Welcome to the week.
Here are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past seven days.
Black voices and Bicycling: Must-read content from major cycling media outlet Bicycle Magazine, who devoted their cover(s) and issue this month to first-person accounts of bicycling while Black from leaders and leading voices.
Climate failures: Economist Joe Cortright eviscerates Metro’s 2020 transportation funding package for its feckless approach to major greenhouse gas emission reductions.
Planning revolution: Decrying how “local control” in faux-gressive cities is a barrier to zoning code changes that would lead to more affordable housing, the founding president of the American Planning Association writes in Streetsblog that, “The planning profession must now play a leading role in the reformation of land-use decisions.”
Rad story: The rise of Rad Power Bikes (which are very popular here in Portland) is amazing story of entrepreneurialism and the maturation of a once-niche product.
“Truck bloat”: The design and popularity of large trucks is linked with the startling rise in vulnerable road user deaths in America and more people are realizing that the U.S. auto industry is largely to blame.
Environmental injustice: As per the item above, Willamette Week reporters found that high Covid-19 infection rates east of 82nd can be linked to places with overcrowded housing conditions and Grist did a video to explain why Portland neighborhoods that were historically redlined are hotter in summer.
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Biden on a bike: Presidential hopeful Joe Biden made headlines for simply going on a nice bike ride over the weekend.
Cars and Covid: This article bears out what I’ve heard anecdotally, that for too many people, cars seem to be winning the urban transportation mode choice competition.
Ban road expansions: A report for the auto industry by a leading consultancy firm makes it clear that pandemic-related behavior changes mean we’ll have less driving and fewer cars on the road for the foreseeable future, so why would we continue to fund highway expansion mega-projects?
Bike shortage: Interesting look at how Trek Bicycle prepared for — and is still dealing with — the global bike supply crunch that is crippling the U.S. bike industry.
E-bike, please! A sure sign of a smart and sensible government is to aggressively subsidize the purchase of electric bicycles.
No more cops: The California Bicycle Coalition is the latest organization to map out a strategy for reducing the role of police in traffic enforcement.
Video of the Week: We need more bikes like this. We need more bike ads like this. Thank you Tern Bicycles!
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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