Vandals hit at least 11 Biketown stations, over 200 bikes – UPDATED

Biketown station at SE 14th and Stark is one of 12 that have been hit.
(Photo: Kiran Limaye)

(*See update below: PBOT says over 200 bikes have been hit. That’s 20 percent of the total system.)

Vandals have hit several Biketown bike share stations in the past week.

So far we’ve heard of 12 locations where vandals have damaged bikes and rendered them useless. The City of Portland is aware of some of the damage and has crews responding to fix the bikes and return the stations into operational status.

At least two of the incidents appear to be the work of the same suspect: A flyer has been posted on the stations that says the damage was inflicted by Rose City Saboteurs.

“This Biketown is now closed,” reads the sign. “Our city is not a corporate amusement park.”

Here are the station locations where readers have reported vandalism so far:

NE 24th and Glisan
SE Water and Taylor
N Interstate and Willamette
N Williams and Fremont (New Seasons)
33rd and Belmont
14th and Stark
12th and Division
30th and Division
36th and Hawthorne
SE 12th and Gideon (on Orane Line MAX)
SE Pine and 28th
Couch and 28th

Advertisement

“All Portlanders should be saddened and outraged by this senseless act of vandalism.”
— Dan Saltzman, City of Portland Commissioner

The damage includes slashed tires, spray paint on the LED displays, cut spokes, and sliced seats.

This isn’t the first time Biketown stations have been vandalized. It has been an intermittent problem since the system was launched last summer.

We’ll update this story with a comment from Biketown operator Motivate Inc. as soon as we hear back.

Below are images of damage to 15 bikes at the SE Water and Taylor station:

Damage to Biketown station-1.jpg

(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)
Damage to Biketown station-2.jpg

Damage to Biketown station-3.jpg

Damage to Biketown station-5.jpg

Damage to Biketown station-6.jpg

Damage to Biketown station-7.jpg

UPDATE, 3:01 pm: PBOT has released a statement asking for help to find the perpetrator. Their full statement is below:

News Release: PBOT, Police seek public’s help to find perpetrators of BIKETOWN vandalism

(3 p.m., April 4, 2017) The Portland Bureau of Transportation seeks the public’s help to find the people responsible for vandalism to the City’s BIKETOWN bike share system.
This morning, users of the public bike sharing system found that more than 200 bicycles had been vandalized, with tires and seats slashed, and spokes cut. Graffiti obscured control screens on the bikes, as well as informational panels at stations and also screens of electronic kiosks used to check out bikes.

“All Portlanders should be saddened and outraged by this senseless act of vandalism,” said City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who oversees PBOT. “The Transportation Bureau created BIKETOWN, with bikes owned by the public, to make bicycling easier and more convenient for everyone. Unfortunately, because of this criminal act, dozens or perhaps hundreds of Portlanders were not able to ride a bike this morning.”
“Vandalizing a BIKETOWN bike is just as offensive as vandalizing a public bus or any other public property,” said Leah Treat, director of PBOT. “We will work with police and pursue all legal remedies to bring the perpetrators of this act to justice.”

Motivate, the City contractor that operates the BIKETOWN system, was cleaning up graffiti and repairing damaged bicycles within minutes of the first reports of the vandalism this morning.
BIKETOWN is key to Portland’s effort to expand bicycling, fight climate change and create 20-minute neighborhoods called for in the city’s long range plans. Since launching July 19, 2016, BIKETOWN has grown to 2,745 annual members and has been enjoyed by 45,542 people, who have taken 189,320 trips totaling 375,121 miles. People can sign-up for BIKETOWN membership via the BIKETOWN app or by visiting BIKETOWNPDX.com.

Anyone who sees someone in the act of vandalism or other crime in progress should call 9-1-1 immediately.

Anyone with information about the vandalism to BIKETOWN facilities should contact Officer David Sanders, of the Portland Police Bureau, at david.sanders@portlandoregon.gov.

Biketown has also emailed an alert to all members, encouraging them to report any information about “this un-civic act.”

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

BikePortland is supported by the community (that means you!). Please become a subscriber or make a donation today.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

297 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Bjorn
Bjorn
6 years ago

All the stations should have security camera’s. For those of us who are paying for this service this is no different than if someone slashed our personal bike tires. Unfortunately the PPB probably views this as a petty crime, but it should not be treated as such. It should be right on par with doing serious damage to a trimet bus or a max train.

Brian
Brian
6 years ago
Reply to  Bjorn

Good luck finding them with covered heads and faces. I’m sure the cameras would also face their anti-corporate wrath, leading to even more money wasted. Lame.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  Brian

In Britain about 20-30 years ago police and transit agencies put up security cameras everywhere, but especially at bus and train stations to deter crime. However, they failed to fund watchers of those same cameras. Pretty soon vandals, thugs, and rapists would only do their crimes where there were security cameras, knowing (usually rightly) that the cameras were either duds or not being monitored.

Given that this is Portland, can we assume “no one saw nothing” and the cameras were also not operating?

Dazed Not Confused
Dazed Not Confused
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

Does any of this make sense?

wsbob
wsbob
6 years ago

It’s strange…the ‘action’, that is. Is this out of the blue, or what? I mean, by way of rumors, the grapevine, etc, has there been much, if any at all, animosity being expressed about Portland’s bike share being underwritten in large part by a big corporate entity like Nike? Nothing apparent that led up to this, like graffiti on walls, etc.

When I first glanced at this story headline, I thought the culprits were just some screwups that didn’t realize spring break was over. Then to click of the story, and see the biketown kiosk with the wheatpasted poster, with a group announcing its name. That was a surprise. Like something posers would do, essentially criminal minded people, rather than people truly dedicated to anarchist values in the true sense of the word.

Whether people like bike share or not…whether they like corporations or not, or Nike in particular…this is a bad thing to have happened to the people’s bikeshare. Portland getting bike share, was a long process, in which there was plenty of opportunity for the public to opt to entirely fund this program. Instead of destroying bikes, the people that did this, could have given some thought to how they could contribute to the creation of a form of public transportation consistent with their own ideas. Something like the philosophy that inspired Food Not Bombs.

What’s done is done. With no one really owning up to the deed in name and face, it’s difficult though, not to anticipate the likelihood of more of this kind of action by whoever did this. The poster is just the culprits publicly boasting without holding themselves accountable. That being the case, though this was a brazen act, it was, as someone else commenting elsewhere in this discussion said: cowardly.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  wsbob

The project has always been controversial, hence the delays for years. Any part of town that doesn’t have bike share, and 85% of Portland doesn’t, many living there see the program as an elitist rich white tourist project, a huge waste of $6 million in various government funds and maintenance that could have been better spent on other needed bike projects. Basically you have roughly 550,000 suspects. Good luck finding your culprits.

Bjorn
Bjorn
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

I don’t live in the service area, YET, but I am paying my monthly fee in hopes that the service will come to me. This action doesn’t cost NIKE a dime but it does reduce the chances that funding will be available to expand the system closer to my house. Caning is too good for these folks IMHO. This action only hurts people who want to use bikeshare, and maybe Motivate the operator, but if anything it is a positive for Nike who has gotten a bunch of extra advertising out of all the stories about the vandalism.

Michael Andersen (Contributor)
Reply to  David Hampsten

All of which is especially ironic since the system has only cost $2 million in public funds and directly serves a lot more of the city than the $250 million streetcar system, or the 2-3 blocks of paved roadway somewhere that we could build with $2 million.

I get the Nike critique, but nobody does this to bus shelters.

wsbob
wsbob
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

“… Any part of town that doesn’t have bike share, and 85% of Portland doesn’t, many living there see the program as an elitist rich white tourist project, a huge waste of $6 million in various government funds and maintenance that could have been better spent on other needed bike projects. …” hampsten

I guess I see the elitist angle on bike share. Is the 6 million/gov funds/and maintenance, in addition to the 10 mil than nike kicked down? I’ve forgotten the figures. From the time the idea for bike share for Portland was first raised, I had plenty of questions about whether it would able to provide a functional travel service worth the investment. I don’t particularly like that the bikes and stands add to the clutter on the sidewalks…but cities including Portland, do have big challenges meeting everyone’s travel needs.

Over time, reading more about bike share, and following some of the discussion surrounding it, and seeing a small bit of bike share working around the Nike campus, I came to feel that the system is worth giving it a try to see if it can help meet people’s travel needs…especially with the sweet deal the city landed in having nike underwrite a big chunk of initial expense.

Public bike share is not easy to do. In past, people in Portland have tried to put lower overhead, non-corporate supported systems in place…and every time, failed miserably. There’s plenty of aspects of corporate action and influence on U.S, society to find fault with, without attacking public bike share that has successfully managed to benefit from positive support of a major, world renowned, extremely popular corporate sponsor like Nike. In this incident, the sentiment expressed against nike may be valid, but using public bike share sponsored by nike, in such an extensive way as this action was carried out, affecting so many bikes and stations, doesn’t to me seem at all a reasonable or justifiable means of expressing concern about corporations, or this one corporation in particular.

SE Rider
SE Rider
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

Michael, are you joking? I see busted and graffiti-ed bus shelters all the time. Also seems to be in the outer areas of the city.

Bjorn
Bjorn
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

@Wsbob No city funds were spent on BIKEtown. The city did obtain a grant which along with sponsorship and user funds has paid for the system. The only direct contribution to the system by the city is giving up the space for the racks. So the city has leveraged a small amount of rack space into 185000 transit trips in under 9 months during which we saw the worst winter weather in recent memory. That is what I call a great deal.

Michael Andersen (Contributor)
Reply to  David Hampsten

Yeah, I didn’t mean graffiti, I meant some sort of coordinated attack motivated by the presence of advertising.

Timmy
Timmy
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

So, Portland doesn’t benefit from rich white elitist tourists, and more people riding bikes? OK, send them all to my town, pretty please! I’ve got a business to run it makes gravy from tourists. Can’t get enough of those guys, actually.

wsbob
wsbob
6 years ago

I wrote a reply to your question, thought I posted it. Cant remember for sure, maybe not, because I see no trace of it now. Looking over the range of comments here, I see no reason why what I wrote, would have been deleted. …maus, honestly, I don’t know if I posted the comment or not, but if you have an objection to something I wrote, all you need to do is attach a note and keep it in moderation. I’ll change it and possibly repost.

Other people commenting here, have mentioned anarchists possibly being the culprits. The poster, the artwork, is a handmade kind of thing not unfamiliar around Portland. What’s anarchism, really? Is it a philosophy that justifies destruction of the public’s property? Because public, is what Portland’s bike share, given the name BikeTown, in exchange for a major contribution in support of it…is.

Some people commenting here, have referred to anarchists that cover their faces, as cowards. But did anarchists commit this act? The poster says: ‘Rose City Saboteurs’ and ‘RCS’. Fancy name. I’d never heard of the name. New group maybe. I’ve heard of another group someone mentioned in a comment here: Rose City Antifa…but nobody’s coming straight out and accusing them of having done this to bike share. Both groups seem to like using Rose City as part of their names though.

In my earlier comment, I mentioned that it occurred to me the people that did this were posers. Meaning, not really anarchists in the true sense of the word…but people that may have sought to present themselves as anarchists…to make anarchists look bad.

What’s really bad, or seem so to me, is that if this is a real group that cares about working towards a better society, why haven’t they been trying to talk openly with the public? Before resorting to destructive acts like this one? Just come out and say what’s on your mind. It’s the civil thing to do, and we can do that in the U.S.

George Dorn
George Dorn
6 years ago
Reply to  wsbob

I don’t understand what Rose City Antifa has to do with this. Rose City Rollers also likes using Rose City in their name. Perhaps they did this out of a sense of competition with other human-powered wheeled transportation? Or perhaps the Rose City Rowers harbors a grudge?

Bike Curious
Bike Curious
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

Sounds like the kind of urban ledgend that taxpayers come up with to shame the police force. I doubt crooks actually saught out to commit crimes near CCTV.

Eric Leifsdad
Eric Leifsdad
6 years ago
Reply to  Bjorn

https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/166.116
“Interfering with public transportation” Class A misdemeanor.

https://www.oregonlaws.org/ors/164.365
“Criminal mischief in the first degree” Class C felony. (see 1(a) damage over $1000 and 1(b) public transportation facility)

Todd Boulanger
Todd Boulanger
6 years ago
Reply to  Eric Leifsdad

It will make for an interesting case if the DA successfully uses a transit code for this public private service. I know that planners are defining it as the next transit mode. (City commissioners may want to formally adopt it as such now vs later.)

Captain Karma
Captain Karma
6 years ago
Reply to  Eric Leifsdad

Everything is a crime, isn’t it.

B. Carfree
B. Carfree
6 years ago
Reply to  Eric Leifsdad

Wasn’t there something in the federal Military Commissions Act, aka PATRIOT 2, that made messing with transportation a serious crime?

I’m sure they intended to mean cars, trucks, trains, planes and buses, but I don’t recall anything that excluded a bikeshare. Then again, I never read the thing (like the folks in Congress who passed it who also didn’t read it), but there were some news stories.

Tim
Tim
6 years ago
Reply to  B. Carfree

Being a politically motivated attack qualifies it as terrorism under national and international laws.

rick
rick
6 years ago

Do the people who do that damage skip payment when using TriMet or C-Tran?

chris
chris
6 years ago

You can’t honestly be surprised that the radical left would stab you in the back like this, are you? BP might hit up the same political talking points as them, but you pretty clearly haven’t appeased them. Nor will you ever. So maybe just stick to bike news from now on?

Jeff
Jeff
6 years ago
Reply to  chris

Your comment is too meta to be useful Chris.

chris
chris
6 years ago
Reply to  Jeff

My pleasure 🙂

dan
dan
6 years ago
Reply to  chris

Yeah, because there’s nothing political about cycling, just like there’s nothing political about healthcare.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  chris

Who might gain from this? Is it the chop shop folks who see bike share as a threat to their industry? Underemployed bike shop mechanics who are seeing steadily declining wages caused by falling bike sales? Disenchanted bike shop owners who didn’t get the bike share service contract? Established hotel owners/managers and Portland taxi drivers who see a bike share/Uber taxi/Air BnB conspiracy? Lots of Red Herrings, as Lord Peter Wimsey would say.

Conspirator
Conspirator
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

Follow the money all the way to the top:

Ted Wheeler

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  Conspirator

Or the bottom: the Portland taxpayer.

dwk
dwk
6 years ago
Reply to  chris

Hi dwk,

You are now on automatic moderation due to your insensitive and mean comments. None of your comments will be published unless your tone changes. Thanks.

– Jonathan

Steve Scarich
Steve Scarich
6 years ago
Reply to  chris

I don’t think actions like this are ‘right’ or ‘left’. The perps are ‘nihilists’, haters of their culture, the values and actions of the society that they live in. They are the same types of people who show up at City Council meetings and scream and rant at City officials, or vandalize totally innocent locally-owned businesses, under cover of political protest. They have no constructive place in our society. They need to be confronted at every turn; get in their faces. Arrest them; don’t write them tickets. Arrest them, charge and try them, and put them in jail. We, as a society, tip-toe around miscreants like this, and nothing changes. Well, actually, it gets worse.

alankessler
alankessler
6 years ago
Reply to  chris

Are there a lot of Trump supporters on BP? Maybe you were looking for the o-live comment board?

WALT!
WALT!
6 years ago

I was going to visit PDX next week and use Biketown to get around, but now I’ll just rent a car from General Motors and fill it up with Chevron gasoline and drive around all day raging against the machine. Love you Anarchists, but sometimes you can be so short-sighted.

Guthrie
6 years ago
Reply to  WALT!

Hi Walt, I’m guessing that was a good dab of sarcasm in that comment, but if you are visiting and don’t want to use Biketown, please consider using a local bike shop rental service prior to renting a car. You can find a comprehensive list here: https://www.portlandoregon.gov/transportation/article/71974 of of which the vast majority (if not all) have supported bikeshare and improving access to biking while knowing it would affect their business.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Guthrie

The cool thing about Biketown is you can do one way rentals and you don’t need to worry about security.

If people steal, vandalize, or strip your rental, you’re SOL. Also, pickup and dropoff aren’t as convenient.

Guthrie
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

No claims of perfection were made, merely that alternative options are available 🙂

Isaac Rabinovitch
Isaac Rabinovitch
6 years ago
Reply to  WALT!

Sometimes?

SilkySlim
SilkySlim
6 years ago

Pretty lame. Those last three stations in SE are the ones I use the most.

I hate the gambit of getting into prioritization by protesters, but going after a pretty selfless outlay of money (yeah, I get it there is marketing benefit from this quite visible bikes) that supports a new form of transit, not to mention one of the most affordable forms of transit, is kind of weak.

Hate the globalization of business? Right on. Sweatshops? Of course. Bikes that our city wouldn’t pay for themselves? Ehhhh.

Not to say I’m not at least a bit conflicted when I hop on Biketown, but I got over it pretty easily.

dan
dan
6 years ago

I think this vandalism is petty, childish and unproductive. While I agree that I wish our city was not a corporate amusement park, sadly, that ship sailed a long time ago. If you don’t like it, time to hit the road…I’m looking into it myself. Do the people who committed the vandalism even remember a time when Portland wasn’t a corporate amusement park?

Paul
Paul
6 years ago
Reply to  dan

Serious question, what does calling the city a corporate amusement park mean? I have no idea — and I consider myself to be a radical leftist. Biketown seems great, and while there’s always room for improvement, Portland is great as well. And amusement, well that’s the point of life as far as I can see.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul

Yeah, but apparently you gotta FIGHT THE POWER!

With anticipation, I await their next crushing blow — probably plugging up a toilet in a public restroom.

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul

It means the same thing as calling Portland “Disneyfied” i.e. meaning nothing really in particular.

Dan
Dan
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

If you remember what Portland was like at any point before 2005 or so, you should know what it means to call it “Disneyfied” now. We used to have the coin-op Church of Elvis and Locals Only…now we have Fogo de Chao and $1m penthouse apartments in the Pearl.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan

But we have Voodoo donuts! They’re really cool, right? Right?

dan
dan
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

LOL, I know the tourists think so, for some reason.

nuovorecord
nuovorecord
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Yes, when they’re not choking you to death.

rachel b
rachel b
6 years ago
Reply to  nuovorecord

The tourists or the donuts?

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  nuovorecord

Yes.

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Remember when there were no other alternatives than Voodoo? They were trendsetting and creative back then. Time has caught up with them and now they are simply an over-marketed novelty.

For people who have moved here in the last 5 years, they don’t know any better that things were different 15 years ago.

wsbob
wsbob
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

“But we have Voodoo donuts! They’re really cool, right? Right?” h kitty

Oddest thing to see out in Beaverton, is people looking kind of lost, occasionally walking around downtown beav town sq, with those big pink boxes held up against their chests, or raised above their heads. It’s just donuts, isn’t it? Are the fat and sugar snack that good and so rare in the beav, that people have to bring them all the way out from Portland?

Maybe voodoo should consider getting in on bike share sponsorship in exchange for even more brand visibility than its current high trend recognition already gives it…bright pink bike share bikes! …with the cute but a little scary top-hatted ghoul icon on them instead of a swoosh…people wouldn’t be able to resist riding those calorie burning bikes, anymore than they seem to be able to resist the temptation to indulge in the calorie bulking donuts. A win-win for bike share, the donut shop, for everyone.

Even if voodoo is a corporation, no way is it as big as nike. The trendy donut shop sponsoring bike share, isn’t going to turn Portland into a corporate amusement park, so instead of the donut ghoul bedecked bikes having them feel they faced an imminent threat from one, the saboteurs could instead, stand down, kick back, and just have a donut.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  wsbob

Pink bikes!!!

Chris
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan

Nothing is immune to economics.

emerson
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan

“She said, Na, na, na, na, na
Now, now, now baby, don’t try
To figure this out
Or ask questions ’bout why
Forever’s a promise
No love can survive
And trust with hearts
Just don’t apply
She said,
‘Cause baby, things change”

Jeff
Jeff
6 years ago
Reply to  Paul

“Must destroy bikes ‘cuz Big Bad Nike.”

shannon
shannon
6 years ago
Reply to  Jeff

Sadly, this pretty much sums it up. “And we will promote our own poorly-designed logo-ed brand through destruction of a great community transportation option.” Jerks.

Chris I
Chris I
6 years ago

Corporate amusement parks always have the best rides.

redhippie
redhippie
6 years ago

If all the Anit-Fa fun we have been enduring the past 6 months is political free speech, then this is not vandalism. Rather, it is also political free speech. It should be reflected as such in the article.

Dan A
Dan A
6 years ago
Reply to  redhippie

What is Anit-Fa fun?

Dan A
Dan A
6 years ago

Thanks, hadn’t heard of them. Even tougher to figure it out when you have to do a word scramble.

Alan 1.0
6 years ago

Oh, those folks who think that http://www.citybikes.coop/ is a haven of racist anti-semites…similar illogic behind this vandalism.

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  Alan 1.0

I don’t know about you, but I take allegations of anti-semitism VERY seriously.

Alan 1.0
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Did “outing” City Bikes help reduce anti-semitism or otherwise heal such harmful divisions?

To me it was more like calling “Wolf.”

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  Alan 1.0

If an organization had someone like that as a member, I for one, would like to know about it

Alan 1.0
6 years ago
Reply to  Alan 1.0

I’ll click you a Recommend for that, and if you’re not already, you’d be a good economist…the old “on the other hand” joke. 🙂

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Alan 1.0

Extremists are extremists, on the left and the right. Best when avoided.

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

exactly. except the extremists always think everyone else is wrong.

OregonJelly
OregonJelly
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan A

Fascists pretending to be against Fascism. It’s either irony or stupidity. Maybe both.

Pete
Pete
6 years ago
Reply to  redhippie

No, this is not speech – speech is accomplished by speaking. Damaging others’ property is vandalism, by definition.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  Pete

Performance art.

Pete
Pete
6 years ago

Damned ADIDAS employees… (jk!).

Tom
Tom
6 years ago

Was this done by the same terrorist group that dumped all those nails on the road?

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Tom

I’m guessing the nail dumpers probably had a general issue with cyclists, so probably not.

They weren’t very smart either. Apparently they weren’t aware that broken glass is easier to get in bulk for free, much more effective, and harder to remove. Still, that plan strikes me more intelligent than sabotaging bike share facilities.

Sheesh. The revolutionary types out here are as incompetent as they get.

I wear many hats
I wear many hats
6 years ago

This is asinine and just a waste.

bikeninja
bikeninja
6 years ago

I am as much against the banksters and corporate oligarchs as the next day but these jerks need to get a clue and some guts and do something productive in the fight against neoliberalism and the corporate destruction of the environment and the working class. Close the valves on an oil pipeline, lock yourself to the desk of Exxons CEO or join ElF ( they still around?) and trash some SUV’s. But don’t vanadalize one of the few sane alternatives to destroying the earth with pollution just because you don’t like the name on the bikes. Emma Goldman, Dave Foreman and Paul Watson would be ashamed of you.

Al Dimond
6 years ago
Reply to  bikeninja

It’s one of those things for radicals… they’d rather get in the face of people that might say they’re “as much against the banksters, etc.” and force them to make a choice, rather than attack people that aren’t “against the banksters” at all. Take out a Range Rover, well, its owner probably isn’t anti-corporate at all, and its owner is really just one person, a cog. Take out bike-share, it’

Al Dimond
6 years ago
Reply to  Al Dimond

Oops, tab-spaced the post button…

… take out bikeshare, you’re putting it in the face of people more likely to have anti-corporate ideas that now have to make a choice. Plus it’s actually some corporation’s property.

Al Dimond
6 years ago
Reply to  Al Dimond

(Of course, as we see, the tactic has failed, as self-righteous liberals are calling out radicals — for their violations of liberal ideals but by invoking radical ideals. The more self-aware among us might recognize and own that our values are liberal, not radical. There’s a CD on the shelf in my living room whose refrain goes, “Baby, I’m an anarchist, you’re a spineless liberal,” which is a fun sing-along, but it’s a song sung to people like me, not by us.)

MikeC
MikeC
6 years ago
Reply to  bikeninja

Ya, but working with bureaucracy is boooooring. Why not vandalize for the adrenalin rush and say it’s for a cause? Gives a great excuse to break some shit.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago

There seems to be an ongoing competition over who can come up with the most childish, pathetic, and useless gesture to bring about social change.

I thought the folks who staged an armed takeover of a bird sanctuary in the middle of nowhere to trigger a revolt against the gubmint would never be topped. Boy, was I wrong about that.

Snowrider
Snowrider
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

I don’t think this could possibly top the bird sanctuary. That was an amazing collision of high stakes posturing in a low stakes scenario. This is low stakes meets low stakes. Like you said earlier, can’t wait for the next toilet plugging.

q`Tzal
q`Tzal
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

“None of us is as stupid as all of us.”

TonyH
TonyH
6 years ago

You could add SE Pine / SE 28th and SE Couch / SE 28th racks to that list too.

Matt Youell
6 years ago

Rather than dwell on my anger, I’d like to talk about how much I love Biketown. I have grumped about some details but I’ve always come back. Their bikes are better than my own, usually. I’ve incorporated them into how I get around. Biking without having to be responsible for a bike is pretty great. Plus there is something glorious about riding around on a loud, day-glo orange bike. Motorists give me way more space than they do on my main bike. It’s just fun.

Phil Richman
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt Youell

Ditto!

rick
rick
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt Youell

I think the Orange looks better than most blue citibikes.

Ovid Boyd
Ovid Boyd
6 years ago

Way to stick it to the man! By the man, I mean my immigrant husband who doesn’t have a driver’s license (so can’t pop into car), doesn’t own a bike of his own, and so is dependent on BikeTown to get to school. Finally, some brave Portlanders are daring to stand up to folks like him.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  Ovid Boyd

Most immigrants who live in Portland live well beyond the bike share service area, such as in East Portland, Cully, North Portland, etc. FYI, Immigrants driving without a license is so common that the Portland Police Bureau actually has a program to train such drivers – no ID is necessary.

Ovid Boyd
Ovid Boyd
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

Great, I’ll tell him he’s living in a part of town that’s not for immigrants and needs to buy a car.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  Ovid Boyd

I know you are being cheeky, but the number of people who agree with what you said is truly scary.

Gary B
Gary B
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

We agree with Ovid’s response to you. Ovid told of their actual, personal situation, and you responded with the equivalent of “mansplaining” (immisplaing?) about “most immigrants.” Ovid’s sarcastic reply was poignant.

Ovid Boyd
Ovid Boyd
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

I get that’s not what you mean David, just being a bit cheeky 😉

Bjorn
Bjorn
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

Great I am sure that severely damaging 10% of the system will free up funds to expand the service area…

Disgruntled Employee
Disgruntled Employee
6 years ago

“I’m not saying I condone it, but I understand” – Chris Rock

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago

I also understand that some people are immature dumbasses. I don’t condone it.

soren
soren
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

i agree with kyle (for the very first time). 😉

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
6 years ago
Reply to  soren

Because you are more idealistic and Kyle is very pragmatic.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago

There is no reason an idea or approach cannot be simultaneously idealistic and pragmatic.

BTW, did you guys notice that this appeared in the Washington Post? Title is nicely descriptive… https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/tripping/wp/2017/04/05/portland-bike-share-vandalized-motive-seems-particularly-idiotic

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago

Understand what, exactly? If you wanted to strike a blow against Nike, why not vandalize their store? Going after the bikes is just lame.

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Because they are cowards and took the easiest way out.

dwk
dwk
6 years ago

Another complete a-hole….

Trevor
Trevor
6 years ago

Add 36th and Hawthorne to the list. Came in to work at Sunset Fried Chicken, and saw flat tires and a tube pulled out and cut in half.

Jon
Jon
6 years ago

The reason that services like this need corporate support is that the users are not willing to pay the full price for the service. The service has a very reasonable price but that is because Nike, the federal government through a grant, and Kaiser Permanente subsidize the service just like taxpayers subsidize roads, National Parks, and mass transit. Portland seems to have a high tolerance for anarchy and vandalism as evidenced by the many violent protests that people mistake for free speech. I wonder if our weak response to all the anarchy in the past has led to more of this type of activity.

KristenT
KristenT
6 years ago

Wow, some people are jerks.

Also re: anarchists who cover their faces: I don’t feel like you really stand by your “cause” if you aren’t willing to fully commit to it and show your face. Cowards.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  KristenT

You’ll notice that the *vast* majority of those who need to hide their faces are young males.

They’re even more pathetic than the “tough” guys who roll coal on cyclists in their lifted Cummins equipped Ram trucks.

rachel b
rachel b
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

They also tint their windows. Heavy sigh. Really getting tired of “just rolling” with all this acting out. And I do think this “action” was more about acting out than any cause. Any excuse to tear things up, make noise, thump that ape chest.

Lil Frankie
Lil Frankie
6 years ago
Reply to  KristenT

Or a sensible way to carry out illegal activity and not get caught. There are times to show your face and times not to.

Adam
6 years ago

Well, they do have a point. Why is bike share the only mode of public transport that is not allowed to use public funding and thus requires direct funding from private corporations in exchange for advertising space? Perhaps PBOT should reconsider their “no public funding for bike share” policy.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

What is that point? That they’re going to vandalize bike share because it doesn’t get a public subsidy? If it works without one, all the much better.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

To understand that point, you have to appreciate the perspective behind it — a difficult task for people who are not dоuсhebags. Basically, the idea is you improve things by wrecking them. For example:

1) Destroy library materials and public computers to increase information accessibility for underserved people

2) Poison trees and plant life in the parks to make them more accessible to all

3) Vandalize clinics providing services to poor people to improve their health care

4) Sabotage MAX rails to increase efficiency

5) Spread broken glass and motor oil in bike lanes on curves and hills to improve bike infrastructure

It’s important that the “leaders” for these activities be white males who are so insecure they can’t even show their face in public, let alone have people know who they are or how to join in their glorious cause.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

That has to be the most asinine point I’ve ever heard.

I can just see the campaign now: “Let’s provide lots of public money to float this service that can’t seem to stay running!”

If programs, facilities, or whatever repeatedly encounter troubles, you shut them down.

BB
BB
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

You mean like roads, all forms of mass transit, the electrical and water conveyance systems, space exploration and education? You do realize not everything is a for profit business?

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  BB

What’s your point?

Are you suggesting that trashing bikes has a chance of doing anything other than holding the service back?

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

If programs, facilities, or whatever repeatedly encounter troubles, you shut them down.

Surely you must be referring to highways, not bike share. When do you think the government will shut that failed program down?

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Based on apparent demand, highways are one of the government’s most popular projects.

Chris I
Chris I
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

And the deadliest.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Highways also come in handy for bringing food and goods that are literally required for survival.

Some people here are even more reality challenged than I feared. Thank god they don’t drive. I’d rather bike with rednecks in lifted rigs any day.

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

One wonders how humanity survived for thousands of years before highways existed. Must have been rough.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

You mean in pre-Roman times?

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

It was very rough, and a lot of people died much younger. Few of today’s urbanites would be able to handle it.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

But at least the streets were safe, right?

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

They did have highways thousands of years ago. They just didn’t have cars.

People didn’t face threats from cars on those roads, but it would be a mistake to think of them as safe as bandits, wild animals, and outright dangerous conditions claimed many lives. Plus, you could still get run over by carriages.

Even within our own state (and ignoring the transport challenges of the people who lived here first), the odds of surviving a trip across the country are much better now than when people heavily relied on the Oregon Trail.

I’m surprised Adam would cite any of these roads with approval as none of them had separated cycling infrastructure.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

But it is true that the Oregon Trail had a dedicated BRT lane.

Todd Hudson
Todd Hudson
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Yes it was rough, considering the until the recent era, average lifespan was less than 40 years.

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

There’s this thing called cultural and technological advancement.

BB
BB
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

Average lifespan has far more to do with infant mortality than the dangerousness of living in scary pre industrial times. And yeah, you get the rednecks you deserve.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

At first I wondered why they didn’t bother to cripple the bus and MAX lines which are slathered in far more advertising than Biketown, but then I realized no one would notice.

Tom Hardy
Tom Hardy
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

The anarchists don’t need to do anything to Trimet or the MAX lines. Their GM is doing a pretty good job of doing that, along with the highway contractor’s on the board.

B. Carfree
B. Carfree
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

Comments like that will teach me to not drink while reading the comments here. Now I have to clean off my screen and hope my keyboard survived the storm.

I should probably be crying over the state of our public transit systems, but laughing feels so much better. Thanks for the belly laugh.

Dazed Not Confused
Dazed Not Confused
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

So weird. Like you are driving by a trashed bikeshare and nodding silently to yourself. “Well played, sir. Well played.”

nuovorecord
nuovorecord
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

No, they don’t have a point. And bikeshare did use public funding to get it started.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Portland Bike Share was funded in large part with a $2 million federal grant. It also uses PBOT staff, which last I heard were paid through public funding. I’d love to know where this myth came from.

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

The city has refused to spend any money for bike share operations. Imagine if TriMet refused to provide funding to run buses. Somehow PBOT is more than happy to find the money for Streetcar operations, though. Why is the line drawn at bicycles? Is it because public bicycles are still seen as toys and tourist traps, and not as a legitimate mode of public transport?

I find it absurd and troubling that we are increasingly relying on for-profit corporations to fund public services. Especially considering our current administration is hell-bent on scrapping our entire country for parts and handing it over to the capitalistic sharks.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Absurd? Is it absurd that your internet is provided by a private company? That your electricity is? That your trash service is?

Portland uses many different models to provide essential services. Why is that absurd?

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Yes.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Why?

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

One only has to look at how much control over our society massive corporations like Comcast have, and how much they lobby (read: bribe) the government to get what they want, to find the absurdity.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Thankfully Comcast does not (yet) control bike share. But it’s only a matter of time…

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Apparently, the preferred group to hand control of policy to is a tiny group of adolescents who can’t even show their faces.

As much as I hate Comcast (I don’t have any of their services and will never do business with them again for a variety of reasons), they still produce something of value — unlike the аss clowns who wrecked all the bikes.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Hello, Kitty
Absurd? Is it absurd that your internet is provided by a private company? That your electricity is? That your trash service is?
Portland uses many different models to provide essential services. Why is that absurd?

I can’t imagine what happens if he discovers that almost the entire food supply is privately produced for profit.

Maybe his buddies will try to improve the situation by destroying an organic farm…

BB
BB
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

The profit based system in food production is why millions of your fellow citizens are starving while restaurants and grocery stores throw food away every day. You openly scoff at people here but you should really do some reading.

dwk
dwk
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

After you pretty much approved of the vandalism, I thought you might just go away for awhile….

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  dwk

I never said I approved of it.

dwk
dwk
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Yes you did.
You stated that they had a point in causing thousands of dollars worth of damage to our bike system because of you know, “the man” I guess.
You are a cartoon….

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  dwk

Hey, it’s fun to put words in people’s mouths. Good thing I like cartoons. 😉

dwk
dwk
6 years ago
Reply to  dwk

“Well, they do have a point.”
umm.
I guess you are a liar or delusional also..

Todd Hudson
Todd Hudson
6 years ago
Reply to  dwk

He likes to stir the pot here, then walk away. And unfortunately it seems to be condoned. Reminds me of an activist who used to post here….

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

… and yet apparently, according to the story above, PBOT is sending staff to fix, repair if you will, the stations, while the police are investigating, both agencies of which are paid through tax dollars. I’d say the city is spending quite a lot to maintain the system.

Adam
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

Funny you should mention police, since they are the single largest consumer of the general fund and always are asking for more money, even though crime is down. Perhaps PBOT could actually dedicate city funding to Biketown — and not rely on corporate funds — if the city would direct funds from the PPB.

Brian
Brian
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Yeah, they should ask for less money since they have so little to do these days now that some crime stats are on the decline.
Compared to cities I have lived in the midwest, I barely notice a police presence at all in this city. Here, for example, people have no fear of hauling ass down Burnside. I can’t even remember the last time I saw a motorist pulled over in town.

jeremy myers
jeremy myers
6 years ago
Reply to  Brian

” I can’t even remember the last time I saw a motorist pulled over in town.”

Are you serious? I see it all the time. There are also many inconsiderate cyclists downtown as well and I have never seen a cyclist get a ticket, ever. I think riding bicycles and public transportation is infinitely better than everyone driving their cars, but the holier than thou and dishonest approach is also annoying.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

What exactly is the problem that we need public funds to solve?

Bjorn
Bjorn
6 years ago
Reply to  David Hampsten

the article says no such thing. PBOT is obviously concerned about the damage to the BIKEtown transit system but the article is clear that Motivate the contractor who manages the system is the one fixing the damage not PBOT:

“Motivate, the City contractor that operates the BIKETOWN system, was cleaning up graffiti and repairing damaged bicycles within minutes of the first reports of the vandalism this morning.”

I also don’t think anyone thinks that the Portland Police should stop responding to car theft because it is a subsidy to drivers, when people commit crimes costing the city thousands of dollars the police should respond.

dwk
dwk
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

“Well, they do have a point.”

You have jumped the shark before, but defending a-holes really does it…..

dwk
dwk
6 years ago
Reply to  dwk

and you get 3 likes.
Goodbye biketown….

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  dwk

I’m surprised he didn’t remind us that both Amsterdam and Copenhagen put us to shame with their 45% bike share vandalism rate.

dwk
dwk
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

He has no clue. Just a bumpersticker.
After that little post, he should just go away….

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

He has seen much of western Europe 🙂

dwk
dwk
6 years ago
Reply to  Adam

Adam H.
12 now.
feel a lot better…

Adam
Adam
6 years ago

And this… unfortunately… is why we can’t have nice things in the world anymore…

Todd Hudson
Todd Hudson
6 years ago

Anarchists have way too much spare time on their hands.

Jerry Springer
Jerry Springer
6 years ago

Such a pathetic and senseless act of revolt. BIKETOWN is a steal for 4 lattes per month. These revolutionary wannabees need to spend a month in a third world country to see how good they have it.

SuWonda
SuWonda
6 years ago

Since bike theft (lights, seats, bells, et al) are so rampant in our fair city, I’ve become a a full time Biketown commuter and weekend tripper. 10 trips during a week for commute plus evening and weekend trips. At long last I can enjoy a movie without thinking of my bike being stolen, no longer must I smell the stinky dumpster as I wait for the service elevator at my building. Nice work Jerks, you’ve saved us all from sharing. Your mothers must be so proud. Now on to the business of getting rid of all this ‘please & thank you’ nonsense. It’s really creating a lot of hot air at all the Portland daycares.

jeremy myers
jeremy myers
6 years ago
Reply to  SuWonda

very good point. I actually stopped for a long time because my bike was stolen.

AMA
AMA
6 years ago

Assholes. It’s not a “corporate amusement” for me. It’s how I get to work.

Rebecca
Rebecca
6 years ago

What’s their alternative payment plan for the City’s bikeshare program? They seem to think PBOT is swimming in a giant room full of surplus public money like Scrooge McDuck.

The anarchists should be caught and sentenced to attend every meeting of the Portland Budget Advisory Committee for the next 4 years.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  Rebecca

I attended those meetings as punishment for 6 years (2009-2015) – it made me who I am today, fat, ugly, unemployed, budget-literate and a professional troublemaker. They then forcibly deported me to Greensboro North Carolina. Woe is me!

soren
soren
6 years ago
Reply to  Rebecca

as someone with political affinity for anarcho-syndicalism i strongly object to your ignorant statement. your political bigotry is no different from the political hate spewed by some alt-right trump supporters.

PS: the O that surround the anarchist A stands for *order”. yes…many card-carrying anarchists believe in *order* and political *organization*.

Art fuldodger
Art fuldodger
6 years ago

There’s a subtle but delicious irony in the Rose City Saboteurs objecting to the Nike logo by posting their own.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Art fuldodger

While contributing nothing and functioning as parasites.

Seems fitting given the current administration.

OregonJelly
OregonJelly
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

Wheeler/Fritz/Eudaly?

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  OregonJelly

Not reality deprived enough — I was thinking Trump.

jeremy myers
jeremy myers
6 years ago
Reply to  Art fuldodger

No irony. Just proof that all they wanted was attention for their childish egos,nothing else, with this stupid vandalism.

soren
soren
6 years ago
Reply to  Art fuldodger

the delicious irony is that the rose city saboteurs likely drove/rode vehicles with corporate logos.

my corporate logo: ok
your corporate logo: bad

PS: my position on corporations (a profit-oriented organization that is granted extensive legal and financial protections) has been consistent since i was 7: they cause far more harm, than good.

bikeninja
bikeninja
6 years ago

Seems like that if the Police, have any stills from a security camera at one of the vandalized sites during the act, they could make them public and post them in places like Bike Portland so the interested public could help identify the perps.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  bikeninja

I wonder if any of the cameras were actually working?

Art fuldodger
Art fuldodger
6 years ago

Good choice on the name, though, because vandalizing sh*t in French is so much classier.

The eBike Store

If the bike share was labelled a transportation asset, vandalizing them could fall under a terrorism classification. Far deeper than a petty crime.

Clarence Eckerson
6 years ago

I have not seen or heard of anything quite this disturbing. I hope they find them and put them in jail. For a long time. Of course every so often I do see someone riding a Citibike a L-O-N-G ways from a docking station or early on there were a few people who stole them and rode them around – one I have a photo of painted to completely black!! LOL! Not gonna get caught?

TonyT
6 years ago

Lemme guess – the “Rose City Saboteurs” moved here in 2007, so they’re old school or something. Boring anarchists are boring. There’s not a whiff of creativity in this act.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  TonyT

I think they aspire to be like the People’s Front of Judea — a few nobodies intent on smashing the social order with a tiny group that no one knows about and can’t even join

SuWonda
SuWonda
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

The People’s Front of Judea?!?! Bloody Splitters!!! They’re aspiring to be more like the Judean People’s Front. Now pass the ocelot spleens.

Matthew in Portsmouth
Matthew in Portsmouth
6 years ago
Reply to  SuWonda

Maybe they could form something like the Judean People’s Front. Yes, and have a crack suicide squad do their thing in front of the Portland Building – that’ll show ’em.

jeff
jeff
6 years ago

Let me guess, these idiots moved to “their city” from either California, Texas, or the mid-west within the past 5 years.

Rich Fox
6 years ago

To the folks that did this, please consider that Nike employs thousands of Oregonians. Most of us know someone who works there. Heck, one of your neighbors may have even advocated to bring BikeTown to Portland, worked on the implementation, or is currently dealing with the aftermath of this vandalism. This action brings nothing positive. It only harms our neighbors and gives the far right (and even moderates in this case) more ammunition for their anti-left rhetoric.

Otter
Otter
6 years ago
Reply to  Rich Fox

Nike sponsored the initial launch of the system, claiming branding rights. Motivate operates the system, recruiting its team through local organizations like Oregon Tradeswomen, A Social Ignition, MercyCorps Northwest, and SE Works. PBOT owns the assets. Nike does not make revenue off of the system.

Otter
Otter
6 years ago
Reply to  Otter

To that point–this vandalism isn’t a stab at NIKE or the man. It’s literally preventing Portlanders from getting to school, to doctor’s appointments, to work, and it’s a chunk out of the operating budget that might be better allocated for training opportunities for hourly staff.

OregonJelly
OregonJelly
6 years ago

These are “protesters” not criminals. That’s what everyone tells me when they’re smashing windows downtown, or blocking buses, or intimidating people trying to enter public buildings.

Think about it next time you’re virtue signaling your support for a bunch of cowards.

Gary B
Gary B
6 years ago

If I’m willing to concede they have a point, then why not only paint over the advertisements? What does disabling the bikes/stations have to do with their anti-corporate message? If Biketown users today arrived to find de-Nike’d bikes they could still use, perhaps someone might sympathize with the actual message. Idiots.

Art fuldodger
Art fuldodger
6 years ago
Reply to  Gary B

Gary, good thought – reminds me of the unknown culture jammers that, circa early 90’s, labeled over the Front Ave. (now Naito Pkwy.) street signs with “Malcolm X Blvd” stickers in the middle of the night. Very well executed. Yes, vandalism, but laser- focused, and in the context of the raging debate at the time over renaming Union Ave. (now MLK Jr. Blvd.) , truly inspired, beautiful and memorable.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Art fuldodger

🙂

q
q
6 years ago
Reply to  Art fuldodger

I thought there already was a street named after Malcolm X in Portland–SW 10th Ave.

Granpa
Granpa
6 years ago

Protesters have been an institution in Portland for longer than I can remember. George Herbert Walker Bush called Portland little Lebanon (from when that mideast country was a center of protest). They are punks who wreck stuff in their slumming white boy way of “keeping it real”.

ragey
ragey
6 years ago

and this is why we can’t have nice things!!!!!! also, if this is some kind of anti gentrification tactic, too late dumba$$. please go back to berkely or whatever goof factory you came from.

Alan 1.0
6 years ago

I took a closer look at that RCS logo – a crossed adjustable wrench and a pipe bomb‽ So, they’re threatening carnage as well as property damage. I hope a jury gets to see the evidence.

Art fuldodger
Art fuldodger
6 years ago
Reply to  Alan 1.0

But they’ll fix it with their adjustable wrench, which, we all know, is the best of all tools!

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Art fuldodger

And make things safe with their safety flare.

Mike Sanders
Mike Sanders
6 years ago

I’m wondering who the Rose City Saboteurs are, and why they chose this moment to trash these Biketown stations in an attempt to shut the service down. And why are they considered evidence that Portland has become a “corporate amusement park”? I’m gonna guess that it’s directed at Nike, not the city. Be glad you’re not trying to commute thru NYC today. The newest derailment at Penn Station, the second in two weeks, has put 9 of 21 tracks out of service indefinitely, scambling schedules for subway, LIRR, Amtrak, and NJ Transit and creating chaos – and probably much longer commutes – for thousands across three states and turning East Coast Amtrak service into an unholy mess.

David Hampsten
David Hampsten
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike Sanders

I know this has nothing to do with Portland, but how disruptive is it? Will it affect my train this evening from Raleigh to Greensboro, which originates from NYC?

GlowBoy
GlowBoy
6 years ago
Reply to  Mike Sanders

Now living in a metro area that’s home to 16+ Fortune 500 companies, where there’s a ton of corporate money sloshing around funding all sorts of projects and charities, I find it hilarious that someone would think of corporate-money-scarce Portland — where the bikeshare system was delayed forever because they couldn’t find a sponsor — as a “corporate amusement park”. You have got to be kidding me.

Jake
Jake
6 years ago

I can see all the corporations in PDX trembling at this news and readying their exit as soon as possible. You certainly showed them you mighty, mighty wiser than thou folk. Thank you!!! Now, check all the labels on each and every article of clothing you own, and each and every item you own, and if you see a corporate logo…, well, then you’re a hypocrite. Oops.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Jake

I wonder if any of these ninnies are associated with Rose City Antifa http://rosecityantifa.bigcartel.com/

Supposedly an anti fascist organization. Curiously, they run a store where they sell fairly pricey logo gear. Couldn’t help but notice that “their” scarves and t-shirts were so graphically similar to Timber Army and Red Stripe merchandise that I wouldn’t be notice the difference from a distance.

soren
soren
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

you wonder based on what exactly?

Matt S.
Matt S.
6 years ago

The poster looks commercially printed. I wonder if they can pull records from surrounding print companies.

George Dorn
George Dorn
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt S.

If they used a color laser printer, there’s a pretty good chance that it printed with nearly-imperceptible tracking dots encoding the serial number.

BB
BB
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt S.

“Pull records from surrounding print companies”
LOL
On what planet?

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  BB

I’m reasonably sure the vandals came from Earth, so I’d start there.

Mike Quigley
Mike Quigley
6 years ago

I figured from the start, give Biketown a year and it will be closed for this very reason.

Kyle S
6 years ago

I really wish people would protest in smarter ways.

OregonJelly
OregonJelly
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle S

We’re still conflating criminal behavior with protests?

Aixe Djelal
6 years ago

I wonder if the Portland police are taking a look at Instagram to see who is celebrating this vandalism on photos tagged with #rosecitysaboteurs. These people are proud of what they did. They’ll have a hard time keeping quiet about it.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Aixe Djelal

These guys really are dumb.

I only saw a few photos posted with only a handful of comments. However, the “likes” for each provides a convenient list of idiоts — in many cases, it’s easy enough to figure out real identities even when they’re hiding behind pseudonyms using other bits of info on the internet and following relationships.

Doing this manually would be painstaking, but a mediocre programmer and data wonk could develop tools that compile data to identify people to focus on. The data analysis requires a bit more sophistication than the programming, but all this stuff is easily within the range of a competent professional.

I assume such tools exists and if any LEO are reading this and you *don’t* have this, you should build it.

Hello, Kitty
6 years ago
Reply to  Kyle Banerjee

Those tools certainly do exist, and I am sure more than a few LEOs have them. Nonetheless, as helpful as they’d be in a situation like this, the potential for abuse is very high. I would want a warrant required before this sort of analysis could be conducted, though if things really get out of hand, that requirement won’t provide much protection.

Kyle Banerjee
6 years ago
Reply to  Hello, Kitty

Heh, heh — I think we may have a couple numbskulls in our midst — big surprise there.

I commented on one of the photos celebrating the vandalism, the owner of the photo replied that he simply took a picture, but the account was suddenly deleted in the last hour.

No one except a tiny percentage of bike dоrks even know, let alone care, about something that appears to have been intended as some major action. And it had practically no impact beyond collateral damage. What a sorry bunch.

Mick O
Mick O
6 years ago

Had anyone connected this to the post on the Bike Loud Facebook page from Apr 1? Not that I think “Mona” was responsible, but the timing was interesting.

Group Member Tim Davis wrote on 1 Apr 2017: :

“Hi everyone! I had an interesting conversation this afternoon with an artist named Mona. She has lived in Portland for over 30 years, and she desperately wants the “old Portland” back (sounds familiar, eh?). One of the first things she said really shocked me, and that’s why I’m sharing it here. She said this (with some possible paraphrasing, but it was basically this):
‘I wish someone would vandalize those stupid orange bikes. Only tourists use them, and they’re ruining my once-peaceful runs in Waterfront Park, and all these newcomers are driving up the cost of everything in Portland.'”

Mr. Davis then wrote of trying to engage Mona on the issue.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/293708270840115/permalink/633151420229130/

I don’t think there is a direct connection, just that this particular sentiment seems to be bubbling up from multiple vectors.

Chris I
Chris I
6 years ago
Reply to  Mick O

I’m happy that people like that are getting priced out of the city. Unfortunately, some genuinely nice, hard working people are also getting priced out.

JL
JL
6 years ago
Reply to  Mick O

I would guess something more like this http://blackrosefed.org/category/portland/

soren
soren
6 years ago
Reply to  JL

you would guess? why would you guess?

resopmok
resopmok
6 years ago
Reply to  Mick O

“and all these newcomers”

This is exactly the sort of fear-mongering that got Trump elected. When are we going to realize that our fellow humans are not our enemies, but that they are in fact fellow humans? It’s so easy to get caught up in vitriol and hate in the days of anonymous information, where faces disappear from messages. If instead we would actually take the time to listen to people and consider their concerns and feelings, if we take the time to realize that their lived experiences are as real for them as ours is for ourselves, then just maybe we can open a real dialogue to find compromises and solutions that actually work.

It’s time to stop blaming and shaming and to start being responsible. War-like attitudes can come from any point along the political spectrum; ending them and the destruction they bring means being mindful of our own attitudes and to stop spreading hate instead of love. It begins with YOU.

Joe
Joe
6 years ago

less cars more bikes downtown pls.

Middle of the Road Guy
Middle of the Road Guy
6 years ago

I hope those selfish malcontents feel good about themselves. They sure as shit don’t represent me.

If they had the courage of their convictions, they wouldn’t hide under the cover of darkness.

Brian
Brian
6 years ago

jeremy myers
” I can’t even remember the last time I saw a motorist pulled over in town.”
Are you serious? I see it all the time. .
Recommended 0

Yes, I am serious. I cannot recall the last time I personally saw someone being pulled over in Portland.