The bill would open up the Oregon
market for personal car sharing
services like Getaround.

HB 3149, a bill that would make it easier for personal car-sharing programs to start in Oregon, passed the House Transportation and Economic Development Committee by a vote of 7-1 yesterday. As we shared last fall, “peer-to-peer” car-sharing is a growing trend across the U.S. and there’s a lot of potential for more of it in Oregon.

The bill itself would make the practice easier by prohibiting insurance companies from cancelling or altering a policy simply because the vehicle is a part of a personal vehicle sharing network.

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[Publisher’s note: The report below was written by Carolyn Szczepanski, communications coordinator at the Alliance for Biking and Walking. It was published on their blog this morning and we’ve re-posted it below with Ms. Szczepanski’s permission. The story has been edited for brevity. — JM]

NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan
and Congressman Earl Blumenauer at the
National Bike Summit yesterday.
(Photo: Chris Eichler)

Wearing his signature bow tie and Velcro strap around his pant leg, Congressman Earl Blumenauer arced his arms over his head and brought his palms together as if beginning a yoga workshop, not a plenary address. Looking out at the more than 700 bicycle advocates gathered at the Grand Hyatt in Washington, DC, the Democrat from Oregon barely cracked a smile as he asked the crowd to repeat after him.

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Funny, yes; but is it good or bad for business?
(Photo: IFC)

Bicycling and the culture that has sprung up around it in Portland is a major part of our city’s brand. People move here because of our bike-friendly reputation — whether they’re drawn to mundane things like our great bike parking and bikeway network or more attention-grabbing things like our record-breaking annual World Naked Bike Ride.

With bikes featured front and center in the surprise success of the IFC mini-series Portlandia, that reputation is now stronger than ever.

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Detail of map showing projects that would
be funded by new tax district.
– PDF of larger map –

Next month, the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation hopes to bring a plan to City Council that would create a new “Transportation System Development Charge (TSDC) Overlay District.” TSDCs are taxes levied on real estate developers that are calculated based on new traffic their properties are expected to generate. The funds are then used on infrastructure projects that increase traffic capacity.

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Year: 2005
Brand: LeMond
Model: Tourmalet
Color:Blue/Black
Size:58″
Photo: http://www.bicycle7.com/bike-part/LEMOND-TOURMALET-BIKE-05_B7_97.html
Stolen in Portland, OR 97240
Stolen:2011-03-9
Stolen From: Pacific Building, 815 SW 6th Ave, downtown in between yamhill and taylor
Neighborhood: Downtown
Owner: Charles Tuggle
OwnerEmail: tuggle.charles@gmail.com
Reward: YES
Description: Blue Black color scheme. All stock except for tan bar tape, black rear fender, and crank brothers pedals
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: 11-151231
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

Oregonians Robert Ping (L), Gerik Kransky, Jerry Norquist and Veronica Rinard during Capitol Hill lobbying day at the National Bike Summit last year.
(Photo © J. Maus)

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Jude Kirstein in her shop.
(Photos © Russ Roca)

Portlander Jude Kirstein, who has spent two years making Epic Wheel Works a successful wheel building business, has decided to change the name of her company after finding out that Specialized Bicycle Components would enforce its trademark rights based on their use of the “Epic” brand.

Kirstein launched her wheel building business in 2009 out of a tiny, 64 square-foot shop in Southeast Portland. Despite a daunting economy and the niche focus of her business, her hard work was starting to pay off. Kirstein recently made her first hire and with a growing customer list, she has long outgrown her tiny space. In a big move for a small business, she plans to move into a new storefront in the coming weeks.

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PBOT’s Greg Raisman shared a list of new
neighborhood greenway projects last night.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) released a new list of potential neighborhood greenways last night. The list of projects represents the third phase of implementation in PBOT’s ongoing effort to create a complete network of low-stress, family-friendly bikeways.

Below is the list (and a detailed map) as it was presented to the Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee last night:

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Portland’s bike polo players and advocates have been selected to host a qualifying tournament for the Cascadia region. Bike polo teams from across the Pacific Northwest will come to Portland May 21-22 for the event. To help with event costs, Portland Bike Polo is selling banner space on billboards that will be placed around their court at Rose City Park. See the image above for more details and email cecilyu [at] gmail [dot] com to purchase space and ask questions.

BikePortland has already bought some space. Bike polo is a growing and very awesome sport and it deserves our support! Learn more about the local polo scene in our recent photo essay or in an article we published last April, Bike polo grows up in Portland (and beyond)

HB 3150, a bill that would give every city in Oregon the authority to reduce speed limits on “neighborhood greenways” to 20 mph, just passed the Oregon House by a vote of 45-14.

The bill came out of committee last week with a few no votes from lawmakers who said they were concerned about the wording of the bill. Rep. Shawn Lindsay (R-Hillsboro) said he wanted “neighborhood greenway” changed to “neighborhood byway” (to avoid “greenwashing” a public safety bill). Lindsay said he voted no after House committee chairs decided to move forward with a vote without the “byway” amendment.

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