Corner of 15th and Killingsworth.

Residents of the Vernon Neighborhood in northeast Portland are organizing opposition to a proposed 7-Eleven at the corner of NE Killingsworth and 15th (map). Among their list of concerns about the potential store are how it would impact traffic safety — particularly among people walking and biking.

In a newsletter emailed out on Wednesday, the Vernon Neighborhood Association said after an "overwhelming majority" of residents at a recent meeting expressed concerns about the store, they have decided to oppose the development. In addition to the fact that the new 7-Eleven would be within one block of three locally and minority-owned convenient stores, the neighbors say they are, (more...)

Event Name: Bikes & Beer at the Organic Brewers Festival
Event Date: June 24-26, 2011
Start Time: 12:00:00 PM
Web Site: http://washingtoncountybikes.org/events
Event Description: Give us 3 hours watching over bikes and we’ll give you chips and a mug for free beer at the 7th Annual Organic Brewers Festival at Overlook Park in Portland.

Running from Friday June 24 – Sunday the 26th, the festival hours are Noon-9 on Friday and Saturday and Noon-5 on Sunday.

Contact us at Volunteer[at]washcobtc[dot]org to schedule a shift time.

Available hours are:
Friday & Saturday
11:45AM – 3PM
3:45PM – 6PM
5:45PM – Close

Sunday
11:45AM – 3PM
2:45PM – Close

The event leader contact information will be provided to all volunteers who register.

The new cycle track on Cully, part of a large-scale road reconstruction project, is now complete.
(Photos/video © J. Maus)

As strange as it may sound, Cully Boulevard in outer Northeast Portland is now home to the most significant piece of bike infrastructure in our city.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has just completed a cycle track that runs 0.6 miles from NE Prescott to Killingsworth. And, unlike the "cycle track" on SW Broadway near Portland State University (which is nice, but it's really just a curbside bike lane protected from motor vehicle traffic by parked cars), the Cully facility is the real deal.
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PBOT says 'Bikes in Roadway' signs
aren't the right approach for Sandy.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Remember our story last week about NE Sandy Blvd? We shared the experience of riding on that large arterial street through the eyes of Esther Harlow.

Despite a lack of comfortable bike access, many people like Harlow prefer riding on Sandy Blvd because it's a straight shot into the central city. While more significant bike access improvements on Sandy aren't in the near-term pipeline, Harlow had an idea to improve bike access she felt would help the situation immediately.

To make the bike/car interactions a bit more pleasant, Harlow wants to have "Bikes on Roadway" signs installed. She made an official request to PBOT with her idea. Harlow heard back from a PBOT civil engineer and she shared the response with us. PBOT declined the request, but the engineer makes a reasonable case for his decision. The reply (below) might help others understand the thinking PBOT does before deciding whether or not to install signage (it's also cool to see a government agency take someone's request so seriously)...
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Despite being dominated by cars and offering no dedicated bike access, many Portlanders choose to ride on NE Sandy Blvd. for the same reasons people like to drive on it — because it's the most direct and efficient route into the Hollywood District and downtown.
(Photos © J. Maus)

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The staff at Community Cycling Center, a 15 year old Portland-based nonprofit that aims to increase access to bicycling, has been doing some soul searching in the last few years.

In the process, community and programs director Alison Hill Graves says they started looking around the area they serve (a five-mile radius around their NE 17th and Alberta retail shop). "We saw a big divide in terms of who's riding bikes and who isn't."
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Wayne Conrad Thompson

Police say today that 35 year old Wayne Conrad Thompson has been booked for allegedly causing a crash with a man on a bike yesterday afternoon at 2:00pm at NE 122nd and Glisan.

Thompson has been arrested and charged with one count of assault in the first degree. The charge is a Class A felony, and is used when police suspect there is an intention to cause serious physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon. (more...)