The Portland Independent Chamber of Commerce (PICOC) has turned their influential attention to an issue near and dear to our hearts: the struggle for safer streets.

Launched early this year by a relatively young cadre of tech industry leaders as an antidote to the Portland Business Alliance, PICOC wants more Portland businesses to step up and support “the Vision Zero movement.”

Their latest campaign hit inboxes and social media feeds today. It’s timed to influence City Council’s upcoming vote on the Vision Zero Action Plan released by the Portland Bureau of Transportation earlier this month. Council is slated to formally adopt the plan on October 12th.

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The crosswalk on Greeley (on the left, nevermind the incorrect label) at Bryant where Stanley Grochowski was hit. Bryant is a designated neighborhood greenway.

It all started on the evening of March 30th.

Brian Duncan, the former chair of the Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association, was hit while trying to bike across North Rosa Parks Way at Greeley. He’s now paralyzed from the neck down. Then at the same intersection just three months later, Diana Miller-Dixon died after someone ran a red light and crashed into her car. Then two months after that on August 30th, and just two blocks away, Stanley Grochowski was walking in a crosswalk when he was hit by someone driving a car. Grochowski died from his injuries 10 days later on September 9th and police are still looking for the person that ran into him.

These tragic and violent acts committed by people driving dangerously on neighborhood streets have forever altered the lives of Brian Duncan and the families that Diana Miller-Dixon and Stanley Grochowski left behind.

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Seattle-area activists were key in pushing for this change.
(Photo: Seattle Neighborhood Greenways)

Seattle transportation reform advocates are celebrating a major milestone this morning: last night Seattle City Council unanimously approved a measure that sets a default speed limit on some central city arterials of 25 miles per hour (instead of 30) and 20 miles per hour on all residential streets (instead of 25).

This is a big deal. Joshua Cohen reports on Next City that the new policy will effect a whopping 2,400 miles of neighborhood streets.

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City of Portland graphic showing future path location in front of Zidell property.

Today’s question (actually it’s more of a statement in need of clarification) comes from reader Douglas K.:

Zidell says they’ll be building just one more barge. That could clear one of the last major obstacles to completing the Willamette Greenway trail sooner than expected.

Could it? Many of you have contacted about this in the past few days. Here’s the lowdown and background on the issue:

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Joshua Dutcherson.
(Photo: PPB)

The Portland Police Bureau has nabbed another big-time thief who has a taste for high-end bicycles.

The PPB worked with officers from the Bike Theft Task Force and task force partner BikeIndex.org to arrest Joshua Dutcherson last Thursday. The 32-year-old suspect is being held in connection with three burglaries of apartment complex garages where he’s accused of lifting “numerous bicycles.”

Here’s how it went down, via the official police statement about the case:

The Bike Index website (https://bikeindex.org/) was instrumental in identifying some of the stolen bikes. An off-duty detective saw a suspicious van with three high end racing bikes the week prior and took note of the plate and the driver. While officers were investigating some new bike thefts the detective recognized the suspect and the vehicle as the same one he had seen a week prior…

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This week’s Monday Roundup is brought to you by the Oregon Handmade Bike & Beer Festival, coming your way October 7-8th.

Welcome to Monday! Here are the links and stories that caught our eyes last week…

‘Share the road’ is bullshit: This is hands-down the best thing on “share the road” we’ve ever read. “The legacy of ‘share the road’ is suppression of, and increased danger to, the less heavily-armed side of the sharing.”

Car culture down under: In Australia, burnout competitions are a serious thing (I know this from experience). And for one dad they are very serious. So much so that he has trained his five-year-old to do them on his own. Unfortunately for him that’s illegal and authorities have intervened.

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Unframed contest winners from 2015 and 2016.

Cool designs are at the heart of the success of Portland-based helmet company Nutcase. And what better way to exemplify that than to seek out the best helmet artists in the world and put their designs onto new products?

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The intersection of SE Hawthorne at 43rd where Fallon Smart was killed one month ago. PBOT intends to clear this out next week.
(Photos: Paul Jeffery)

Much of the impact Fallon Smart’s death has had on our community has been emotional. It has bonded citizens and activists together. Combined with other recent tragedies, it has created a deeper sense of urgency to improve street safety — and a growing frustration at the slow pace of change — among many of us.

But Smart’s death has also left something physical and tangible. Hours after the tragedy, someone painted an unsanctioned crosswalk across Hawthorne at 43rd. Along with the crosswalk, signs and traffic cones sprouted up in the center turn lane that was used recklessly by Smart’s speeding killer.

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This SUV was caught by Portland’s new speed camera going 72 mph in a 40 mph zone. View a video of it below.
(Photo: (PBOT)

Oregon’s first speed camera has had a very busy first month. And that’s great news for fans of safer streets.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation installed the camera on SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway on August 25th. It’s been issuing only warning since then but the agency announced this morning that as of tomorrow (9/24) the warnings end and the citations begin.

If the first month is any indication, the camera will be a huge success (unless people don’t mind getting tickets). PBOT says the presence of the camera (and associated signage) has already reduced top-end speeding by 93 percent (more stats below).

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Get used to more of this at Gateway Green.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

In the past nine days, over 200 people have chipped in nearly $60,000 toward to the construction of the “Dirt Lab” at Gateway Green. But as excitement builds for the first new singletrack trails in Portland in what seems like forever, advocates and partners behind the project have come face-to-face with one of Portland’s most vexing issues: homelessness.

Dozens of people who were just moved from the massive homeless camping villages on the Springwater Corridor path have found solace at Gateway Green, the 40-acre parcel of vacant land that sits at the intersection of two freeways in east Portland. That means before any shovels can hit the ground to build the new trails and riding areas, the city must address the land’s current residents.

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