Pedalpalooza events for Thursday (6/19)

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Another stupendous slew of bike events planned for Pedalpalooza today! See the full calendar here.

Bicycle Boulevard Tour
South Park blocks outside PSU Smith Memorial Student Union, SW Harrison St and Harrison St, Washington
2:00pm – 5:00pm, ends at BTA office: 233 NW 5th Ave
Tour SE Portland’s Bicycle Boulevards and see the low traffic, family friendly routes through the neighborhood. We will tour various traffic calming and reduction features that make these streets ideal for cycling. Ride is free, flat and family friendly. Please wear a helmet!

Mocktails off the I-5 Bridge
Vancouver, NW end of the path off the I-5 bridge
3:30pm – 6:00pm
Commuter social serving virgin cocktails, finger food, advice, brochures & maps to bicyclists.

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Ride Report: Heritage Trees of Portland

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[Submitted by Emily Wilson]

Yesterday evening, just over 40 people gathered for a tour of Portland Heritage Trees in the SE (we counted off at our first tree, but for the life of me I can’t remember the number – 43? – help me out here folks…)

our first stop was a Ponticum Rhododron – bees feeding on the nectar of this plant can produce honey with a mild hallucinogenic and
laxative effect, 11 cases being documented in Istanbul in the 80’s, as the plant is native to Asia Minor – (thank you Wikipedia!) http://www.springerlink.com/content/w322484735r06208/

The rest of the tour being far more pedestrian in nature, we visited:

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2,100 miles for Pedalpalooza

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“You ain’t gonna get Pedalpalooza in Tulsa-frickin’-Oklahoma.”
–Tulsa resident Paul Tay, who’s currently visiting Portland

Paul Tay, from Tulsa Oklahoma, is a great example of how you can’t judge someone’s character by their style of commenting on a blog.

Some of you might recall Paul as a frequent BikePortland.org commenter that goes by the annoyingly self-promotional user name of “BikeBillboards dot blogspot dot com”. He also regularly types words in ALL CAPS (also annoying).

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Sunday Parkways!

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Event Website

6 miles, 6 hours, zero traffic~!

A circular route of city streets open to walk, bike, run, jump & skip – without having to watch out for cars!

A 6 mile “temporary park”, connecting North Portland neighborhoods and residents.

A relaxed, non-competitive, FREE event featuring a variety of activities in 4 parks and along the route.

(Scroll down to see videos of similar events around the globe.)

The Portland Event

Sunday Parkways comes to Portland on Sunday, June 22, 2008.

Six miles of local streets in North Portland will be closed to traffic from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Intersections will be staffed by volunteers allowing residents to get to and from their driveways, but all are encouraged to limit their motor vehicle use during the event.

The circular route will give Portlanders a chance to get out and be active right in their own neighborhood. Participants can walk, bike, run, stroll, and roller blade along the route to activities in the parks as well as to nearby shops and businesses in the vicinity.

Why?

Sunday Parkways highlights Portland as a walkable and bikeable city. North Portland is an ideal place to start connecting neighborhoods by bringing people together with healthy activities. Health, transportation, recreation, community, environmental, and safety interests all benefit by partnering to implement Sunday Parkways.

The event will follow the international Toward Carfree Cities conference which Portland will host June 16 – 20.

Sunday Parkways also supports Portland’s effort to become the first large American city to achieve Platinum status from the League of American Bicyclists .

TriMet sued for $2 million in Beaverton fatality

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The ghost bike for Austin Miller.
(Photos: Jim “K’Tesh” Parsons)

The Oregonian is reporting that Austin Miller’s mother, Stephanie Miller, has filed a $2 million lawsuit against TriMet in the death of her 15 year-old son.

According to the Oregonian, the lawsuit claims that the TriMet driver was, “negligent in failing to keep a proper lookout for bicycle traffic.”

On February 11, Miller was riding his bike home from school and had just re-entered the roadway of SW Farmington Road (after riding on the sidewalk of SW Murray Blvd.) when he collided with a TriMet bus and was killed.

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A look inside New York City’s burgeoning ‘livable streets movement’

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The “Street Fight” presentation at the
Carfree Conference taking place at Portland
State University through Friday.
(Photos © J. Maus)

With 840,000 motor vehicles entering into New York City’s central business district each day, New York City has its share of challenges in creating livable, safe and people-friendly streets.

But thanks to a burgeoning collaborative effort between advocates and bureacrats, New York City is in the midst of a streets renaissance.

This morning, Carfree Conference attendees got a look inside this renaissance from several leaders of the “livable streets movement”.

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Gresham will put more cops on bikes this summer

On a bike-along in SE Precinct

A Portland bike patrol unit
at work on SE Hawthorne in 2006.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The City of Gresham Police Department has just announced that they will bolster police bike patrols during the summer months.

Gresham PD spokesman Sgt. Claudio Grandjean says the move was made possible by utilizing School Resource Officers who are available to supplement regular patrol units during the summer months while kids are on break.

Four officers will begin the bike patrols on June 23rd and will continue until school starts in September. According to Grandjean their patrols will focus on the Springwater Corridor, parks, schools or any other areas identified by the patrol division as areas suitable for patrolling by bike.

Here in Portland, we could also use more bike patrol officers. Back in January of 2007, Officer Robert Pickett of the SE Portland Bicycle Patrol Unit wrote a guest article asking community members to write the Police Chief in support of adding more officers to the bike patrol program.

Gresham is a neighboring city to the east of Portland.

Penalosa inspires, gives Portland a reality check

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Gil Penalosa at the
Carfree Cities Conference.
(Photos © J. Maus)

During his inspiring keynote speech at the Carfree Conference yesterday, Gil Penalosa gave Portlanders a lot to think about.

Penalosa is the former Commissioner of Parks, Sport, and Recreation for the city of Bogota, Colombia. During his tenure, he transformed that city (population 7 million) by creating hundreds of acres of new parks, developing a connected network of greenways (linear parks) and bike paths, setting up an ambitious public transit system (utilizing Bus Rapid Transit) and establishing the “Ciclovia”, a carfree streets program adored by millions of Bogota residents each week (and by urban planners around the world).

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Pedalpalooza Events for Wednesday (6/18)

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Sprockette Dance Party - Pedalpalooza

The Sprockettes Dance Party Ride
leaves the PSU Park Blocks at
6:00 tonight!
(Photo © J. Maus)

Below is a list of Pedalpalooza events for Wednesday (6/18). More information at Pedalpalooza.org.

Bike to Skate
Oaks Park, Rose Quarter fountain Take Trimet (1 center court)
5:00pm – 9:00pm
Meet at the Rose Quarter at 5pm leave at 5:30, Bike the Esplanade to Oaks Park. Pot Luck Picnic at Oaks Park. Learn Rexing skating or just akate for fun. Very Family friendly

Sprockettes Dance Party Ride!!
South Park Blocks , South Park Blocks & PSU (SW Market & SW Park Ave.)
6:00pm
Come kick it with your hometown homegirls – the Sprockettes. We leave from PSU downtown and ride to the east bank esplanade for dancing to our bumpin’ mobile sound system. Bring snacks and drinks and play with our hula hoops, chariots, bikes, and trade sweet moves! Wear hot-pink and black to rep!

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Bike League will launch Bicycle Friendly Business Program

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In his speech addressing an international crowd at the Carfree Cities Conference, League of American Bicyclists executive director Andy Clarke announced that his organization will launch a Bicycle Friendly Business program.

In his address, Clarke also said the League plans to release the initial rankings of their recently launched Bicycle Friendly States program in September.

To a packed room of carfree and transportation advocates, Clarke sang the praises of Portland. He said one of the reasons Portland is “so awesome” is that we’ve “had the courage to lead.” He also laid out the many facets of our vibrant and diverse bike culture.

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