Portland Mayor Charlie Hales biked into work today. That should not be a headline; but it is.
Month: August 2015
Where flailing is an option: My day at a local team’s cyclocross clinic
Vancouver plans its first raised bike lane
Portland’s neighbors to the north are planning a project that could set an important precedent in Clark County: a street rebuild that’s currently set to include a raised, protected bike lane.
It’s part of the planned expansion of SE 1st Street between 164th and 177th avenues, which is currently a two-lane street. The changes would add six-foot-wide sidewalks, raised five-foot-wide bike lanes and six-foot wide drainage swales to each side of the street, plus a center turn lane.
This neighborhood is north and a bit east from 122nd Avenue in Portland, and the context is somewhat similar: the auto-oriented residential neighborhoods that cover most of the area don’t offer a connected grid, so 1st Street is one of the only ways to get east and west, on a bike or otherwise.
The Monday Roundup: Killing ‘Share the Road’ signs, the walkability shortage and more
(Image: Bike Delaware)
Here are the bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:
Killing “share the road”: A new study has verified that people don’t understand the road sign, but they understand “bicycles may use full lane” signs perfectly.
Walkability shortage: More people live in yard-and-driveway neighborhoods with but yearn for walkably attached homes than the other way around. That’s one finding from a recent survey about active transportation and real estate preferences.
Please step up and support BikePortland today
I need to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming with a quick note about finances.
I’ll be blunt: BikePortland as we know it today cannot continue to thrive unless more readers step up more often with financial support.
2015 is a huge year for us. Not only does it mark a full decade of our existence, it’s also a make-or-break year for our future. As many of you loyal BikePortlanders who’ve been reading since the start know, this site has grown and changed a lot in the past ten years. At first it was just a side thing, then I decided to take a huge risk and pour all of my professional and personal energy into it. Did that risk pay off? Is BikePortland a success? Yes and no.
In many ways BikePortland is an unqualified success. But in one very important way, it’s not. Let me put it this way: The business side of things has not grown and matured at the same rate as the product side of things. With my focus solely on the creation of great stories and building a community media outlet we can all be proud of, I have neglected the financial side of things.
Job: Retail Sales Associate – Western Bikeworks/Velotech
Job Title *
Retail Sales Associate
Company/Organization *
Western Bikeworks/Velotech
Job Description *
Western Bikeworks is looking to hire an additional sales/customer service associate to join our amazing team at our Lovejoy location in NW Portland.. This position works to maintain the high standards of the company throughout the store to offer outstanding customer service to every customer.
Job Qualifications:
• Sales and customer service experience
• Passion for cycling and bike knowledge
• Great oral and written communication skills
• Basic computer and register knowledge
Duties:
• Welcome customers and assess their needs, promote sales
• Follow procedures outlined for sales, returns, and exchanges
• General housekeeping task to keep the retail space clean and organized
• Assist with special project for different community events
• Merchandising, stocking, cycle counting and more
This is an hourly position with commission bonuses, premium level medical, dental, vision insurance, and a generous vacation package.
Western Bikeworks is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to sex, race, color, age, national origin, religion, disability, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, pregnancy or veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.
How to Apply *
To apply for this position please send your cover letter and resume to Jobs@velotech.com
The four bikeways it’ll take to make the Lloyd District great
This is the third in a three-part series about the biking potential of the Lloyd District. Read the first two here.
If 1,597 new homes were about to land in the space where, seven years ago, new homes in the Portland metro area would have been most likely to land, they would be the biggest news story in the area.
In the rural outskirts of east Vancouver (yes, that counts as Portland metro), beloved farms would be shutting down. Work crews would be widening intersections and stripping away street parking to make room for more turn lanes. For miles around, residents and businesses would be bracing themselves for traffic paralysis.
But in the next few years, 1,597 homes are lined up to land somewhere else instead: right in the middle of Portland.
SW 3rd Avenue is about to get downtown’s only buffered bike lane
Jobs of the Week: Western Bikeworks, Otto Designworks
We’ve had two jobs listed this week. Learn more about them via the links below…
- Store Manager – Western Bikeworks/Velotech
- Sales Leader – Otto Designworks
County strikes reference to “recreational bicycle activities” from Sauvie Island plan
Disaster averted.
This morning the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners took action and removed language from the draft Sauvie Island transportation plan that sought to discourage “recreational bicycle activities.”
The draft plan was developed over the past 18 months by the County Planning Commission and a citizen’s advisory committee as an update to the Sauvie Island and Multnomah Channel Rural Area Plan and Transportation System Plan.
As the island has increased in popularity due to its aesthetic beauty and proximity to Portland, we suspected from the start that cycling might play a role in the planning process.
Andrew Holtz, a member of the County’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, alerted us with major concerns that a reference to “recreational bicycle activities” had remained in the draft plan in spite of his committee calling it “unacceptable” and “discriminatory” and making repeated requests to have it removed.
Weekend Event Guide: A party, e-biking, a memorial, racing ‘cross and more
This menu of delicious rides and events is brought to you by our friends at Hopworks Urban Brewery. Their support makes BikePortland possible.
The forecast calls for rain. Real rain. That’s great news for the earth and for our hot and dried out souls. But will it put a damper on your riding plans? We hope not. Not if you’re “real Portlander” that is.
We’ve got quite a mix of offerings this weekend, including: a great excuse to take a road trip to central Oregon, an excuse to get naked, and two excuses to buy more bike gear. Have fun!
Friday, August 28nd
Green Zebra Grocery’s second store coming to a protected bike lane in the Lloyd District
Green Zebra Grocery, the company we’ve heralded as having the best bike parking in Portland, just announced the location of their long-awaited second store: It’s coming to the Lloyd District as the anchor tenant in the new Hassalo on Eighth development.
Comment of the Week: Tolling Schmolling