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@Wrongcog
You know - in all truth I've often wondered about the long term nature of ghost bikes. It's not the actual permanence of a memorial that I find difficult, quite the opposite. Over time they start to look quite unloved. The bike in question is usually well attended and still gets me every time I pass it. But an actual bike and flowers left in the elements starts to look a bit, well... forgotten. Which I always feel is a bit ironic and sad. As creative types I imagine it might be possible for us to come up with a commonly recognised icon, structure, road painting or something which would stand the test of time. Am I way out on this? My thoughts being that these 'icons' could and of course would be personalised and maintained by friends and family of the rider as they saw fit, but that the piece would have more longevity.
I find it tragic that in this case the motivation for the request to remove is one of a local person being haunted by this terrible event. I feel for them - I really do. It strikes me though that we are confronted with memorials to events which may disturb us daily. If not in actuality then in the media. One way or another, surely there is a way to preserve the memory of events such as this in a beautiful and appropriate way?
If the forum feels that my ruminations on the subject are inappropriate in this thread then give me a heads up and I'll either delete my thoughts or shift them into a more general place.
Love to Shiv Watson whose memory will very certainly remain whether this particular bike is there or not. And love of course to all affected by tragedies such as this just because their loved one was trying to get around.