March 2009 Archives

Mayor publishes statement on bikes and the budget

“I believe in bicycling. Investing in bicycle projects in Portland makes the city a safer, greener, healthier place.”
— Mayor Sam Adams

In a statement just published on his website, Mayor Sam Adams has responded to concerns from Portlanders about the Bureau of Transportation’s requested budget for 2009-2010. As we’ve reported, PBOT’s budget puts a high priority on arterial paving and is slim on bike project funding. It also includes a budget revision that would scale back funding at the Transportation Options division and the Safe Routes to Schools program would take 40% hit.

Adams has just posted a statement about this on his website. Here’s the full text:

An “insane accident” says the victim.
(Photo: Marion Rice)

The victim of the crash at NW Lovejoy and 9th yesterday morning, left a comment last night saying she has been discharged from the hospital and has suffered no major injuries. The woman’s name is Asha and she’s a student at Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA).

(PNCA, you might recall, was the school of both Brett Jarolimek and Tracey Sparling, both of whom lost their lives in October from right-hook crashes.)

From witness accounts and police statements on the scene, we had feared much worse, so this is welcome news.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Here are BikePortland’s traffic stats for the month of February:

Visits

Average visit length

Pages viewed

Stories posted

Comments

Top Five Stories (*In terms of pageviews analyzed by Google Analytics):

Interested how this compares to January? Check those stats here.

Alice Award nominees coming to KBOO Bike Show

This just in from KBOO Bike Show co-host Tori Bortman:

“Tomorrow we’ll be interviewing the BTA’S Alice B. Toeclips nominees to hear what they did to earn such a great distinction, who they see as our lesser known bike hero’s and what you can do to get involved with your cycing community. Guests include perennial nominee Mark Ginsberg for his contributions as lawyer and advocate, Brad Ross for his work organizing the Cross Crusade Series, Robert Gootee CEO of ODS who’s made commuting by bike accessible for thousands of workers throughout the state and Judge Chris Larson and Mike Morrison, RN for their work on the Share the Road Safety Class. Listen in at 11am, 90.7 FM on your FM dial.”

Oregonian: Is “Copenhagen Left” a better way to turn on Portland Mall?

TriMet’s recommendation: become a
pedestrian and use the crosswalk.
Is there a better way?
See Oregonian video below.

When TriMet announced how they expect people riding bikes to turn off of the new Portland Mall downtown, many of you said, “Huh?”.

In an attempt to create safe conditions, TriMet said people on bikes who want to turn right (and across the bus/MAX lane) off of the mall should; move over to the curb, enter the crosswalk, ~~become a pedestrian, and walk~~ and ride at walking speed (that’s the law in crosswalks) across the street.

(Lots of talk about stimulus funds around here lately. Hope you’re staying with me).

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) may get the largest chunk of federal stimulus money (about $232 million last time I checked), but Metro also gets a piece of the pie — $38 million to be exact. That’s a much smaller piece, but Metro is more likely than ODOT to fund non-highway projects.

“The OTC also recognizes the need to balance highway needs with other modal needs.”
— From a statement released by ODOT today

The Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC), acting on behalf of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), has announced the application process and more details on how they’ll allocate their remainder of federal stimulus funds.

The OTC approved 31 projects totaling $122 million as part of their first phase of funding decisions. In Phase II, the OTC will have about $110 million to assign to transportation projects throughout the state.

You’ve heard about it, now tomorrow is your chance to see it for yourself in Portland.

OTC Commissioners:

Gail Achterman
Michael Nelson
Janice Wilson
Alan Brown
David Lohman

See photos/bios below

Now that it’s crunch-time for the Oregon Department of Transportation and their Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) to decide on how to spend the infrastructure chunk of our federal stimulus money, I thought you might want to know a little more about them.

Before I started doing this site full-time, I had no idea what the OTC was. It wasn’t until I started meeting the region’s powerful movers-and-shakers in the transportation world that I began to realize how much influence this commission had. People would mention the OTC to me in hushed tones, as if it were some sort of impenetrable cabal that wielded massive power and influence.

State transportation planners are scrambling to get their “shovel ready” projects in order and they’re waiting eagerly by their inboxes this morning. That’s because any day now, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is expected to release the application forms for what they’re calling “Phase II of the Federal Economic Stimulus”.

I spoke with ODOT’s communications director Patrick Cooney (he’s also the spokesperson for the Oregon Transportation Commission) yesterday and he said ~~Phase II will allocate $110 million~~* the next phase of stimulus funding for infrastructure projects will get underway very soon.

Greg Raisman (center) from the Bureau
of Transportation joined us at our
Get Together in St. Johns last month.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Tonight, I’m headed to Southwest Portland for the second in our ongoing series of Get Together events. We’ll be at the Lucky Labrador Brewpub in Multnomah Village (7675 SW Capitol Hwy.) from 5-7:00pm.

If you live, work, or ride in and around the circuitous, hilly roads of Southwest Portland we’d love to meet you and we hope you’ll consider joining us. The point of these events is simply to learn and connect. They’re a great way to learn about hot bike issues and meet other bikers in your neighborhood (I hope eventually they grow to include even people that don’t ride, but are curious for whatever reason).

(L to R) Mark Ginsberg (an Alice Award
nominee), Dat Nguyen, and Ben
Salzberg at last year’s Alice event.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The BTA’s biggest annual fundraiser, the Alice B. Toeclips Awards and Auction, is happening this Saturday and the Portland-based non-profit is pulling out all the stops to make sure it’s a successful event.

~~They’ve lined up Congressman Earl Blumenauer as a speaker~~ (update: he has cancelled), they’ve got auction prizes galore, and I’m sure many other fun surprises in store for attendees. This year’s Alice Award nominees include everyone from the Cross Crusade’s Brad Ross to perennial nominee Mark Ginsberg and BikePortland’s very own Elly Blue.

Mayor publishes statement on bikes and the budget

Lovejoy crash victim says she’s “miraculously fine” (updated)

Site stats and top five stories for February 2009

Alice Award nominees coming to KBOO Bike Show

Oregonian: Is “Copenhagen Left” a better way to turn on Portland Mall?

Today is final day to comment on Metro stimulus projects

ODOT/OTC release stimulus funds application, process details

Veer documentary will screen at Portland Art Museum tomorrow

Who’s deciding where our state’s stimulus money goes?

Bike projects expected to compete better in next phase of stimulus funding

Tonight: Join us for a Get Together in Multnomah Village

BTA gears up for big Alice Awards bash

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From the Archives

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