Maintenance staff from the McMenamins company allegedly cut the Tracey Sparling ghost bike from outside the Crystal Ballroom early this morning:

SPARLING BIKE: Photo courtesy of Crystal Ballroom box office staffer Tony Cameron...

Maintenance staffers from McMenamins first started talking about clipping the bike two weeks ago, says Crystal box office staffer Tony Cameron.

"I saw them lingering outside, pointing at the bike, and I asked them what they were doing," says Cameron. "I said, don't cut that bike off, dude, we have a young girl's family to consider, and a bicyclist community."

"They were a little in disagreement with me," says Cameron, "and then they said 'Brian [McMenamin] said "make it gone"'."

Cameron decided to call the Mercury because he thinks the move is "morally incorrect and inconsiderate" on the part of McMenamins. "If they can me for this, it'll be poetic justice, anyway," he says.

"I don't know. From a business person's perspective I can see that it might look like a piece of detritus, but I don't think it's McMenamins' decision, honestly," says Cameron.

Sparling, 19, was killed on her bike outside the Crystal in a collision with a cement truck driver on October 11, 2007. The District Attorney's office declined prosecution of the driver in the case.

"We were planning to go up there this weekend and put our Easter decorations on it," says Sparling's aunt, Susan Kubota. "I'm going to have to let [Sparling's mother, Sophie] know that we're not going to be doing that, now."

Kubota says the bike gave her comfort, when she drove through the intersection.

"It was a comforting distraction, something to bring flowers to," says Kubota. "Since I have to drive through that intersection quite frequently, which the first time was extremely painful, the bike at least gave me some kind of focus."

Sparling is buried in Salem, so Kubota says it was comforting to have a memorial in Portland. "I realized it wouldn't be able to stay there forever," she says. "But my sister and I used to regularly clean it up and decorate it and keep it looking nice so that hopefully it could stay there a little longer."

Kubota had some spring flowers, some artificial garlands, and a wreath with easter eggs on it, ready to place on the bike next weekend. "I guess I won't be needing them," she says. "This really is extremely disappointing. It's surprisingly distressing to learn about."

Carl Larson placed the ghost bike with his own lock, back in 2007, and is philosophical about it being removed.

"If we had a ghost bike up on every road where every biker was ever killed, you wouldn't be able to walk down the sidewalk," he says. "They last as long as they last, and I'm impressed that this one lasted as long as it did."

Larson admits he's a "little surprised nobody from McMenamins tried to contact us," but says the Ghost bikes "serve an immediate value for people."

"It's somewhere for people to put their candles and flowers, but they're part of the streetscape," says Larson. "And the streetscape changes. They come and go."

A ghost bike on Interstate for Brett Jarolimek, who died 11 days after Sparling in 2007, was stolen in 2008. Portland recently instituted new green "bike boxes" in an effort to reduce collisions between bicyclists and traffic turning right.

Portland's other ghost bikes have come and gone, says Larson.

"I've thought about taking them down," Larson continues. "But I really feel like once it's up, it's up to the public what to do with them. With this one, it didn't come down too soon, put it that way."

"They're ephemeral by nature," says Bikeportland editor Jonathan Maus. "But each one of them has their own context. I know that that one is extra important for certain people. I know that [Sparling's] family kept it up very well and left flowers by it."

"I think it's a bad move," Maus continues. "It's going to be a bad publicity thing for the business, overall, and I don't see the harm in having it there. I think it's a good reminder for folks."

McMenamins spokesperson Renee Rank is yet to return a call for comment. No managers at the Crystal Ballroom were immediately available for comment.