2015 Archives

Announcing our Ride Along with Portland Design Works contest

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

We’re excited to announce a new partnership with Portland Designs Works. And we’re kicking it off with a contest that will win three lucky readers $300 worth of PDW gear.

This fantastic local company first sprung into our hearts back in 2009 and has really hit their stride in the last few years thanks to a line of smartly designed products, creative spirit and authentic commitment to our community.

Now, PDW has stepped up to be the official sponsor of our Ride Along series! That’s the regular feature we’ve been doing for just over three years now where I meet up with a reader at their house and join them for their ride into work. Along the way, we get to know the person and we see their ride — the good, the bad, and the ugly parts — from their perspective.

AASHTO President Jon Cox before a congressional
committee Tuesday.
(Screen capture via Rep. Rick Larsen)

Vision Zero is maybe the hottest subject in American street advocacy right now, but there’s still quite a lot of disagreement about what exactly it means.

As Portland adopts an official policy to prevent all road deaths and safety advocates begin a push for state and other local governments to follow that lead, we’ve just gotten a couple very clear examples of what Vision Zero doesn’t mean.

One comes from a hearing Tuesday in Washington D.C. The other comes from a state engineer quoted yesterday in The Oregonian.

Portland-area streets described by ODOT as “highways to be transferred to local jurisdictions” are marked in pink. The blue line, Cornelius Pass Road, is a request from ODOT for a transfer in the other direction.
(Image: ODOT testimony on SB 117.)

Barbur Boulevard, Powell Boulevard, Tualatin Valley Highway, Lombard Street, 82nd Avenue and Macadam Avenue could all be lined up for gradual transfer from state to city control under a bill before Oregon’s legislature.

– Download PDF –

Three of America’s largest and most influential bicycle advocacy organizations are not happy with Portland’s decision to prohibit bicycle access at River View Natural Area.

International Mountain Bicycling Association President and US Executive Director Michael Van Abel, People for Bikes VP of Government Affairs Jenn Dice, and League of American Bicyclists President Andy Clarke all signed their names to a letter (PDF) dated March 18th that was sent to Mayor Charlie Hales and all four city commissioners.

Here’s the text of the letter (emphases mine):

We are writing to express our concern with the recent decision to prohibit bicycle use in the River View Natural Area. Any decision to exclude bicycles is disappointing to our organizations as we truly believe that bicycles are an amazing tool for progress. They provide efficient and cost effective transportation, a family friendly form of recreation, and in the case of off road bicycling, a valuable connection to the natural environment. Yet despite that passion we know that sometimes other priorities for funding or even land use take precedence and bicycles are not given priority. We can generally accept those decisions. However, when those decisions are made in an arbitrary and capricious manner that cuts off due process, we must object.

Read more

5 lessons for Portland in Seattle’s big bike-friendly ballot issue

A few miles up the road, Portland’s big-sister city is doing something Portland hasn’t yet: charting a viable path to paying for its transportation goals.

The nine-year, $900 million “Move Seattle” property tax levy proposed Wednesday by Mayor Ed Murray would include (among many other things) 50 miles of protected bike lanes and 60 miles of neighborhood greenways over nine years. That’s about half of the projects that Seattle’s 20-year bike plan refers to as parts of the “citywide network.”

For comparison’s sake, Portland’s “paused” street fund proposal included, at one point, an estimated 14-20 miles of protected bike lanes and 40-50 miles of greenways over 10 years. But the possible lessons here for Portland aren’t just about scale (Seattle is bigger by most measures, after all) and the story here isn’t just that Seattle is succeeding where we aren’t (Seattle has a long way to go, after all).

Riders in Gateway Green, a future bike park.
(Photo J Maus/BikePortland)

Portlanders itching for more places to ride bikes in the dirt will now have to work extra hard, thanks to a report from the City Budget Office (PDF) that recommends zero funding for two Portland Parks & Recreation projects we’ve been following very closely: Gateway Green and the Off-Road Cycling Master Plan.

Does this mean those two projects won’t be funded? No. The report is just one factor Mayor Hales and City Council will use to decide where money should be spent. But the CBO recommendation does underscore the difficult politics around these two projects and it means anyone who wants to see them become reality will have to make sure their voices are heard in the coming weeks and months.

We reached out the Budget Office, Commissioner Fritz’s office, and supporters of these projects to learn more about what this all means…

Senator Chris Edwards.

Eugene area State Senator Chris Edwards wants to make it easier to go after after bike thieves. His Senate Bill 861 would require a judge to include “electronic location information” of a stolen bicycle to be considered probable cause when issuing a search warrant.

The bill would add the following language to existing Oregon Revised Statute 133.155:

(5)(a) A judge shall consider electronic location information, indicating that a bicycle reported as stolen is located in the place to be searched as described in the warrant affidavit, as probable cause that the place to be searched contains evidence concerning the commission of a criminal offense.

(b) As used in this subsection, “electronic location information” means location infor- mation obtained from an electronic location tracking device.

Mia Birk of Alta Planning + Design
is one of four speakers.
(Photo: J.Maus/bikePortland)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation’s monthly bike-themed lunchtime speaking series has a particularly intriguing agenda this Thursday.

Four local women who’ve been riding the city for quite some time will be sharing stories about Portland’s biking history. The panel includes Anndy Wiselogle (founder, in 1976, of the Bicycle Repair Collective, among other things); Mia Birk, Portland’s first bicycle coordinator and an early principal at pioneering bike-infrastructure firm Alta Planning and Design; Jessica Roberts, an onetime Bicycle Transportation Alliance employee and more recent principal at Alta; and Barb Grover, a onetime Bike Gallery marketer who cofounded cargo-bike specialty shop Splendid Cycles.

Here’s the official description from the PBOT Bicycle Lunch and Learn page:

Removable bollards would pedestrianize the road bed on 3rd Avenue outside Voodoo Doughnut.
(Image: Ankeny Alley Association grant application)

One of Portland’s top tourist attractions seems poised to become dramatically less car-oriented by the start of 2016.

Looking west toward South Waterfront from the eastern end of the new bridge.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

There are just 179 days until the new Tilikum Crossing Bridge opens. This exciting new piece of infrastructure will grab a ton of headlines not just because it’s the first new bridge to be built across the Willamette in over 40 years — but because it’s one of the only spans in America where every mode will be allowed except for private cars.

Townhomes, like these on SE Ankeny, are currently the most common middle ground between apartments and single-family homes. Some neighborhood leaders want Portland to provide more options for moderate levels of density.
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

A slate of ideas for increasing Portland’s housing supply with fewer visual changes to its central-city neighborhoods is getting warm reviews from influential neighborhood association leaders.

The list of policy proposals, compiled by local indie developer Eli Spevak last month after a conversation with Tamara DeRidder of the Rose City Park Neighborhood Association, includes concepts such as legalizing internal divisions of existing houses and scaling transportation, sewer and parks fees based on home size.

The general theme of the proposals: allowing more housing in Portland that offers more density than single-family houses but less than four-story apartment buildings.

Job Title
Salesperson

Company/Organization
Athletes Lounge

Job Description
Athletes Lounge is a Triathlon Focused store, but we also sell Road and Lifestyle Bicycles along with Swimwear, Goggles, Wetsuits and a couple of brands of running shoes. We are a full service bicycle shop.

We are looking for a full-time salesperson with a strong sales background and industry knowledge. Triathlon experience is helpful butt no required.

The perfect Candidate understands the importance of our Customer.

This is a full time position which includes weekends.

How to Apply
Please send Resume and Cover letter to gary@athleteslounge.com, feel free to email me with any questions as well.

Announcing our Ride Along with Portland Design Works contest

Two perfect examples of the attitude Vision Zero is supposed to change

Bill moving through Salem could hasten transfer of state roads to city control

In letter to Mayor Hales and commissioners, national orgs ‘object’ to River View decision

5 lessons for Portland in Seattle’s big bike-friendly ballot issue

City Budget Office denies Parks’ request for Gateway Green and off-road cycling plan funds

Oregon bill would make stolen bike location info probable cause for search warrant

City lunch panel this week recalls ‘Portland before Platinum’

Proposed plaza outside Voodoo Doughnut could be permanent by year’s end

Touring Tilikum: My first walk across the new bridge (photos)

Affordability alliance? Some neighborhood leaders back low-impact infill ideas

Job: Salesperson – Athletes Lounge

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From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland