🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest posts. Learn more here. And please join us at our 20th Anniversary and Beer Collab Release Party on May 13th 🎉 Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
When bike lane striping disappears through an intersection, does the legal standing of a person operating a bicycle in that lane also vanish?
Last month, Multnomah County traffic court judge Michael Zusman ruled that it does and the decision has left many people confused and concerned. We checked in with Zusman, the woman who was hit (City of Portland employee Carmen Piekarski), and a bike law expert to get an update.
Yesterday the Bureau of Transportation released the final version of the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030. This version reflects many changes — some large, some small — to the public comment draft released back in October. Meanwhile, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and a new activism group, TransConPDX are gearing up for a final push to raise awareness about the plan before it’s adopted by Portland City Council on February 4th.
Along with the final plan, PBOT released a seven-page list of all the changes (PDF download here) they made in response to community feedback.
Next week at the Capitol Building in Salem, the Senate and House Interim Judiciary Committees will hold a joint hearing. Part of the informational meeting will include “invited testimony” on the concept of Vehicular Homicide.
Invited to be at the hearing are Bicycle Transportation Alliance board member Doug Parrow will be there, as will Portland lawyer Ray Thomas. Thomas tells us he plans to bring several of his former clients who have lost loved ones in traffic crashes to testify.
The Oregon Legislature meets for full sessions only every other year, with the off years (of which 2010 is one) only for emergency or high-priority actions. While the meeting is meant as an informational session, Thomas says he’s hopeful that something more substantial will come out of it.
The City of Portland and BTA have worked for years to pass a strong vehicular homicide law but Oregon has yet to pass one. As far back as 2006, traffic safety staffers at PBOT have considered potential options for such a law. In the 2007 legislative session, in the wake of a crash that killed Tim O’Donnell while he rode on a rural road in Washington County, the BTA introduced a vehicular homicide bill.
Last week I shared a story about Jesse Cornett, the former PSU staffer who’s making a run to fill Dan Saltzman’s seat on Portland City Council. I met Cornett on an organized bike ride (a common place to meet council candidates these days), but I also heard through the grapevine that he was highly savvy and sympathetic to the idea of using bicycles as transportation.
But what I didn’t mention was that Cornett’s main opponent in the race, Mary Volm, also has some major bike-oriented credentials. The main thing we’ve heard so far about Volm is that she was behind the failed attempt to recall Portland’s bike-loving Mayor Sam Adams. But what some may not realize is that Volm had a 20-year career with the City of Portland and was one of the key figures promoting bicycles during Portland’s biking golden age of the early-mid 1990s.
Portland’s Sellwood neighborhood is on a roll. Their new bike boulevard opened last month (although it’s not 100% done yet) and now a new bike shop, Bike Commuter, is set to open this Friday.
Bike Commuter is located at 8315 SE 13th Street, just south of Umatilla, which is the cut-through street for the popular Springwater Corridor Trail
The shop is owned by husband and wife team of Eric and Naihma Deady (pronounced Dee-dee). The Deadys live right around the corner from the shop with their two kids, ages 10 and five months. We caught Eric on the phone this morning between hanging photos and building up bikes in preparation for opening day.
It’s becoming a tradition on the KBOO Bike Show to open up the studio doors on the first show of the year. This year is no different — local band No They Do will be playing live (Blind Pilot played last year), free coffee and treats will be on hand, and listeners are invited to turn off their radio and come down to help create the show.
Drop in this morning at 20 SE 8th Ave between 11am and noon to drink coffee, listen live, and if you’re so inclined, to step up to the mic and tell Portland your new year’s resolutions for bikes. It’s your party! Details below:
Year: 1998
Brand: Specialized
Model: Hard Rock
Color:Black w/ silver trim & red letters
Serial: DN291381
Stolen in Portland, OR 97239
Stolen:2010-01-01
Stolen From: Locked parking garage of Corbanc Condominiums at 4320 SW Corbett Ave, Portland, OR 97239
Neighborhood: SW Portland
Owner: Bret Kimple
OwnerEmail: bkimple@gmail.com
Reward: $80
Description: 1998 Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike w/ slick tires, black w/ silver trim and red letters.
Police record with: Portland Police Bureau
Police reference#: 10-150043
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
For a variety of reasons, activist rumblings have been surfacing recently around Portland’s bike and transportation advocacy scene.
The city’s main advocacy group, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, is without an executive director and seeking a new direction at the same time as the City’s Bicycle Plan for 2030 readies for adoption.
Last month, about 40 people turned up at our impromptu town hall for a lively discussion on the future of bike advocacy in Portland. The feeling in the room was strongly in favor of turning up the heat in the effort to make Portland a better place to get around by bike, and for adding more variables to the local bike activism ecosystem (like walking and transit).
Year: 2009
Brand: Schwinn
Model: Super Sport
Color:Maroon/silver
Size:Extra Large
Serial: SNIDC08405839
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2009-12-26
Stolen From: The bike was stolen right outside my house, 3650 SE 33rd Avenue. The lights were on. It was locked up to the metal bike rack.
Neighborhood: Foster Powell
Owner: Michael Tonn
OwnerEmail: mike.tonn@gmail.com
Reward: depends
Description: Maroon/silver extra large Schwinn Super Sport. Has aluminum rack on back, with a black wire cage on top. Black plastic fenders that have been bent a few times. That plastic ring on the back tire is broken as well.
Police record with: Portland Police
Police reference#: T10000046
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
Year: 2008
Brand: Fuji
Model: Team Pro
Color:black and white with a little bit of blue
Size:52-54cm
Photo: http://velospace.org/node/1385
Stolen in Portland, OR 97217
Stolen:2010-01-4
Stolen From: My house in North Portland on Prescott street along with my roommate’s bike a black carbon Trek racing bike.
Neighborhood: North Portland
Owner: Dan Schoo
OwnerEmail: dtschoo@gmail.com
Description: Full carbon monocoque frame and fork. Shimano ultegra front derailleur, dura-ace rear derailleur, truvativ crankset. FSA Shallow drop ergo bars. Good condition, not ridden very often. There is a black sticker on the side that says ‘Drowning in Lethe’ and a March Fourth sticker on the front of the frame. Unfortunately, I haven’t saved the serial number. The frame is a crash replacement the Fuji sent me and the bikeshop I went through for that didn’t have the serial # on the receipt since it wasn’t one of their stock bikes :(. Thus my only proof is the stickers and the shallow drop bars are not stock. There is also a very noticeable scrape on one of the front brake/shifters.
Police record with: 10-01036
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation does a lot more than than just build bike infrastructure. They also have one of the best Safe Routes to Schools programs in the country and they do a bunch of free, bike-related outreach all year. Below are four events that you should take advantage of this month:
Safe Routes Discussions and Trainings
TerraCycle Inc., a locally based designer, manufacturer, and retailer of specialty recumbent parts and accessories has acquired Windwrap Fairings.
Windwrap makes fairings (a.k.a. windscreens) out of Lexan plastic and is a well-known brand in the recumbent world. Mark Mueller, founder of the company that makes Windwrap Fairings, started the business in 1998 and has always maintained his day job as a transportation engineer for CalTrans. In a press release about the deal, Mueller said: