2014 Archives

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.

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.

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

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:

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.”

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.”

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.

Looking pretty nice. (View north from SW Gaines.)
(Photo by Portland Parks)

A new, quarter-mile segment of the Willamette Greenway path through the South Waterfront is almost complete. The section of path is part of Portland Parks & Recreation’s South Waterfront Greenway project which was first envisioned in city planning documents in 2004.

BTA’s Rob Sadowsky sees a bright future for
Vision Zero in Portland.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Vision Zero (also known as Towards Zero Deaths) is a bold goal that’s also the name of a growing national movement to end the acceptance of fatalities and injuries on our roads as mere “accidents.” Advocates instead want to completely change our approach to street design and policy so that no one is hurt or killed while using them.

We’ve been talking about Vision Zero for years here in Portland, but there seems to finally be some tangible movement forward.

Tomorrow in New York City is the opening day of the Vision Zero for Cities Symposium and there will be several Portlanders making the trip. Rob Sadowsky, the leader of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and Aaron Brown, a board member with Oregon Walks will be there. The City will send Gabriel Graff, the operations manager of the Active Transportation Division at the Portland Bureau of Transportation. (We’ve also heard that PPB Traffic Division Capt. Kelli Sheffer will also be at the symposium, but we’ve been unable to confirm her attendance.)

National industry-funded bicycle advocacy group People for Bikes (formerly Bikes Belong) has launched a new PSA campaign dubbed “Travel With Care.” The campaign aims at “humanizing people on bikes and encouraging better behavior among drivers and bike riders.”

A series of posters has been launched and they’ll soon be appearing on billboards and other locations nationwide.

The campaign was modeled on the “Drive With Care” campaign launched (via a successful crowd-funding effort) by the non-profit Bike Pittsburgh this past spring.

The visuals include portraits of everyday people and their bikes, along with some clever taglines. For instance a chef’s posters reads: “Chef. Neighbor. Rides a bike. Don’t cut it close.”

Yes, Virginia, a seven-foot-tall tandem tallbike can be carried on one of car2go’s new rear racks.
(Photo: Carl Larson, Bicycle Transportation Alliance)

Last week, we reported that floating-fleet carsharing service Car2go was preparing to start testing a new feature in Portland: external bike racks.

Yesterday, Bicycle Transportation Alliance staffer Carl Larson helped the company test whether their product was up to the job of hauling the full diversity of our local bike fleet.

It’s windy out there. Very windy.

This afternoon there were reports of trees and branches falling all over the region. Before leaving the office for the day, Jonathan posted the following tweet:

I’ll be riding in the middle of the lane the whole way home today so I don’t get crushed by any fallen trees. Yikes!

— BikePortland (@BikePortland) November 11, 2014

Then, what he’d posted in jest actually happened to an unlucky woman riding downtown.

According to a Portland Police Bureau report, a woman who was biking in downtown Portland survived a tree falling on her in the bike lane. It happened just after 4 p.m., according to police. She received “traumatic but not life-threatening injuries.”

Check out a photo of the tree and the full PPB press release below the jump…

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

Riding conditions open thread

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

Friday, November 14th

The battle against bike theft in Portland has begun

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

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

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

New section of riverfront path in South Waterfront nears completion

Vision Zero coming into focus in Portland

National bike org launches ‘Travel With Care’ safety campaign

Car2go’s new bike racks have passed the Portland test

Wind topples tree onto woman as she bikes up Naito Parkway

Latest Headlines

Your guide to finding the ‘Wildwood’ crows by bike

My journey to that ‘Hard Rock glow’

Off-Road Cycling Master Plan: A decade later, what has changed?

A rad Plaid Century

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland