Ribbon cuttings, close calls with fame, Idaho Stops go viral, the importance of litter, Manifest Destiny, the bikestache
Your weekly news roundup, celebrity edition:
– Obama has announced a plan to invest billions of dollars into high speed passenger rail. The Oregonian’s editorial board, among others, wants more and faster.
– Last week, Obama also chose a ribbon cutting for a new highway expansion project to grace with his presence.
– The EPA has opened the door on regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
– So has Washington State, in a bill that also calls for transportation planning to reduce vehicle miles traveled.
– Jeffrey Totten, a Seattle man who suffered a traumatic brain injury after he hit a pothole while riding his bike, has won a $3.5 million settlement from the county.
– Elizabeth Hasselbeck is getting some publicity mileage from her good-humored commentary about a collision she experienced with a bike messenger as she stepped out to hail a cab in NYC. She’s fine.
– David Hembrow in the Netherlands discusses litter as a factor in our perceptions of the safety of bicycling.
– Browne Molyneux in L.A. also blogs about litter this week, calling it out as one of the inequities of her local bus system.
– BikePortland contributor Spencer Boomhower’s video explaining the concept of the Idaho Stop has been making waves on transportation blogs around the country and is approaching 10,000 views.
– Bike Snob NYC, in an ambivalent analysis of New York’s recent surge of bike friendly infrastructure, has this to say about separated bike lanes, aka cycletracks (like the one planned for Portland’s North Park Blocks):
The other thing they clearly didn’t account for is that non-cyclists would also annex these protected bike lanes. It’s like the sidewalk is the 19th century United States, the new bike lane is the western frontier, and suddenly all the pedestrians have been smitten by Manifest Destiny.
– And last, as well as least: The Bikestache is now available at an online retailer near you.
Thanks for reading.
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It was a great weekend! The weather was off the hook! I had a great time hanging out at the Clinton Street Theater, enjoying brewskies and talking bike movies with people from Seattle (tons!), Boise, Salem, Portland.
I met Hi-may Rivera, the filmmaker of the movie Re… which is a part of our Art of Biking program. He’ll be on stage on Tuesday (7pm showing) to talk about his creative interactive artwork that he pulled around by bike.
I know it was hard to decide between sitting inside the theater and riding around in gorgeous weather, but I hope you will come join us for movies this week. We have screenings M-Thurs at 7pm and we’d love to see you there!
Proceeds from Filmed by Bike go to Multnomah County Bike Fair and cover the cost of that awesome street party we threw on Friday night.
I have to agree with BikesnobNYC! If you have ever ridden in the “bike lanes” in Gresham, you will realize that pedestrians view these as simply extra sidewalks for them to use, even when there is a well maintained sidewalk right next to it. I don’t know how many joggers I’ve almost tangled with because of this very phenomenon.
News items from Star? Is that boosting the level of quality discussion on the ol’ blog?
Re; story about Elizabeth Hasselbeck being hit on the sidewalk by a bike messenger. I suppose it’s important to pay attention once in awhile to what and how the tabs are reporting items of public interest. Some might say, ‘Who needs the Star when we have the Oregonian?’.
Rags like the Star do seem to be examples of where the O is trolling for new readers. 15 comments followed the story when I read it. A bunch of them were mean and morally bereft on a par with those common in response to the O’s online hot-button stories.
Serviceburo,
Hand those joggers a copy of this, the Oregon statute requiring pedestrians to use sidewalks. Bike lanes are for bikes.
814.070 Improper position upon or improperly proceeding along highway;
penalty.
(1) A pedestrian commits the offense of pedestrian with improper position upon or improperly proceeding along a highway if the pedestrian does any of the following:
(a) Takes a position upon or proceeds along and upon the roadway where there is an adjacent usable sidewalk or shoulder.
Monday morning roller-coaster: seeing the video has just shot past 10k views, wondering what the bump was, seeing Jonathan’s tweets in the sidebar saying that it was on DailyKos (that would explain it!), aaaaaaaannndd… Seeing his tweet saying the legislation is dead in Oregon.
WTFF? Are you telling me our representatives have such a low opinion of Oregonians that they think we can’t handle a law that’s been working fine in Idaho for 27 YEARS?
I think the next video might have a lot more swear words in it.
where do you all gleen the “fact” that there was a bike lane involved in Hasselbeck’s story?
bahueh #6 There were 2 different stories. One as about some “celebrity” I never heard of having a run-in with a bike messenger, another on bike infrastructure being taken over by pedestrians who then complain about all the bikes. Let me guess, you got poor scores for reading comprehension in school, didn’t you?
Oh, come on.
When one steps to the edge of the curb in a city, one should make sure one looks around before flinging up a hand to hail a cab.
Actually, one should always be alert as to what is going on around and about, as there are other hazards than bike messengers.
You know, instead of just stopping in the middle of the sidewalk without looking around to make sure you aren’t going to cause a problem with your fellow sidewalk users…. 🙂
Only with celebrities, I guess… 🙂 Oh wait, I guess everyone who walks on sidewalks is like that… and most people who jog in the bike lane. 🙂
Speaking of that, it sounds like the black pavement is a lot friendlier to jogger joints than the sidewalks, and that’s why they jog in the bike lanes when there’s a perfectly good sidewalk RIGHT THERE. I still think it’s lame, it’s a BIKE lane, not a JOGGER lane. 🙂
Kt — When one is operating a vehicle on the sidewalk or close enough to the sidewalk to collide with someone on the sidewalk, one should make sure one looks around before plowing into a woman who is 4 months pregnant.
Actually, one should always be alert as to what is going on around and about, as there are other hazards than pregnant women.
You know, instead of just plowing into pedestrians in the sidewalk without looking around to make sure you aren’t going to cause a problem with your fellow street and sidewalk users… 🙂
Only with bike messengers, I guess 🙂 Oh wait, I guess everyone who cycles is like that…and most people who drive. 🙂