4 March 2009 Archives

Bike Gallery named Platinum-level bike friendly business

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Bike Gallery owner Jay Graves
working on a bike during the
Cycle Oregon weekend ride last
summer.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Bike Gallery — a company that runs six bike shops in the Portland area — has been named a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business by the League of American Bicyclists.

The family-run shops, now headed by Jay Graves, are one of only two businesses in the country to achieve the Platinum designation, which — similar to their Bicycle Friendly Community program — is the League’s highest honor (the other is New Belgium Brewing based in Colorado).

The Bicycle Friendly Business program is in its second year and 34 businesses have been chosen so far. Other Portland area businesses that have been recognized through this program are; Alta Planning + Design (Gold), Portland Providence Medical Center (Silver), and Beaverton-based Easystreet Online Services (Bronze).

Mayor Adams (L) and Vancouver
Mayor Royce Pollard before a
CRC meeting in February 2007.
(Photo © J. Maus)

On Friday, the Columbia River Crossing Project Sponsors Council will meet to solidify the lane configuration of the new I-5 bridge. According to a press release sent out by the CRC project, the meeting will result in “a recommendation on the number of add/drop (auxiliary) lanes on Interstate 5 in the CRC project area.”

There has been a lot of public and media attention given to the CRC lane decision after Mayor Adams and Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard put forth a compromise lane proposal last week.

That proposal was supported 4-1 by the Portland City Council, giving Mayor Adams the authorization to vote “yes” on a bridge that could accomodate up to 12 lanes (although there’s no specific mention of 12 lanes in the CRC press release).

Flyer for ’09 event.
–Download PDF, 150K-)

When organizers of the “De Ronde van Oeste Portlandia” (or, Tour of West Portland) first did the ride back in 2007, they were shocked when 100 people showed up.

Last year, despite the guarantee of 8,000 of climbing (depending on whose GPS you looked at) over 45 miles, an estimated 400 people showed up on a rainy day to challenge themselves on the steep and unforgiving course.

Police Officer Robert Pickett (in jacket, left)
was one of about 50 who showed
up for our second monthly Get Together
event last night.
(Photos © J. Maus)

I think this “Get Together” idea just might have some legs. I honestly did not expect many people to show up, but I was very pleasantly surprised when about 50 people came out to the Lucky Lab in Multnomah Village last night just to talk bikes.

You don’t hear about it as much as inner southeast and other neighborhoods closer to the city, but there is clearly a big, pent-up demand and lots of energy for biking in outer southwest. The turnout last night — both in quantity of people and the quality of the conversations — was a testament to that.

Mayor publishes statement on bikes and the budget

“I believe in bicycling. Investing in bicycle projects in Portland makes the city a safer, greener, healthier place.”
— Mayor Sam Adams

In a statement just published on his website, Mayor Sam Adams has responded to concerns from Portlanders about the Bureau of Transportation’s requested budget for 2009-2010. As we’ve reported, PBOT’s budget puts a high priority on arterial paving and is slim on bike project funding. It also includes a budget revision that would scale back funding at the Transportation Options division and the Safe Routes to Schools program would take 40% hit.

Adams has just posted a statement about this on his website. Here’s the full text:

An “insane accident” says the victim.
(Photo: Marion Rice)

The victim of the crash at NW Lovejoy and 9th yesterday morning, left a comment last night saying she has been discharged from the hospital and has suffered no major injuries. The woman’s name is Asha and she’s a student at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA).

(PNCA, you might recall, was the school of both Brett Jarolimek and Tracey Sparling, both of whom lost their lives in October from right-hook crashes.)

From witness accounts and police statements on the scene, we had feared much worse, so this is welcome news.

Bike Gallery named Platinum-level bike friendly business

Key CRC decision coming Friday

Details on the 2009 De Ronde van Oeste Portlandia

Talking bikes in Multnomah Village

Mayor publishes statement on bikes and the budget

Lovejoy crash victim says she’s “miraculously fine” (updated)

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