It has been nearly two months since I asked for your input on neighborhood bike patrols* and an update is long overdue.
Some of you might have noticed recent stories in the Portland Tribune and in this month’s St. John’s Sentinel.
When I met with representatives from the City’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement back in February, they asked me to demonstrate community support to make sure this program would succeed.
I’m grateful and excited that so many of you responded positively. Over 60 people wrote in from all over the city. Here’s a list of neighborhoods we heard from:
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Based on this show of support, the City of Portland wants to take the next steps towards making bike patrols official.
Here’s the plan:
- Have a general, city-wide informational meeting. This meeting will be held in mid-late May (stay tuned for date) and will address questions, concerns, ask for feedback and provide more information about how the program will work.
- Use that meeting to track which parts of the city have the most interest in starting patrols.
- Depending on where the most interest is, coordinate smaller, neighborhood-specific meetings.
- Confirm volunteers, go over the rules, and then get out into the neighborhoods!
Summer is quickly approaching, the streets are filling up with activity, and now is a great time to get these “Bike Beats” organized. Soon we’ll be rolling, getting to know our neighborhoods, making new connections, and helping to ake Portland a better place to live (and ride).
Stay tuned for further details on the general meeting. Since it has been a while since we discussed this topic, feel free to ask questions in the comments.
*Please remember, despite the way this story has been covered in some media outlets, these patrols are not about catching bad guys or about cyclists rising up and taking over the streets. I prefer to call them “Bike Beats” because I don’t like the connotations of the word “patrol,” but I still use that word because it’s the easiest way to communicate what they are.