(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Imagine a business district that celebrates cycling and welcomes those who do it with open arms. That’s what we have on North Williams Avenue.
As one of the first major commercial corridors in Portland with dedicated cycling access and the highest volume of riders in the city, I’ve often thought of Williams as the best bike street in Portland. Now Venture Portland and the Williams Vancouver Business Association want to cement that reputation with their monthly Walk Williams event which is set to kickoff next Wednesday June 12th.
According to organizer Dane Fredericks, for one evening a month they’ll roll out the red carpet for bicycle riders and other non-car-using customers with live music, freebies, discounts and more. “We know that biking is a pro-social decision that creates pleasant streets and strengthens our community,” Fredericks shared with us via email. He calls this event, “A monthly summer party on the only main street in Portland where bikes come first.”
Here’s how it’ll work (scroll down for full list of exclusive cycling deals):
Pick up an event passport at participating businesses on each second Wednesday June – October from 4-8pm, eat, shop and play to earn three stickers, and turn your passport in for automatic prizes like beer, chocolate or oysters. Each passport you submit is entered into our grand prize raffle, meaning you can play five Walk Williams, automatically win five monthly prizes and enter five times in the grand prize drawing.
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And here are the cycling-only deals:
GET FREE STUFF
North Portland Wellness Center (4922 N. Vancouver) is giving out free bike seat covers.
JinJu Patisserie (4063 N. Williams) will boost your blood sugar with 2 free bonbons.
Starcycle (4133 N. Williams) will turbocharge your training with a free class card.
Stella’s Kitchen on Williams (4215 N. Williams) is helping you hit your macros with a free Chia PuddingLEARN NEW THINGS
East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District (5211 N. Williams) is offering a free educational urban garden tour for all, but only the cyclists get the free lemonade and cookies.
Poa Café (4025 N. Williams) will help you make and take home your own DIY Slime for $5HYDRATE
Crisp Salads (3901 N. Williams) will set you up with $3 pints.
Hopworks N. Williams Pub & Beer Garden (3947 N. Williams) will knock $1 off your first beer.
Memoz Dessert Café (3494 N. Williams) has cold brew for just $3.SCORE DEALS
Fringe & Friends Salon (3508 N. Williams) will offer 25% off any single item.
Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa (4155 N. Williams) is offering member pricing for 30 min massage $34.95 ($20 savings) all summer.
Monochromatic ( N. Williams) will take 20% off a single item.
Namaste On Williams (4201 N. Williams) will discount a 10 class pack for $102 (reg. $140).
Queen Bee Creations (3961 N. Williams) is offering 15% off everything all day on Walk Williams dates
SpielWerk Toys (3808 N. Williams) will give you 10% off your first visit all summer.
TEMPLE GOODS & PDCO+ HOME (3316 N. Williams) will give you 25% off any single item.
Workshop Vintage (4011 N. Williams) is giving out a free button pin and 10% off coupon.
Check out the official website for more info and download the official guide as a PDF below…
[pdf-embedder url=”https://bikeportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/WW-Passport-DRAFT-for-review-1.pdf” title=”WW Passport DRAFT for review (1)”]
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Shut down traffic on a block or two of Williams, one night a month in the summer, and you’d really be onto something…
Wow! This is great!!
When I speak about TOD planning nationwide I often include this street as a developmental “foil” when comparing how well it has developed based on BOD vs. say Interstate’s LRT based TOD funding…after seeing in parallel how both corridors developed since 1999. I remember way back when Vandetta (Aloha KC!) opened as it was the only pitstop open at nights between Albina and Kenton.
And on the contrary…its also makes me very sad to think that we are still fighting against “1990s” business owners in Vancouver’s Uptown who are fighting the Columbia Street Biketrack since their employs park it up (700 FT away)…and this is coming from “recent” business owners (like Trapdoor) who filled in their old car dealer parking lot with customer seating and food trucks but now complain about loss of street parking?! Go figure.
This is the smart thing to do for the businesses. With all the new apartments along Williams and the cities reluctance to make all the parking along Williams and near streets two hour only as they have proposed the residents take up nearly all the street parking leaving the motoring customers high and dry . Until this gets fixed the only increase in retail traffic is going to come from cyclists.
I hate to rain on the parade but wasn’t it a group of businesses on Williams who were resolutely opposed to the idea of losing a single auto-dedicated lane (out of 4) back when PBOT was doing outreach for the so-called North Williams Safety Corridor? I thought that factored into why we ended up with the shared, less-than-Platinum auto/bike lane through the busiest section. I know there’s been some business turnover since then but it might be worth mentioning that history, Jonathan, which I remember you writing about. As a parent with a cargo bike and a 4-year-old, the shared lanes don’t feel safe to me and I’m a very confident rider sans child. Overall it feels like a street –like most of Portland– where cars come first rather than bikes, as nice as it is to see efforts like this.
To Andrew N – good point, perhaps they have had second thoughts? Perhaps these events might be a good place for bike advocates who shop/ eat local (along this corridor) restart the dialogue to a Platinum Bikeway.
I agree that cars definitely come first on N. Williams and am dismayed that Jonathan would say otherwise. Two parking lanes, a travel lane and a buffer that is only required because of the parking, not to mention the conflict zones, mean that over 75% of this street is dedicated to serving cars, many of them simply being stored. (And if those stored cars belong to the people living in the apartments and they are using them to commute, then the conflict zones are at their worst when the number of people on bikes is at its peak.) That’s cars first by any reasonable assessment.
This street is also one of the better attempts by PBoT to serve people who aren’t sitting on toxin-spewing couches. I think it’s appropriate to note that, but let’s not overstate what has been done.
I’m once again learning more from the comments than from business spin. Thank you bikeportland commenters for reminding us of some relevant background.
I’d guess most of the participating businesses didn’t even exist 4-5 years ago. But the resistance to this project was primarily from the African American community who felt like their voices weren’t being heard. Jonathan was largely dismissive of their concerns back in the day:
“[Maus] praises the city for being willing to open up the discussion to race but says he doesn’t want “the neighbors who are loudest and angriest showing up” to dictate city projects. He expressed concern for the project being “so consensus-driven.” Instead, he says, people should rely on the expertise of city engineers and transportation officials.
Given the history of this neighborhood, it makes sense why many residents would question whether the technocrats truly had their best interests at heart.
How are are people supposed to walk when every other sidewalk is closed for construction? And don’t get me started about the lack of bus turnouts in front of QUAD. This part of the city caters to white able bodied people. How many businesses have left this area? I thought bikes brought businesses?
This is maccoinnich’s old trick, but if you look at the street over the years its pretty clear that whatever is going on (and whether you like it or not) there’s a heck of a lot more business going on now than there was 10 years ago.
2017: https://imgur.com/wbeLXxf
2007: https://imgur.com/i4CxZ6K
You have to go back further to the Emanuel Hospital expansion project when the city declared these blocks “blighted” and forced their demolition and future land banking. All of which combined with the earlier demolition of Jumptown (now “Rose Quarter”) and running I-5 through Albina contributed to the displacement of this vibrant strip of black-owned businesses along Williams.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2012/09/post_273.html
Fair point but I was responding to the argument that the street redesign from a few years ago caused businesses to leave which I don’t think is accurate
What’s QUAD? I don’t see any business with that name on Williams.
Oh I found it, Myers Court Apartments. Now I’m not sure what you mean by a “bus turnout” since it looks like there’s plenty of room on the side of the road in the No Parking area at the stop for the bus to turn in and out.
No one makes a comment over the weekend. I guess this is not an issue anyone cares about on this site. Please stop acting like you are being persecuted. Most of of you are straight white males who don’t see why it’s wrong to use “Freedom Trails” as a theme for riding you bike on a forest trail. Doing a Google search costs $0.
Word salad.
“Doing a Google search costs $0.”
http://techland.time.com/2011/09/09/6-things-youd-never-guess-about-googles-energy-use/
It was nice out and I was riding my bike
What were you doing?
On a separate note—and this is a fully serious inquiry—but how bad of an idea would it be to introduce streetcar to Williams and Vancouver with a loop on Alberta? I think it would give the Grand/MLK alignment a better purpose. As it stands, the loop was IMO a waste of money; it is quite literally faster for me to walk from 10th/11th to MLK than to wait for another streetcar, especially on weekends. N/S and E/W lines are what our streetcars should be doing.
Here’s the tragedy: this neighborhood, before I5 and the hospital expansion and the coliseum construction, was a model 20-minute neighborhood that had a streetcar running through it. Until the city and state declared “urban blight” (because it was also a black neighborhood) and knocked down thousands of houses and ruined businesses and displaced citizens.
Tasty ‘n Sons recently moved from the area because “Williams just really turned in a different direction than the neighborhood that I fell in love with. We used to have great nighttime business, great bar business. Now Williams just gets quiet at 8 o’clock at night”
I see these events as a marketing ploy. Rents are too high in the new apartments that there is not enough disposal income left over to visit the nearby bars/restaurants.
I’m inclined to think that most of the customers didn’t come from the immediate area.
So abandoned new buildings are better than old abandoned buildings?
Please defend the reason for no turnouts in front on QUAD. All of you look the other way. This stop causes so much traffic, yet no one points it out. It’s not word salad, it’s facts.
So a bunch of straight white guys get their voices heard and Williams is built in their favor. But we don’t talk about that here. I guess I didn’t see white guys claim to be a minority because they chose to ride a bike. I know the history of this neighborhood, I live here. Do you?
Just as I expected, no rebuttal . Can someone explain why QUAD doesn’t need a turnout for their stop? P.S if you claim to be for the environment, maybe you should of stopped at having 2 kids.
Most people move on to the newer articles after a few days.
Read through the comments above again. Looks like there were some replies to your previous comments earlier today. Before criticizing (even more) perhaps you should slow down and peruse a bit to actually check if there were any rebuttals. That’s assuming you actually care what other people might have to say about it.
“Just as I expected, no rebuttal . Can someone explain why QUAD doesn’t need a turnout for their stop? P.S if you claim to be for the environment, maybe you should of stopped at having 2 kids.”
1) You’re wrong.
2) Can you explain what you’re talking about? As far as I know there IS a turnout there. So the explanation is: There’s already one. Prove otherwise.
3) Is this statement for the general audience, like your question above? Or is it aimed at the article author?
The
The only quote I saw is someone asking what QUAD is? I thought Maus said the people posting here are smart.
It’s “should have”, not “should of”.
That was me. Thanks for calling me stupid for trying to understand you.
When you search the map for QUAD nothing comes up on Williams. I had to do some deeper searching because of your assumptions that we’re all familiar with all the services in that area and who provides them.
Now, will you address my comments that you ignored and clarify your question?
I’m not sure what you mean by a “bus turnout” since it looks like there’s plenty of room on the side of the road in the No Parking area at the stop for the bus to turn in and out.
Did they recently extent the curb from the sidewalk to the street, and thus filling in the previously existing turnout?
Maybe you can provide photos. I’m using Google Street View as reference: https://goo.gl/maps/Ke6meYYSFf5KP5fM7
And it shows the turnout is still there.
Wikipedia has a simple explanation of what a turnout is, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_turnoutn
That is not what is happening at this bus stop. Traffic gets backed up, and this is coming from someone who rides the bus and not drive.
As far as “addressing“ your comments , it wasn’t aimed at you. But you seem to take an issue with what I posted. It was aimed at Johnathan Maus, but I guess you took an issue with that comment too.
Enjoy your straight white privilege.
I’m not a dentist but I’ll keep pulling teeth to figure out what you’re talking about so I can see about giving you some sort of answer to what you’re really asking.
Yes, I know what a turnout is, and I looked at that Wiki definition before posting.
That’s why I’m saying that there’s already a turnout there, and I think you agree. Since you didn’t dispute that the bus stop still looks the same as it does in Google Street View (and I forgot to look to my right as I passed it yesterday) I’ll say that it does indeed have “a designated spot on the side of a road where buses or trams may pull out of the flow of traffic to pick up and drop off passengers.”
You keep coming back to “traffic gets backed up” and you keep mentioning the bus stop. But I’m thinking this doesn’t have anything to do with the already existing bus turnout.
I’m starting to think that the bus drivers are not pulling fully off the roadway and out of the thru traffic lane, and other traffic is left to wait behind the bus because the lane isn’t clear.
Is this what you’re trying to say?
I guess I suck at arguments online. Consider anything I wrote as invalid.
What I meant to post:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_turnout
Honest question, why do you care so much about defending your view? I live in this neighborhood and saw how bad things were after it was redone. I was riding a bike at first when it changed (Maus is not the only person in this city that drives and ride a bike, actually I carpool on this street and take the bus now). It’s poorly designed. Traffic is backed up at rush hour and riding your bike has you more vunerable to left hooks in front of New Seasons. Please stop being the stereotypical Portland cyclist that only thinks about yourself. Do you realize O-Live commentators are seen just as crazy as BikePortland commentors? Take some time to get away from your social bubble, you might learn something like sympathy.
I really have no idea what you’re talking about.
My view? I’ve been trying for days to get YOUR VIEW because you asked a question that was very vague and confusing to me and I’ve been struggling to understand your question so that I might offer some insight into why the city does the things it does. I haven’t offered you my view in this conversation as I’ve only been trying to understand and help you up to this point. It’s obvious you don’t want anybody to answer your question and you’re just using it as a way to complain.
Yes, many people agree with you that the bike lane is worse on that side of the street.
Stop insulting people who are trying to understand the questions you asked of them. You have ascribe a lot of false attributes to me while being very defensive when I’m just asking for clarification.
This conversation is over. Thanks for trolling me.
I’m trying to respond. But someone is censoring me. It’s fucking pathetic you let Hart Noecker have a voice and he goes on to sexual assault members of the society of Portland. He did that because you—Jonathan Maus- gave him a platform and fed his ego along with the assholes at Portland Mercury. You erased all of his posts, but we know what happened. Google that. Also Google your name and racist. You have some work to do.