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Halloween ride costume inspiration? (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Happy Halloweekend! Even though the weather’s set to be rainy, you bet there are chances for you to get dressed up and bike around.
Here’s our hand-picked selection of the best rides and events coming your way. For more suggestions, see the BikePortland Calendar.
Friday, October 28th
World’s Biggest Zombie Ride – 6:45 pm on the north side of Irving Park (NE) This is the first Halloween-themed ride of the weekend from NakedHearts: PDX (they’re hosting a ride on Saturday as well), and you know it has to be a zombie ride. Prepare to growl at undead passersby. Ride merges with PDX Unity are encouraged. More info here.
PDX Unity Ride – Halloween Edition – 7 pm at Irving Park (NE) Get dressed up and ride with the PDX Unity crew! The ride will be party-paced and end at the Skidmore Bluffs. More info here.
Saturday, October 29th
Cyclocross Crusade #4 – All day at Port of Cascade Locks (Cascade Locks) Head east to the beautiful town of Cascade Locks in the Columbia River Gorge for a weekend packed with cyclocross action and fun! More info here.
Springwater Corridor Clean-up By Bike – 9 am on the Springwater Corridor (Meet at Splendid Cycles) (SE) Help clean up and beautify our Springwater Corridor trail by bike or on foot. This event is hosted by Willamette Riverkeeper and Splendid Cycles. More info here.
Chrome Spooky Ride – 12 pm at the Chrome Headquarters (NW) Join Chrome Industries for a community ride and maybe you’ll win some prizes! All ages, all bikes and all riders welcome. More info here.
Día de los Muertos Altar Tour – 1 pm – 5 pm at Milagro (SE) Milagro has a great opportunity for Mexican art appreciators and bike lovers. Decorate your bike with paper flowers and go on a tour of businesses participating in the Día de los Muertos altar display project. More info here.
Sunday, October 30th
Cyclocross Crusade Race #5 – All day at Port of Cascade Locks (Cascade Locks) Day two of the Cascade Locks Crusade weekend. More info here.
Halloween Eve Ride to the Davis Graveyard – 12:30 pm – 3 pm at Sellwood Park (SE) Check out neighborhood Halloween decorations on a ride to the Davis Graveyard on a ride perfect for embracing the spooky Halloween eve vibes. More info here.
Say Hi Ride – 1:30 pm – 4 pm at Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School (SE) This is a ride for people who want an excuse to talk to strangers. Introduce yourself to at least one new person! More info here.
Monday, October 31st
Halloween Trick o’ Treat Ride – 5:30 pm at Sewallcrest Park (SE) Ride through Portland spreading joy to all the trick or treaters you see. More info here.
See all upcoming events here. Promoting an event? Know about something we should boost? Please let us know and we’ll get it on the calendar.
Newly proposed changes to TriMet Code would strengthen TriMet’s ability to help keep riders and employees safe. Brought before TriMet’s Board of Directors on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, for its first reading and public hearing, Ordinance 369 would amend the Code—the rules for operating and riding TriMet—to authorize the General Manager to impose stiffer penalties for prohibited conduct on the transit system. The ordinance addresses behavior-based conduct only, and does not change penalties for fare evasion.
The amendments to our Code would expand the types of offenses that could result in long-term exclusions, those that stretch from six months to a lifetime ban. While felonies already fall under the scope of our current long-term exclusion policy, Ordinance 369 would also permit those types of exclusions for attempted felonies and Class A misdemeanors—the most serious category, which includes fourth-degree assault and some bias crimes.
The new ordinance is being proposed eight months after the TriMet Board approved a change to the Code that increased penalties for spitting on operators. It is part of a larger effort to make it safer to work on and ride the transit system, while addressing nuisance issues to improve the customer experience.
“With the challenges happening in the community today, issues such as vandalism, crime, drug use and mental health are at a tipping point and, at times, spill over onto the transit system, despite agency efforts,” said TriMet Chief Operating Officer Bonnie Todd. “TriMet is working on a strategy to better address inappropriate behavior on the system, better support our operators and other employees, improve the cleanliness of our vehicles and property, and pursue coordinated efforts with external partners to address social issues and ensure safe access to transit.”
Part of the strategy involves increases in security presence on TriMet. In the past four months, TriMet has doubled the number of Customer Safety Supervisors from 18 to 37. These are TriMet employees who assist riders and operators, while enforcing the TriMet Code. In the same timeframe, we’ve increased the number of contracted transit security officers from 60 to 96, with hopes to grow that to more than 100 by the end of the year. We’ve also doubled our contracted Safety Response Team to 48 members. Safety Response Team members help people on and around our system, specifically those who are struggling with homelessness or are in need of other social services. TriMet employees and our contracted security staff are all unarmed and are separate from our Transit Police Division.
It’s important to note that any person issued a long-term exclusion can seek a later review of that exclusion to show changed behavior. A second reading of Ordinance 369, followed by a Board vote, will occur at the Board’s Dec. 14 meeting.
What the changes would do
Long-term exclusions have been in place since 2017, when the Board adopted an ordinance that authorized—for the first time—the General Manager to issue such exclusions to people who commit “serious physical offenses” against other people. The terms of the long-term exclusions have stayed the same since then, lasting anywhere from about 6 months to a permanent ban.
Ordinance 369 would make three principal changes to TriMet’s Code, focusing on individuals who commit serious physical offenses and repeatedly violate TriMet’s Code relating to conduct.
1: The most serious misdemeanors would be covered under TriMet’s definition of “serious physical offense”
People committing Class A misdemeanors against others, along with attempted felonies, would be eligible for long-term exclusions. In addition to assault and bias crimes in the second degree, Class A misdemeanors include public indecency, possession of a hoax destructive device and harassment that includes offensive sexual contact.
2: Remove distinctions between first and second offenses
Because most, if not all, of the actions that would trigger a long-term exclusion are physical and serious, Ordinance 369 would simplify the Code by removing the distinction between first and second offenses. The General Manager would have discretion on whether a year-long exclusion, or even a permanent ban, was warranted after the first offense, depending on the severity of the crime. Since TriMet instituted long-term exclusions more than five years ago, only one person has ever been permanently excluded. Anyone who receives a long-term exclusion does have the right to appeal it annually.
3: Further address chronic offenders
Chronic offenders who have repeatedly committed Code violations for behavior, whether they were Class A misdemeanors or not, and have not changed their behavior despite multiple attempts by TriMet to dissuade such conduct, would also be eligible for long-term exclusions of up to two years. The ordinance defines a chronic offender as a person with three or more violations for conduct within a 90-day period.
This change is specific to behavior and not simple fare evasion. Rather, this would address behavior that disrupts the safety and order of the transit system.
Decriminalizing fare enforcement
Nothing in the proposed Code amendment touches on fare evasion, which TriMet moved to decriminalize over the past six years. Efforts to improve the handling of fare evasion include:
— Decriminalized fare enforcement by soliciting in 2017 a change in state law to allow TriMet to resolve fare evasion citations directly rather than citations automatically going to the court.
— Changed TriMet Code in February 2022 to further clarify that police do not conduct random fare checks by specifically prohibiting police from asking individuals for proof of fare. (Police officers may continue to be present during fare inspection activities by TriMet personnel and investigate other offenses, assist in identifying a person and intervene when needed for the safety of TriMet staff and riders. Only under the General Manager’s direction may Transit Police Officers temporarily conduct fare checks in response to specific security concerns.)
Enabling a safer, more welcoming transit system
Strengthening the TriMet Code through this ordinance is one piece of a larger strategy to increase security for riders and employees. Our goal is a transit system that’s safe and welcoming for all, where inappropriate behavior is dealt with—and dealt with fairly.
TriMet aims to keep both its operators and riders moving safely, and it’s important to have a means to hold people accountable for inappropriate, threatening or dangerous behavior. While the district attorney’s office determines punishments for crimes, those punishments don’t always include long-term exclusions from TriMet.
Ordinance 369 would be one more way for TriMet to exert further accountability measures to improve the customer experience and protect employees. We look for ways to adapt to circumstances affecting our transit system and continuously move toward improvement. We’ve worked with community partners, riders and employees to identify solutions that focus on diversity, equity, access and inclusion. Learn more about our efforts to ensure fair access to our transit system at trimet.org/equity and follow our process to reimagine public safety at trimet.org/publicsafety.
One problem with the new design? It’s too easy to ignore. (Photos: BikePortland)
Just over a month after they went in, bike-friendly changes to NW Overton between 9th and 10th avenues will undergo a significant redesign.
As we reported in late September, PBOT established a new neighborhood greenway route on Overton by adding bike lanes and converting this block to one-way only for drivers. In order to build the bike lanes, PBOT removed all auto parking on the south side of Overton and and several spaces on the north side. In total, about 12 parking spaces were reallocated.
According to Portland Bureau of Transportation Interim Director of Communications Hannah Schafer, the city now plans to redesign the project in response to “traffic operations and access challenges.” Schafer said the changes are a, “result of communication with area stakeholders and on-site evaluations.” She told BikePortland Wednesday they’ve received many reports of backups and have fielded concerns from first responders.
It’s only hard to miss these if you intentionally ignore them.Looking east from Overton with 9th, the railroad crossing, and Naito Parkway in background.
In addition to the new bike lanes, PBOT created a traffic diverter at the northeast corner of NW Overton and 9th (that was supposed) to prohibit westbound traffic from 9th onto Overton. Overton is an emergency response route that’s used by a nearby Portland Fire Bureau station to access Naito Parkway. We’ve learned their concerns about large fire trucks being able to make the turn onto Overton influenced the design (which makes it too easy for drivers to disobey the access ban) and has now helped convince PBOT to make changes.
Another issue is this project’s proximity to a railroad crossing. When trains block 9th and car drivers get backed up, it’s too easy and tempting for them to bail from 9th and drive westbound on Overton, despite four “Do Not Enter” signs.
From what I’ve learned, the biggest pushback to the new design was based on the loss of those 10 on-street parking spaces.
Note the change in parking spaces.
In 2019, when the project was in its public outreach phase as part of Northwest in Motion, PBOT’s plan to double bike use in the area, someone posted flyers on the street warning that the loss of parking would negatively impact nearby businesses and residents.
One tenant of the Encore, the ground-floor Ovation Coffee & Tea that opens onto Fields Park at the corner of Overton and 10th, was particularly opposed to the changes.
The owner of Ovation Coffee, Abdelkaddar Elhabbassi, emailed PBOT in January 2020 to express his concerns.
“We serve at least 400 customers per day, with the majority of the commuting here by car… How can you really expect 6 parking spots to accommodate all that?”
– Abdelkaddar Elhabbassi, Ovation Coffee & Tea
(Graphic: BikePortland)
“We already have the problem of customers complaining that they had to go to a different coffee shop because they couldn’t find any parking spots,” he wrote. “Why would they waste time in their routine and walk 2 blocks to get a drink, and then walk back when there is literally a [different] coffee shop right there??”
Elhabbassi told PBOT that the changes would be “absolutely devastating” to his business. Currently there’s only one small section of parking next to Ovation and customers share those spots with Encore residents, park visitors, and other businesses. “We serve at least 400 customers per day, with the majority of the commuting here by car… How can you really expect 6 parking spots to accommodate all that?” he shared in the email.
When PBOT announced the new greenway on September 16th, they made it clear that the materials used for this project were temporary and “can be easily moved or modified,” but it’s rare for changes to come just this quickly after an installation. PBOT said in that same announcement that they would collect traffic and parking data in spring 2023 and would share the results with the community if changes needed to be made.
Yesterday, PBOT’s Schafer said city engineers are still working on the new design and the details should be released within the next two weeks. She added that this is an example of a design that was created prior to the pandemic and that changes in work and driving habits demand a different solution. “We’ll be tweaking the design,” Schafer said. “But the intent is to still make it very bike-friendly.”
Bike buses funded by PCEF? Why not! (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
“I think Coach Balto’s bike bus is the coolest thing on the planet. We should be putting that in every public school in the City of Portland. That’s what I call decarbonization.”
– Jo Ann Hardesty, Portland city commissioner
It’s not news that driving and transportation in general emits more fossil fuels than any other sector across the city, state and country. But local efforts to curb climate change have largely overlooked this fact. One such program is the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF). Created via a 2018 ballot measure and funded by a tax the city collects from large retailers, PCEF has left transportation projects on the side of the road.
But that is likely to change as of Wednesday’s Portland City Council meeting.
Council unanimously agreed to amend the PCEF code to “better align with and equitably meet the City’s climate action goals.” A part of that realignment is to give credit to the role that transportation reform can play in reducing fossil fuel emissions. The amendment was put forth last month by Commissioner Carmen Rubio, who heads the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability that houses the PCEF.
The crux of the changes to PCEF aim to create better structure and strategy within the program via a new Climate Investment Plan (CIP) component. The CIP, which will be developed over the next nine months by PCEF’s Grant Committee, will set the rules for which projects the fund should prioritize over the next five years.
Rubio’s team developed a basic framework for the CIP that will get fleshed out by the PCEF Grant Committee over the next nine months. Right now, the CIP details two “strategic initiatives” set for near-term deployment:
— Strategic initiative #1: Growing an equitable tree canopy, workforce and contracting pool to support the City’s tree canopy cover goals – $40 million five-year funding allocation — Strategic initiative #2: Raising the bar on efficiency and renewable energy upgrades in new and redeveloped regulated affordable multifamily housing – $60 million five-year funding allocation
The current CIP framework also includes six categories with a dedicated amount of funding allocated over the next five years (emphasis mine):
— Housing and small commercial energy efficiency, renewable energy, and embodied carbon – $300 million — Resilient community centers – $30 million — Transportation decarbonization – $100 million — Planning and early investments for a low-carbon, equitable 82nd Ave corridor – $10 million — Low-cost green financing for carbon-reducing projects – $100 million — Building community-based organizational capacity – $8 million
The new code also includes a requirement to have someone on the PCEF committee who has “significant demonstrated experience” in transportation decarbonization.
At a public hearing for the code changes at City Council last week, some transportation advocates spoke up in favor of the amendment.
“Transportation and the built environment are two of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the City of Portland…Expanding PCEF programs aimed at these two sectors in particular and focusing on populations that are underserved…represent key opportunities to meet the city’s climate, climate goals and deliver equitable outcomes,” said Victoria Paykar, Oregon transportation policy manager for the nonprofit Climate Solutions. “Decarbonization should include projects that displace car trips and push for mode shifts and… improve our air quality and quality of life by building more resilient and connected communities.”
Zachary Lauritzen, the 82nd Ave Coalition project manager at Oregon Walks, asked City Council to ensure transportation decarbonization efforts extend beyond electric cars, which often get the lion’s share of funding.
“To see transportation decarbonization on here is really important. But I want to note a word of caution, which is that sometimes transportation decarbonization become synonymous with electrification and charging infrastructure,” Lauritzen said. “Those are incredibly important things, but unless we talk very honestly about transportation mode change, then we’re missing the mark in terms of transformational change.”
Lauritzen also suggested the PCEF could support transportation equity and reduce fossil fuel use by supporting walking school buses or bike buses in east Portland. Sam Balto’s bike buses have been a success in Portland’s Alameda neighborhood, but people who live in parts of the city with less favorable infrastructure have a much harder time feeling safe sending their kids to school on a bike.
Portland Bureau of Transportation Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty agreed with Lauritzen.
“I absolutely don’t want the utilities to suck up all the PCEF money electrifying the community that will never be able to afford an electric car. I am absolutely committed to making sure that as we develop 82nd Avenue it’s ready for lots of modes of transportation,” Hardesty said. “I think Coach Balto’s bike bus is the coolest thing on the planet. We should be putting that in every public school in the City of Portland. That’s what I call decarbonization.”
But Hardesty will have limited say in how the funds are spent because she’s in charge of the transportation bureau, not the planning bureau. It will be interesting to see how or if PBOT will play a role in which projects are ultimately funded.
The City of Springfield is seeking a Senior Transportation Planner to join our team to enhance Springfield’s hometown feel while focusing on livability and environmental quality, improving our infrastructure, and fostering an environment that values diversity and inclusion.
We are seeking someone to identify, seek funding for, and plan for capital transportation projects; represent Springfield in regional transportation funding and coordination discussions at the Metropolitan Planning Organization; and expand multi-modal opportunities which includes staffing the City’s Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee. With the passage of the state’s rules for climate friendly and equitable communities, this position will have a role in designating climate friendly areas, shaping the City’s approach to parking management, and managing the update of our Transportation System Plan.
Success in this position includes building relationships across agencies in support of regional collaboration; with city staff who implement transportation plans through design of public infrastructure (engineers) and review of private development plans (current planners); and within the broader community we serve. We are looking for a knowledgeable transportation planner who has a passion for exploring transportation’s future and brings shared visions to reality. Viable candidates will demonstrate success in managing projects, be well-organized and efficient, and enjoy learning.
Consider joining our Community Development staff team anchored by an open and inclusive environment that supports and values the contributions of forward-thinking professionals and provides interesting, meaningful, and challenging opportunities to serve our community. City Hall is located in Springfield’s dynamically evolving Downtown and the City as an organization emphasizes employee health and wellness.
PBOT Bike Coordinator Roger Geller (standing) at a meeting Wednesday night. (Photos: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
Portland’s modal advisory committees are due for a restructuring. Frustrations among members of the bicycle, pedestrian and freight advisory committees have been simmering for years and the Portland Bureau of Transportation is finally leading an effort to shake things up.
A workshop held at the Portland Building last night showed this process isn’t going to be a cakewalk for those who want to see change in the relationship between the City of Portland and these advisory groups. Though there appeared to be goodwill among committee members, they seemed frustrated by PBOT’s lack of clarity around how the bodies can be most effective.
After PBOT launched this reform effort back in May, project leaders spent the following months evaluating the committees to determine a framework for change. They looked at how other cities run their advisory groups and talked to committee alumni and city staff to get an idea of current conditions. Ultimately, they came up with a problem statement to ask when determining a new committee structure:
“How might we create modal engagement that is meaningful to the participants as well as to the City and PBOT staff, while representing a full range of perspectives?”
Slides and feedback from committee participants on the four typologies presented last night.
At the meeting last night, workshop participants discussed four potential alternatives to the current committee structure which could better reflect this problem statement. I’ve summarized them below:
Sounding Board(s), which would be fully open to participation from anyone interested, who can come and go as they please, without any selection process or term limits.
Complete Streets Committee, which would consist of one committee to advise City Council on projects and policies and involve a formal recruitment of membership with demographic and geographic diversity.
Existing Structure +Plus, which would maintain the current modal committee setup while opening the door for changes according to public feedback.
Something Totally New
The majority of time in last night’s workshop was spent split up into groups with participants discussing the pros and cons of each of these potential committee setups. This conversation quickly led to inquiries about what the point of the modal committees is in the first place, which PBOT staffers were hesitant to answer.
Pedestrian Advisory Committee member Josh Roll (left) anad Corky Collier
Josh Roll, a member of the Pedestrian Advisory Committee (PAC), tried to get at this question right off the bat.
“I’m still keep really curious to know what you guys need from these committees,” Roll said. “You’ve laid out the scenarios for different typologies, and that’s really helpful. But I’m still questioning what it is that would help you do business.”
When PBOT project manager Kristin Hull addressed this question, her answer was opaque.
“[The committees] are just another method of engagement along with all the investigations we do,” Hull said. “We do all our public engagement to ask people questions that we want the answer to so we can use the answer to influence decision-making.”
When pressed to elaborate, Hull resisted, unwilling to differentiate between the advisory groups and other mechanisms of public engagement, which some workshop participants found confusing.
“I’m still just very lost in thinking through the answer to my question,” Roll said. “[The committees] are more than public outreach, I think.”
This confusion gets at the key frustration driving the need for modal committee reform in the first place. If the committees aren’t providing PBOT with meaningful input that they actually use, what’s the point of having them at all?
Members of each of the advisory committees feel they don’t have enough of a say in city policy and are confused about what PBOT wants from them. Looking at the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) in particular, it’s clear these frustrations have boiled over in recent years.
After several major instances where BAC members didn’t feel heard by PBOT – one moment in particular being when PBOT ignored its recommendation to put bike lanes on SE Hawthorne Blvd in early 2021 – many members resigned before their terms were over. The current BAC is composed almost entirely of new members who have only been on the committee for a little over six months.
But BAC members aren’t the only ones who think they have limited power. Members of the freight committee also have gripes about their influence weakening over time despite having an objective advantage over the other committees due to not having to abide by term-limit rules.
One of the biggest problems that committee members and PBOT staff alike want to solve is the lack of racial, socioeconomic and neighborhood diversity within the committees. This is one of the fundamental questions guiding the reform process and will play a large role in determining which structure will prevail going forward.
There appears to be some concern about whether it’s possible to create equitable and diverse committees while maintaining a sense of expertise among members. Participants seemed to agree that members of the modal committees should have some distinguishing knowledge about the subject matter in their field of interest so they can give informed advice to PBOT staff. But this knowledge doesn’t necessarily have to come from a professional career in transportation.
Joe Arraiga, a bike advocate who doesn’t serve on any of the committees, said he thinks experience should matter more than expertise. But membership shouldn’t just be chosen haphazardly.
“I feel like bicycle infrastructure is often designed by someone who doesn’t ride a bike, so they don’t understand what the needs are and why certain designs won’t work,” Arriaga said. “People in the various committees should have lots of lived experience with these different modes.”
While members of the bike and pedestrian committees are largely volunteer advocates who don’t represent any organization, the freight committee is made up of industry professionals who have an outsized influence on City Hall because of their financial power and political experience. At last night’s workshop, freight committee members acknowledged a need for diversity in their group, but said it was important to maintain expertise because freight is a niche subject that the general public doesn’t always know about.
Freight Advisory Committee member Bill Burgel.
“The turning radius of a [semi-truck] is something you really have to be aware of,” freight committee member Bill Burgel said, adding that he doesn’t think determining the technical points of bike or pedestrian infrastructure is as complicated.
This perspective is what has kept freight committee members in their seats for so long, much to the irritation of people in the other committees who have to adhere to the term limit requirements. Freight Advisory Committee members have been able to stay past their term limits because they asked for an exception to the rule in order to work on the 2040 Freight Plan, which they say would be disrupted if new members were allowed onboard.
Despite these disagreements, it was clear at last night’s meeting that members of the different advisory groups want the chance to interact with each other more and have meaningful discourse. Whichever modal committee structure ends up prevailing, it’s evident there’s a hunger for more dialogue between freight, bike and pedestrian representatives.
PBOT will use the information gleaned from this meeting to come up with another report that they will release later this fall. They’ll also be meeting with transportation justice groups to continue workshopping the best structure for modal committees. We’ll keep you posted on how things shake out.
Riders on the Fanno Creek Trail in Hillsboro. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
There are three bond measures on the ballot right now that will help pump millions into trails in Portland and beyond.
Below are blurbs on each one taken from Oregon Trails Coalition (who endorses all three) and a link to more information:
Measure 26-255 – Metro Parks and Nature Levy
The renewal of the Metro Parks and Nature Levy, will ensure continuation of an existing levy passed twice previously with strong support by voters throughout the Portland metro region. The levy funds restoration of habitat for fish and wildlife, maintenance of Metro parks and natural areas, and grants for programs that increase equitable access to nature. The measure supports the care and operations of 18,000 acres of parks, trails, and natural areas in the greater Portland area. More info here.
Meaure 34-317 – City of Tualatin
Measure 34-317 authorizes a general obligation bond to finance capital costs related to trails, natural areas, sports fields, parks and river access. It’s expected to include a new east-west trail corridor and public access point on the Tualatin River, new and improved sports fields, and parks improvements citywide. More info here.
Measure 3-589 – Happy Valley Parks
Measure 3-589 will renew a local option levy that funds the City of Happy Valley’s parks and recreation services for five years. It will not raise taxes. The levy fully funds the City’s parks and recreation services. Revenue helps protect and maintain such amenities as fields, playgrounds, trails, and picnic shelters, and provides funding for things like community events and youth and adult sports and activities. More info here.
If you’re a trails fan and want to advocate for more of them, consider taking part in the Oregon Outdoor Recreation Summit. It starts tomorrow (10/27) and runs through Saturday.
Aufderheide anyone? (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
When the Oregon State Scenic Bikeways Committee meets on November 9th, there will be a lot of introductions needed. That’s because it’s been about 43 months since the last time it convened.
There are currently 17 officially designated Scenic Bikeways throughout the state, all created with an eye toward the economic development boost that comes with bike tourism. But progress on development of the network has been largely on pause since 2019. A Covid hiring freeze and the tourism slowdown during the pandemic didn’t help matters. But in March of this year we saw the first ray of light when Oregon Parks and Recreation Department awarded a contract to Cycle Oregon, a nonprofit based in Portland, to administer the program.
(Source: Oregon State Parks)
Cycle Oregon has built a stellar reputation for their week-long “Classic” ride that has hosted thousands of paying customers on the best routes throughout the state since it was first held in 1988. Cycle Oregon also has many working relationships with small-town business owners and advocates — just the type of people who can dream up and implement new scenic bikeways.
The Cycle Oregon staffer responsible for the program is Clint Culpepper, a former active transportation coordinator at Portland State University and owner of the Portland Trophy Cup race series. He shared recently that Oregon State Parks has been very receptive to adding new routes.
Also on the agenda of next month’s meeting will be a discussion of how to recruit two new members of the committee. If Oregon is going to create more scenic bikeways, we’ll need a capable team to plan and vet the routes. If that sounds like fun to you, hit that link and apply for the positions.
The ballots are already out, but the endorsements keep coming in.
Last week, a coalition of Portland’s leading affordable housing advocates endorsed the charter reform proposal on this November’s ballot, Measure 26-228.
Kim McCarty, the Executive Director of the Community Alliance of Tenants, the state’s largest tenant advocacy organization, said “Measure 26-228 is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to align Portland’s city government in a way that is more responsive to and representative of the nearly 50% of Portlanders who are tenants.”
The advocates also expressed concern about disincentives to building affordable housing that would result from an alternative charter proposal recently floated by Commissioner Mingus Mapps. The Mapps concept would divide the city into smaller, single-representative districts, with a possible seven to nine districts mentioned.
“We want the best possible housing for everybody . . . But let’s stop making the perfect the enemy of the good, or the good enough. How do we create more micro units or shared units? What about dormitory-style units, where maybe you don’t have your own kitchen but you have a place to eat in the building? . . . These aren’t perfect approaches, but with so many people dying every day, there has to be a sense of urgency.”
And what is standing in the way? Many things, but part of the problem is the neighbors. Klein quotes local homeowners opposed to a 140-unit building for homeless and low-income families which is planned to be built in a city-owned parking lot:
The development is being fought and even sued by a collection of local homeowners who charge, among other things, that “Venice desperately needs this parcel to address our chronic parking shortage,” that the new housing would be “an eyesore completely divorced from sound architectural principles” and that it is being developed “with no environmental review in a designated tsunami zone and FEMA Special Flood Hazard Zone.”
It turns out that keeping the neighbors happy is expensive. Multiple redesigns, star architects, aesthetic concessions, lawyers—those things cost real money, and they end up jacking-up building expenses.
But another problem might be the system of governance itself. According to a recently published research paper, Warding Off Development: Local Control, Housing Supply, and NIMBYs, economist Evan Mast shows that a move from “at-large” elections to smaller, single-member district representation results in a 20% drop in housing unit permits. He explores the history of different voting methods—for example, at-large voting as a way for a majority bloc to suppress the representation of a minority bloc. And he posits that the decentralization achieved through smaller districts gives rise to NIMBYism. Using statistical methods, Mast shows, empirically, a strong correlation between decentralized voting methods and lower housing growth. (A pre-publication, working version of the paper is available here.)
And what about Los Angeles? It has 15 single-member districts, just the sort of system Mast says invites NIMBYism.
Former BikePortland news editor Michael Andersen sees a move to smaller, LA-style single-district representation as “the sort of switch proposed by Portland’s Commissioner Mapps.” In a recent article for the Sightline Institute, Andersen surveys the relation between housing affordability and the local form of government. He concludes that there is reason to think that a winner-take-all system that would elect its entire council from smaller, one-winner districts “would throw fuel on the fire of Portland’s deep housing shortage.”
Intuitively, it makes sense that small districts invite local thinking at the expense of what is good or needed for the city as a whole. The seven districts of the Mapps concept happen to be the same number as Portland’s seven coalitions of neighborhood associations. But nine districts is also being floated.
Measure 26-228 also divides Portland into districts, but only four large ones. The idea is that the districts are large enough to avoid the NIMBYism of smaller geographic representation. And with ranked choice and single transferable votes, a fuller expression of voter concerns can percolate up to electable candidates. I’ve noticed that discussions of Measure 26-228 tend to focus on candidates and identities, but I think of single transferable vote as a way of capturing the range of topics and ideas that voters care about, not just the top one or two hot-button issues.
Disclosure: Lisa Caballero, in her role as the transportation lead of her neighborhood association, was involved with local opposition to a proposed multi-unit townhouse development. The development was approved.
A decade after their groundbreaking report on racial equity was published, the Community Cycling Center is once again delving into the topic.
When we first reported on the CCC’s Understanding Barriers to Bicycling project in 2009, the conversation about race in Portland’s cycling scene was all but nonexistent. The group’s former executive director, Alison Graves, boldly went where no Portland bike advocates had gone before — to meeting rooms full of African immigrants and other people of color — to learn what they thought about bicycling and why some of them were so reluctant to do it.
“The people riding and making decisions about bicycles is a white, middle class group,” she shared with us at the time.
Little did Graves know that racial justice would quickly become a dominant strain of local advocacy discourse. “I think we have a lot of work to do to make bicycling more inclusive,” Graves said in 2009. Three years later, the North Williams Avenue project became a flashpoint when Black residents on the project’s advisory committee cried foul. Ever since then, the quest for racial justice has gained prominence in local planning and political spheres. In 2020, as the streets of Portland convulsed with Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd, the Portland Bureau of Transportation announced they would be an antiracist agency.
In an email Tuesday, the CCC said their 2012 report (PDF) remains relevant and continues to shape their work. “However, we want to build upon the original study and further explore new and existing barriers to biking, specifically in east Portland,” they wrote.
Work on an updated report began this past spring to set up a public engagement plan that will include interviews and focus groups. They’ve also just released a new online survey that is open to all Portlanders.
We’re excited to hear about this work. Stay tuned for more coverage as it develops.
