2015 Archives

Highlighting support from BTA, Novick will put local gas tax on May 2016 ballot

Bike Share passage press conference-3.jpg

Novick hopes second time’s a charm.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

After dismissing it as too unpopular to even merit discussion prior to his last (failed) attempt to raise new revenue for transportation infrastructure, Commissioner Steve Novick now plans to put a 10-cent gas tax on the May 2016 ballot.

After a discussion about the proposal with community leaders today, Novick’s office sent out a press release exclaiming that, “Momentum builds for Portland gas tax to fund street repair and traffic safety.”

And in a marked departure from he and Mayor Charlie Hales’ previous strategy, Novick is not shying away from the “b” word (bikes).

Screengrab of City website.

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is appealing to local businesses in an effort to address climate change. As part of “Climate Week” which ran from September 21-25, he launched an effort to get at least 50 companies to “join the city in committing to reduce carbon emissions.”

This is an important initiative to watch for a few reasons. First, if Hales (and the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability) succeeds at creating a new coalition of businesses who care about climate change, it could morph into something that gives city council a counterbalance to the Portland Business Alliance — an organization that has tended to fight for the status quo of auto-dependence when it comes to transportation issues.

“There’s this notion that the City of Portland is green, but that the business community is opposed,” Hales said in an official statement. “That might have been true once, but not today. Today, members of our business community share our city’s values of equity and livability.”

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

As a huge fan of this website and everything you do, and with an eye to the changes that the new subcriber model might permit us to pursue, here’s a short list of things that would be fun to see:

(1) a better search function. The button has drifted a bit lately, I’d like to see it in the upper right corner which seems like a typical location. When you do search, the results are not organized by date, or much of anything else as far as I can tell. Would it be possible to crib a more sophisticated search algorithm, perhaps even with ‘advanced’ features from somewhere? This would make mining the archives so much more rewarding.

(2) an edit button for the comments. Perhaps this is expensive (I don’t know) but I do know that many, many commenters have expressed a desire for this.

Would the hallway be one big ramp?
(Image: Steven Fleming via Treehugger)

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

All-bike office: What would an office building look like if it were designed around the assumption that everyone biked there?

Social distance: An excellent roundup of scientific studies into how your commute affects your life includes a haunting detail: “car commuting was associated with lower levels of social participation and general trust.”

Job Title *
Bicycle sales/mechanic

Company/Organization *
First City Cycles

Job Description *
Are you obsessed with bikes and feel like you’re part of the bicycling community? If so, have we got the job for you! First City Cycles, located in downtown Oregon City, has an immediate opportunity for an experienced service technician and sales consultant. We’re looking for a team player with at least 3 years of in shop, and hands-on bike maintenance experience, who also enjoys bicycling, and talking bikes with customers. Our expanding shop is part of the community and the home base of the Oregon City Trail Alliance (OCTA), helping to build local bike parks, and trail systems to expand the joy of cycling in Oregon City, and Clackamas County. If you feel you want to be part of our team, please send your resume, and brief cover letter to: mark@fccycles.net. Preference will be given to applicants with experience of Specialized, Norco, or Kona brand products. Only qualified applicants will be contacted for interview. No phone calls please.

How to Apply *
Email resume and cover letter to: mark@fccycles.net

Tilikum Crossing may have boosted bike traffic already (corrected)

Tilikum Crossing during Sunday Parkways last weekend.
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Correction 10/5: Unfortunately, an earlier version of this post was based on inaccurate data. As explained in the comments by Portland Bicycle Planning Coordinator Roger Geller (and first noticed by reader Psyfalcon), the Hawthorne counter failed to capture eastbound bike data from Sept. 9 through the end of the month. This problem wasn’t noted on the city’s website but we should have noticed the east/west discrepancy and checked with the city before running this story.

This means it’s likely that the Tilikum has boosted total bike traffic across the Willamette, but that Hawthorne bike traffic hasn’t dropped by anywhere close to one-third. It’ll take several weeks to learn the truth. In the meantime, we regret the error. The original (incorrect) version of the post follows.

That one time, at the Bike & Beer Fest, when they had a Huffy toss competition.
(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.

This weekend two of Oregon’s most beloved passions — bikes and beer — seamlessly merge into one spectacular event. The Handmade Bike & Beer Fest is the place to be this weekend. You should also do yourself a favor and get out to Cascade Locks in the Gorge to partake in what is shaping up to be the best Take a Kid MTB’ing Day ever. NW Trail Alliance has really done fantastic work putting the event together.

The forecast for the next few days looks to be excellent (in the short term that is, it sure would be nice to get back to normal weather patterns, but I digress): warm and sunny.

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

Friday, October 2nd

BikePortland’s 10th Birthday Party – 6:00 pm at Velo Cult (1969 NE 42nd)
It’s time we celebrated a bit, don’t you think? Come over to Velo Cult tonight and help us commemorate a decade of bike blogging — and wish us well as we embark on a whole new chapter. More info here (FB).

Creating new BikePortlander posts is a benefit of your BikePortlander subscription (learn more about our new supporter program here).

What type of posts are we looking for? You can start a thread with a question, an observation, a concern, a recap of a meeting you attended, and so on. All readers will then be able to respond in the comments and add to the discussion.

We hope these posts will become another helpful resource for the thousands of people who rely on us for bike news, information and inspiration every day.

For now, these posts will go into a queue where they’ll be moderated by our staff and then published. We’ll consider elevating the best BikePortlander posts to our Front Page. If you have any questions or feedback, please get in touch.

[Also, please pardon our dust as we launch this and other new features over the next few days!]

Fund drive launched for bike repair station on “Dirty 30”

If all goes according to plan there will be at least one oasis for bicycle riders on what is now a pretty miserable stretch of Highway 30 known among many who ride it as “Dirty 30.”

The bike lanes on Highway 30 north of downtown Portland are infamous. They are strewn with shards of every type of material imaginable, they are often taken over by large trucks accessing the many large driveways, and they are adjacent to fast-moving traffic. Flats are a common occurence and there aren’t many destinations where you’d feel like stopping to take a break.

That’s why we’re happy to report that the owner of the Union Market and Deli at 5515 NW St. Helens Road (between Kittridge and Saltzman – map) wants to install a public bike repair station. Martha Cole has lauched a campaign on GoFundMe.com to raise $1,550.

Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.

Community helps recover stolen cargo bike used in homeless youth outreach program

These images of a discarded bike sparked some sleuthing and action that led to a successful recovery.
(Photos by Mary C.)

It started with an email from a concerned Portlander and it ended with a bike being reunited with its owner — who in this case happened to be a non-profit organization that works with young people experiencing homelessness. There were no police involved, only people in our community who care about each other and who have an eye for bikes.

Space is valuable. But who wants to vote on what it’s worth?
(Photos: M.Andersen and J.Maus/BikePortland)

Last year, Portland hired a top-dollar consulting firm for advice on the best way to manage the auto parking that’s become increasingly scarce in a few neighborhoods.

Twelve months later, the city is taking steps toward some of its recommendations: for example, proposing an opt-in parking permit system that would let residential neighborhoods block their street parking spaces from being used by people living or shopping on commercial corridors.

But at the moment, Portland is on course to ignore a different suggestion made very clearly by the firm, Nelson\Nygaard: that elected officials should “never, ever” be the ones to set the price of parking.

Highlighting support from BTA, Novick will put local gas tax on May 2016 ballot

Mayor courts businesses as part of climate change push

Suggestions for bikeportland

The Monday Roundup: Bike-oriented office building, India’s ‘village of widows’ & more

Job: Bicycle sales/mechanic – First City Cycles

Tilikum Crossing may have boosted bike traffic already (corrected)

Weekend Event Guide: Beers, bikes, fruit, kids in the dirt, and more

Friday, October 2nd

Welcome to BikePortlander Posts

Fund drive launched for bike repair station on “Dirty 30”

Job: Mechanic/Salesperson – 21st Avenue Bikes – FILLED

Community helps recover stolen cargo bike used in homeless youth outreach program

How much should parking permits cost? Four ways the city could find out

Latest Headlines

‘Better Sheridan’ project brings safer street to South Waterfront

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?

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland