If They're Free Then They're Not Stolen

Frank Stephenson has an interesting, if not obvious, post on the demise of bicycles used in a common property/open access bike program in Lexington, Kentucky.

A Herald-Leader reporter and photographer drove around downtown and surrounding neighborhoods yesterday for about four hours on a hunt for Yellow Bikes.

The trip turned up 10 bikes, four of which had flat tires or missing seats. Most of the 10 were in residential areas north of the downtown business district, although one bike was locked to a street sign in a neighborhood south of Chevy Chase. One bike with no seat and a flat rear tire had been locked near the corner of North Broadway and West Sixth Street for two weeks, a neighbor said.

Renee Jackson, executive director of the Downtown Lexington Corp. and a Yellow Bikes board member, said a volunteer looked for all the bikes a week ago. After searching most of the city, the volunteer found 42 of the original 52, the most distant one in north Lexington near New Circle Road.

This reminds me of one of the great lines (the last in the dialog below) from Dustin Hoffman in one of my favorite movies, and one of his best roles, 'Ratso' Rizzo.

Gretel McAlbertson: Why are you stealing food?
Ratso Rizzo: I was just, uh, noticing that you're out of salami. I think you oughtta have somebody go over to the delicatessen, you know, bring some more back.
Gretel McAlbertson: Gee, well, you know, it's free. You don't have to steal it.
Ratso Rizzo: Well, if it's free, then I ain't stealin'.