Blue Line Bike Lab #2 - East End

Have you been thinking about working in the bicycle industry, but didn't know where to start? It's your lucky day, because Blue Line Bike Lab is currently hiring! We're looking for a sales person and a bicycle assembler, and the only qualifications that we're really looking for are 1) a deep love for bikes and 2) a friendly and outgoing personality that never met a stranger. We'll train you for the rest. Of course, if you already have experience in one of those positions, we'd love to talk to you as well.

If interested, please apply in person at 1504 Yale St. 77007, or even better, you can follow the link below to apply online in less than five minutes. We don't use social media platforms to discuss job details, so if you have any questions just give us a call at 713-802-1707 and ask to speak to Brad or Hunter.

https://www.bluelinebikelab.com/jobs/job-application-pg149.htm

Almost exactly seven years ago, a young lady here in Houston was hit by a drunk driver while riding her bike home from work and left on the side of the road to die. That young woman's name was Chelsea Norman.

I didn't know Chelsea, and she wasn't our customer. Nevertheless, her death impacted me in much the same way that it impacted so many of our fellow cyclists in this city. What happened to her was a major event in our local cycling scene, and her case became a rallying cry for those of us that spend time pedaling our streets. It wasn't even so much that she'd been doing nothing wrong, and been struck by an automobile and killed while legally riding her bike home from work. Sadly, that story has played out so many times here that even the most empathetic among us have become hardened to the reality of cyclist fatalities. What really galvanized our community was the reaction to her death from her killer, Margaret Mayer, and the general public's victim blaming on spaces like the Houston Chronicle's online comments section.

Chelsea was still alive after Margaret hit her with her car. Margaret was blind drunk at the time, which didn't stop her from getting behind the wheel of her car, and after she hit Chelsea she just sped away from the scene of the accident. She would later try to have her car repaired at a body shop before the police could examine it. Chelsea laid there alone in the gutter, her body crushed and bloodied, while she slipped into a coma that she would never recover from. Margaret could have called 911, and maybe the paramedics could have been there in time to save Chelsea, but she didn't. She made the decision to flee, after she'd already made the decision to drive drunk, and in doing so she stole an innocent life not once, but twice. Margaret Mayer is a murderer in my book, and you'll never convince me otherwise.

Margaret was caught, and there was an overwhelming amount of evidence to convict her. Prosecutors chose to charge her with failure to stop and render aid, which carries a similar punishment to manslaughter but is easier to make stick. After just 38 minutes of deliberation, jurors sentenced her to 15 years in a state penitentiary. It's been less than half of that amount of time, and she's now up for parole. Seven years. That's what Chelsea's life was worth if Margaret is freed next month. Seven years. Chelsea would be 31 years old right now, her adult life really just beginning, but Margaret stole that opportunity from her. She stole Chelsea's life from her family and her loved ones, both the ones that she already knew and the ones that she'd have met in the future, maybe even in the next seven years. Margaret has never shown an ounce, not even a trace, of remorse for what she did that evening seven years ago, and the price that she's paid for her actions doesn't even begin to cover the cost of her decisions. It's not right.

Chelsea's father left the following post on the Houston Ghost Bike page, and I asked him if I could share it with you. I'm asking you, right now, in this moment, to leave your comfort zone and bring a little bit of justice back into this world. Please take just a small bit of your precious time and write the parole board and let them know that justice has not been served. Seven years is not the price of Chelsea's life, and Margaret has not paid up. Please, do it for her family, and for our community, and for our own sons and daughters who ride these streets. Please do it for Chelsea.

Thank you,
Fred Zapalac
Blue Line Bike Lab

From Randy Norman:

Family and friends, this is information only. What you choose to do with it is entirely up to you. Margaret Renee Mayer, the woman who hit Chelsea Norman on December 1st, 2013 and left her to die in the road, is up for parole on January 5th, 2021. In less than a month. Her review process started back in September.
So…
I have this information to share:
Protests against her parole can be submitted by letter or email. I am also assured that emails carry the same weight as hard copy sent through traditional USPS or fax. This is not a request, but if you choose to submit a protest, there is some information you will need.
State ID Number: 05766958
TDCJ Number: 01971606
Offender: Mayer, Margaret Renee
Victim: Chelsea L. Norman
Your relationship to victim:
Other pertinent information: (refer to “2D NATURE OF OFFENSE”)
The email address is: [email protected]
The physical address is:
Victim Services Division
8712 Shoal Creek Blvd. ste. 265
Austin, TX 78757
Attention to:
GATESVILLE BOARD OFFICE
3408 S. State Hwy. 36
Gatesville, TX 76528
254-865-8870
254-865-2629 Fax
Roel Tejada, Chair
Lee Anne Eck-Massingill, Parole Commissioner
David G. Gutiérrez, Parole Commissioner
This is exactly 7 years since Chelsea was in the hospital, in a coma she would not recover from. At this exact moment, we were deciding to remove her from life support. 12 hours from now, she as removed from that support, and, surrounded by her family, passed at 12:20 AM, Dec 4th, 2013.

Woman sentenced to 15 years in prison in hit-and-run bike death Jurors returned to court Thursday to hear evidence regarding punishment after convicting...

The window stickers started coming down yesterday, and the open sign will be gone forever by the end of today. We've made the decision to close our East End location for good, and there's no turning back now.

We opened our Eastside outpost back in the fall of 2012. My wife and I were expecting our baby in December, and we were in the middle of a tense lease renegotiation on our White Oak building. We'd learned through the grapevine that several commercial realtors representing a couple of local restaurant groups were making inquiries on our property, and it wasn't looking great. Right about the time we found out about that, my friend Keith came by and told me that not only had he and Jessica bought Bohemeo's, but that his uncle actually owned the whole center and would be open to leasing me a space at a great lease rate. If you know me, you know that I'm more of a doer than a planner, and in the blink of an eye we'd signed a lease and started building out.

There's a lot of small reasons that we've chosen to shutter our East End doors, and it's not all because of Covidtimes. There's no doubt that a lack of ability to reinventory the store was the last straw, but the truth is that the numbers haven't been very good over there for a few years and at the end of the day we've just been breaking even on Telephone Road. This business is too damned hard to just break even, and after moving into our giant new building on Yale we feel like it's much more efficient to concentrate our efforts on our flagship store in the Heights. We hope that our friends in the East End will make the extra 7 mile drive to come see us on Yale.

We've had a good almost eight year run over there, and we've met a lot of great folks and made some really awesome friends thanks to that store. We're going to miss those lazy autumn days, hanging out on the patio at Bo's after work. Don't worry about us though, the Heights location is doing better than ever and we'll still be here for the decades ahead. Thank you for the support over the years, and we'll see you in the Heights!

-Fred Zapalac, Blue Line Bike Lab

Our East End location is temporarily closed until the Covid-19 flattens off. JD and Jimmy are both working at the Heights location, which we have operating during our regular business hours. We're currently planning to reopen the East End location on April 14, 2020. Sorry for the inconvenience, and we hope to see you again soon! -Fred Zapalac, Blue Line Bike Lab

Yo, East End folks, The good people over at Bohemeos are hurting right now. Jessica and Keith have had to totally shut the doors while we wait for this pandemic to get sorted out, and their staff members are going without paychecks for the foreseeable future. If you'd like to help these cats stay fed and housed so that they'll be able to serve you again with that patented Bohemeos spirit once things get back to normal, please consider dropping them a little tip in their virtual tip jar. Maybe even pop a Jackson in there and consider it a pre-tip for that next month when the doors are open again and the finest coffee in the East End is brewing once again. Community is everything, and we need to lift each other up now more than ever.

Please feel free to share.

Bohemeo's Virtual Tip Jar organized by Jessica Soller Hello Bohemians! We don't need to tell you what's going on out there. Everyone is anxious rig… Jessica Soller needs your support for Bohemeo's Virtual Tip Jar

Way back in the day, before I'd begun my own journey into the bicycle industry, I drove all the way down to Clear Lake to buy a bike from Webster Cycles. I'd called every bike shop in Houston looking for an aluminum 24" BMX cruiser (I know, I know, aluminum right?) and they were the only place in town that had one in stock. I'm not sure if Russ was there that day, but I do know that that trip down to his store was a step in the direction that my life has taken and I'm grateful for him and his shop. Russ apparently had heart attack recently that was compounded by head trauma when he fell, and he's now on life support and his family could use some support. If you'd like to help out a fellow bike guy while he's down, please click the GoFundMe link below and kick in what you can. Prayers up for Russ, and remember folks- treat the people around you the way that you'd want them to remember you if today ended up being your last. Get well soon Russ, we're pulling for you.

Click here to support Rallying For Russ organized by Tracy Bowman Dennis Tracy Bowman Dennis Rallying For Russ On Tuesday, November 5th Russ Cooper went into cardiac arrest at home. He has been in critical care ever since. While

We try not to get too political on our posts, but there is something in our current local elections that we'd like to ask you to consider. Proposition 5 calls for the sales tax revenue collected on sporting goods and outdoor equipment (like bikes) to be specifically earmarked for repairing and maintaining Texas state parks, and we fully support that initiative. Our beautiful park system is currently underfunded and in disrepair, and if we're forced to be tax collectors for the state, we'd really like to see that money being used to maintain our parks. You can find more information by following the link below, and remember as always that having an opinion only counts if you actually go and vote. Thanks!

Texas Proposition 5, Sales Tax on Sporting Goods Dedicated to Parks, Wildlife, and Historical Agencies Amendment (2019) - Ballotpedia Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics