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6/20: Hello readers and friends. I am having my second (of two) total knee replacement surgeries today so I'll be out of commission for a bit while I recover. Please be patient while I get back to full health. I hope to be back to posting as soon as I can. I look forward to getting back out there. 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor

Year: 2017

An opportunity to push the City of Portland forward on truck safety

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A Portland Water Bureau vehicle with side underrun guards (from 2008).
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

A proposed City of Portland administrative rule change is giving street safety advocates a chance to lobby for side guards and other equipment that could make commercial trucks safer.

Given their size, height, and weight, trucks used to haul garbage, cement and other goods on city streets pose a very high risk to other road users. According to the US Department of Transportation, nearly half of all the bikers and walkers killed in collisions with large trucks first impact the side of the truck. Many of the fatalities we’ve reported about here in BikePortland over the years have involved trucks. After the death of Tamar Monhait (that involved a man driving a garbage truck whose operator is now being sued by Monhait’s family), we shared an editorial local lawyer Cynthia Newton who’s “deeply concerned” about truck safety.

That concern is shared by at least one City of Portland Planning Commissioner. Chris Smith has been working on this issue through the Planning and Sustainability Commission for over two years. The Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) directly regulates residential solid waste haulers and also permits all the trucks for commercial solid waste in the city. As such, they have the authority to require safety equipment — like sideguards and special mirrors — on contractors’ vehicles.

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Postcards from Paris: Mixtes, street scenes, and a budding bike network

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(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

There’s a reason so many Americans have written books and poems and songs about Paris: It’s a mind-bendingly fascinating cultural, historic, and architectural contrast to the United States. On more than one ocassion on each of the five days I recently spent there I found myself whispering to my wife Juli, mouth agape in awe during one of our many marathon walks, “I have never seen anything like this before.”

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PBOT’s Active Transpo Division Manager takes job with Metro

Bradway at the launch of Biketown bike share in July 2016.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Margi Bradway, head of Active Transportation & Safety Division at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, plans to leave that role for a job at Metro, our region’s metropolitan planning organization.

Bradway will be Metro’s new Deputy Director for Transportation Planning (see the job listing here). She begins her new job November 13th. “I love my job at the city,” Bradway shared with us today, “but I could not pass up the opportunity to have a greater impact on the region.”

Bradway is a former environmental and land use lawyer who previously worked at the Oregon Department of Transportation where she headed up their sustainability program. When she left ODOT she was a policy advisor to ODOT Director Matt Garrett.

PBOT hired Bradway in 2014 to lead their Active Transportation Division, the part of the agency that includes many of the programs we cover often here on BikePortland: Safe Routes to School, Sunday Parkways, Vision Zero, and more. During her tenure at PBOT, Bradway played a key role in inking the deal with Nike that led to the launch of Biketown bike share, helped pass traffic safety laws (including a reduced speed limit and expanded authority for photo radar cameras), negotiated the deal with Strava to utilize the company’s dataset for planning purposes, helped make Vision Zero a top city priority, and much more.

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Weekend Event Guide: Cyclocross, Chris King Open House, and more

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Racing bikes in pure Gorge mud with friends. It doesn’t get any better than this.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Guide is back! After two weeks off due to me galavanting around Europe, it brings me much pleasure to offer our selection of events for the coming weekend. Remember our calendar includes rides not listed here, so don’t forget to check it out.

The Weekend Event Guide is sponsored by Abus Bike Locks. Thanks Abus!

With the rain and fall weather here with vengeance, we’re set up for some classic cyclocross battles this weekend. Last year the Cyclocross Crusade’s stop in Cascade Locks was an epic mud-bath. At several places on the course I was literally riding up a river of water and I still have dirt in my bibshorts one year later!

And don’t miss the Chris King event Saturday. It’s a rare chance to see one-of-a-king custom builds and tour the factory.

Here ya go…

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Tamar Monhait’s family seeks $10 million from garbage truck company

Still from surveillance video.

As reported last month by The Oregonian, Tamar Monhait’s family has filed a lawsuit with the company responsible for the garbage truck operator who hit and killed her.

In the early morning hours of August 21st, 41-year-old Monhait was biking north on Southeast Water Avenue at Taylor when the truck operator made a left turn in front of her. She died at the scene from the impact.

Monhait’s lawyers allege that the left turn by the garbage truck driver is the result of improper training by his employer, Republic Services Alliance Group. They’re asking for up to $10 million in damages.

The suit claims that the intersection is well lit and that Monhait was “lawfully riding her bicycle… in a designated bike lane.”

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ODOT and supporters struggle to justify I-5 Rose Quarter project

Screengrab of Willamette Week.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has had many years to figure out a way to justify widening Interstate 5 through the Rose Quarter. As one of the narrowest points in this major interstate that runs from Canada to Mexico, it’s been on their widening list for decades.

And now that they’ve finally pieced together the political and funding momentum to do actually it, they’re having trouble explaining why it’s needed.

It turns out the public is a lot more skeptical of freeway mega-projects than lawmakers and bureaucrats.

A scathing report in the Willamette Week today pokes holes in one ODOT’s major justifications: safety. If you browse over to I5RoseQuarter.org you’ll see graphics and statistics about crashes. But as activists opposing the project have pointed out for months, those crashes are most just low-speed fender-benders that don’t result deaths and injuries.

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Police make arrest in fatal Gresham collision

SE Stark near 212th.

A 23-year-old Portland resident has been arrested due to his role in the death of a bicycle rider on Sunday evening.

Gresham Police have charged Kurtis Linn with DUII, Reckless Driving and Manslaughter in the 2nd degree. According to The Oregonian, Linn was driving his Chevy Blazer at nearly twice the speed limit and after consuming two drinks at a local bar prior to the collision.

Linn says he was racing another auto user and lost control of his car, then slammed into another car before he struck and killed Albert Sawdon who was bicycling in the bike lane.

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Job: Development Director for CF Cycle for Life – Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title *
Development Director for CF Cycle for Life

Company/Organization *
Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Job Description *
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation located in Portland, OR is seeking a talented Development Director with strong fundraising experience, including special events, sponsorship solicitation and the ability to develop and nurture relationships with key volunteers, major donors, and corporate sponsors.

This position will serve as the Event Director for CF Cycle for Life and Great Strides. Heavy special event fundraising experience is highly preferred.

Responsibilities include: recruit and cultivate leadership volunteers, sponsors and event participants, build and manage volunteer core, provide strategic direction and oversee all aspects of fundraising plans
pertaining to assigned events. The ideal candidate will have a minimum of 5 years of successful fundraising/sales experience.

The position requires strong organizational and networking skills, the ability to work on various events simultaneously and a strong eye for detail. Candidates will be required to develop and manage budgets while growing revenues and managing expenses.

This is a unique opportunity to direct your energy and talents towards achieving a “life enhancing” mission, while benefiting from the resources and support of a highly regarded national non-profit organization.
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation offers an excellent salary and benefits package.

How to Apply *
Interested candidates should submit resume and cover letter including salary history to www.cff.org under employment opportunities.

The following link will also direct you to the applicant page: https://chk.tbe.taleo.net/chk01/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=CFF&cws=1&rid=2966

Portland’s Bicycle Advisory Committee seeks new members

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City bike coordinator Roger Geller leads the BAC on an annual bike tour.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

If you want to make biking better in Portland, there’s a great opportunity to put your passion into action: The city’s official Bicycle Advisory Committee (a.k.a. “the BAC”) is currently recruiting new members.

The BAC is a citizen-led body that advises all city bureaus, council members, and the Mayor on matters relating to bicycling. When a construction project will impact a major bike route, the BAC is there to sort out the detour and make sure the work-zone is bike-friendly. When a big planning document is about to be updated, the BAC is there to tweak the language and add key provisions. Long before a big project breaks ground, the BAC is there to sweat the details before the design is finalized.

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Q & A with Rivendell founder/designer Grant Petersen on 10/28

Grant will be at Rivelo at 1PM on Saturday, October 28 for a Q & A session.

Got a question for Grant? Ask him yourself!

We’ll kick it off with an brief “interview,” conducted by John/Rivelo, then take submitted questions, and end with an open Q & A.

Questions submitted in advance would be great, and will be answered first. Depending on how many we get, we may not be able to get to them all….but we will try! Email questions to bennett@rivelopdx.com

Ask about bikes, bike design, cameras, film photography, fly fishing, Bob Dylan, Rivendell….

We’ll have beverages and snacks.

401 SE Caruthers Street at the corner of Water Avenue, just across from the OMSI MAX station.

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From the Archives

Oregon’s rogue freight advisory committee might have finally overstepped