Zoobombers meet with PDOT about new art rack

The iconic Zoobomb Pile (a.k.a. the “Holy Rack” or the “People’s Bike Library of Greater Portland”) is in for a major change.

Tuesday night, in a rare showing of cohesion, 20 Zoobombers met in a downtown restaurant to discuss potential new locations for the pile and share design ideas and sketches for a new rack to hold their mini-bikes.

Also in attendance was PDOT employee Linda Ginenthal. One of Ginenthal’s roles in the Transportation Options division is to review art racks and make sure they pass city guidelines.

The meeting was called because of pressure from Commissioner Sam Adams. Although Sam has called the Zoobombers, “a Portland institution,” the current pile is not officially sanctioned by the city and it must be moved every 72 hours to avoid being impounded.

Adams also has some concerns over parts of the mini-bikes falling into the public right-of-way and wants to appease complaints from at least one disgruntled business owner.

Whether the new rack is officially classified as an art rack or a piece of official public art vetted by the Regional Arts and Culture Council remains to be decided.

There were many excellent design ideas presented at the meeting and it seems like the most popular location is the curb island on the southeast corner of Burnside and 12th (in front of American Apparel). Another location brought up was the PGE Park Max stop.

From my perspective, it was very cool to see a PDOT rep sitting at the center of a table of Zoobombers, constructively discussing solutions to a problem. It was obvious from the Zoobombers in attendance that they were very appreciative of Linda Ginenthal’s presence and advice on this issue. Three cheers for Linda Ginenthal and Zoobomb!

For more on the issues surrounding the Zoobomb Pile, read my post, “Zoobombers ponder pile options.”

You can read a summary of the meeting and follow the conversation on this thread in the Zoobomb forums.