(Photos J. Maus/BikePortland)
It’s been one week since an “urgent” street safety meeting was called by Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick. City PR staff insisted the meeting was “multimodal” but it happened only because a scary spate of collisions involving people on bicycles was dominating the news cycle and social media. That meeting didn’t bear much fruit and was referred to later by the Mayor’s office as nothing more than a “listening session.”
Not surprisingly, the urgency around bike safety that existed two weeks ago among the local media and the greater Portland community is gone. The only people still focused on this issue (at least publicly) are the dedicated activists that played such a large role in putting the issue on the Mayor’s radar in the first place.
Those same activists — and many other Portlanders — are now wondering what’s next. “Has anything changed since that meeting?” was how one person put it on Twitter this morning.
The good news is that volunteer activists — many of them affiliated with BikeLoudPDX — are feverishly trading emails, ideas, and meeting plans. They have not let up and I’m excited to be seeing the most promising groundswell of bike activism Portland has had in the past 10 years. Meanwhile, professional advocates at the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Oregon Walks, and other groups are also working to get Mayor Hales and Commissioner Novick to fully embrace Vision Zero.
On that note, last week I joined Novick’s Transportation Policy Advisor Timur Ender, the BTA’s Rob Sadowsky, and PBOT Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller on the KBOO Bike Show. Give that show a listen to better understand the state of city in terms of bike safety.
While all these efforts continue, I thought it might be helpful to share a few of my own ideas about what concrete steps City Hall can take to make biking better in Portland right now. I’ve been critical of the lack of leadership and lack of action on this topic, so it seems only fair that I put some ideas on the table.
So, here are the things I’d like to see happen right now:
Mayor Hales needs more real-life biking experience
One problem with our politics in Portland right now is that no member of City Council (including Mayor Hales) has the perspective of a daily bike rider. Sure, Mayor Hales and Commissioner Nick Fish ride bikes, but they only do it for photo ops that usually include some type of closure and/or police escort. That is not realistic. There’s simply no way to understand the urgency of the bike safety issue unless you are in the trenches — and that means riding every day through all types of conditions on all types of streets.
Mayor Hales should make a public promise to bike as much as he can everyday for a week. This would be a great PR stunt to bring attention to issues and at the end he’d have a much better understanding of why so many of us are so passionate about the need to make biking safer. Now.
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Put a line on the map
I think Hales and Novick missed a huge opportunity last Tuesday when they didn’t announce any new infrastructure projects. They are currently sitting on about $6 million in earmarked federal funds to build protected bikeways downtown. That project has languished for over two years now. Let’s commit to something. Let’s put a line on the map and say, “This street will be the best street for biking in America!” We have the money, we have the public will, we have the momentum. There’s nothing to be afraid of except the consequences of doing nothing.
Update the Community Policing Agreement
It’s been seven years since advocacy groups partnered with the City to write the first-ever, transportation-oriented Community Policing Agreement. Ironically, it was first drafted in April 2008 following a tragic spate of bicycling collisions that included two fatalities. It’s time to update that agreement. And I’m not the only who thinks so. New Portland Police Chief Larry O’Dea has mentioned this to me several times now. The agreement could include policy commitments as well as a road map for how city agencies and local advocacy groups could work more closely together. (Download the current one here.)
Paving projects should be safety projects
Much of the debate about PBOT spending is about “paving versus safety.” That isn’t helpful. Mayor Hales and Commissioner Novick could rise above that debate and commit to doing a safety and striping audit as part of every paving project. PBOT has a great track record of already doing this, and even Mayor Hales himself has mentioned it. At last week’s safety meeting he said: “We can be smart with investments… when we’re repaving do the right type of striping at the right time.” He and Novick should go one step further and make a public promise, in writing, to analyze each paving project to make sure safety improvements happen whenever possible.
Create a temporary diverter program
One of the only real “bike safety action items” Mayor Hales has committed to since last week’s meeting is to experiment with traffic diverters. This comes after Portlanders have pressured him to decrease the amount of driving on neighborhood streets where bicycling should be prioritized. I’d like to see this set up, not as a one-off experiment, but as a full-fledged program within PBOT similar to the crosswalk enforcement actions they’ve been doing for many years. This one should be easy for advocates to get since Hales has already said he’d do it. All that’s missing is a location to start with and a timeline to implement it.
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I think all of these proposals are reasonable and politically viable. All that’s missing is the follow-through and execution. If Mayor Hales and Transportation Commissioner Novick want to be taken seriously as leaders of our city, they’ll stop making promises and start taking action. These suggestions won’t fix everything, but they’re a good start.
Thanks for reading.
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Last year I entered into an email correspondence with the Mayor’s Executive Assistant, Susan Dietz, where I volunteered to ride with the Mayor into town. I live in the same neighborhood. I am profoundly hard of hearing, and do not chit-chat while riding, I would not regale the Mayor with suggestions. I simply wanted him on his bike seeing both how easy it is, and how hazardous it is. The ride, I thought, would speak for itself.
After a few emails, it became clear that this would never happen.
Nice try, Granpa! If you finally get the Mayor or anyone from city hall on a bike, it would be informative to have them ride with a BSMART system:
http://timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/jun/07/3-feet-or-else/308339/
(And yes BP, I know the OR law isn’t 3’… I’m 6’4″ so in theory I get more safe passing clearance than your children).
Wow, scary video. That officer rides in the door zone the ENTIRE TIME. Are they not allowed to take the lane there or what?
Great write-up, Jonathan. Seriously, how many times do we need to hand our list of recommended goals to Mayor Hales? He has had plenty of opportunities to take action.
Thanks Adam. And I hear you… But I tried to make this list not “recommended goals” but actual real things that the Mayor should be able to do pretty easily. Goals are great… but they don’t tend to lead to action in the short-term.
Even more so, then. We’re telling him “do these things right now” and l;aying out a plan on how to do them, and he’s still having none of it. BetterNaito was great, but there’s no plan for how and when to make it permanent – only a vague “let’s do this more in the future”. I agree with you that I’d like to at least see some lines on a map – a concrete list of projects and when they can start.
Speaking of Better Naito, the Waterfront seawall sidewalk isn’t working for bicyclists and pedicabs. I say just widen the sidewalk 5′ and dedicate a 2-direction bikeway on the park side. Rearranging the outdated seating arrangements would be a plus. A better bikeway on McCall Waterfront Park -rather than on Naito- should be a high priority.
It will be much cheaper and faster to just take a northbound lane on Naito.
Agree. And that solution would really help separate the more leisurely, touristy, meandering uses of the park from the through-traffic of bike commuters who just want to get where they’re going.
I take the bike lane on Naito not only because I’m uncomfortable riding among the pleasure-seekers in the park, but because I honestly don’t like spoiling their enjoyment.
…and wouldn’t be a loss of green space, and would resolve pike/ped issues with peds venturing to/from the grass, and would not (hopefully) be taken over by festivals….
The fact that the “urgent meeting” about bike safety issues has been downgraded to a “listening session” (as specified in the Mayor’s website) tells us all we need to know about cycling as a priority for Portland:
WE DON’T CARE ABOUT BICYCLISTS.
I think mayor and PBOT need to start asking “What Would Platinum Do?”
#wwpd or #whatwouldplatinumdo
Platinum would focus upon where a majority of deaths and injuries are occurring, which is east of 82nd, and which incidentally Hales and Novick are in fact committing their “Vision Zero” funds. $9 million in new funds for safety improvements on 122nd. How do you want it spent?
As an East Portland resident and advocate, I appreciate the many others who advocate for changes in East Portland. I even more appreciate the very tiny number of Bikeportland respondents who have ever come over to the “dark side” of 82nd and attended an East Portland meeting to actually give input and advocate for progressive changes, in this the poorest of Portland’s neighborhoods. We have the funds (over $30 million committed), now roll up you jersey sleeves and help us get stuff actually implemented.
East Portland Project activism will be presented by Me, informed by your esteemed advice, hopefully at the BikeloudPDX general meeting.
I should have said July’s general meeting….
While I applaud Mayor Hale’s pledge to spend $9M on 122nd, there is no word on if there will be protected bike lanes installed. Without them, it’s not a true multimodal safety project. Vision Zero, but not for people riding bikes.
David,
this map says more deaths have happened west of 82nd.
http://pdx.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=28c26c3acc604f2cba87aff0fe7f7b24
Thanks for writing this, Jonathan. Your site’s continued excellence is one reason I don’t despair completely about the future of biking in Portland.
Everybody, please keep tweeting, emailing, calling Mayor Hales, Commissioner Novick, the other commissioners, PBOT, and anybody you know in City Hall. Even if it sounds like they’re not paying attention, they are. They just don’t know how to act yet. Let’s give them suggestions. Don’t let up. Too much at stake!
I just received a traffic fine notice from a radar van that “flashed” me doing 36 mph in a 25 zone. OK – my bad, but in the accompanying PR pages from the city, they note that all of the money from the radar van fines goes to the radar van program. Note to City: if you want me to feel better about paying $150 for a speed violation, how about spending some or all of the fine monies on infrastructure projects to improve safe passage for bikes and pedestrians in the city?
The reason they tell you that all the money goes to the operation of the radar van is because so many people believe that the speed enforcement is simply a “revenue enhancement scam.”
True, but it should at least go toward safety projects.
It’s a fair argument that the radar vans ARE safety projects (reducing speeding).
Also true.
Interesting! for the last 3 years I have been stopping on my bike to chat with the retired policemen that are supposedly manning the vans. Out of 30 times I stopped only once was there anyone in the van. the rest of the time, it was just flashing away and taking pictures for fines.
Portland only gets about 40% of the adjudicated fine. The rest goes to the state and county to run the court system.
There doesn’t appear to be any mention of beefing up traffic enforcement.
Todd,
This isn’t meant as a complete list. Just a few things that have been bouncing in my head that should be obvious and reasonable steps the Mayor can take. As for enforcement, updating the community policing agreement would be a great first step to doing more around enforcement.
The cops already have a rapidly increasing spate of drive-by shootings to deal with. They have other priorities, such as murders, rapes, etc. It’s gonna be a long hot summer.
Traffic violence is still the leading cause of death for adults.
“The cops already have a rapidly increasing spate of drive-by shootings to deal with.”
Last time I checked all crime was down significantly. Like way down.
http://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/news/read.cfm?id=4140&ec=1
“Despite the decline in violent crime, many people continue to perceive it as higher. A 2012 study by Portland State University found that Portlanders still have a perception that crime is rising, some due to their exposure of media.”
People remember best what they’ve seen most recently. It’s Neuroscience.
2003-2012 murders in Portland 238
2003-2012 traffic deaths in Portland 318
Can you let me know where you are getting the statistics for traffic deaths, paikiala?
Yeh! Like in Beaverton yesterday. 12 police cars, 2 motorcycle policemen for an SUV rear ending another SUV at a stoplight on Beaverton Hillsdale. Both drivers texting.
^ Comment of the week.
Increased traffic enforcement would seem to be really easy to accomplish. Take a look at the statistics in the Portland Police Bureau’s Annual Report.
http://www.portlandoregon.gov/police/article/518831
Here’s the section titled Traffic Division:
“In 2013, the Traffic Division completed over 50,000 citizen contacts through traffic/pedestrian stops and processed 1,880 Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII) arrests. The Major Crash Team responded to 51 call outs and investigated 35 traffic fatalities.
In addition to working over 140 special events, Special Events personnel completed work with the Revenue Bureau and the Portland Bureau of Transportation to implement a cost recovery system for all athletic events staffed with Portland Police Bureau personnel. Since the cost recovery model was put into effect January 1, 2013, approximately $275,000.00 has been recovered from 23 athletic events.”
The Traffic Division has 51 sworn personnel.
So, now it’s time for some math: 50,000 “citizen contacts” per year works out to 140 per day. That’s fewer than 3 per day per officer. I understand from the description that the Traffic Division does lots of other stuff, but 3 per day per officer? Really?
I can’t drive, walk or cycle for ten minutes without seeing something that’s an obvious traffic violation. Almost every day that I drive, walk or bike for an hour I see some motorist blow through a red light. Every time I drive the speed limit on McLoughlin Blvd or Holgate or I-5, I have dozens of people pass me like I’m standing still. I’m not saying that those speeding offences should be the enforcement priority, but it’s not clear based on the PPB’s own statistics that there’s much enforcement. And, “citizen contacts” are not necessarily citations, they could be warnings.
Today was the first days used my ride camera. Withinfive minutes of my commute, a motorist blew a stop sign and I had to slam on my brakes.
Welcome to the club, now wait till after about 2 months when you get tired of editing the ridiculous and constant amount of idiot driver footage… its depressing.
Now I know why video editing folks smoke like chimneys. lol
That is ridiculous! I must be reading it wrong, please someone tell me I am reading it wrong.
How many doughnuts can a cop eat in a day? probably more than 3! So WTF are they doing with their time that they can only Squeeze in an average of 3 tickets per day?
I could write an average of 10 tickets just standing on the street corner in front of my office for 2 hours.
I’d like to see what New York’s average ticket per Doughnut eating cop is.
I couldn’t believe it either. That’s why I provided the link to the PPB’s Annual Report!
The suggestion that Hales bike is a great one, but I think you’ve already laid out in recent posts why this is probably the very last thing he’d be caught doing; he’d probably propose a gas tax worthy of the name before being caught biking-as-political-stunt.
I agree. One of Mayor Hales key campaign stategies was to be Not Sam Adams. Biking is a very devisive issue. He would win as many enemies as he would friends. The way to get biking improvements is, as we’ve seen in the Lloyd mall area, call them complete streets or anything but bike infastructure projects.
Thank you this is a great list. Upgrading the repave process for the 21st century is a big one. So are diverters.
I think there is policy room for neighbors to fast track traffic calming via meandering gardens if they can demonstrate consensus. I’m working on an idea that should be grant-worthy so the rollout can be equitable.
Anyone want to help build a Twilio app that lets neighbors register their support for their block to have (temporary) community gardens on the street?
Would be a cool idea for neighbors to also say they either want/don’t want public parking in front of their house. This might be a ad hoc census tool that can gauge local support for safety projects.
The courts have ruled that when you repave, the curb cuts need to be upgraded to ADA compliant corners. That is a standard safety measure ensured by the ADA act. NACTO compliant bike review and implementation, should be the same thing…..automatic.
Interesting! The last 5 times the street in front of my house has been repaved the bike lane just got narrower by the width of the line. No curb, only a ditch. Sidewalk was approved, assessed and paid for in 1958. Money was spent to put in sidewalk in Hillsboro for Intel.
Maybe there is a grandfather clause (though not sure about the age of where you live) so they weren’t required to put the sidewalks in. We recently had two grandfathered lots bought out and their old single-family homes replaced with townhomes, which triggered the ability for our city to buy/convert the sidewalk easement and also create contiguity to the bike lanes. (https://goo.gl/maps/QpYoT – I really want this sign as a souvenir for all the times I’ve been honked at while riding next to it! Apple’s new campus is less than a mile to the left in this image, fwiw).
Things need to happen now. We need to push. We need to let Hales and Novick understand that their jobs are at stake. Polite lobbying is great, but it seems like it’s not enough. How many people need to be maimed or killed? 10?
There are so many more people in the streets now that the weather is good. These people are our friends, neighbors, and we need the city to take their lives seriously.
And every single one of them is someone’s kid.
I agree. But we need their jobs to actually be at stake before them understanding that their jobs are at stake. I’m not sure that’s the case.
On June 3, after the safety meeting, I wrote to Mayor Hales Chief of Staff, Josh Alpert, to volunteer to be a citizen cyclist on the Vision Zero committee he indicated would be formed. I expressed my opinion that without a roadmap in place indicating tangible short and long term tactical deliverables, the cycling community will continue to lose faith in the City of Portland’s commitment to being a world class bicycle friendly city. I let him know that this tactical roadmap needed to be created and published quickly, within a couple of weeks, in order for the city to be credible.
Josh responded to me the same day, thanked me for my offer and said “I’m not yet sure how we’ll be putting folks on the committee, but I will let you know asap.” and indicated he would be back in touch soon. I hope I do hear from him again soon, and if I do, I will share what I learn. I am sure it takes a bit of time to form a committee, but the lack of communication around this issue since last week doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
Thanks for sharing your proposed tactical measures, Jonathan. I hope the city leaders will read and respond with enthusiasm and a plan.
I predict that no one who comments on BikePortland will be picked to serve on the Vision Zero committee; we’re just too vocal and biased against the motorists. But don’t despair, some of the people selected for the committee will have friends who ride bikes.
I, for one, am not anti-motorist. That’s just far too much sweeping antipathy for my taste. I am in favor of multiple modes of transportation and a system where either coexistence is made safe, or separate options are offered in the event that a street cannot be made safe enough for bicycles and pedestrians as well as cars. I sure hope our city leadership doesn’t subscribe to an us vs. them approach, and will engage active and pro-cycling citizens in assessing and improving Portland’s traffic infrastructure.
“I sure hope our city leadership doesn’t subscribe to an us vs. them approach…”
I think there is a real risk here in throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I happen to think that it actually boils down to an us-vs-them thing in some respects. Autodom has reigned for a century, to the detriment of everyone. Time for a change, a re-prioritization. It is hard to get on board with any singing of Kumbaya when the car lies at the heart of so much that bedevils our transportation system (environmentally, financially, socially, in terms of safety). It is time for a break, a clear-eyed assessment of the costs and benefits of continuing our autodependency any longer.
“…and will engage active and pro-cycling citizens in assessing and improving Portland’s traffic infrastructure.”
I do think that would make a whole lot of sense, and avoiding this would be really hard to defend.
“I predict that no one who comments on BikePortland will be picked to serve on the Vision Zero committee; we’re just too vocal and biased against the motorists. ”
Interesting.
Remember when we were told that the City Club was going to proceed similarly with their selection of the committee that would draft the report on bicycling? How people who bike(!) were unlikely to be chosen because they were biased…? Well, guess what? Robert McCullough got put on that committee, and revealed himself in his Minority Opinion and Oregonian Editorial to be about as anti-bike as anyone in this town.
These eligibility guidelines, man, what a crock!
Novick and quite a few PBOT staff also seem to lack any real-world biking experience. Getting around on an electric tadpole trike should be a job requirement for anybody who works with our city’s streets.
In terms of wanting to ride a bike, what stage is the mayor in?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transtheoretical_model
Somebody remind me: when is the election when these jokers have to defend their seats? Nov, 2016? Has there been any talk/rumors/feelers from anyone (ANYONE!) thinking of running?
The one that matters in May 2016. Nicholas Caleb is contesting Novick’s seat. He is *extremely* progressive. https://www.facebook.com/caleb4councilpdx
I haven’t heard of any contenders for Mayor yet. Rumors of Ted Wheeler. If he ran, I’d vote for him over Hales but Wheeler certainly doesn’t inspire fervor in me like Caleb.
Portland is a city of self-cutters…we can’t stop abusing ourselves with bad politicians. Why?
My guess is insularity. Many feel they need to elect people that just “get” Portland, and recognize and appreciate our amazing uniqueness and exceptionalism (sarcasm). Thus we get a lot of the “same as it ever was”-type politicians in office, beucase we’re not electing a lot of people who have recently livd outside the Portland box.
The structure of the goofy at large city council (very outdated) certainly doesn’t help either.
I like that you mentioned that Nicholas Caleb is progressive. It reminds me that our current local and state political climate is something along the lines of “Democrats by name only; conservative by nature.” Such a shame.
It does not need to be just Hales and Novick. When are the rest of the council up for re-election. Who is eligible for recall.
I’d love to see the City engage in a public service campaign to raise awareness about the value cyclists and peds provide.
That is where respect begins. As resident of NE I was targeted by PBOT several years ago in their walk/bike encouragement campaign. I now commute by bike daily year round and believe that I’ve kept my side of the bargain but they have not kept theirs – keeping the roads safe for me to ride.
On the way home I just saw a perfect example of what the real problem between bikes and cars is. A woman on a bike with a sign on the back that read “No More Ghost Bikes” blow through a stop sign at a busy four way stop. And we’ve all seen the rise in drivers running yellow and even red lights. There seems to be an attitude rampant in the city by both drivers and bike riders that traffic laws need only be obeyed when convenient or unavoidable. There is only one way to change that attitude and it is something the mayor should be able to do. More enforcement. If everyone ignores traffic laws all the green boxes, bike lanes or community meetings won’t change a thing.
“A woman on a bike with a sign on the back that read “No More Ghost Bikes” blow through a stop sign at a busy four way stop.”
I have to ask, specifically, if she took the right of way from cross traffic? Because unless we know this to have been the case, one person’s ‘blowing’ is another’s ‘yielding.’
She did not have right of way and did not even slow let alone stop for the stop sign.
The Mayor could start by joining us for my Pedalpolooza ride “MADLADIA! Riding the 82nd corridor!”
https://www.facebook.com/events/103856209950911/
He has been invited, personally.
THIS.
“One problem with our politics in Portland right now is that no member of City Council (including Mayor Hales) has the perspective of a daily bike rider. Sure, Mayor Hales and Commissioner Nick Fish ride bikes, but they only do it for photo ops that usually include some type of closure and/or police escort. That is not realistic. There’s simply no way to understand the urgency of the bike safety issue unless you are in the trenches — and that means riding every day through all types of conditions on all types of streets.”
We can’t expect the mayor to ride his bike! It’s too dangerous out there!!
Oh, but it’s safe for our kids though.
You voted this guy in.
Because his opponent in the runoff was a hilarious head case. Jefferson Smith literally couldn’t stop lying about his past (including violently attacking a woman, then 20 years later coming to her door uninvited to pressure her to stay quiet). Not to mention his horrendous driving record that he lied a half dozen times about. “Yeah I got my license suspended once. I mean twice. Four times actually. When I said for times, I meant seven.”
Given that choice and being rid of a sleazy ephebophile who left the mayor’s office more than $20 million in debt, Hales was a relatively fresh breath of air. The fresh air just didn’t last long.
Seems to be stale, unmoving air now.
But how do you go about changing the attitudes of the driving population? You can have as many action plans and paving plans you like but that doesn’t change how a driver is going to react when I am on the road (or shoulder/ bike lane).
The current infrastructure is not built around bicycles. How costly would it be to insert bicycle/ pedestrian only paths (not tied to the existing road structure & not sidewalks)? Something like the Fairview path.
Sometimes I wonder about the cycling/pedestrian paths. occationally I try then. The last time was 3 weeks ago. In 3 miles I encountered 45 mothers pushing occupied carriages wearing earphones while texting. Over 70 joggers none were without earphones while texting. No room for cyclists as the path was covered with oblivious peds. The reason for the path was there was no sidewalks on the nearby thoroughfares. The thoroughfares had dirt paths. every street had signs on the paths that cyclist were to stop at all cross streets. I have never ridden the footpaths on these streets but on the street is a 30 mph zone and I try to maintain the speed on the 6 block slight downhill stretch.
MADD did it.
…and it only took about 20 years.
That’s a good question and there are some real and attainable solutions, that could happen quickly.
1) Traffic enforcement, we as residents, homeowners, business owners, parents and voters need to ask for way more traffic enforcement. Specifically speeding and aggressive drivers.
2) We need to lobby around causes and groups that truly connect with the driving public. This means promote way more safety for our children to Walk, ride and arrive at school Safe.
Or rally around walking and complete streets meaning we need to stop brow beating the “non-bicyle riding” public about bicycle issues… they just don’t see it the same way as we do and will never agree or even consider demands that they don’t care to pay attention to.
3) and I know this is a no no but its time to give some (and I emphasize Some) concession’s as bicycle commuters/road users. I think we would connect way better with the none-bicycle people if we did a grassroots out reach to the entire driving public and give them something they think we’re taking away… what ever that might be.
We need to end the “Us Vs Them” conversations, it’s not productive and all we do is alienate more people. besides how many bicycle riders also drive and drive a lot?
We’re alienating those bicycle friendlies by shaming them for driving, there are a lot of people that only MTB and drive everywhere for that or like to ride with there kids around the neighborhood but drive for everything else.
Alienating these “drivers” is a lose/lose situation. But pulling at their heart strings on issues they care about and “tacking on” complete streets or pedestrian issues will get a lot more done.
The bottom line is we need to win the “people driving” over with support and welcoming conversations… then use them against @mayorpdx and @novickOR to hit them hard with numbers…We Need numbers!
Our safety is more important than our preferred method of travel.
Two other actions that could be done quickly and for little cost: Add signage to the neighborhood grrenways that say “cars are guests. no passing. yield to people” etc. and designate design and maintenance standards and a permitting process that allows residents on a block to woonerferize their block.
The first one is not true – shared space is shared.
The second one is already possible, to a degree. They’re called revocable encroachment permits.
Bikes may used full lane are part of the MUTCD but PBOT is apparently reluctant to use them on Greenways. Why?
Nice list. Agreed on the time spent using a bike as transport. I really think that is the root of a lot of conflict between people in cars and people on bikes -> lack of empathy. It’s hard to understand the needs/goals/concerns of a person on a bike if you’ve never been there yourself.
As for “temporary diverters” I hope we will see a wide spread and contiguous installation of “test diverters” instead of a one-off test plot with all the expected back-slappery and self congratulatory chest thumping, followed by 3 years of data analysis. Let’s try to make it count. And make it count fast.
I’d love to see more of this kind of article. Nice work JM!
Standard operating procedure for the Hales era. Convene a meeting, conduct a few studies, hold some “listening sessions,” then forget about the whole thing.
What thing?
Why spend money on diverters when so many other streets still have massive drainage problems, poor lighting, and issues like SW Coronao Street?
Money on diverters? Aren’t these just big planter boxes or something similar? They could even be provided by the residents.
Rick,
16th to Boones Ferry? It’s a local street. Under current policy local residents are responsible to construct local streets. The usual method is improvements when the developer develops. Local Improvement Districts is how it is done after homes are built.
http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/35715
There are other alternatives as well:
http://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/58466
SW Capitol Highway has cascade of water during rainstorms even though it connects Multomah Village to the Barbur transit center and PCC’s largest campus.
All of southwest has drainage issues – it’s the soil.
Maybe if PBOT just keeps saying it for another 15 years it will become true and all the streets will be paved!
In seriousness the PBOT party line is not a real solution to Portland’s problems with unpaved streets.
ftp://ftp02.portlandoregon.gov/PBOT/LID_Program/Council_Report_20001101/Section%202.0%20-%20Hist%20of%20Local%20Infr%20Imp%20in%20Portland%20-%20pg%205-8.PDF
Because it would save lives?
We need Charlie Hales to be a one-term mayor. Does HDR inc wanna give him a job again?
I have a proposal to enhance enforcement: video reported citizen traffic ticket bounties. Win, win. City gets revenue without additional police costs; citizens receive compensation and we are all safer. Don’t run the red light or stop sign. Someone may be filming!