Here are BikePortland’s traffic stats from the month of December, 2009.
The most popular posts of the month included the report of a traffic court judge’s controversial and existential ruling about bike lanes which stirred up over 200 reader comments. Also popular was the report confirming the first decrease in city bike traffic counts in five years. Top five posts are listed below
Here are the overall stats for the month:
Visits – 161,703 (+20% over Dec. 2008)
Average visit length – 02:39
Pages viewed – 334,025
Front page stories posted – 91
Stolen Bike Listings – 32
It was supposed to already be open, but Multnomah County spokesperson Mike Pullen tells us that the long-awaited bikeway improvements on the Morrison Bridge won’t be ready until late February.
The project was originally slated for completion in mid-December of last year, but Pullen says the County’s contractor has submitted a revised schedule that pushes the opening date back to late February. Here’s a statement from Pullen in reply to our request for an update on the timeline:
As lawmakers in Washington D.C. contemplate a second major federal stimulus bill, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is working on a list of projects that would be ready to go if and when funding becomes available.
PBOT staffer Kathryn Levine addressed the Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee last night with an outline of what might be in store for local transportation projects if the bill passes. According to Levine (who got her information from the City’s Office of Government Relations), the Portland area could see up to $14 million for transportation projects.
The Portland Police Police Bureau, like all City bureaus, is facing another year of budget cuts. The PPB must reduce their budget for the coming year by 2% (other, non public safety bureaus have to cut 4%). One idea that has been proposed is to dissolve their Mounted Patrol Unit and transfer the officers to bicycle patrol.
The idea was mentioned last night at the City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting by acting Captain of the Traffic Division, Bryan Parman (who’s filling in for the still injured Eric Hendriks), and we confirmed the news today with the PPB’s Public Information Officer Mary Wheat.
Walking past the Concordia University campus in Northeast Portland recently, I spotted this cargo trike converted to a landscaping truck.
Year: 2003
Brand: LeMond
Model: Wayzata
Color:Grey
Size:55
Serial: WW 0694643
Photo: http://www.bikepedia.com/Images/image.aspx?filename=2003-Lemond-Wayzata.jpg
Stolen in Portland, OR 97210
Stolen:2010-01-11
Stolen From: From my effing house! NE 19th & Weidler. Some crackhead smashed at the wooden railing out front with a huge board until it splintered enough to slip my Kryptonite lock off the railing and take the bike with it.
Neighborhood: Inner NE/Sullivan’s Gulch
Owner: Devon LePage
OwnerEmail: devonlepage@mac.com
Reward: A case of really nice beer, or I’ll give you two free guitar lessons
Description: Slim road bike that’s black and grey. Few accessories, except for a red reflector in the back and white front light that doesn’t work. I was broke, and didn’t have enough money to fix it. You can email me or call me at 503 833 2493 (cell). Thanks
Police record with: I’m waiting for the cops to call me back as I write this
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
Next Tuesday (1/19), the Portland Development Commission will hold a public open house for their Centennial Mills redevelopment project. This project is important to anyone who cares about Portland’s bike network because running smack dab through the parcel to be redeveloped is the Willamette Greenway Trail.
The PDC bought the 4.75 acre property, which sits along the west side of the Willamette River just north of the Broadway Bridge, back in 2000. In 2006, the Portland City Council adopted the Centennial Mills Framework Plan and in March 2008 the PDC chose Orange County, California-based LAB Holdings to develop the site.
Year: 2009
Brand: CANNONDALE
Model: BIKE,10, F9 FEMININE, MEDIUM WHITE
Color:LIGHT BLUE/WHITE
Size:MEDIUM
Serial: UM82163
Photo: http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/402/project1087.png
Stolen in PORTLAND, OR 97203
Stolen:2010-01-12
Stolen From: THE UNIVERSITY OF PORTLAND CAMPUS. IN FRONT OF SHIPSTAD HALL ON 1/11-12/2010
Neighborhood: UNIV. OF PORTLAND
Owner: CAITLIN STEINBERG
OwnerEmail: STNBD@AOL.COM
Description: IT IS A CANNONDALE WOMENS BIKE NORTH CAROLINA COLORS, LIGHT BLUE AND WHITE WITH WIDE KNOB TIRES
Police record with: STILL WAITING
Police reference#: FOR IT
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
“To insure that the City of Damascus is open as much as possible to the free flow of vehicular traffic and citizen travel within the city…”
— Text from a ballot measure that would prohibit public mass transit in Damascus
A ballot measure to be voted on in March in the city of Damascus, Oregon — a small town just 20 miles southeast of Portland — seeks to prohibit public mass transit.
Measure 3-350 (full text below) would amend the Damascus city charter in two important ways: It would direct the City to not “grant monopoly status” to any agency that wants to operate “public mass transit” in the city, and it would directly prohibit public mass transit within the Damascus city limits.
According to the text of the measure, prohibiting transit is necessary, “To insure that the City of Damascus is open as much as possible to the free flow of vehicular traffic and citizen travel within the city…”
But even here in Portland, particularly in parts of the bike scene with a strong connection with sports and business, assumptions about gender often remain unquestioned.
February: I am asked to volunteer on a committee for a bicycle organization “because we need more women.” The person who invites me says that he had been frantically calling every woman he knows in the bike scene, and explains that at this point, expertise matters less than gender.
April: A local bike shop opens a new women’s section. I attend the grand opening and am one of only a few women present. The section has a separate entrance and features house and home decor and a selection of pastel hybrid bikes.
August: I email an acquaintance to tell him it isn’t okay to call other commenters “pussies.” He responds angrily. “Are you really that prudish? Seems like you’re just picking on me. Do you have some sort of problem with me?” he asks. Jonathan reads this and is surprised. “I don’t think he would have reacted that way if I’d been the one to tell him that.”
The City of Portland recently ended its call for concepts to redevelop the Memorial Coliseum. There were 80 different concepts received — ranging from a world class bowling arena to “a museum that celebrates the bygone era of the automobile.”
Among the concepts, there are two that include a velodrome. One of them was proposed by Steve Brown; the racer, business consultant, and velodrome activist we’ve covered since back in 2006 when he worked a velodrome bill through the State Legislature. That effort ultimately stalled out, but Brown’s enthusiasm for bringing bicycle track racing to Portland is still going strong.