2018 Archives

Weekend Event Guide: Live the Revolution, Worst Day of the Year Ride, plant trees by bike, and more

The weekend is right around the corner and now is the time to tidy up your plans.

Our guide this week has two special “BP Picks!” — which means we’re working hard to feature these events because the organizers support BikePortland. If that’s not added reason to check them out I don’t know what is.

So don’t miss a night of great bicycle stories on Friday at Live the Revolution and then join hundreds of your fellow Portlanders for the traditional Worst Day of the Year Ride on Sunday. Here’s the full menu…

We’ve seen this sad movie before: After seemingly incessant traffic violence on our streets, people join together with tears in their eyes and frustration in their hearts to implore our government agencies to do more to make our streets safe.

This time Oregon Walks and the Rosewood Initiative will lead the way. They’re hosting a press conference Thursday morning to draw attention to terrible conditions on outer SE Stark Street after a woman was killed by an auto user at 148th Street last week. That was the third fatal traffic crash at or near that same intersection in less than a year. In a statement (below), Oregon Walks Executive Director Noel Mickelberry is calling on the City of Portland to declare an official emergency on SE Stark in order to immediately reduce the speed limit from 35 to 30 mph.

Mickelberry hopes the Portland Bureau of Transportation will take a similar approach to the emergency declaration they successfully pursued on SE Division last year.

Here’s more from the Oregon Walks press release:

“PBOT believes there was evidence to justify the State Engineer to reconsider his decision and leave the bike lanes in place. ODOT has communicated to the City that they will not reconsider that decision.”
— Dylan Rivera, PBOT

The bike lanes on SE 26th Avenue approaching Powell Boulevard are on life support.

In a saga that has spanned nearly 30 months, PBOT appears to have finally acquiesced to the Oregon Department of Transportation’s demand that a pair of bike lanes that have been in use since the 1980s be removed in favor of the state’s preferred route for bicycle users two blocks east on SE 28th. It all comes back to a deal struck by PBOT and ODOT two years ago.

In order to build a new traffic signal and crossing at the intersection of SE 28th and SE Powell for their 20s Bikeway project, PBOT needed a special permit from ODOT and the blessing of State Traffic Engineer Bob Pappe. ODOT, who owns and manages Powell Boulevard, agreed to that permit only on the very specific condition that once the new signal was up and running, PBOT would remove the bike lanes on 26th.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.

Job Title *
PT Bike Valet Attendant

Company/Organization *
Go By Bike

Job Description *
Go By Bike, under the aerial tram, is looking for a friendly, outgoing part time afternoon valet attendant. The job responsibilities include parking and unparking bikes, and closing up/cleaning the shop at night. You spend a lot of time outside in the largest bike parking spot in North America. No bike mechanic skills are necessary but being able to fix a flat is definitely a plus. We’d be happy to teach you. You must be reliable, have a positive attitude, and work well on your own. Wages start at $13/hour with a 50/50 health insurance option. Mon-fri 3:30pm-8pm with paid holidays and sick/vacation time.

How to Apply *
Email a one-two paragraph cover letter explaining why you would be a good match for this position and a resume. Position to start ASAP.

Portland’s latest neighborhood greenway will connect the Lloyd District to Woodlawn

The Bureau of Transportation has kicked off a project that aims to make it safer to travel between the Lloyd District and Woodlawn neighborhoods.

The $552,000 Lloyd to Woodlawn (L2W for short) neighborhood greenway project will utilize either NE 7th or 9th and will stretch from Weidler in the south to Holman in the north. Once completed, the route would connect the buffered bike lanes in the Lloyd District to existing neighborhood greenways on Tillamook and Holman. It would also include a safer crossing of Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.

PBOT has scheduled the first open house for the project on February 27th.

[Publisher’s note: Welcome to our Family Biking column! I’m thrilled to share Madi’s insights and experiences here on BP. Please give her a warm welcome and let’s thank Clever Cycles for helping bring this content to the community. — Jonathan]

Hi. I’m Madi.

I bike for all the typical reasons — it’s cheaper than driving, it’s safer than driving, it’s simpler than taking the bus, it’s healthy, it doesn’t pollute, it’s usually faster than all other modes of transportation — but mostly because it’s tremendously fun. Even with kids. Especially with kids. I love to share that sense of fun and ease with others in the hopes of encouraging more families and individuals to bike even just a little bit more often. I’ve found focusing on the fun stuff to be an effective way of promoting bicycling as transportation (but I also reserve the right to discuss statistics and badmouth car traffic).

I ride with my two sons, aged 10 and 8, and our conveniently-basket-sized dog. I’ve been family biking since my first son was one year old and have gone through several bike iterations along the way. I like to think there are a lot of different right answers and very few wrong answers when it comes to choosing a family bike.

If you want to lead the agency that oversees the entire Portland metro region, you need an intimate understanding of the cities within it. What better way to gain that knowledge than from the seat of a bicycle?

Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman at Portland’s Parking Day event in 2013.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman is putting what she learned in Portland to very good use: addressing the sexism in urban planning and helping women take leadership roles in how our cities are designed.

“The city, as we know it today, has been designed and shaped primarily by men,” she wrote in a recent email, “By bringing women’s voices to the forefront of the urban discussion, the Women Led Cities Initiative aims to achieve a greater level of equity in urban planning and design – both bottom-up and top-down – and start conversations about developing feminist city policy towards greater equality for all people in our cities.”

Johnston-Zimmerman, an urban anthropologist with a Master of Urban Studies degree from Portland State University (and who shared a guest article here on BikePortland in 2013), moved to Philadelphia a few years ago; but not before cutting her teeth on local activism efforts like Better Block and Parking Day. Back in 2012 I worked with Johnston-Zimmerman (and two others) on a project for GOOD Magazine where we envisioned a Portland where bicycling was just as easy as driving or taking transit.

Those projects were just the start for Johnston-Zimmerman. She’s also founder of the THINK.urban consulting firm, part of the tandem (along with fellow urbanist Kirsten Jeffers) that hosts the Third Wave Urbanism podcast, and one of the driving forces behind the Women Led Cities initiative.

After hundreds of comments, dueling online petitions, and a now-legendary open house that devolved into a “mob scene” takeover, the City of Portland has emerged with a new approach to the Lincoln-Harrison Neighborhood Greenway Enhancement Project.

They have altered their initial plans and — in an effort to assuage naysayers of certain elements of the old plan — have redoubled their efforts to effectively communicate the need for the project in general.

Welcome to the week. Looks like the rain is gone for a bit and we’ve warmed up a bit. I might even try riding without gloves today. I know, right!

You might notice something new this week: I’ve started giving credit to sources of links we use in the roundup. Giving credit is one of the most important tenets of the web, and it’s always bothered me that I didn’t do this in the past. I also hope you’ll discover new and smart people to follow on Twitter.

Here are the best stories we came across last week…

Unsafe at any level of nudity: A man is suing the City of Portland for $566,000 after he hit a median curb on SE Morrison and suffered injuries on his way home from the World Naked Bike Ride in 2016. (via The Oregonian)

On a related note: Los Angeles paid out $19 million last year to bicycle riders and their families to settle lawsuits related to crashes caused by unsafe road conditions. (via @bikinginorange)

[Welcome to our Comment of the Week. We do this post not only to highlight a useful or funny or creative insight, but also to help educate you about what makes a good comment. It’s part of our effort to improve the quality of the discussion here on BikePortland. We get hundreds of comments each week, so you can help us find the best ones by replying to one with “Comment of the week.” Thanks.]

Many people are overwhelmed by the scale of changes needed to significantly tame auto traffic on east Portland’s fast and wide arterials. When we talk about how to fix this persistent problem, the discussion swings between everything from lower speed limits and road diets — to land-use and demographic patterns.

The death yesterday morning of yet another person walking on outer Southeast Stark had commenters once again sharing ideas on what can be done to make meaningful progress on safer streets in that part of our city.

For most other services, when demand soars, the price increases. But not with our freeways. Is it time for us to pay more for using our limited road resources?

The Oregon Department of Transportation has started a process that will help them decide if, when, where and how to implement congestion pricing — which they refer to as value pricing.

ODOT is acting on a directive from House Bill 2017 that passed the Oregon Legislature last year. It directs the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC, the governor-appointed body that controls ODOT pursestrings) to seek approval from the Federal Highway Administration by December 2018 to implement pricing on I-5 and I-205. The bill specifically called out the sections of both freeways in the Portland metro region.

At this stage in the process, ODOT is conducting a “feasibility analysis” to determine the best location(s) to implement pricing and what the impact of doing so would be. Late last month they held three open houses around the region and since January 23rd they’ve had an online open house where anyone can learn more about the issue and share their experiences and feedback. That online open house is only open until this Monday, February 5th. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please try and make some time before it’s too late.

Weekend Event Guide: Live the Revolution, Worst Day of the Year Ride, plant trees by bike, and more

After another death, community groups will press City for ’emergency’ on outer SE Stark

26th Avenue bike lanes in death throes as ODOT turns screws and advocates dig in

Job: PT Bike Valet Attendant – Go By Bike – FILLED

Portland’s latest neighborhood greenway will connect the Lloyd District to Woodlawn

Introducing our new Family Biking column by Madi Carlson

Metro Council president candidate Lynn Peterson is doing a 24-city bike tour

A former Portlander wants to know what ‘women led’ cities would look like

After outcry, City changes plans and makes stronger case for Lincoln-Harrison greenway update

The Monday Roundup: Myopic marketing, wheelchair biking, pedaling protest, and more

Comment of the Week: How to fix east Portland’s scary streets

Monday is last day to visit ODOT’s online congestion pricing open house

Latest Headlines

Transportation bill passes out of committee, but road blocks remain

Monday Roundup: Parking wars, bikes and your brain, allergies, and more

‘Mayor Mike’ O’Callaghan was ‘living example of kindness and generosity’

Weekend Event Guide: Yard sales, salmon, MySpace and more

From the Archives

Oregon’s rogue freight advisory committee might have finally overstepped