Resident urges action on e‑bike activity along Chandler canal, asks city attorney for legal guidance

A Chandler resident urged council to address safety and enforcement questions related to electric bicycles on the city canal during the council’s public comment period on June 26.

Brook Beal of 85 West Teakwood Place said he has reported repeated incidents of a person riding an electric bike on the canal at about the same time each day and disputed a council remark that roughly 124 reports had been made on the subject. “It’s not quite accurate. I reported probably between 405 hundred over the past 2 and a half years,” Beal said. (Transcript language was unclear; Beal stated a much larger number than 124 and described multiple reports over the past two-and-a-half years.)

Beal also said police Chief Chapman had been asked whether the canal is safe and that the chief had replied it was. “Safe is not the same as lucky,” Beal said, arguing that repeated near‑misses or recurring behavior require attention rather than relying on the absence of prior accidents.

Beal told the council he had used the city’s nonemergency line multiple times — reporting on June 19, then again on June 20, 21, 22, 23, 25 and June 26 — and that the same individual appeared in each of those daily reports between about 03:53 and 03:57. He said he had not been able to locate the eight verbal warnings staff referenced on the city’s request‑for‑service app and noted the app’s records had not been updated since June 17.

Beal said he requested the city attorney prepare guidance on where electric bikes are lawful across city property — not only in parks and streets but on sidewalks and other areas — and said the city attorney had told him she would make that report available.

No council action was taken during the public comment item; Beal’s remarks were recorded as citizen comment and a request for clarification and a legal summary from the city attorney.