Detweiler at the 2018 Alice Awards gala.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

After three years at the helm of The Street Trust, Executive Director Jillian Detweiler plans to leave the organization. “It is the right time for me to step down,” she said in a statement released Friday.

The Street Trust, which was known as the Bicycle Transportation Alliance before a name and mission change in 2016, is a Portland-based nonprofit that aims to improve bicycling, walking, and transit.

Instead of searching for a new leader, The Street Trust has named three current staffers to new “co-director” positions. Current Advocacy Director Richa Poudyal, Development Director Tia Sherry, and Director of Finance and Operations Greg Sutliff will “embrace a new leadership model.” The staffers will maintain their current responsibilities and split ED duties.[Read more…]

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Sorry I didn’t share this sooner, but I’ve been on vacation all week. I appreciate all your messages of concern and I can assure you that BikePortand is alive and well and will return to full strength on Monday.

I was reluctant to share this here because I usually work during family time and trips and I figured that would be the case this time as well. However, given that I need to re-connect with my family and make space to enjoy my 20th wedding anniversary (!) I decided to just take a real break. I’m not even reading the news!

See you back here on Monday.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

As if we didn’t have enough on our plates, now a heat wave is coming.

Given that we’re in the midst of a surge in biking and many of you might not have been through a hot summer season before, it’s worth thinking ahead about how to stay comfortable when cycling gets sweaty.

Biking in the heat is no joke — especially if you’re wearing a mask or some other type of face covering that could make you even hotter. Before I share a few of our best hot biking tips, I want to share a story I heard from a reader this week.

Doug H. was biking toward the Springwater path in Sellwood Riverfront Park on Tuesday when he saw a man fall over while biking. According to Doug, the 68-year-old man suffered from a heat stroke and then later died of cardiac arrest. It was 90-degrees at the time of the incident.

I share this story to underscore how heat can impact your ride. So before heading out in the next few days, check out our tips below: [Read more…]

Get on it.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

A local community group is helping fuel the local bike boom and make sure there are more people of color taking part in it. [Read more…]

(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation says a metal fence and concrete barriers installed around the Federal Courthouse yesterday are illegal and they’ve sent a cease and desist letter to the United States General Services Administration demanding that it be removed.

As we reported Wednesday, the unpermitted fence blocks an entire lane on Southwest Main Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue — a section PBOT said in a statement is, “One of the busiest bike routes in the United States.”

“The City Attorney’s Office offered legal guidance that the installation blocking the bike lane and other parts of the public right of way are violations of City Code and Transportation Administrative Rules designed to protect the safety of the traveling public,” a PBOT statement said.[Read more…]

Not ODOT-approved.
(Image: City of Hood River)

The Oregon Department of Transportation is trying.

The agency that’s pushing to expand freeways throughout the Portland region and has become Oregon’s de facto advocacy organization for car users, wants to be seen as innovative and nimble; but a situation in the city of Hood River shows the lengths businesses had to go just to use a few curbside parking spaces on one of the agency’s state highways.

Earlier this month businesses along Hood River’s main drag of Oak Street started building “street seat” installations to give customers more space to eat and drink. The efforts were part of a parklet permit program launched by the City of Hood River at the end of June.
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Former Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and a PBOT staffer stand with former PPB Traffic Division Captain David Hendrie at a crosswalk enforcement mission in 2013.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation has ended a 15-year partnership with the Portland Police Bureau that centered around the enforcement of Oregon’s crosswalk law.

Since 2005 PBOT has conducted “pedestrian crosswalk education and enforcement actions” with the PPB. But in recent years conversations around the enforcement of traffic laws and concerns about racial profiling by police officers have intensified.

At a meeting of the City of Portland Pedestrian Advisory Committee last night, PBOT Traffic Safety Section Manager Dana Dickman said City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly asked the bureau to stop working with police.

“There had been concerns about secondary violations,” Dickman told the committee. “People were being pulled over for failure-to-yield, but during the stop they are cited for lack of insurance or a suspended license. And then the citations rack up… There was a concern we are potentially bringing people into a much more serious situation, impacting them financially, and bringing them into a legal situation in a way we didn’t intend… Our commissioner and community members felt that was potentially punitive.”[Read more…]

Darn beavers. There’s a bike path in there somewhere.
(Photo: Jim “K’Tesh” Parsons)

The beavers have won. [Read more…]

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The author at a Thursday Night Ride in 2016.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Hi! My name is Maria Schur and I work as the national sales representative for HGNR, which is the Portland-based, U.S. distributor of Dumonde Tech bicycle lubrication products.

If you’ve heard of me around town as Bicycle Kitty, recall my Forest Park commute back in 2012, or read my articles here on BikePortland, you know I’m not new to being a bike geek. My journey through the bike industry has included roles like managing a bicycle tire outlet store, planning and leading rides, hosting flat repair clinics, maintaining e-commerce sites, fitting and training children on bicycles, and now, chain lube!
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The package includes major updates to big east Portland arterials like this one.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

In what’s being hailed as an unprecedented moment for regional transportation reform, Metro Council voted unanimously on Thursday to adopt the Get Moving 2020 plan and send it to voters in November.

Centered around 17 “investment corridors,” the plan could pump nearly $8 billion into regional transportation infrastructure and programs over the next 20 years. If approved, the measure would start generating revenue in 2022 with a 0.75% payroll tax paid by employers of businesses with over 25 employees. (UPDATE: A last-minute amendment exempts all state and local government agencies.) Metro’s latest pitch has framed the proposal as a massive jobs package that will put over 37,500 people to work with high-paying construction and consulting jobs.

Metro spent over 18 months negotiating the details of this package. While it’s not perfect and has received very mixed reviews from transportation reform activists, the overall feeling seems to be that the myriad benefits of the “good” projects and programs far outweigh the few “bad” projects that made the cut.
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