11 June 2008 Archives

Man on a bike is tackled, then tasered by Portland Police

Photo from the scene at SE 7th and Alder
last night.
(Photo: Ian Stude)

A Portland man says he was tackled, pushed off his bike, and then tasered repeatedly by a Portland Police officer in Southeast Portland last night.

The Portland Police Bureau, in a written statement about the incident, say that Phil Sano (a.k.a. “Rev Phil”) did not have a front light on his bicycle and that he refused to stop when officers requested.

The incident occurred around 9:30pm on SE 7th Street, just north of SE Morrison Ave. Phil Sano says he was riding along and felt cold, so he went to zip up his jacket. Then, in an email he sent me just hours after the incident, he wrote,

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Bamboo Trailer Builder Elden Clarke-1-3.jpg

A bamboo trailer built in North Portland by
Elden Clark (notice the bottle-capped screw heads).
(Photos © J. Maus unless otherwise noted)

North Portland resident Elden Clark hopes to turn his love for building bamboo bicycle trailers into a business.

I first spotted Clark’s work on a flyer he’d posted outside of a bike shop. Then yesterday, as I rode home through the Boise-Eliot neighborhood, I saw a bamboo trailer and stopped to check it out. No one was around, so I rang my bike bell and sure enough, out walked the man from the flyer.

This morning I stopped by TriMet’s test of new bike access options through the Rose Quarter Transit Center this morning.

When I rolled up I was greeted by City of Portland bike coordinator Roger Geller and TriMet’s manager of capital projects Young Park. They offered a more detailed explanation of their concepts for safely and efficiently moving bikes through the Transit Center (bikes are currently prohibited from the area).

“We will urge City Council not to write a blank check for a project that doesn’t meet the criteria we believe any new bridge should meet.”
–Planning Commission member Catherine Ciarlo

The nine-member Portland Planning Commission met last night to draw up their recommendations to Portland City Council on the $4.2 billion Columbia River Crossing project. City Council — one of eight agencies with veto power over the project — is set to vote on the project July 9th.

In a letter drafted by the Commission that is being sent to Mayor Potter and the Council, the Planning Commission says that while they believe a replacement bridge is necessary for safety, seismic, congestion mitigation and freight movement, they also have “serious concerns about the bridge design we have seen to date, and how it would impact the Portland metro area.”

Man on a bike is tackled, then tasered by Portland Police

Want sustainable transportation? How about a bamboo bike trailer?

A closer look at TriMet’s Rose Quarter bike access test

Planning Commission to City Council: “We have serious concerns” about CRC project

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