Streetfilms nabbed a few minutes with Congressman Earl Blumenauer during his recent visit to New York City. In the film below, Streetsblog Editor-in-Chief Aaron Naparstek asks Blumenauer how livable streets advocates can most effectively engage their leaders and influence national transportation policy (a very timely topic).
Southeast Portland bike builder Tony Pereira of Pereira Cycles is featured in a television and billboard ad campaign for Northwest Community Credit Union.
The ad features Tony working in his shop and some staged cyclocross action shots with Tony and his Team Beer teammates near the Alpenrose Velodrome in Portland’s west hills. According to the agency that produced the campaign, the TV ads will run on NBC-TV (KMTR) in Eugene, Bend, and Medford. Billboards featuring Pereira are also in the works in those cities.
Here’s the latest on the Sellwood Bridge Project…
Policy leaders recommend Sellwood Bridge plan
After two and a half years of study, a committee of elected and agency leaders has recommended a locally preferred alternative for the Sellwood Bridge Project. The alternative, which was unanimously approved on February 6, includes these elements:
It’s day two of the Phil Sano Taser Trial and I’ve been in the courtroom since about 8:30am. Yesterday, I took notes using the email program on my phone and Jonathan was able to edit and post them as they came through.
Today, Jonathan is in the air somewhere between here and Guadalajara (read why he’s there all week). We have a long lunch break, which I’ll be using to post and edit my notes from the free wi-fi in the lobby of the City Hall atrium — not quite live blogging, but close. I’ll post the afternoon’s notes as soon as court gets out for the evening.
[This article was written by Chris Smith. Chris is a multi-modal transportation advocate who writes regularly on PortlandTransport.com. In the late 1990s he helped win neighborhood approval of the NW Bikeways plan that established the bicycle network in NW Portland and the Pearl District. He currently serves as chair of the Streetcar Citizens Advisory Committee and on the board of Portland Streetcar, Inc.]
A City of Bikes and Streetcars
I’ve enjoyed Libby Tucker’s two part series on bikes and streetcars in Portland (Part One – Part Two). It’s a very accurate portrait of the history of interactions between bikes and streetcars in our city.
BikePortland managing editor Elly Blue is in the courtroom today for day one of the Phil Sano Trial.
Sano and his lawyer John Gutbezahl are at the Multnomah County Courthouse to fight charges of criminal resisting arrest brought against Sano by the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office. The judge assigned to the case is Youlee Yim You.
(For more on this story, see our original report from June 11th, 2008 and see all our coverage by browsing our “Phil Sano Tasering Incident” tag.)
We’ll update this story as things progress in court. Here are Elly’s reports (sent to us via email as they happened and then edited for clarity):
Custom Bicycles of Portland, a high-end, custom bike retail shop and fitting studio that opened in Northwest Portland back in December, is closing its doors.
Owner Adam Reiser says the “perfect storm” of a bleak local and national economic picture hit his business hard. But there was more to that storm than just the economy. Reiser took a gamble on his dream that he could establish a new bike brand (Guru Bicycles from Canada) with a new purchasing concept, and do it on NW 23rd Ave., one of Portland’s highest-rent commercial districts.
Is there someone in a mask, riding around Portland offering help to bikers in need? According to a message on the Shift email list last night, there just might be:
“Hey, does anyone know who this “bike phantom” character is? I was riding on NE 33rd last night and got a flat, and this good Samaritan wearing a mask stopped to help. I didn’t even get to ask, he just knew. I asked for his name and he just smiled. My friend said he was almost mugged while riding home and a similar character came to his aid. sounded like the same guy because he described the same all black bicycle.”
On Saturday, Portland bike builder Ira Ryan hosted an “Open Shop” event. Ryan, a former bike messenger who grew up in Iowa, billed the event as a chance to, “visit and see where I work, see some new bikes I have been working on, or just talk about bike stuff.”
Ira works in the basement of Weirs Cyclery in St. Johns. By the time I arrived Saturday night, the place was like a speak-easy in the roaring ’20s — packed to the gills with people sipping drinks and having a great time. In the crowd were a mix of Ira’s friends and fans, racers, industry types and fellow builders (Tony Pereira and Jordan Hufnagel to name two). It was great to see such a healthy turnout.
Lots of news this past week. Here we go…
– Transportation for America reports that attempts to strip the transit funding from the federal stimulus package have been unsuccessful — for now. Transit funding still makes up only about 1% of the package, despite increasing calls for investment in rail rather than roads.
– Kevin Black was killed while riding his bike to work in Ballard (a suburb neighborhood in Seattle) last week. Black was a molecular neurobiologist and popular member of a local cycling team. Over 200 people turned out for a memorial ride, and advocates are mobilizing.