Month: February 2010

Mayor Adams, bikes, and the State of the City address

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

“We’re Portland, we lead the nation in bicycling because that’s how we roll!”
— Mayor Sam Adams in his State of the City address today

Portland Mayor Sam Adams delivered his State of the City speech to the City Club of Portland today. In it, he addressed many of the issues facing Portland. His largest focus was the economy and jobs, but he also touched on transportation.

A slide of a new streetcar line envisioned for the Lents neighborhood featured a big, green bike lane. Other mentions of bicycling came later, after he introduced a new, city-managed curbside composting program.

Here is the text from his speech where he mentioned bicycling:

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N/NE Portland bikeway dream will soon come true (or be deferred)

Dar k blue = cycle tracks.
(Graphic: Metro)

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced that funding decisions for their stimulus minded Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program will be made no later than February 17th.

To refresh your memory, last fall Metro submitted a TIGER grant request for $98 million in active transportation projects throughout the Portland region. One of those projects is a $38 million proposal to build a dense and complete neighborhood bikeway system in 13 square miles of North and Northeast Portland.

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New ‘Sierra Cascades’ bike route rolls through Gorge, Hood River

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Detail of new route. Start planning now!

Adventure Cycling, a 44,000 member non profit that promotes bike touring, has announced their latest route and it goes right through some of Oregon’s best riding areas. The 2,392 mile Sierra Cascades Bicycle Route runs from Sumas, Washington to Tecate, California.

According to the just-published information on their website, AC says the new route “runs roughly parallel to the Pacific Crest Trail along the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada from the Canadian border to the Mexican border.” Here’s a bit more detail on the Oregon portion:

Section 2 begins at Mt. Rainier National Park and runs south to the wind surfing country of the Columbia Gorge and Hood River, Oregon. From there it skirts the Three Sisters Mountains through Bend, Oregon ending in Crater Lake National Park. This section intersects the Lewis & Clark Bicycle Route in Hood River and the TransAmerica Trail in Sisters, Oregon… After leaving the spectacular scenery of Wizard Island and Crater Lake, the route continues south to Ashland, Oregon, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

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Cycle Oregon announces 2010 route: Giddy-up!

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Ride poster. Very nice.

This year’s Cycle Oregon ride (which will be the 23rd annual), will take place from September 11-18 and it will have a “Round-Up” theme highlighted by a layover in Pendleton during the 100th Anniversary Pendleton Round-Up rodeo.

As per usual, the announcement came during a gala event at Nike Headquarters in Beaverton. I didn’t make it out to the kickoff party this year, but thankfully the Cycle Oregon website has all the details. Check the full details at CycleOregon.com or read the brief description below:

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Bike Plan vote delayed until next week: Full wrap-up

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

— Check out my slideshow and recap of the Build It rally.
— Read live updates from the hearing.

2030 bike plan at city council-3

They’d like to think a few things over.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The big news from today is that there’s no big news. City Council, expected to vote to adopt the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 at a public hearing today, postponed the vote until next week.

Council heard over two hours of public testimony about the plan today. The testimony was overwhelmingly positive, but there were a few people who showed up to express concerns. Representatives of the freight community expressed concern that some routes proposed as “City Bikeways” are on priority truck routes. One St. Johns residents made a strong point about how people on bicycles do not pass people walking with enough care and consideration. “Until more education and enforcement is done, I don’t support this plan.”

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The 2030 Bike Plan at City Council — Live updates

[Refresh this story for latest updates. Don’t miss my slideshow and recap of the rally prior to the hearing.]

2030 bike plan at city council-4

Both levels of council
chambers are packed.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Things are underway here in Council Chambers at the 2030 Bike Plan hearing.

Mayor Adams kicked things off with an intro (this update of our 1996 plan began when he was Transportation Commissioner, he now continues to oversee PBOT as Mayor):

I always consider our transportation system to be in service to larger city goals… Bikes aren’t the total answer, but they’re a very important piece of acheiving those goals.

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Dark green Brompton M6 2008

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2008
Brand: Brompton
Model: M6
Color:Dark green
Size:Foldable
Serial:0803085653
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2010-02-04
Stolen From: SE 31st and Clinton
Neighborhood: Richmond
Owner: Thomas Penberthy
OwnerEmail: Tom@Penberthy.org
Reward: 100
Description: Leather seat; frictionless, wheel mounted lighting system, ergonomic hand grips, bell
Police record with: Portland Police Dept.
Police reference#: 10-150371
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Build It Rally at City Hall – Slideshow and recap

Build It - Bike Plan Rally-23

Build It!
– Slideshow below –
(Photos © J. Maus)

The “Build It” rally outside City Hall in support of the 2030 Bike Plan just finished up and now folks are settling in for the big hearing.

The rally was an informal affair with many supporters (150-200?) holding signs. They all sang Devo’s “Whip It,” substituting “Build It” at the appropriate time. There were a lot of very enthusiastic supporters of the plan. Bike Gallery owner and Bike Plan Steering Committee Co-Chair Jay Graves told me he is “Cautiously optimistic” about how it will go inside Council Chambers. “With all the negative media coverage… But this is Portland, I’m hopeful.”

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Bike Plan: The Portland Business Alliance weighs in

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

The Portland Business Alliance released their letter on the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 today.

The six-page letter signed by CEO Sandra McDonough on behalf of 1,400 businesses expresses support “of the overall goal” of the plan but also calls out some concerns and offers several suggestions.

The PBA (download PDF here) calls the plan’s goal of 25% bike usage “unrealistically high” and questions the wisdom of emulating cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

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Bike Plan: What to expect from City Council

I thought it’d be fun to take a quick look at what you might hear from Mayor Adams and his colleagues on City Council at the 2030 Bike Plan hearing today. It’s sort of a foregone conclusion that they will all vote in support of the plan, but with politics, you just never know.

Here goes…

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Bike Plan: Media spin round-up

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
Today’s headlines:

  • Riding into the future
    on two (expensive) wheels
  • City council to vote
    on $600 million 20-year
    bike plan
  • Portland’s $1 Million a Mile
    Bike Lanes: Vehicle Owners
    Get the Bill

Today is the Big Day for Portlanders — the day City Council holds a special hearing on the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030. We’ll have lots of coverage to come, both live from City Hall today and plenty of analysis tomorrow. For now, let me direct you to the conversation in greater Portland being furthered with help from our local media outlets.

Overnight there was a lot more coverage of the plan that I want to bring your attention to.

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Latest Headlines

Weekend Event Guide: Gold sprints, Springwater cleanup, and more

Guest opinion: ‘Bikeable Portland’ plan will get more people riding

PBOT says they’ve finally made progress on Vision Zero

Building tenants cry foul at planned bike lanes that would replace car parking

From the Archives

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