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

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.

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Guthrie

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

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Isaac Rabinovitch

Sometimes?

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SilkySlim

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.

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dan

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?

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Paul

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.

Guest

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.

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Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

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

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Dan

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.

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Hello, Kitty

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

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dan

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

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nuovorecord

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

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rachel b

The tourists or the donuts?

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Hello, Kitty

Yes.

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Middle of the Road Guy

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.

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wsbob

“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.

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Hello, Kitty

Pink bikes!!!

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Chris

Nothing is immune to economics.

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emerson

“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”

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Jeff

“Must destroy bikes ‘cuz Big Bad Nike.”

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shannon

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.

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Chris I

Corporate amusement parks always have the best rides.

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redhippie

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.

Subscriber

Dan A

What is Anit-Fa fun?

Author

a reference to Rose City Antifa, a local activist group http://rosecityantifa.org

Subscriber

Dan A

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

Subscriber

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

Subscriber

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

Subscriber

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

To me it was more like calling “Wolf.”

Subscriber

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

Subscriber

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. 🙂

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Hello, Kitty

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

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Middle of the Road Guy

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

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OregonJelly

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

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Pete

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

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David Hampsten

Performance art.

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Pete

Damned ADIDAS employees… (jk!).

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Tom

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

Guest

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.

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I wear many hats

This is asinine and just a waste.

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bikeninja

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.

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Al Dimond

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’

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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.

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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.)

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MikeC

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.

Guest

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.

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Snowrider

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.

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q`Tzal

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

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TonyH

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

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Matt Youell

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.

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Phil Richman

Ditto!

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rick

I think the Orange looks better than most blue citibikes.

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Ovid Boyd

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.

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David Hampsten

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.

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Ovid Boyd

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

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David Hampsten

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

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Gary B

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.

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Ovid Boyd

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

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Bjorn

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

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Disgruntled Employee

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

Guest

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

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soren

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

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Middle of the Road Guy

Because you are more idealistic and Kyle is very pragmatic.

Guest

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

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Hello, Kitty

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

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Middle of the Road Guy

Because they are cowards and took the easiest way out.

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dwk

Another complete a-hole….

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Trevor

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.

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Jon

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.

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KristenT

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.

Guest

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.

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rachel b

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.

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Lil Frankie

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

Subscriber

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.

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Hello, Kitty

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.

Guest

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.

Guest

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.

Guest

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?

Guest

What’s your point?

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

Subscriber

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?

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Hello, Kitty

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

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Chris I

And the deadliest.

Guest

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.

Subscriber

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

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Hello, Kitty

You mean in pre-Roman times?

Guest

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

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Hello, Kitty

But at least the streets were safe, right?

Guest

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.

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Hello, Kitty

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

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Todd Hudson

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

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Middle of the Road Guy

There’s this thing called cultural and technological advancement.

Guest

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.

Guest

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.

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Tom Hardy

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.

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B. Carfree

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.

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Dazed Not Confused

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

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nuovorecord

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

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David Hampsten

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.

Subscriber

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.

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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?

Subscriber

Yes.

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Hello, Kitty

Why?

Subscriber

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.

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Hello, Kitty

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

Guest

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.

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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…

Guest

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.

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dwk

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

Subscriber

I never said I approved of it.

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dwk

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….

Subscriber

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

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dwk

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

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Todd Hudson

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….

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David Hampsten

… 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.

Subscriber

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.

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Brian

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.

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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. 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.

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Hello, Kitty

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

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Bjorn

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.

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dwk

“Well, they do have a point.”

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

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dwk

and you get 3 likes.
Goodbye biketown….

Subscriber

Hello, Kitty

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

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dwk

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

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Middle of the Road Guy

He has seen much of western Europe 🙂

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dwk

Adam H.
12 now.
feel a lot better…

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Adam

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

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Todd Hudson

Anarchists have way too much spare time on their hands.

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Jerry Springer

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.

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SuWonda

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.

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jeremy myers

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

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AMA

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

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Rebecca

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.

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David Hampsten

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!

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soren

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*.

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Art fuldodger

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

Guest

While contributing nothing and functioning as parasites.

Seems fitting given the current administration.

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OregonJelly

Wheeler/Fritz/Eudaly?

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Portlands Electric Bike Store

Not reality deprived enough — I was thinking Trump.

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jeremy myers

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

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soren

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.

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bikeninja

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.

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David Hampsten

I wonder if any of the cameras were actually working?

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Art fuldodger

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

Guest

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

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Clarence Eckerson

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?

Subscriber

TonyT

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.

Guest

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

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SuWonda

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.

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Matthew in Portsmouth

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.

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jeff

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

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Rich Fox

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.

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Otter

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.

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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.

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OregonJelly

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.

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Gary B

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.

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Art fuldodger

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.

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Hello, Kitty

🙂

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

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Granpa

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”.

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ragey

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.

Subscriber

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.

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Art fuldodger

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

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Hello, Kitty

And make things safe with their safety flare.

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Mike Sanders

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.

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David Hampsten

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?

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GlowBoy

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.

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Jake

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.

Guest

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.

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soren

you wonder based on what exactly?

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Matt S.

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

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George Dorn

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.

Guest

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

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Hello, Kitty

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

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Mike Quigley

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

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Kyle S

I really wish people would protest in smarter ways.

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OregonJelly

We’re still conflating criminal behavior with protests?

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Aixe Djelal

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.

Guest

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.

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Hello, Kitty

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.

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