This week’s Monday Roundup is brought to you by the Oregon Handmade Bike & Beer Festival, coming your way October 7-8th.
Welcome to Monday! Here are the links and stories that caught our eyes last week…
‘Share the road’ is bullshit: This is hands-down the best thing on “share the road” we’ve ever read. “The legacy of ‘share the road’ is suppression of, and increased danger to, the less heavily-armed side of the sharing.”
Car culture down under: In Australia, burnout competitions are a serious thing (I know this from experience). And for one dad they are very serious. So much so that he has trained his five-year-old to do them on his own. Unfortunately for him that’s illegal and authorities have intervened.
Cultural values: A bike maker has started labeling their bike boxes as televisions in order to get better treatment from shippers.
Jane Jacobs get New Yorker’ed: Excellent writer Adam Gopnik takes a deep dive into the ideas and influences of famed urbanist Jane Jacobs — 54 years after her groundbreaking book was reviewed in the same magazine.
The science (and bike) guy: Corporate content like this rarely goes well, but we sort of like the video series Diamondback Bicycles has put together with Bill Nye, the “science guy.”
Edmonton can do it: The Canadian city has put forward a proposal for a “minimum grid” of protected bikeways in their downtown core. Portland has been working on this for years but still hasn’t released many details.
Chicago the “best” bike city? Yes Bicycling Magazine gave Chicago the #1 spot in their “Best Bike City” rankings. Streetsblog Chicago wonders if they deserved it.
Pedaling in the classroom: We all know some kids are healthier and smarter when they bike to school; but did you know the same might apply to biking in school?
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They finally gave up: The ridiculous, five-year lawsuit against an innocent and successful bikeway in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighbohood has finally been dropped.
Sweden supports DIY: In a bid to battle the throwaway economy and encourage a DIY ethic, the Swedish government will ease taxes on minor repairs of things like shoes and bicycles.
Open Streets boosted in L.A.: The Sunday Parkways equivalent in Los Angeles is being greatly expanded to 17 events.
Vision More Enforcement: This story from Chicago about how its Vision Zero plan could impact people of color is precisely why the City of Portland left increased police enforcement out of our plan.
Sneaky criminals: People will go to great lengths in order to maintain their illegal and dangerous use of cars — including James Bond-like gadgets that flip their license plates.
San Fran transformers: Another major U.S. city has sprouted an anonmyous group that creates unsanctioned bikeways and crosswalks. It’s another sign that governments and established advocacy groups are not moving fast enough to make streets safe.
High-end lights: It’s always a great sign when bike component makers are looking for new ways to integrate lights.
Oakland against auto parking: Auto parking ain’t what it used to be. Oakland’s City Council just blasted its minimum parking requirements.
Feds wants beds not cars: And in just-breaking news… Even the White House has just declared that auto parking requirements should be eliminated because they create an “undue burden” on development and disproportionately impact low-income households.
Defying the ban: Iranian women are heroically protesting their government’s ban on cycling by riding their bikes and posting photos to social media.
Read this, it’ll make us stronger: Charles Marohn of StrongTowns has a must-read about infrastructure spending that’s very relevant given that Oregon legislatures and leaders are gearing up for a big spending bill. He lays down some essential truths that should dictate the policy conversation. Bonus: Marohn is coming to Portland for a speaking event on October 3rd!
And finally, our Tweet of the Week goes to Street Trust Advocacy Director Gerik Kransky. After a Twitter conversation where I said “incrementalism is failure,” he posed this question:
https://twitter.com/gerikkransky/status/778702200272846849
If you come across a worthwhile article, please drop us a line and you might see it in next week’s roundup.
— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org
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