a long-term solution to the problem.
On March 13, the FCC bike theft committee met in the Associated Student Government office to discuss designs for new bike racks and ideas for placement of a bike corral on campus.
The two-member group consisted of Associated Student Government senator Emily Rivera and FCC student Felix Figueroa.
Rivera showed the committee work she had been doing on the website Dero.com, which lets people design bike corrals and gives them price quotes. Rivera’s plans included placing the bike corral near the Applied Technology buildings on the FCC campus. The bike theft committee has been in talks with the facilities committee at FCC.
Tabitha Villalba, a member of the Facilities Committee on the FCC campus, stated that these projects are largely student-driven.
“We are letting students take the lead and trying to get the contacts and maybe help them develop a plan for putting in more bike racks or different ways of keeping students and staff members bikes safe.”
Jospeh Diebert, Occupational Health and Safety officer and chairman of the Facilities Committee has also been working with the bike theft committee. Diebert is wary of many factors involved with installing the bike corral.
“That is still in the planning stages. There’s not total agreement yet on whether that would be a good use of funds on whether that is going to serve a good purpose,” Diebert said, “I wouldn’t want to take a gamble on using lot of funds on that and have it be a complete bust.”
Diebert also expressed concern with the emphasis that the ASG places on the bike theft problem. Many student senators finish their terms and projects are left uncompleted, especially with long projects.
“These continued projects, whether it be the smoking areas or anything else they want, is a long drawn out process they need to instill something within their club to make sure that it’s a priority for someone to continue,” Diebert said
State Center Community College District police Officer Chris Caldwell said he is aware of the bike theft committee and that the department would be open to working with them on a solution to the bike theft problem.
Caldwell also reiterated the idea that preventing bike theft is a major concern and that registering bikes to databases would be the best way to do that.
“If the bike is stolen we can use descriptions and serial numbers [to track it],” he said.
Caldwell added that students can take steps to prevent bike theft.
“We want to be able to inform students what they can do to reduce their chances of becoming a victim. Number one: get a better lock,” he said.
Caldwell said he is also aware of the bike corral idea and he says “it would be easier to watch the bikes in one location.”
FCC music professor Kevin Cooper lives in the FCC area and has had a bike a stolen from his front yard. He now rides his wife’s bike to work. He also has had a bicycle seat stolen at FCC.
“It was right after my big culminating concert, the Rams Jam. So after I was elated after a big success, I came to pedal home and then I had no bicycle seat. It was a real drag,” Cooper said.
Cooper says he is aware of the Bike Club on campus and he wouldn’t mind connecting with other riders.
“I never self-identified as a biker,” Cooper said, “but it’s cool now that I do it all the time I would want to support them.”
Cooper also says that if more people rode bikes to school, then awareness of the issue would grow and help to bring about a change.
