New York City, b. 5.March.1956 - d.
17.December.2015, Heart Attack, Mother's Messengers.
Legendary New York City bike messenger Steve Athineos passed away on
December 17, 2015 after a heart attack. Steve was a long time
messenger and messenger company owner. He led the successful battle
against Mayor Ed Koch's proposed daytime bike ban on Fifth, Park and
Madison Avenues that would have made it difficult for bike
messengers to continue to work.
“Our streetwise Dionysian godhead,” is how one veteran of the 1987
Midtown bike ban protests described Stephen Athineos, who died
yesterday of a heart attack in Inwood, where he lived.
Amen. You could also call Steve “the man who saved NYC cycling.”
Without his charismatic field generalship, the rolling
demonstrations that mesmerized the city in the weeks after Mayor Ed
Koch disclosed his intent to ban cycling on Fifth, Madison, and Park
Avenues might have sputtered and died. Without that “bicycle
uprising,” as I’ve called it, the open eyes with which New Yorkers
regarded bike messengering and all bicycling that summer would have
remained closed. And the lawsuit that blocked the ban, with Steve as
a plaintiff, might have been summarily tossed out of State Supreme
Court as an irrelevance.
A confession: I doctored the quote at the top. In her fond look back
at the bike ban protests, which she published in Bicycle USA
magazine in 1989, Mary Frances Dunham actually called Steve “our
streetwise Dionysian figurehead.”
Steve wasn’t a figurehead in the sense of a “nominal leader without
real power.” But he did fit another sense of the word, one that
denotes “a bust or full-length figure set at the prow of a sailing
ship.” Steve was, that whole uproarious summer, both seemingly
carved from stone and alive as any human could be, with a dancer’s
grace, an athlete’s swagger, a cascade of tumbling hair, and a
forehead brimming with intelligence and conviction.
"We are truly saddened of the loss of a
great man it is a sad day in the Messenger world my deepest
condolences to your family rest in peace Stephen Athineos we salute
you from PISTOLA, Paul Negro, Edwin Man, Edwin Campos, Kenyatta
& Doug green Team X-MEN until we ride again RIP My ROAD WARRIOR
BROTHER". - Pistola Negron
"I'm lost in words right now.... Steve my brother . ... I love you
and never could imagine that i could lose a true friend like you.
You always motivated me in so many levels.... calling me
Smurfologist... making me feel like i was a big part in your plans
as the best messenger company in NYC... you led the way amd showed
me true leadership . ... you have had a huge impact on my life and I
will forever make your name known to my kids. Steve you are a legend
to me and this is heartbreaking to the highest level. My condolences
go out to the Greek family..... I will always have you in my mind
Steve. RIP.... God bless you my brother" - Edwin Campos
"Lost another great friend.Stephen Athineos, you'll never be
forgotten. The guy loved cycling and was a true leader in the NYC
bicycle messenger world. We saved each others lives on numerous
occasions. We battled the mayor in the 80's when the city chose to
crack down on messengers. I loved seeing him in movies about bike
messengers because I knew he'd get the story right. He encouraged me
when I was gonna turn pro. He is what I want to remember, when it
comes to those deadly days. Too many stories to tell. If you were a
messenger in NYC during the 80's-90's, you know what kind of man he
was!!!
See ya at the heavenly cross roads bro!!!" - James Bethea
"I didn't know. Stunned and upset. How
unfair life is didn't need to slap us in the face this way. Steve.
Stephen Athineos dying is one of those things that makes life less
rewarding than it should be. Of course we weren't as close as we
should have been having both been busy etc. But at whatever points
he was in my life that grin of his was so charming. Keep messenging
Steve. You're still the man."
On July 22, 1987, Mayor Koch stood on the steps of City Hall flanked
by his police and transportation commissioners and declared that
bicycling would be banned on Fifth, Park, and Madison from 31st to
59th Streets, Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm, starting in September. The
ban was a clear attack on bike messengers, who were being
scapegoated in the press for the dangerous and congested streets of
NYC. Any unbiased observer could see (and still can) that the actual
cause of danger and congestion in our city's streets was
automobiles. Fortunately, this unfair treatment of one subgroup of
cyclist struck a nerve among many others – from activists to
commuters to recreational riders – and brought together the cycling
community in a spirit of direct action that helped usher in an era
of victories for a livable city.
That spirit of direct action rose, as it always does, from the
streets. Steve Athineos, a three-year veteran of bicycle
messengering in NYC at the time, recently told me his version of
what happened 25 years ago. One day in July he was cycling up Park
Avenue, delivering a package, when a car sped past him and turned
right into his bicycle and his body – an image all too familiar to
any of us who regularly ride in New York City. He sat on the
sidewalk bruised and bleeding as the police came, checked to make
sure the driver wasn't too shaken up, then left without asking him
any questions about the event or his injuries – another
all-too-familiar experience for New York City cyclists. He rode down
to the park on the SE corner of Houston and 6th Avenue, where
messengers met daily to decompress and share stories. When Steve
complained about the reckless driver and negligent police, several
other messengers told similar tales, and their mutual discontent
inspired them to rise up and take the streets. Six of them rode
side-by-side up Sixth Avenue and forced traffic to slow down behind
them all the way to Central Park.
