ONCE ORLANDO GETS ON HIS BIKE, G'BYE CIVIL LIBERTIES

By Juan Montoya
They should have known there was trouble coming when Brownsville Police Department Chief Orlando Rodriguez decked out in his blues and bike helmet and three of his cycle sidekicks wheeled down Elizabeth St. yesterday.
Once the Bike Patrol was in  motion, it was just a matter of inertia to arrests someone, for something.

The first guy they nailed was a man (in blue shirt) who was standing across the Jefferson Street from the Intermodal Terminal (the bus station) who was watching some carpenters work on the roof and facade of a restaurant.

The man, who posed no danger to anyone, was apparently violating the city's (and B-Metro's) anti-loitering law by merely standing on the sidewalk. A police officer in a black-and-white had stopped him as the Bike Patrol wheeled down Jefferson and provided backup to arrest the perp.

The carpenters, who were watching the scene one floor up, said the man had been doing nothing but looking at them work.
"No estaba haciendo nada," one of them told a passerby. "Nomas se lo llevaron."

That was par for the course when Orlando pedals around town with his crew. Some witnesses say that a number of old guys who sit on the steps of the old post office (the new city hall in the federal building) were also admonished for hanging out in a public place by the anti civil-rights patrol who advised them to move on or else. We don't know how the old guys fared, but we hope they didn't meet the same fate of the guy in blue who just happened to be standing across the bus station doing nothing when he was picked up.

Well, apparently, he was.
Inside the bus terminal, a new sign warns the public that by violating  a number of rules in or near the bus terminal constitutes grounds for arrest or even banishment from the facility.
In fact, the list of transgressions seems endless. There is to be, for example, no use of the facility or in the B-Metro area for any other purpose than for what it was designed or designated. i.e. Restrooms - not to be used for grooming. (?) So now you know. If you comb your hair when you go use the bathroom at the terminal, be prepared to have Orlando or his bike patrol breathing down your throat.

And if you are waiting for your bus (which are always late, it seems) and catch yourself nodding off, you better be careful. There will be no sleeping on the floor or on the tables. And if you have a bottle of Starbuck cold coffee, you done broke the law  by having a glass bottle, padner.

As a matter of fact, Orlando better watch out because B-Metro also prohibits skating, skateboarding, or use of bicycles around the facility.
"Violations of the rules and regulations may result in fines, removal (banned, etc.) from the premises and/or arrest" and may be enforced by Plaza management and the Brownsville Police Dept.

In the last city commission meeting, B-Metro manager Norma Zamora said that in order to cut down on the number of homeless who congregate in or near the facility, B-Metro was restricting the hours of operation closing at 11 p.m. and opening at 4 a.m. Those arriving on buses after 11 would be left outside the facility.

So there you have it. If you are anywhere around the tto city block-square area of the terminal from 13th And Adams to International Boulevard, just forget about civil liberties because B-Metro lives by its own rules. And Orly will see to that.