🚨 Please note that BikePortland slows down during this time of year as I have family in town and just need a break! Please don't expect typical volume of news stories and content. I'll be back in regular form after the new year. Thanks. - Jonathan 🙏

Clark County announces two open houses for bike/ped plan

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

If you live/ride/work in and around Vancouver, Washington, you need to get involved with this very important project to create a new bike and pedestrian plan for Clark County.

Here’s the latest word from a Clark County press release:

Open houses to gather public input on planning for biking, walking

Vancouver, WA – Planning to improve conditions for riding bikes and walking over the next 20 years will be the focus for a pair of open houses on the evenings of July 28 and 30. Both sessions will run from 6 to 8 p.m. and cover the same topics.

The first open house will be at the Fishers Landing Transit Center, at Southeast 164th Avenue and State Route 14, Vancouver. The second will be in the sixth-floor hearing room at the Clark County Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver.

Project Manager Laurie Nicholson said the public will have an opportunity to ask questions and learn the status of this Community Planning project. In addition, she said anyone interested may provide input on these three topics:

– Potential updates to the Clark County Bicycle Commute Plan adopted in 1996.
– How to enhance planning reflected in the Regional Trail & Bikeway Systems Plan adopted by Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation in 2006.
– Broader concerns about how to make the county more “walkable” to promote health and safety for pedestrians both in urban and rural areas.

Nicholson said a draft plan should be ready for additional review and comment in the fall, before it is forwarded to the Planning Commission and Board of Clark County Commissioners for hearings and formal consideration in 2010.

More information is available on the project Web site at www.clark.wa.gov/bikeandped. People interested in learning more may also contact Nicholson directly at (360) 397-2280 ext. 4544, or e-mail laurie.nicholson@clark.wa.gov.

CRC update: Planning price tag in the news, opposition matures, tolling on the table

Sunday Parkways Northeast 2009-51

Grassroots activists at Sunday Parkways explained
why they want to stop a
12-lane I-5 bridge.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project watchers are buzzing after a front page story in The Oregonian yesterday detailed its planning costs.

According to reporter Dylan Rivera, the planning effort for the new I-5 bridge has cost taxpayers $65 million. Here’s more from his opening paragraph:

“A new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River has so far cost taxpayers $65 million, without a spade of dirt turned. By this time next year, the tab will hit $100 million — burning though cash at a rate of more than $1 million a month.

The result: mainly an environmental impact statement and thousands of pages of reports.”

Read more

Stolen Bike Listings success: Bike thief foiled by technology, community

The bike, before a thief took
it for a two-week joyride.
(Photo: James Selman)

It’s been about a month since the re-launch of our Stolen Bike Listings. And it’s a good thing we did. So far in July, we’ve had 63 stolen bikes listed.

Today, I get to a share a story of how technology and the community came together to get one of them back and put its thief behind bars.

James Selman, the founder and creative director at branding agency Weights&Pulleys, listed his one-of-a-kind, custom black Seven Cycles Tsunami singlespeed (with estimated value of $4,600) on June 29th.

According to Selman, someone threw a baseball-sized rock through the glass door of his office in Northwest Portland. The smash-and-grabbers grabbed his Apple laptop and rode off on his bike.

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Green Cannondale 3.0 1980s

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 1980s
Brand: Cannondale
Model: 3.0
Color:Green
Size:54cm
Photo: none
Stolen in Portland, OR 97211
Stolen:2009-07-21
Stolen From: NE 13th and Alberta / Weilder
Neighborhood: King
Owner: Derek Smith
OwnerEmail: Newolde@gmail.com
Reward: Possible
Description: Tattered Sparkly Green Paint on Frame
Chrome Forks
Downtube Shifters
Stickers:
“This Bike is a Pipe Bomb”
“Food Not Bombs”
Yellow Elephant as HeadBadge
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

Rocker/bike activist David Byrne announces Portland event

David Byrne, after his Portland
show last month.
(Photos © J. Maus)

David Byrne, the musician and artist who has also ridden a bike as his main form of transportation for decades, will kick off the promotion of his upcoming book, Bicycle Diaries, with an event in Portland on September 30th.

Byrne played a sold out show in Portland last month and he’ll hope for a similar showing for an event he’s partnered up with Powell’s Books on called, Where We’re Going and Where We’ve Been – Bicycles, Cities and Transportation in Portland.

The event will be held at the Bagdad Theater (3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd) on September 30th at 7 pm. Here’s the blurb from Powell’s:

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Weekend Event Roundup

PUMP's Forest Park mountain bike tour

Join mountain bike advocates in
Forest Park and be an “ambassador”
for bikes.
(Photo © J. Maus)

This weekend, the forecast ranges from hot to scorchingly hot.

In other words — perfect weather to be out on your bike. Pack some extra water and check out some of these events that have come onto our radar:

Thursday, July 23

BikePortland Inner SE Get Together
Join us at the Green Dragon (928 SE 9th Ave) from 5-7pm for beer, food and conversation. This is a chance to meet people and learn about SE Portland bike stuff from experts, artists, business people, planners, activists, etc… Very informal. Just come on down and heckle us, pitch us stories, plug your events, whatever.

Read more

Learn ins and outs of bike law at UO event

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

The law isn’t always entirely clear when it comes to bikes on the road — are you required to be in a bike lane? What if you want to make a left turn? Do you need to put your foot down every time you stop? How would enforcement work if we had an Idaho-style stop sign law?

The University of Oregon is holding a free event next week (7/30), Rules of the Road: Bicyclists’ Rights & Responsibilities, to help you learn to navigate these issues and many more.

Here’s more from the event flyer:

Read more

green/ grey schwinn anniversary series 87?

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 87?
Brand: schwinn
Model: anniversary series
Color:green/ grey
Size:26 in
Photo: http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/6888/img2548z.jpg
Stolen in portland, OR 97217
Stolen:2009-07-19
Stolen From: front yard of 5815 n Albina st.
description of kid that stole it-13 year old black kid, I chased after him and he laughed and said “SORRY DUDE”
Neighborhood: NE Albina st.
Owner: Jay Heagerty
OwnerEmail: dunlava73@gmail.com
Description: green and grey custom fork struts(grey/curved), plastic seat w/ goose neck as a laid back seat post, ape hanger handle bars, white wall tires, BOBBED back fender
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Velodrome idea in the hunt as Memorial Coliseum talks begin

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

“The dreamers whom Steve Brown bikes with can see it already: a velodrome, with a gasp-inducing view of downtown Portland, centrally situated to draw on the city’s bicycle culture and attract businesses, families and world-class racers. And for them, the dream comes alive … inside Memorial Coliseum.”
— Intro from article in The Oregonian on July 16th

As the Mayor’s Office puts the pieces together on a process to re-think Memorial Coliseum, the idea to install a velodrome inside the building remains a front-runner.

Read more

Community Cycling Center launches “I Ride” campaign

One of a series of posters
created for the campaign.
(Photos by Kim Oanh Nguyen)

Seeking to reshape the image that comes to mind when people think of “the bike community” or “bicyclists”, the Northeast Portland-based Community Cycling Center has launched their “I Ride” awareness campaign.

So far, the campaign consists of a series of promotional posters and an upcoming video that asks a variety of Portlanders to finish the sentence “I ride _____.”

According to CCC Director of Community and Programs Alison Hill Graves, the idea for the campaign was hatched last summer. In an email interview about the project, Graves said when they would bring up the terms “bicyclists” or “bicycle community” in meetings or at their retail shop and classes, the response caught their attention.

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Mt. Tabor centennial will include vintage bike show, swap meet

A Bike Wedding Parade

(Photo © J. Maus)

For a park that’s a regular host of bike races and bike weddings, it seems perfectly natural that bikes get a special invite to its 100th birthday party.

Next weekend, the two-day Mt. Tabor Park Centennial Celebration will include a vintage bike show and swap meet.

Organizers of the event say the Vintage Bicycle Show (slated for Sunday, August 2nd) will showcase vintage and classic bicycles as well as “newer bicycles with classic styles.” Here’s more from the event flyer:

Read more

tandem Kent Tandem – road 2009

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2009
Brand: Kent
Model: Tandem – road
Color:tandem
Size:red
Stolen in Portland, OR 97232
Stolen:2009-07-12
Stolen From: Garage in NE Portland. ne 24th and ne couch
Owner: David Seifert
OwnerEmail: seifertda@yahoo.com
Description: Red tandem with no stickers. Road style bike with a rear rack. Shimano shifters