September 2015 Archives

Weekend Event Guide: Swifts, Sandy Ridge, scavenger hunt, Sunday Parkways and more

Forest Grove - Barney Reservoir loop-20.jpg

Want to feel small? Do the Oregon Coast Gravel Epic on Saturday.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

This menu of delicious rides and events is brought to you by our friends at Hopworks Urban Brewery. Their support makes BikePortland possible.

Whether you want to chill out with the full moon or hone your singletrack skills, we’ve got a ton of ideas for you this weekend. This week’s guide is as full as I’ve seen it since the height of summer. Way to welcome the fall season BikePortlanders!

The forecast for the next few days looks to be excellent. We might have a shower today, but the weekend will be dry and in the low 70s.

What do you have planned? Whatever it is, we hope it involves a bicycle. Enjoy your weekend.

Los Angeles transportation director Seleta Reynolds.
(Photo via TREC at PSU)

Seleta Reynolds gets results.

As we reported last week, the city whose livable streets program she led for three years, San Francisco, has subsequently delivered the nation’s most consistent string of boosts in bike commuting.

She’s now one year into a vastly larger gig: transportation director for the City of Los Angeles, which turned millions of heads last month when it rolled out a citywide plan to gradually reallocate numerous auto lanes to create dedicated bus lanes and 300 miles of protected bike lanes.

She’s also one of the most reflective transportation leaders in the country, as the interview below makes clear. Ahead of her free Oct. 6 talk at Ecotrust, we caught up with Reynolds to discuss her advice for Portland’s advocates and bureaucrats, the arguments for biking that work best and whether Portland is still cool.

My daughter and I at the 2006 Bunny on a Bike ride. I’m wearing the first-ever BikePortland t-shirt designed by local artist — and soon to be former Portlander — Carye Bye.

Jim Merz and Virginia Church in Salem in August 1971 just before setting off on their journey.
(Photos © Jim Merz)

In 1972 Jim Merz and Virginia Church set off from Portland on an epic bike ride. That alone isn’t groundbreaking or especially newsworthy, but Merz and Church (his wife at the time) aren’t just any bike riders. They both spent their lives in the bicycle industry and their collective work has had a local, national, and global impact.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

(Data: Census Bureau, Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. Charts: BikePortland.)

In a big new story promoted using its new “watchdog” label, The Oregonian has determined that a wave of new apartments that account for 3 percent of Portland’s housing supply are the best way to start talking about a trend that is rapidly pushing Portland homes out of middle-class reach.

From 2006 to 2014, Census figures show, Multnomah County’s population grew 79 percent faster than its housing supply. The surge of apartments that began to open in 2012 have barely made a dent in the deep shortage that developed during the Great Recession, when housing construction nearly stopped but 10,000 people kept pouring into Multnomah County each year.

In 1,600 well-crafted words about Portland’s housing problems, the newspaper doesn’t find room to mention these facts.

Adam Newman in July 2014.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

The current issue of Bicycle Times Magazine has special significance for one Portland resident. Issue #37 of the magazine (brought to you by Pennsylvania-based Rotating Mass Media, the same folks who do the venerable MTB mag Dirt Rag) is the first one put together by Adam Newman.

Newman, who moved to Portland last summer, was named editor-in-chief of Bicycle Times back in July.

If you go to local bike events and various rides in the city and region, you have probably already rubbed shoulders with Mr. Newman. He did some stellar coverage of the Riverview Natural Area trails debate and he most recently joined Travel Oregon for a tour of the coast on fat bikes (which you can read about in the current issue).

Congrats Adam! We’re lucky to have you here in Portland.

Read the official news release below:

Screengrab from Hannah Davison’s GoFundMe page.

Plenty of room for changes.
(Photo: Google Streetview)

The street that once ran along part of Portland’s eastern border is now one of its most important corridors, and it’s lined up for some changes — which may even include a new bikeway.

On Saturday, Oct. 10, the 82nd Avenue Improvement Coalition will host a community forum about the urban highway’s future. It’s convened by the Asian-Pacific American Network of Oregon, the force behind an effort to keep strengthening the identity of the Jade District near 82nd and Division; by state Sen. Michael Dembrow, one of the forces behind an effort to bring 82nd Avenue from state to local control; and by the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, which is updating its zoning maps in ways that could push the street away from its current highway-on-the-edge-of-town atmosphere.

The proposed median diverters, similar to those used elsewhere in the city, would allow local auto traffic on Clinton but render the street much less useful as a car commuting route by forcing east-west cars to turn. The goal is to make more people comfortable biking there by reducing auto counts on the street.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Citing fresh evidence that Clinton Street has accidentally become a significant route for rush-hour car traffic, the Portland Bureau of Transportation last week proposed two diverters designed to push the traffic to Powell Boulevard, Division Street and elsewhere.

Under its plan, PBOT would test median diverters at 17th and 29th to block east-west auto traffic on Clinton while allowing north-south traffic at those intersections. The barriers would be put on the ground this fall and tested for six months.

Weekend Event Guide: Swifts, Sandy Ridge, scavenger hunt, Sunday Parkways and more

‘When you have it, it’s priceless’: Nine questions for Seleta Reynolds

Opinion: Coming to terms with a changing Portland

Legendary framebuilder Jim Merz shares his 1972 Portland to Panama bike ride

The Oregonian blames ‘hipster hovels,’ not massive housing shortage, for rising rents

Industry Ticker: Portlander Adam Newman now editor-in-chief of Bicycle Times Magazine

North Portland hit-and-run victim looks to crowdfunding for medical bills

Outreach begins for likely upgrades to SE 82nd Avenue

City proposes traffic diverters on SE Clinton at 17th and 29th

Latest Headlines

Driver kills vulnerable road user while making illegal u-turn

City reports, ‘steady, not stagnant’ bicycle use in 2025 count report

Weekend Event Guide: Ladds 500, ride for a judge, bicycle show, and more

Podcast: City Council District 3 Candidate Brandon Mullen

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland