Here’s the news, folks!
Governor Kulongoski
(Photo © J. Maus)
(Photo © J. Maus)
- Governor Kulongoski has a vision for green transportation. Unfortunately, it’s all about cars. On a trip to Asia last week, he made a deal with Nissan to add their electric cars to the state’s fleet, and lobbied hard to bring China’s cheap hybrid cars to Oregon. Meanwhile, he is working with PGE to increase the number of electric car charging stations in Portland.
Governor, where’s the love for bikes?!
- Our driving habits changed when gas hit $4 a gallon — and they still haven’t changed back, even though prices are hovering around $2, reports Dylan Rivera in Wednesday’s Oregonian.
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- The New York Times reports that a study has found that NYC’s growing number of people on bikes is not adequately served by law or infrastructure. Unfortunately, the report places the blame entirely on people’s riding behavior. Judge for yourself…
- A judge in Yamhill County has ruled that some Measure 37 development claims can still go forward. This adds yet another twist to the ongoing fight to maintain the Portland area’s Urban Growth Boundary. We can expect this one to be appealed.
- Squawkfox gives 10 reasons why Cars are the New Smoking
- Ever wanted to unleash your inner bike star? Find inspiration with “Bike Hero”
Discuss these links and add your own in the comments below.
Thanks for reading.
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FYI, the bike hero video was made by an advertising firm for Guitar Hero. Still kinda neat.
interesting on the squawkfox blog. Aposter called “Frugal wench” posted that she might sell her “POS car to an illegal immigrant” and fix up her raleigh.
I’ve often wondered where I can sit comfortably in ALL my skins and not have to ignore one very important aspect of myself in order to enjoy another aspect:
for example, there isn’t a place where I can enjoy being a bicycle rider AND a person of color.
Likewise, nobody rides bikes where I am from (it’s the subtropics, y’all) and so I can’t enjoy bicycling with other islanders from my island.
I suppose it’s not really the point that we be able to wear all of our hats at once but it’s odd how one has to occasionally brace oneself for offensive comments from people I’d otherwise enjoy completely for our mutual love of bikes.
I’m just pontificatin’ on a random comment, so it should be taken with a grain of salt, I suppose….
Hey Islander: I agree with you 100% about the perfidy of internet comments. It’s a little like road rage — people say and do things they never would if they actually were looking you in the eye, knew you were going to respond, or just thought about it for half a second.
Sauce: What you have to say is also disillusioning.
And I had thought the most depressing part of this post was about electric cars…
Another thing about comments and community…
The internet used to be hailed as a place where these micro communities would form in which everyone had the same interests, same google news feeds, dogmatic solidarity, blinders on.
Comments on blogs put the lie to that. There may be a sense of community around a blog like this one but it’s just as messy as any other group of people in any context, plenty of disagreement, people say rude and inappropriate stuff, etc. When media refer to the “bike community” as though it’s this unified force I have to laugh.
true, Elly, thank you for the reminder on the great e-filter (or PC rage LOL) — I know I’m making some pretty general statements as observation but I also know that I’ve had MY MOMENTS of being very rude…
such occasions never remove from my love of bicycling and no matter how diverse a community is, we still have that vein of utter joy in pedaling down the street.
likewise, even though other islanders raise an eyebrow at me when I talk about bike camping, we still have that love of our common vein and heritage.
but it always trips me out; perhaps diversity in a society will always have this sort of “work in progress” feel to it….waddyagonnado….
Elly (#3) – I have great respect for those who choose to post under their own name for this very reason. One is much less likey to post in an inflammatory fashion or to be rude or engage in personal attacks when they post under their own name, especially on a local blog, where there’s more likely to be consequences of voicing one’s opinions.
It seems like this thread is now on the topic of blog etiquette and I have a comment. While bikeportland is not perfect, it’s probably one of the most civilized blogscapes I have seen. Sure there’s the random poster who doesn’t think and simply spews stupidity but, on the whole and for whatever reason, it works. Look at any mainstream media’s comment section and you’ll see how good we have it here.
Amen, Zaphod. Now back to the post, I for one am pleasantly surprised that driving habits seem to have changed for the better – more people sticking with grouping trips, mass transit, ped, and bicycles as their primary form of transportation locally. Anyone have stats on how the rest of the country stacks up in this department? Clearly the uncertain economic climate has something to do with this as well, but I for one hope it’s a lasting and growing trend.
ha! my name is the result of american colonialism and my identity is more accurately pointed by “islander” than my given legal name in the US. wish it weren’t so…is this a comment on my handle and others like me matt?
I grew up in a barrio so I would be hard pressed to describe myself as fearful of much, especially judgment of others.
and it is true that these fora are much more civil to others than ones I’ve seen in the past. shudder.
a community without dissent or argument has never existed. I think that the method of dealing with people on the other side of opinion is the measure of a successful group.
islander – perhaps a people of color bike ride would be fun! maybe you could organize it? hurry before my skin turns completely white in mid jan.
No joke Joe. I think that the 3 of us would have an awesome time. LOL. no worries, the oregon sun is pale and wan most of the year and thus brown skin can follow suit.
(this islander be feeling particularly irreverent today.)
if you organize it, people will come. just sayin.
the irreverent people of color ride, coming in 2009. you can do it!
Tedski and the other Clintonistas just don’t get it. For them sustainability means finding new ways to get away with the same old ca-ca.
Using thousands of pounds of vehicle to transport a 200 pound person a few miles is always going to be wasteful regardless of how it is is fueled. Almost all of the things that are wrong with private auto transit are still wrong with electric and hybrid vehicles. Ted’s great idea, replace our dependence on foreign oil with a dependence of Chinese hybrid vehicles – Brilliant!
#9:
Obviously Matt can speak for himself on this, but I highly doubt he was referring to you. I’m guessing that, if he’s speaking against anyone, it would be the few people who come on here and say nasty things under cover of anonymity.
Myself, I try to say mostly nice things… under cover of anonymity.
Elly #3:
Yeah the whole fake-viral video thing is annoying. However, I think we can salvage a little bright side from this: a major advertiser for a major product sees a cycling-themed video as being something that’ll connect with the kids.
Also, it’s still a really neat video.
Random trivia: a big chunk of the art for Guitar Hero was done right here in Portland. Some of it by cyclists, even. 🙂
How about a 4000 person bike ride to Salem to talk to Ted about zero-pollution vehicles.
It’s a little ironic that the photo in the NYT article on cyclists breaking laws also includes a truck parked in a bike lane.
compassionate islander (#9) – It wasn’t a comment on you at all, my having respect for those who use their given name doesn’t mean I have no respect for those who choose not to. I’m simply saying that I believe it’s easier for someone using their given name in an Internet post to suffer “real world” consequences for their stated opinions, because it’s easier to link comments with that individual’s address, phone number, or employment.
Because those individuals have a greater level of exposure, they elicit from me a greater level of respect.
That doesn’t mean I respect anyone else any less – respect isn’t a zero-sum game. I deeply respect Elly Blue for the work she did on the Carfree Cities Conference – that doesn’t in any way take away from my respect for Roger Gellar, Jonathan Maus, Steph Routh, Kirsty Hall, Metal Cowboy, Emily Gardner or Carl Larson (both Carl Larsons). Nor any of the 50+ friends and neighbors in the bike community who I talk to and work with on a regular basis.
Graham (#14) – exactly so.
K (#16) – Good catch!
I just re-read my above comment, and the last bit of paragraph 2 sounds incredibly pretentious. Sorry. Just meant to say that my respect for one person doesn’t affect my respect for anyone else.
Thanks to the governor for working so hard to bring in cheap chinese hybrids as is closing shop, cutting jobs and moving to mexico. Sounds like the gov.s priorities are way off. how about some tax breaks to get Freightliner Freightliner to make our own cars. Lets not send even more money to China.
Thanks to the governor for working so hard to bring in cheap chinese hybrids as Freightliner is closing shop, cutting jobs and moving to mexico. Sounds like the gov.s priorities are way off. how about some tax breaks to get Freightliner to make our own cars. Lets not send even more money to China.
Thank you for the mention Elly Blue! My post on “Cars and Smoking” did indeed bring out commenters of various opinions. Many “frugal living” type bloggers defended their car use. I was most surprised by those defending “Big Tobacco” though. I must admit to being disheartened by some of the comments on that post. Being a fair writer, I let people voice their opinion just as freely as I had. As an avid cyclist who does not own a car, I wrote from a place where many North Americans cannot relate too.
Of course, we have our own hybrid vehicle manufacturer in town (Stoke Monkey). How hard would it be to develop a Twike equivalent locally?
Rainy Portland also needs more velomobiles, like the go-one3 a SE resident uses to get to Intel.
Nice one Ted-
Promising on a technology thats not anywhere near perfected. oregons electricity comeas from 40% coal, not the cleanest thing for the enviroment. The place where they mine the minerals for the batteries is an enviromental catastrophie. When there iss a colision they have to bring out specially trained people to work the scene, then special people to clean up afterwords (no the tow truck driver isn’t allowed to do it)
2 yrs from now Ted won’t even be governor anymore so the next guy is going to inherit a big mess that we never should of ever got into.