Safety threat or sign of summer? Tensions rise over Baltimore’s dirt bike culture

The rumbling of dirt bikes has long been a sign of summer in Baltimore.

So are the complaints about them.

The decades-long debate over dirt biking repeats the same pattern almost every year: The days get warmer, the bikers take to the streets and the Baltimore Police Department cracks down.

This month, Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley vowed to go after the bikers during a budget meeting. One biker said there has been a slowdown in riding since the police commissioner’s statements.

The issue has polarized Baltimore residents. Some are fearful of the safety hazards bikers present and resentful of the noise they create. Others view it as part of Baltimore’s culture and a means of community building.

Dirt biking is illegal in Baltimore, and those caught riding on city streets face misdemeanor charges that come with $1,000 fines or up to 90 days in prison. Even so, many Baltimoreans grew up with dirt bikes in their neighborhoods.

There’s a similar street bike culture in other places, like in Philadelphia, Atlanta and other major cities. But Baltimore’s has risen to such fame that some of its “top surfers” have been featured in brand advertisements, most recently with Nike for their Air Max 95 shoes “forged from the strength of community, bike life around the I-95 highway, and the streets of Baltimore.” The dirt bikers were also the centerpiece of paintings by artist Amy Sherald, who used bikers from the city as her models.

A dirt biker and photographer who goes by Hoodie Visuals said he used to beg his mom to take him to Hip Hop Fish & Chicken on Reisterstown Road as a child in the summer because he knew the dirt bikers would hang out there. In his native Park Heights, the now 23-year-old said kids would line the streets and watch bikers drive by and pop wheelies. Some veterans would teach kids how to ride or fix bikes.

“It brings a lot of people together,” said Hoodie Visuals, who requested to only be referred to his more commonly-used nickname out of fear of reprisal from law enforcement. “The love I had for it was crazy.”

But for other Baltimore residents, dirt biking is a less familiar pastime and an increasingly disturbing trend. Charlene Pittman, a 70-year-old raised in Morrell Park, said the sound of engines revving outside of her senior living facility on Light Street is unbearable.

“There’s people here older than I am not sleeping, it’s just affected everybody all around,” she said, adding that people in her building are exhausted and feel like “zombies” because of the sounds of dirt bikes throughout the night.

Pittman was one of a couple dozen residents who attended a Federal Hill community meeting in mid-May hosted by city leaders and the nonprofit B-360, an organization that teaches skills in science, technology, engineering and math skills through dirt bikes to Baltimore’s youth.

The meeting turned heated within minutes. One person threatened violence against dirt bikers that she said were riding on the sidewalks outside of her home. Pittman said the threats “were not right” but the tenor of the meeting was a sign of “how fed up some people are getting.”

Baltimoreans differ over possible solutions

Several others expressed broader concerns about the bikers riding on sidewalks, swerving in-and-out of traffic, running through red lights and potentially causing accidents. So far this year, there have been at least 32 collisions involving dirt bikes in the city, according to data from the Baltimore Police Department.

Brittany Young, the founder of B-360, was one of the handful of leaders fielding questions in the community meeting. Young told The Banner she has attended several community meetings in recent years to propose solutions. At the May meeting, Young recommended installing speed bumps on the roads or blocking off the streets in the evenings so there is only one way in and out, like in Fell’s Point. She said she hasn’t heard back since the meeting.

Young said she advocates for safe dirt biking that takes riders out of traffic in Baltimore. She said she is against “any solutions that result in people going to jail for nonviolent offenses,” including the current law.

Her advocacy comes from a personal place. The 37-year-old founder grew up in Park Heights watching dirt bikers ride in parks or on closed off streets. It was a summer tradition she, and many of her neighbors, enjoyed.

“Riders used to ride in Druid Hill Park,” Young said, adding that a legal crackdown on riding in the park pushed many bikers onto the streets in the 2010s. “Our bottom line is, we want things to be safe, we want to help as many people get out of traffic as possible by having a dedicated space.”

From June through August, B-360 is providing a space for young bikers at the sprawling field behind Frank C. Bocek Recreation Center in Madison-Eastend to host a summer camp that teaches children, some as young as 4 years old, how to ride dirt bikes while exposing them to career and technical skills. Some former campers have returned as instructors.

Some Federal Hill residents oppose the organization, including one woman at the community meeting who said it encouraged kids to partake in illegal behavior that was endangering the community.

Andy Harrison, who has lived in Federal Hill since 1999, said he has only had issues with bikers in recent years, saying larger groups ride down the streets at high speeds “popping wheelies coming directly at you.”

“The goal is to have no one hurt,” said Harrison, who added that having a separate dirt bike park or a solution that makes everyone happy would be ideal, “but it’s not going to win you any friends breaking the law.”

He hopes the police will continue to enforce the law and crack down on street bikers to discourage them.

But even though dirt biking is outlawed, it persists, Young pointed out.

“It’s a part of Baltimore’s culture, so it’s not going anywhere,” Young said. “If Baltimore is going to keep moving forward, and we know this is a part of Baltimore’s culture, is how do we put it on the side that yields sustainability?”

Clashes continue between police and bikers

In May, a dirt biker was killed after a collision with an SUV. Then in early June, a Baltimore Police officer was hospitalized after being hit by a dirt biker. Worley said at his department’s budget meeting in early June that he “can’t stand” the bikers.

“They are a nuisance to the city, and we are going to do our best,” he said. “Unfortunately, we can’t chase them. They know that. They taunt us.”

Officers have been using helicopters and drones to track dirt bikers down. Several people have had their dirt bikes and ATVS seized this summer, both in parks where people are riding and with search warrants.

Hoodie Visuals, the 23-year-old who grew up watching street bikers and now rides as well, said he had heard about the officer who was hit, and he wished the biker would have stayed away from the officer that night.

He said there has been a “major” slowdown in riding since then as Baltimore Police have ramped up enforcement measures against the bikers. Hoodie Visuals said he has stopped riding for now because he fears the heightened tension between police and riders could put pedestrians and the public at a higher risk. He said police ride behind bikers and wait for them to stop or mess up, and bikers run red lights to avoid getting stopped and having their bikes seized.

But he said he wants people to know that dirt bikers are not dangerous people, and the reason many of them go out to ride is “to clear their mind, relieve stress, basically, for the love of the city.”

“Once the city leaders come together and give us a dirt bike park, we’ll stay out the way,” said Hoodie Visuals, adding that he wishes the city would “let them ride in certain areas until we get a dirt bike park.”

“There’s a lot of people that want to see the dirt bikes,” he said. “Taking it away from Baltimore city is kind of like taking away a piece of Baltimore.”

Banner reporter Alex Mann contributed to this article.