Month: November 2014

The Monday Roundup: The ‘unstealable bike,’ music through your bones and more

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
yerka

A little bit bike, a little bit Escher painting.
(Image: YerkaProject.com)

Here are the bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Unstealable bike? The Yerka doesn’t have a built-in lock; it is the lock.

Bone music: A British design student literally wants to turn your butt into a speaker system while you’re riding your bike. (Scroll down to “On your bike.”)

Carhead, explained: Angeleno Stephen Corwin’s struggled to understand his family’s reactions to his car-free lifestyle until he realized they didn’t think of it as a “life choice” but as “a stunt.” “To them, I was like David Blaine, performing a weird test of endurance. I was holding my breath in a car-free world, hoping to impress everyone around me before I could bear it no longer.”

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Comment of the Week: The secret to becoming a total badass

Riders in the storm-17

(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Steep hills and chilly mornings started hard for every single one of us. But life offers few clearer examples than biking that what doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

That’s the wisdom reader Lyle W shared beneath our post about Wednesday night’s wild windstorm:

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Opinion: The PBA and The Oregonian are wrong about street tax impetus

DSC_5589

They’ve never said “Our Streets” is only for paving.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator 1976-2000

It’s one thing to be opposed to something on principle or policy grounds, but when the facts are twisted to suit an agenda, that’s something else entirely.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what The Oregonian Editorial Board and the Portland Business Alliance have done. Both of these groups are staunchly opposed to the latest transportation revenue proposal unveiled by Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick earlier this week. I’m not entirely in love with the proposal (I think a paltry 7% of total spending toward biking-specific infrastructure isn’t enough); but that’s a different conversation. For now, there’s one aspect of the argument from the PBA and The Oregonian that really needs to be called out.

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Four year sentence in brick-throwing bike assault case is a rarity

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Robert Hudgens, a 15-year-old who threw a brick into the face of a man bicycling past him on NE Tillamook back in April was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday .

The Oregonian had a reporter in the courtroom. Here’s a snip from her story:

Police say Hudgens and a 15-year-old friend were throwing bricks at cyclists on the evening of April 19. One cyclist, Jonathan Garris, 52 of Northeast Portland, reported getting hit in the leg. A 27-year-old cyclist also said he was targeted, but not hit.

It’s unclear who struck Garris. But Hudgens was charged with striking Richardson. His friend apparently missed the cyclists, so instead of being prosecuted for a Measure 11 felony in adult court as Hudgens was, the friend was charged with a misdemeanor and allowed into juvenile court.

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Riding conditions open thread

icyrossy

A reader sent this photo to us via email with the subject
line, “I’ve made a terrible mistake.” Hope he’s O.K.!

With the cold/windy/wet/icy weather we’ve been having, this is one of those days where lots of folks are wondering what the biking conditions are like.

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Weekend Event Guide: A big sale, more ‘cross, and baked goods

eventguidelead

A historic moment for Portland Parks happening Saturday at Gateway Green.

Welcome to your menu of weekend rides and events, lovingly brought to you by our friends at Hopworks Urban Brewery.

Baby it’s cold outside. And windy (and a bit frozen) too. But as luck would have it, the forecast actually calls for clear and sunny skies for the weekend. That means it’s time to bundle up and brave the elements!

Whether you’re still motoring through ‘cross season or just looking for an excuse to eat donuts with friends old and new, we’ve got another great line-up for you to choose from.

Friday, November 14th

Castelli Sample Sale – 10:00 am to 8:00 pm at 1040 NE 44th Ave #1

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The battle against bike theft in Portland has begun

theft-suspect

I had a long conversation with this
man under the Burnside Bridge last week.
He’s a bike theft suspect well-known
to the PPB.
(Photo J Maus/BikePortland)

Portlanders are rising up to fight the growing scourge of bike theft.

From the many sources I’m tracking, the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Portland Police Bureau, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office, the City of Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement, business owners, and other agencies and community leaders are taking the bull by the horns.

And it’s a big bull.

Through a mix of official enforcement actions and old-fashioned, grassroots neighborhood organizing both offline and through social media, bike thieves are coming up against a harsh reality: We are sick and tired of how out-of-control this problem has gotten and a feeling of “enough is enough!” has reached a boiling point in Portland.

After getting my bike stolen — and then taking it back — earlier this month, I’ve been learning as much as I can about the local bike theft scene. I’ve reached out to various players (including the alleged thieves themselves on one occasion) and have followed the issue closely. In the last few weeks I’ve noticed several separate actions taking place and figured it was time to share them here on the Front Page.

Here are some updates and ongoing efforts we’re following:

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Metro weighs anti-climate-change efforts against Clackamas County complaints

ludlow

Clackamas County Commissioner
John Ludlow.
(Photos: Clackamas County)

As Chinese and U.S. leaders have been negotiating the first-ever bilateral deal to cut carbon pollution in both countries, some local government leaders have been calling for Americans to give up on carbon-reduction efforts.

Their argument: because they think China and other countries are unlikely to reduce their carbon emissions, Americans shouldn’t try to reduce theirs.

The fight matters to transportation because it’s playing out in the Metro regional government’s Climate Smart Communities Scenarios Project, which will influence the amount of money available to spend on new roads, freeways, transit lines and off-street paths over the next 25 years.

John Ludlow, chair of the Clackamas County Commissioners, has been one of the loudest voices for more roadway spending.

“When they continue to pour in money to bike paths they take it away from roadways,” he told the Portland Tribune for an article this week. “Freight can’t use a bike path.”

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Marilyn Hayward, bike shop owner and recumbent evangelist, has died

Marilyn Hayward

Hayward in her shop in February 2013.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Marilyn Hayward is no longer with us. A family member confirmed the sad news Wednesday afternoon via a post on her Facebook page: “Some of you may or may not know,” wrote Marilyn’s nephew Matt Ford, “But my Aunt was having a difficult time with her brain injury after the accident. Unfortunately she took her own life last weekend and is no longer with us.”

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Linking the central eastside: City narrows options for closing the ‘Green Loop’

green loop visualization

The vision for an all-ages bike loop linking the central city is slowly moving from sketch to blueprint. But where should it cross I-84, and which streets should it run on?
(Image: Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability)

City planners and stakeholders are looking closely at an unsolved problem of Portland’s central eastside: the route for a continuous north-south bikeway somewhere inland from the Eastbank Esplanade.

The leading options are, at this point, numerous and intriguing: Grand, 6th, 7th and 9th.

Planners are also looking, in closer detail than ever, at the possible options for a new biking-walking bridge over Interstate 84.

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Latest Headlines

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Here’s the new ‘complete street’ coming to Cully Blvd

From the Archives

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