(Photos © J. Maus)
Businesses on lower Burnside now have more parking for their bike riding customers. The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) just unveiled four new on-street bike parking corrals in the area, bringing their total citywide to 40 corrals and 780 spaces.
The latest corrals have gone in outside Rontoms on SE 6th Ave, on SE 7th Ave outside Grendel’s Coffee, on SE 9th adjacent to Doug Fir, and in front of Biwa Restaurant on SE Ash (at SE 9th).
Biwa owner Gabe Rosen has been asking PBOT for a bike corral since June. He even had riders on the Tapas Ride sign up for an email list to help him get the city’s attention.
At Grendel’s, a barista who goes by “Rabbit” told us this morning that she’s glad there are finally more places for bikes to park. “We love it. All these bikes pile up out here [gesturing to the bikes locked haphazardly on the sidewalk outside the cafe]. Some even get hit by cars that park too close to them.” Another barista chimed in that he wishes the corrals would be placed on the busy street (Burnside), instead of the side street. “I feel bad for the people that have cars [above them are apartments], parking is already very tough around here.”
Learn more about PBOT’s on-street bike corrals on their website and browse our preview coverage of bike parking in the archives.
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Good spot for it, it’s a pretty hopping area down there, it seems. Really need to go try out Biwa one of these times.
Really bad spot for bike theft. Came out of a show a while back to find someone tried to cut my U-lock. They slashed both my tires, stole my frame pad, and cut up my saddle.
#2 Brian makes a good point. I rode to Doug Fir once to meet someone for drinks and I made sure we sat at the window shown in the photo to keep one eye on my bike.
Not sure this will make much of any difference until the Doug Fir hires security to watch around their premises outside. Like hell am I parking there!
I’ve parked at the Doug Fir countless ties and have never had anything tampered with. Stoked there’s a corral now though, it wasn’t ever fun trying to squeeze into the whoopty-do style racks.
The constant flow of people locking and removing their bikes at the corral will serve as a strong deterrent to bike thiefs. Unlike a dark alley with no witnesses, the constant flow of people will let thiefs know that if they try to steal a bike, they will be seen and caught.
Furthermore, the Doug Fir should take steps to protect its clientele – it’s good for business. I certainly will be more hesitant to go to a show after hearing Brian’s story.
They need bike parking by the Roseland and the Crystal Ballroom too. My earlier suggestion that parking lots dedicate one car spot for bicycles, near the ticket booth, would solve some theft/vandalism problems. When visiting the Roseland I park my bike inside the gas station across the street.I don’t even put a lock on it, they watch the bike all night for a couple dollars, never had a problem.
Yes! Much needed addition to this neighborhood. Bike parking at Doug Fir has been a joke for the past few years, particularly after they removed their own on-site bike parking, to everyone’s consternation. We haven’t seen so many shows there recently, because bike parking is just such a hassle for that venue. Glad to see this has now been remedied! Thankyou!
Yay! They REALLY needed this! There wasn’t enough trees and signs to accommodate.
I’ve actually seen a perplexed cyclist trying to dig out his bike from under layers upon layers of locked bikes to get to his bike.
Hats off to Doug Fir!