Nobody mentions the people who actually visit the cemetary on a bike. I participated in a bike procession to a cemetary for a memorial service a few years back. The West Hills needs bike infrastructure and it’s on the agenda for the Bicycle Master Plan. I don’t know that area very well, but I hope that the consideration for the future includes a bypass route for those just passing through the cemetary. Until separated bikeways are built alongside the roads nearby that were only built for cars, this seems to be the best solution for safety, not trying to assert the so-called “superiority” of the automobile or escalating the “us vs them” mentality at a time when more people are considering biking for all the right reasons. Those who continue to fight the paradigm change will be those who get left behind on the evolutionary path.

As local government strategy to relieve traffic congestion, having people work two decades to be able to live where they can easily bike to work probably isn’t adequate. Since the discussion is about roads that are a commute route for at least some of the people using them, a good route over the hill, available now, rather than 20 years from now, is quite an asset for the area.

A few people commenting in response to previous threads on this subject have offered an alternative route to both the cemetery and Taylors Ferry on existing streets; maybe it’s good…I can’t remember detail of the route well enough, so can’t say.

For an alternative route to Taylor’s Ferry, someone else mentioned forested, undeveloped land adjacent to TF, that the cemetery owns; one guess as to what the cemetery has in mind for that land eventually.

With land in the area already platted out, owned and much of it developed, it’s likely to be very difficult and expensive to lay out and build a new, great route up over the hills. That leaves Riverview’s roads. Fortunately, the number of bikes using those roads doesn’t presently seem to be so great as to be an issue in itself. At least no word yet on that issue from the cemetery.

Riverview’s board shouldn’t have to deal with this dilemma…but that’s where they’re at. Quite a number of people seem to understand their dilemma and are willing to help them work on the situation. Everything could turn out well.

The effort to change my life to a more manageable size and scale took me twenty years, a dozen different jobs and a lot of work. I apologize if I made it sound like a walk in the park. It wasn’t and it isn’t today.

I recognize that not everyone may be able to choose a life centered around urban density and shorter distances to everything as I have done. But I firmly believe — without apology — that those who CAN choose it should, and perhaps even MUST, for the sake of the community, the country and the planet.
If that makes me a radical I can live with it.

As for Riverview’s decision, I think it’s tremendous that the board is willing to continue to work with people who ride their bikes through the cemetery. But the burden for this dilemma shouldn’t be placed upon the Riverview board. It needs to be the job of government to create infrastructure that is truly usable, and useful, for citizens. That private lands appears to be the only way down the hill for folks int hat area seems ludicrous, and city and county governments MUST step in to provide a public solution.

Back in the day, I would think that horses, mules and oxen pulling heavy loads would have preferred the easier climb of Riverview’s roads to the steep grade of Taylor’s Ferry road. Lots of reasons; engineering logistics, property ownership issues, and more, probably had to do with the route up the hill being the ski-run like Taylor’s Ferry Road.

beth h, you and your partners choice and planning in terms of deciding where to live is admirable. Able to buy a house? Nice! Some of us have to rent what we can get, where we can get it.

A decent paying job in the same general neighborhood? Even better! A lot of people seem to have to take jobs that aren’t on the same side of the hill as where they live. That can be annoying if you’re the type of person that believes in leaving a low carbon footprint on the earth.

I’d bet you that many of the people climbing Taylors Ferry, Jefferson up through the Washington Park, or Vista up towards Council Crest aren’t actually living in the West Hills in some nice house with a view over the valley. Many of those riding are likely people that are living down in the valley in dinky little places somewhat like I live in.

If people are willing to keep fit and relieve pressure on the transportation system by pedaling up over the hill between Portland and the western suburbs, it certainly seems like a good idea to encourage this. However consciously it may be doing so, Riverview Cemetery certainly seems to contributing to that effort.

That’s a nice thing for them to do. I would like to think Riverview could be helped in some way to keep their roads safely open to people through commuting hours.

Think of it this way: How happy do you think the owners of this admittedly private road would be if more car drivers decided to use this road as part of their commute? You’d be certain to see the gates manned by a guard who would stop you and ask your business before opening the gate to allow you to enter the grounds.

I suppose the cemetery Board could have gone that route.

IT’S PRIVATE LAND, people. Time to step up and start lobbying the City of Portland to create bike infrastructure out here, instead of relying on private landowners to give you all-hours access to their property.

I’d suggest that the BTA could help you out, but I think the cemetery is too close to the Portland city border, so you may not get anything from them.

Then I moved.

Suddenly, although my commute was approximately twenty minutes longer than before, I had many more route choices available to me than before and felt MUCH safer — and calmer — while using my bike as primary transportation.

Not to be a stick in the mud here, but people who complain about having no safe way to ride their bikes to and from without going through the cemetery should consider where they live and work. If you live and work in the west hills, where bicycle route options are ridiculous at best and dangerous at worst — and where radical change in this reality seems unlikely because of topography and development concerns — then maybe it’s time to consider how important bicycling is to you.

In a car-centric landscape, not every road is equally suitable — or even advisable — for bicyclists’ use. If dedicated bike-riders concentrate themselves in bike-friendly parts of town and demand amenities, city and county governments will have to listen, as evidenced by the changes to the landscape in inner eastside Portland over the last five years.

Of course, life in the West Hills is not conducive to the kind of density that would in turn be conducive to lives lived on a more intimate, human scale — which is why, when my partner and I bought a house six years ago, we made sure it was in a place where I could ride my bike to nearly everything that mattered — work, stores, farmers’ markets and even my house of worship. Location matters in creating the kind of urban density that will foster that human scale.

If the cemetery board is ultimately forced by circumstances (or their legal department) to close access entirely, what will those living in the West Hills do then?