Beatrice, the battered blue bike stolen from outside the Portland Building last week, is back in the hands of her owner, Portland Bureau of Transportation Director Leah Treat.
Treat broke the news herself on Twitter, early this afternoon:
Beatrice is back! PBOT crew was cleaning homeless camp with @portlandpolice Man rode up on my stolen bicycle. Busted! #ppbismyhero
— Leah Treat (@leahtreat) September 12, 2013
It was the third time Treat and her bike have been reunited after a theft. In the first case, it was stolen from her D.C. garage along with other items, then recovered. Later, in Chicago, it had been swiped from her garage where it was U-locked to other bikes. In this case, she’d left it overnight in the covered bike parking near her downtown office.
“I now know that wasn’t such a smart thing to do,” Treat wrote in an email to BikePortland Monday. She later added in a comment: “I have invested in a much better lock but have been advised by police that they’ve got video of thieves cutting just about every lock made. Please keep track of your serial numbers and take pictures of your bike. Update those photos anytime you change a significant feature.”
Update: In another development since our Monday article, Treat’s description of her spouse in her Twitter profile seems to have returned to an earlier word choice, from “artsy, intellectual cyclist” back to “artsy, intellectual, bike fanatic.” We’re happy with whatever they want to call each other, of course.