25 June 2008 Archives

Lawyer creates DIY toolkit for citizen prosecutions

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Lawyer Ray Thomas during a press
conference earlier this month.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Portland lawyer Ray Thomas has released a do-it-yourself toolkit of resources and case studies meant to help anyone who seeks to bring violators of traffic laws to justice.

The process, known as a “citizen initiation of violation proceedings,” is based on an Oregon law (ORS 153.058) that gives a citizen the right to file a traffic citation against another citizen.

Back in February, we followed a high-profile example of this process.

In that case, Christopher Heaps (a lawyer by training) and several volunteers spent hours requesting paperwork from the police and negotiating the court system to force a driver of a car who had hit a woman on a bike to show up in court and face justice.

Blumenauer outside his office
in March 2008.
(Photo © J. Maus)

U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer shared his daily ride to his office on Capitol Hill with a reporter from National Public Radio yesterday.

Here’s one of the exchanges they had while riding the streets of D.C.:
NPR:

“Why hasn’t Congress been able to do anything on climate change?”

Blumenauer:

“There is a huge gap here on Capitol Hill — even thought the rhetoric has changed — the mindset is going to require some significant adjustment. This stuff takes time…”

Listen to the entire interview (4:19) at NPR.org.

Mountain bikers bristle at Blumenauer’s latest Mt. Hood proposal

“This has left many in the mountain biking community very frustrated.”
–Shane Gould, Portland United Mountain Pedalers

Mountain bikers throughout Oregon, with support from the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) and the Oregon Mountain Bike Alliance (ORMBA), are miffed at a recent proposal by Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland) to ban mountain bikes from the Boulder Lake and Twin Lakes areas near Mt. Hood.

[This post is part of BikePortland’s ongoing coverage of Pedalpalooza 2008. See more ride reports, videos and photos here.]

Greetings intrepid bike fun lovers. Only a few glorious days of remain of this year’s Pedalpalooza, and there’s plenty of action still to be had.

Today’s offerings include a special appearance by Dingo the Clown; that bike-loving, tall-bike riding, banjo-playing former denizen of the Alberta Street Clownhouse. Dingo and his friends have re-made themselves into the Blood Sugar Circus and today they’ll be getting wet and wild in the name of bike fun.

Also on today’s ride menu are a parking spot reclamation ride, a hunt for sausages, a potluck to help choose new art rack designs for SE Belmont Street, and an evening outdoor movie and picnic.

Lawyer creates DIY toolkit for citizen prosecutions

Blumenauer shares his commute with NPR

Mountain bikers bristle at Blumenauer’s latest Mt. Hood proposal

Pedalpalooza menu for Wednesday (6/25)

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