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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
Making good on a promise made when they launched in January 2016, Business for a Better Portland has weighed in on the $30 million Central City in Motion plan without complaining about auto parking.
That makes them the first major Portland business group to do so.
When we first profiled Knock Software in 2015 we said their small device that counts bicycle traffic would “change planning forever.”
Nearly four years later that device is no longer part of their business, but the company itself has more than lived up to the headline.
Last week I wrote a “rah rah” post about making a plan to pedal more and beat the winter blahs. That post inspired a few comments about readers’ plans for winter biking; but there was one commenter who felt I, “Missed a huge opportunity to point out that riding at night or even in a light rain increases one’s chances dramatically of death and maiming.”
So this week I figured I should write about safety. Or rather, why I don’t write about safety.
Last Thursday, local advocate Kiel Johnson and I met with Mark Holzmann. Yes, the same Mark Holzmann who made headlines a week prior for his role in a sordid tale about road rage and revenge.
In an opinion piece published by The Oregonian, on his Facebook page, and on local TV news, Mark said he was victimized by a man on a bike who yelled at him and pounded on his car after the two were involved in a close-call near the Moda Center on October 22nd. Then a few days later Mark said he woke up and realized all four tires of his car had been slashed and someone had left a spooky and threatening note on his windshield.
Unfortunately that’s the full extent of the story most people heard. As such, it probably only served to perpetuate existing biases people have about each other.
But it’s what happened after the initial news cycle that I think is worth remembering about this story.
Today’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Greenfield Health who invites you to an Open House at their Lloyd clinic (700 NE Multnomah) this Wednesday November 7th.
Here are the most notable stories we came across in the past week…
Walmart-ville: In a fascinating turn of events, U.S. mega-retailer Walmart now wants to turn its massive parking lots into “town centers” — so they can re-create the vibe that used to exist before Walmart opened in the first place.
No helmet for me: A respected cycling writer explains why he no longer wears a helmet; but only after his editor is so worried about it being controversial he feels obligated to post a disclaimer at the top of the post.
GM in e-bike business: General Motors sees the writing on the wall and is placing a small bet on an electric, foldable electric bike.
Portland has miles of bike paths that are inaccessible to cars. We also have many people who call the land on and around those paths, home. A local nonprofit that provides them with medical care now has powerful new tools that will allow them reach more people, more often: bicycles.
“How can bicycle advocacy be more inclusive?” and “How can we make streets safer without causing gentrification?” were central questions that Portlanders asked at a standing room only event on Thursday night.
“Transportation safety [advocacy] is tied up in other ways we decide who’s important and who’s not important.”
— Dr. Adonia Lugo
Adonia Lugo, a former bicycle activist with a PhD in anthropology, spoke at a packed event last night. Her recently published book, Bicycle / Race: Transportation, Culture, and Resistance (2018, Microcosm Publishing), follows the trajectory of her cycling experience — from becoming a bike commuter in Portland, to her work establishing the CicLAvia open streets event in Los Angeles, to her struggle to integrate equity during her tenure at the League of American Bicyclists in Washington D.C.
Looking for a new place to spread you cycling wings? We’ve got two newly posted jobs for your perusal.
Learn more about each one via the links below…
–> Shipping Specialist – Velotech
Halloween night gave many Portlanders a chance to understand how street design impacts our ability to enjoy our neighborhoods.
While some parts of the city were deserted, leaving would-be candy suppliers dejected — other places were teeming with kids. We’ve heard that some blocks of the posh Alameda neighborhood had toe-to-toe trick-or-treaters with residents saying they had 400-500 visits. We’ve heard from other people who, sadly, had zero or just a few visits.
My family went out with a few others in the Piedmont neighborhood where costumed traffic was pretty light. One family who joined us said they live in the Cully neighborhood east of 42nd. They drove closer-in because their neighborhood doesn’t have sidewalks and they didn’t feel safe walking around at night. But even in our neighborhood with its full grid of sidewalks, we were always on lookout for drivers and on high-alert whenever a spooky porch beckoned on the other side of the street.
And if you were online at all this week you probably came across an article based on research that shows Halloween night is one of the deadliest of the year for people on foot.
On Monday morning we highlighted a Tweet from Portlander Steven Mitchell who rides regularly on SW Terwilliger Blvd.
“SW Terwilliger bike lanes are terribly dangerous right now,” he wrote, tagging @BikePortland and @PBOTInfo, “Piles of slick leaves and standing water. Be safe!”
Then yesterday he posted video (watch it below) that showed him trying to avoid the slimy accumulation of leaves, only to be the victim of an unsafe pass by a man driving a pickup truck.
Software Engineer
Ride Report
Based in Portland, Ride Report is a six-person software company building tools to help cities make transportation more equitable, efficient and sustainable.
We believe cities are our future. One of the most powerful transformations will come when cities put the needs of people above the needs of vehicles. This simple shift in how we design and share the right of way will profoundly reshape the fabric of our cities, making them more equitable, sustainable and just a lot nicer to live in.
Technology has a role to play in this transformation, but we believe that cities must be the ones controlling it. Only cities are equipped to manage a system that maximizes public benefit by ensuring that every citizen, every need and every perspective is considered. Like cities, we believe technology must balance the needs of individual citizens with the collective. We believe systems work better when they’re designed to serve everyone equitably. Cities may need to evolve, but we believe in the sanctity and leadership of city governments in getting us there.
Ride Report began in 2015 with a simple set of tools to help cities use data to make planning decisions that are faster, smarter, and more responsive to road user’s lived experiences. More recently, cities have used Ride Report to help manage the explosion in new transportation alternatives from electric bikes to scooters and everything in between. More than twenty cities around the world use Ride Report’s comprehensive toolset to manage their bike infrastructure and the fleets that use it. Whether it’s deciding where the next bike lane is needed or what to do about that scooter stuck in a tree, cities use Ride Report’s dashboard to make efficient, data-driven decisions in an ever-changing landscape. With your help, we’ll give cities the data and tools they need to ensure we’re building a better transportation system that works for everyone.
To learn more and apply, visit https://ride.report/join
Shipping Specialist
Velotech
Velotech, Inc. is looking for a detail oriented shipping specialist to join our fast paced and fast growing operation. This person will be expected to pick, pack, and ship customer orders and receive incoming shipments in a timely manner.
Additionally there will be many random tasks that will assist in warehouse operation.
* Must be able to lift 50lbs
* Must be comfortable with ladders
* Enthusiasm for cycling
* Full-time
* Great benefits and vacation package
Velotech, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to sex, race, color, age, national origin, religion, disability, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, pregnancy or veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.
Please apply by clicking on the link below:
https://www.paycomonline.net/v4/ats/web.php/jobs/ViewJobDetails?job=4367&clientkey=4C6D7027145254251F7D24DAA9BDF3F7