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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 6550 ORDINANCE NO.__,. -_ AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 9 OF THE FORT WORTH CITY CODE (1964) , AS AMENDED, PROVID- ING FOR THE REGISTRATION OF BICYCLES; PRO- VIDING FOR THE TAGGING AND IDENTIFICATION OF BICYCLES AND REGULATIONS THEREFOR; PRO- VIDING FOR SEIZURE OF UNREGISTERED BICYCLES ; REGULATING ALL PERSONS ENGAGED IN THE BUSI- NESS OF DEALING IN SECONDHAND BICYCLES; RE- QUIRING ALL BICYCLES RIDDEN BETWEEN THE HOURS OF SEVEN P.M. AND FIVE A'M. TO BE EQUIPPED WITH A REFLECTOR OR ELECTRIC HEADLIGHT ON THE FRONT AND A REFLECTOR ON THE REAR; PRO- HIBITING RIDING ON HANDLEBARS; PROHIBITING CLINGING TO MOVING VEHICLES; PROHIBITING RIDING IN A WRECKLESS MANNER; MAKING THIS ORDINANCE CUMULATIVE OF PRIOR ORDINANCES; REPEALING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HERE- WITH; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; PRO- VIDING A PEANLTY FOR VIOLATION THEREOF ; PRO- VIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS; SECTION 1, That Chapter 9 of the Fort Worth City Code (1964) , as amend.ed, is hereby amended so that hereafter same shall be and read as follows: "Sec, 9-1 Registration - Required "It shall be unlawful for any person to operate or use a bicycle propelled wholly or in part by muscular power upon any of the streets, alleys or public highways of the City of Fort Worth without first obtaining from the Fire Department a regis- tration number therefor as hereinafter provided. "Sec. 9-2 Same - of perpetual duration "The Fire Department is hereby authorized and directed to register bicycles, which registration shall be effective for the life of the bicycle, and. all such registration numbers, when issued, shall entitle the registrant to operate such bicycles for which said. registrations have been issued upon all the streets, alleys and public highways, exclusive of the sidewalks thereof, in the City of Fort Worth, "Sec. 9-3 Same - Procedure "The Fire Department shall provide at all reasonable hours a registration number stamped thereon, commencing with the number 111 , with each number prefixed with the number of the fire station from which such bicycle is regis- tered. It shall be the duty of the Fire Depart- ment to stamp the frame of each bicycle upon the payment of a registration fee, herein provided, and said stamp shall at all times during the life of the bicycle remain with no obliteration. At the time of the issuance of the registration number, the Fire Department shall also issue to the person obtaining the registration number a registration receipt which shall bear the regis- tration number of such bicycle. The Fire Depart- ment shall keep a record of the date of the issuance of each registration, the name of the person to whom the same is issued and the number thereof. "Sec. 9-4 Seizure of unregistered bicycles "Any bicycle found upon any street or other public place of the City without a registration as required by this Chapter shall be seized by any police officer and held by the police depart- ment until such registration has been granted. "Sec. 9-5 Transfer of ownership,- report to be made "It shall be the duty of every person who sells or transfers ownership of any bicycle to report such sale or transfer by returning to the Police Department the registration card issued to such person as license thereof, together with the name and address of the person to whom said bi- cycle was sold or transferred, and such report shall be made within five (5) days of the date of said sale or transfer. It shall be the duty of the purchaser or transferee of such bicycle to apply for a transfer of registration therefor within five (5) days of said sale or transfer. "Sec. 9-6 Removal, destruction or alteration of registration number, etc. "It shall be unlawful for any person to wil- fully or maliciously remove, destroy, mutilate or alter the number of any bicycle frame registered pursuant to this ordinance. It shall also be un- lawful for any person to remove, destroy, mutilate or alter the number of any registration number, or registration card for identification purposes. 2 "Sec. 9-7 Records required of dealers "All persons engaged, in the business of buying secondhand bicycles are hereby required to make a d.aily report to the Police Department, giving the name and address of the person from whom each bicycle is purchased, the description of each bicycle purchased, the registration number thereof. All persons engaged in the business of selling new or secondhand bicycles are hereby required. to make a report to the Police Department, giving the list of all sales made by such dealers, which list shall include the name and address of each person to whom sold., the kind of bicycle sold, together with a descrip- tion and registration numbers thereof. "Sec. 9-8 Repairmen not to work on unregistered bicycles. "It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to do any repair work on any bicycle required to be registered hereunder which is not properly registered as required by this ordinance, and it shall be the duty of any such person, firm or corporation to see that any such bicycle has the City registration number thereon before doing repair work on the same. "Sec. 9-9 Reporting bicycle dismantled and taken out of operation. "Within ten (10) days after any bicycle registered hereunder shall have been dismantled and taken out of operation, such information shall be reported to the Police Department by the person in whose name the bicycle has been registered. "Sec. 9-10 Registration fee "The registration fee to be paid. for each bicycle shall be one dollar and shall be paid in advance; and pursuant to Section 5 of this ordinance, such registration number may be transferred when the ownership of said bicycle is transferred, and a fee of twenty-five cents (250) shall be paid for such transfer, all registration fees collected under this ordinance shall be paid into the General Fund of the City of Fort Worth. "Sec. 9- 11 Reflectors required. "Any person who rides a bicycle between the hours of 7: 00 P.­. and 5:00 A.M. must have said bicycle equipped on the front thereof with an amber reflector at least two and one-half (2-1/2) inches in diameter or an electric headlight with the lens not less than two and one-half (2-1/2) - 3 - inches in diameter, and the rear of said bicycle must be equipped with a reflector of at least two and one-half (2-1/2) inches in diameter. "Sec. 9-12 Riding on handlebars "It shall be unlawful for the operator of any bicycle, when upon a street, to carry any other person upon the handlebar, frame or tank of such bicycle. It shall also be unlawful for any person to so ride upon any such bicycle. "Sec. 9-13 Clinging to moving vehicles "It shall be unlawful for any person travel- ing upon any bicycle to cling to or attach himself or his vehicle to any other moving vehicle on any street. "Sec. 9-14 Riding in reckless manner "It shall be unlawful for any person to ride a bicycle upon, over, or along any street, public square or park in 'Che City in such a reckless, indifferent or careless manner as to reasonably endanger the lives or property of any person in the City. " SECTION 2. That this ordinance shall repeal every prior ordinance and provision of the Fort Worth City Code in conflict here- with but only insofar as the portion of such prior ordinance or provision shall be in conflict, and as to all other ordinances and provisions of the Fort Worth City Code not in direct conflict herewith, this ordinance shall be and is hereby made cumulative. SECTION 3. It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Code are severable and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such un- constitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this Code, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation in this Code of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section. SECTION 4. Every person, firm, or corporation violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed. guilty of a misdeamnor, and upon conviction shall be punishable by a fine of not more than One Hundred Dollars ($100. 00) nor less than Five Dollars ($5. 00) . SECTION 5. This ordinance after its publication as required by law will become effective October 1, 1971, APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: 00, City Attorney 5 City oj" Fart Worth,, Texas o on Mayr t and Coune 01 Communicat ' Mims$ DATE REFERENCE SUBJECT: Registration of Bicycles PAGE MATSON NUMBER 9/13/71, G-1818 1 of rMumm Chapter 9 of the City of Fort Worth Code requires the operator of any bicycle used upon the streets of Fort, Worth to �:ibtain a license from the Police Depart- WALL% men t, All such licenses expire on September 30 of each odd numbered ye,ar. A fee of 50 cents is collected for a two year period. If less than one year is left on the license at the time of registration, a charge of 25 cents is made, Metal tags and ­,,,eals baving regist'ration number stamped thereou are attached to the frame of each bicycle indicating its registration, The primary intent of this li,,,,,,,ens.j.ng is to provide the City of Fort Worth a record of ownetship so that, if a bicycle is lost,, or stolen and is recovered by the Police Depart- ment it might be returned to its rightful owner, In the past, licenses have prima,,,rily been sold by the Police Department, with officers making a special visit, to the schools and registering or re-register- ing bicycles on. the school yards,. There- currently are approximately' 12,000 bicycles registered in the City of Fort Worth, The tremendous increase in bicycle popularity, especially with the adult popu- lation, and indications that relatively few of these bicycles are being regis- tered, present problems with the existing system of registering bicycles. Each year the number of recovered stolen bicycles which are not -registered increases, causing serious problems in owner, identification of the stolen bicycle, To facilitate the 'registration ,,.)f bicycles, thereby providing the Police Depart- ment more information on stolen-r."ecovered bikes, it is recommended that Chapter 9 of the Fort Worth City Code be amended to provide for a permanent. registration at a fee of $1,00,, Such registration would be obtained from any Fire Station by taking the bicycle to the station where a number will be stamped into the frame of the bicycle. Ownership data will be recorded and maintained by the Police Department, thereby providing information needed to return a recovered bicycle- to its owner. By making registration available ar each fire station, it will be more convenient for both adults and children, A permanent registration also will eliminate the need for renewal every two year's. Provision is made in the ord-inance requiring notification to the Police Department of ownership t'ransfer, A fee of 25 cents is charged to record this change of owner'ship, Recommendation It is recommended that an Ordinance amending Chapter 9 of the City of Fort Worth Code be adopted providing for the registration of bicycles on a permanent basis at a fee of $1,00, effective October 1, 1971. RNL:ms Attachment SUBMITTED BY: DISPOS411019 BY CaUNCIL: �,1.II ESSED BY 4��VED OTHER (DESCRI E),,. CITY SECRETARY Y", 21" DATE CITY MANAGER "