May 7, 2009

Abandoned bicycles to be removed

Abandoned and damaged bicycles on the West Lafayette academic campus will be removed during the next week in a partnership between the Grounds Department and Purdue police.

The action does not include the residence halls or Purdue Village.

Grounds crews and student patrol officers have begun marking bicycles this week, and the bikes will be removed next week (May 11-15) after verification by police.

Removed bicycles will be held for 90 days and a master list of all bicycles removed will be maintained by the police department. After the 90-day holding period, abandoned bicycles will be made available for sale using established University procedures.

Gary Evans, director of grounds, encourages students to take care of their bicycles before the semester ends.

"Our mission is to maintain the visible excellence of our campus, and abandoned bikes detract from that image," Evans said. "We are marking bikes to provide fair warning to students that we are conducting a sweep on the academic campus, and to let them know they should contact the police department at 49-48221 if they think their bicycle was secured as a damaged or abandoned bike."