🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

Year: 2017

Marijuana home delivery now a reality; but don’t expect it by bike

Bicycle delivery

Why can’t bikes deliver marijuana?
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

When I saw a KGW report this morning about home delivery of recreational marijuana, my first thought was: “I wonder if they could that by bike?”

After all, marijuana is big business in Portland and local companies deliver all sorts of things by bike. With companies like B-Line Urban Delivery, Go Box (pictured above), and Portland Pedal Power, Portland is on the cutting edge of using bicycles for delivery.

Marijuana by bike in Portland should be a no-brainer. At least that’s what I thought.

My curiousity led me to call Aleeya Kim, owner of La Cannaisseur in Linnton (whose shop was profiled in the KGW story). I asked Kim about bike delivery and she referred me to the official Oregon Liquor Control Commission rules they have to follow in order to keep their license.

The first rules I found were temporary rules adopted in October 2015. Those rules didn’t include any specific language that would prevent the use of a bicycle for marijuana delivery. That’s because whenever the language referred to the delivery vehicle, it didn’t include the word “motor.” And in Oregon law, “When the term ‘vehicle’ is used the term shall be deemed to be applicable to bicycles.”

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Jobs of the Week – Portland Bicycle Studio, Left Coast, Vanilla, WashCo BTC, Western, Cycle Portland

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

We’re playing catch-up this week. There are six job opportunities in the roundup, dating back to late December. Now that the worst of winter is (hopefully) over, we should get back to regular hiring patterns and subsequently back to our weekly job posting.

Take a look at the hottest bike jobs in Portland via the links below…

–> Mechanic Sales Staff – Portland Bicycle Studio

–> Operations Manager – Left Coast Bicycles Mobile Repair

–> Frame Builders Assistant – The Vanilla Workshop

–> 2017 Summer Bike Camp Instructor – WashCo BTC

–> Store Manager – Western Bikeworks

–> Bike tour guide/ shop staff – Cycle Portland

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Portland Parks says immunity ruling won’t impact volunteers at Gateway Green, other sites

Turns out the forthcoming bike park at Gateway Green won’t be “crippled” by a court decision after all.

After the Willamette Week published a scary story yesterday about a legal loophole in Oregon law that allows people to sue city employees and volunteers for injuries sustained on City-owned properties, we’ve been trying to learn more about potential impacts to not just Gateway Green but the over 200 other Parks-owned properties around Portland.

If other cities have closed recreational facilities due to this loophole, what would happen in Portland? Volunteers are the backbone of many parks and public lands where we ride bikes, and losing them — or losing access completely because of liability concerns — would be a major setback.

Our initial inquiries with the City of Portland and other sources to clarify these impacts didn’t get very far. The Parks Bureau seemed to be caught off-guard by the Willamette Week story and no one else would comment due to it being a sensitive legal issue (if only I had a nickel for every time I heard “Sorry, I can’t discuss legal matters”). The City’s Office of Government Relations would only refer us to the pending legislation that will close the loophole and that we outlined in our story yesterday.

But what if those bills don’t pass? How will Parks’ and other public lands in Portland and throughout the state be impacted by the 2016 Oregon Supreme Court Ruling that found the legal concept of “recreational immunity” does not extend to city employees?

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This ‘Spirit of ’77’ dream bike is awaiting a Trail Blazers player

Introducing the “Seven Spirit of ’77,” on sale now at a local bike shop.
(Photos: River City Bicycles)

Portlander Dave Guettler is a huge Trail Blazers fan. He also happens to own River City Bicycles, one of the best bike shops in the country.

And now River City (located just a mile from the Blazers’ home court) is probably the only bike shop in America with a high-quality custom bike made specifically for a tall person who happens to play for the Blazers.

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Need help with temporary bike parking for an event

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

I work at the zoo and we are planning to highlight bicycle transportation on a day in May. I have been asked to research options for temporary (event) bike parking. Can you suggest options for large capacity racks that can be moved in for the day?

Thank you,
Philip Fensterer

Weekend Event Guide: Worst Day Ride, the Big Dig, bike love stories, and more

Worst Day of the Year Ride 2011-43

Grab some friends and make new ones at the Worst Day Ride.
(Photo: J Maus/BikePortland)

This Weekend Event Guide is sponsored by The Street Trust, who reminds you to grab tickets now for their big Live the Revolution fundraiser happening Friday night!

Can you feel that?

We know it’s been a long and cold and wet and dark winter… But there’s hope. On Sunday thousands of Portlanders will gather and ride for the Worst Day of the Year Ride. It’s a sign of things to come and it’s about time you joined them. Before the weekend comes, why not start things off with some stories about bike love?

As always, we’ve got great event options for you. Check the full menu below…

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Willamette Week: Legal concerns cloud Gateway Green bike park and other city properties

Community Cross at Gateway Green-1

Should volunteers or city employees who work on parks facilities — like the upcoming Gateway Green — be open to liability lawsuits?
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

NOTE: Please read our important update to this story posted on Thursday 2/9 at 5:00 pm.

I didn’t know much about Oregon’s “recreational immunity” law when I woke up this morning. But since reading, “Portland’s First Mountain-Bike Park Could Be Crippled by a Court Decision” in the Willamette Week I’ve given myself a crash-course. And so should you.

That article lays out the case that a 2016 Oregon Supreme Court decision throws access to public parks (and all public lands more broadly) into question due to potential legal liability for landowners.

In a nutshell, that decision found that employees and volunteers of landowners are not covered by the same legal immunity as the owners of the land (as laid out in Oregon’s 1971 Public Use of Lands Act). For more on the ruling and the existing law, check out this article.

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Has Portland’s Lack of Gated Communities Contributed to Its Cycling Success?

Recently I was planning the route for a Puddlecycle ride called “The Two Bridges” that goes over both the I-5 and I-205 bridges staying on the Vancouver side of the Columbia River. The goal was to stay as close to the river as possible. This was initially easy, as Vancouver has the Renaissance Trail that you can hop on right after coming off the Interstate (I-5) Bridge. The trail seemingly ends a mile later at the Kaiser Shipyard where they built Liberty ships during World War II. But you can ride to the North around that yard on a wide sidewalk, and the trail picks up again on the other side.

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City of Portland: There’s no funding for truck side guards, yet

side underrun guards on PDOT truck-2.jpg

A Portland Water Bureau truck in June 2008.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The dangerous combination of right-hooks and large trucks have been one of the most pressing bike safety issues in Portland for the past a decade. We have lost far too many people because of this deadly combination.

So why aren’t we doing more about this well-known hazard? Like so many of Portland’s bike-related projects, the solution is in the city’s plans, but not in the city’s budget.

We were once again shaken out of our complacency with this issue when a man died while bicycling on North Interstate Avenue yesterday. Official details are still sparse, but it has all the trappings of a classic right-hook.

That horrible tragedy is just the latest in a long line of them.

In 2007 Brett Jarolimek and Tracey Sparling were killed within two weeks of each other when a truck operator failed to see them, turned right, and ran over their bodies. It happened again in 2012 to Kathryn Rickson on a busy bike lane just one block from City Hall.

After all three of those tragedies one of the main responses from the community was the need for safer trucks.

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Portland bike company will donate one week of sales to the ACLU

Drawing a parallel between the power of the simple bicycle and the work of the American Civil Liberties Union, locally-based Portland Design Works has taken a stand against the Trump administration.

From today through February 14th the company just announced they will donate 100 percent of gross sales in their online store — RidePDW.com — to the ACLU.

PDW founder Erik Olson said the decision is about trying to make a difference in these extraordinary times.

“Normally our charitable contributions are aimed at efforts to get more people out there riding bikes,” he shared with BikePortland via email this morning. “But these aren’t normal times. We have to do what we can to ensure, like we recited in grade school, ‘liberty and justice for all.'”

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Community Cycling Center will spread love with ‘Velotines’ cards delivered by bike

love on Williams ave

Who do you love?
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Hoping to plant seeds of love throughout the city, the northeast Portland-based Community Cycling Center has launched Velotines.

The concept is simple: Stop by their retail shop at 1700 NE Alberta Street during regular business hours and tell them who you love, why you love them, and where to deliver the message.

Then the CCC’s team of professional love couriers will type up your message on a romantic vintage typewriter and hop on their bikes to deliver the note.

The CCC says the inaugural program is all about spreading “positive community spirit”.

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From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland