Month: November 2008

Bike share in Portland Part Two: Off to Scandinavia

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Tom Miller
(Photo © J. Maus)

Welcome to Part Two of our six-part, guest article series on bike-sharing in Portland.

The series is written by Tom Miller, chief of staff for Portland City Commissioner and Mayor-elect Sam Adams.

Yesterday, Tom gave us some background on Portland’s efforts to launch a bike share program.

Today’s article is short but sweet. Tom shares initial impressions of bike share programs in Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm from a trip last June. Tomorrow, Tom will share extensive details on what it’s like to use Clear Channel’s bike share system in Stockholm.

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Newly-elected House GOP leader once ridiculed bike commute tax break

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) has been re-elected as the House GOP leader.

This is the same John Boehner who ridiculed Rep. Earl Blumenauer’s bike commuter tax when it was included as part of an Energy Bill back in December of 2007.

After suggesting that Blumenauer recuse himself from voting on the bill (because he rides to work), Boehner said, “This is not going to solve America’s energy problem.”

Here’s the audio (recorded from statements he made on the House floor on 12/05/07):
[audio:boehnerEnergyBill.mp3]

Obama: “Everyone benefits if we can leave our cars, walk, bicycle…”

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

“I will work to provide states and local governments with the resources they need to address sprawl and create more livable communities.”
— President-elect Obama, in a letter to T4 America

President-elect Barack Obama has responded to an online petition circulated by national advocacy group Transportation For America (remember them?).

T4 America reported on their blog today that 3,300 people signed onto a petition that was delivered to Senators John McCain and Barack Obama before their final debate back in October. The petition urged them to tell T4 America their plans for, “keeping America moving and creating new jobs by investing in our critical transportation system and infrastructure.”

Here’s a snip from the petition letter:

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This year, enjoy a carfree Peacock Lane

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
A nearly carfree Last Thursday on Alberta-88.jpg

Now Portlanders can roam (or ride)
without worry at the annual Peacock Lane
holiday lights show.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Each year, for the last two weeks of December, residents of the little-traveled Southeast Portland street, Peacock Lane, deck out their houses with elaborate holiday light displays and invite the public to come enjoy the show.

Thousands of Portlanders flock to the event. Some walk or bike, and others even ride horse-drawn carriages down the street; but the majority drive cars. Cars roll slowly down the street amid large crowds with their headlights switched off as they gawk at the displays. This creates a real safety hazard for people walking and biking.

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Bike tax seen as neccessary to address “political reality”

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

“We’re not going to put our blinders on and say ‘no, we refuse to talk about it’.”
–BTA lobbyist Karl Rohde

One of the many interesting conversations that we’ll follow in the upcoming legislative session is the concept of a bike tax.

We shared news of the tax last week and reported that the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) is discussing the idea with lawmakers in Salem and a committee formed by Metro is supportive of the concept. The idea is to charge an excise tax (in the realm of $5-20) at the point-of-sale on new bicycles.

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Guest article series: Bike share in Portland: A status report

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Tom Miller riding in
the 2006 Bridge Pedal.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Welcome to the first in a six-part series; Bike-share in Portland: A status report. The author of this guest article series is Tom Miller. Miller is the current Chief of Staff for Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams and he’ll follow Adams into the Mayor’s office in January.

Besides being Adams’ right-hand man, Miller is a major bike believer. This series arose from my constant prodding to Miller about the future of Portland’s bike-share program (an effort that began in February of 2007 but was shelved before a contractor was found).

In six parts, Miller will share his insider perspective on the inspiration, current status, and future potential for bike share in Portland.

Part One: Bike share in Portland; a brief history

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Portland Police PIO responds to coverage of Ainsworth incident

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Sergeant Brian Schmautz, the Public Information Officer for the Portland Police Bureau has left a detailed comment in response to our story on the Ainsworth incident.

On Saturday, several members of the PSU Cycling Club were riding on Ainsworth when they were allegedly passed dangerously by a Portland Police Officer. According to witnesses that saw the incident, one of the riders gestured to the officer in frustration and the officer then pulled him over, a discussion ensued, and several tickets were issued (to two riders).

After reading through 143 a few of the comments on the original story, here is how Sgt. Schmautz replied:

I have read several of the postings in this current thread and would like to join this discussion with a few brief comments. The conclusions you are reaching about the incident described in the story are based on statements made by the individuals who encountered the officer. It is a one-sided version of the incident. I am personally aware of several prior stories on this website where it was eventually determined that the facts of an event differed dramatically from the original description of the event.

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Guest Article: Two rights don’t make a right

Jessica Roberts
(Photo © J. Maus)

This article was written by Jessica Roberts. Jessica is the former metro area advocate for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and she is now a planner with Alta Planning and Design, one of the nation’s premier bike and pedestrian planning firms.

Jessica previously wrote about how to get letters published in newspapers.

In the article below, Jessica offers her perspective and gives us a bit of historical context for the infamous Broadway/Williams intersection, which PDOT is currently working to improve.

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Introducing the BikePortland Bookstore

Get your learn on with books
about bikes (and other stuff).

It’s time to get smart, and we don’t just mean using hand signals and fighting traffic tickets.

Making headway against 50 plus years of car-centric policies, planning, and culture is no easy task. We need to educate ourselves. The more we know the better we’ll be able to make the case for bikes, whether we’re talking about intersection design, the history of sprawl, or when to take the lane.

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Latest Headlines

Guest Opinion: Portland needs more protected bike lanes — and we need them now

District 2 finally gets representation on key city council committee

Lawmakers want $3 million from state coffers for 82nd Avenue bus lanes

Neighborhood group, backed by bike advocate, opposes bike lane upgrades

From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike