The calm on Portland’s marquee open streets event was shattered Sunday when the driver of a large pickup truck yelled at volunteers and participants, drove onto the route while screaming obscenities, and at one point during the heated exchanges, slammed a handgun onto his dashboard.
It happened around 11:30 am during the east Portland edition of Sunday Parkways, the second and final version of the event this year. According to four witnesses and videos shot by two different people, a man in an extended cab Chevrolet pickup was extremely agitated and sped around intersections on the route that were “filled with cyclists.”
We obtained two separate videos shot by sources who wish to remain anonymous and have stitched them together.
The video shows the driver stopped on SE Market Street at 130th where he’s talking to a volunteer who’s standing in front of “Road Closed” barricades. A bystander was also yelling at the man and it’s clear something had already happened because they were exchanging obscenities. The man yelled that he just wanted to go home. The volunteer (who was very calm) went to remove a barricade so the man could access his home (standard procedure is to escort folks at 5 mph who need to get to homes on the route).
As the volunteer walked to the barricade, the man grabbed a handgun and slammed it onto his dashboard. The gun is very clearly seen in the video.
The driver then guns his engine, drives up over over a curb and goes north on 130th one block to SE Mill where he turns left (west).
The video then captures another very heated exchange with a different volunteer at the corner of SE Mill and 131st (near Lincoln City Park and the David Douglas High School football field).
The driver can be heard shouting, “All you bicyclists take over everything. I just want to go home! You’re wasting my time and fuel. I pay rent. I pay taxes! I’m so tired of this shit. You guys are a bunch of fucks. Bunch of granola-eatin’ fucks!” and so on (watch video for full dialogue).
The exchanges were very intense, despite the exceedingly calm demeanor of the volunteer. At one point the man said, “I will fucking snap!” Keep in mind this driver was behaving like this with a gun on his dashboard, a massive and powerful vehicle at his disposal, and was driving on a street where dozens of people — and many small children — were biking and walking with the expectation of complete safety and a carfree environment.
The volunteer at SE 131st and Mill offered to escort the man by foot at 5 mph to his home, but she seemed to not trust him to drive safely. After saying he was going to call his attorney, the driver sped off onto the route past the volunteer who shouted “No!!”.
Two people with large cargo bikes happened to be on the scene (one of them provided the video for us) and they followed the truck and its driver while yelling warnings to Sunday Parkways participants. The driver continued to yell and scream, but thankfully he drove through and out of the route without any major incident.
The bystanders and volunteers deserve a ton of credit for keeping their cool. This situation could have been extremely bad and their calm, level-headed demeanor likely kept the man from completely losing it.
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One witness we heard from said, “It was scary and just disappointing. Grateful to the volunteer and others who stood by to support her.”
Another person we heard from who lives in the area said, “I think in that community you are dealing with a lot of people who are auto-centric who drive everywhere, so for the streets to be closed that far out [east], they were pissed.”
This is only one of several irate drivers we got reports about after the event.
PBOT Interim Communications Director Hannah Schafer confirmed that a volunteer reported this event. “I think, stepping back a little bit, we have cars that try to cross the route all the time,” she said during an interview today. “This was an unfortunate incident but it’s important to celebrate that the vast majority of east Portland drivers did respect the route, we had great attendance, and it was a really positive event.”
Schafer said PBOT has checked in with the volunteer several times to make sure they aren’t suffering any trauma.
The Portland Police Bureau says an officer responded to the scene but the driver was already gone. An investigation is open — case #22-225184 — so if anyone has more to share please email crimetips@portlandoregon.gov and reference that case number.
Intersections on Sunday Parkways are almost all staffed by volunteers. This marks a change from the heavy police presence the event had between 2008 and 2015. In August of 2015 PBOT removed PPB presence from the event to cut costs (PPB said it was due to staffing shortages at the Traffic Division).
This incident comes during a tense summer where anecdotal reports of dangerous interactions with raging motor vehicle users have ticked way up.
On Friday, a Portland man posted to Twitter about how angry he was at having to wait 15 seconds behind a bicycle rider. “I can’t even say what I was thinking about doing,” he wrote. “I don’t feel sorry for Portland cyclists that get killed. These fuckers gotta’ learn the hard way I guess.”
This incident is just an exaggerated version of what I saw multiple times when Sunday Parkways came to SW Portland 7-8 years ago – so many drivers berating volunteers about why they can’t drive down the streets they always drive on a Sunday. They couldn’t be inconvenienced – not even one day of the year.
I’m pretty sure the awful experience of the volunteers in SW Portland ensured that no one wanted to volunteer for the second or third year, which is why Southwest no longer has a Sunday Parkways event.
For me this incident sums up why Portland is a broken city: You have well-meaning volunteers vs a psycho in a truck with a gun, and the police are nowhere to be seen. Show me any other major city in America that can’t close streets properly, which means POLICE close them. Only in Portland, with our rinky-dink city gov’t, can we not do something like this. I hope everyone votes for charter reform in November so we can have the ability to close streets properly for an event like Sunday Parkways.
Portlanders have spoken. They told the police to take a hike. You got what you asked for and can’t have it both ways.
That’s not how any of this works. Does the IRS stop collecting taxes because of sovereign citizen anti government kooks? Did the Army not invade Iraq because of anti war protesters? Did the cdc shut down because of anti maskers? Why the cops get to have the blue flu and stop protecting us because their feelings got hurt 2 years ago? Don’t I still pay for those services with my tax dollars?
Well I hate to break it to you but that seems to be exactly how this has worked so far. We’re paying for something we aren’t getting.
PPB’s budget is currently the highest it’s ever been. So what are they doing with that money?
Waiting to hire all of the BP people and Anarchists who know how policing should be done. Be the change you want to see!
Or maybe, you know, the cops could just do their job?
So you’re saying it is a police boycott after all, not a lack of funding. Interesting.
Buying those silly neighborhood barrels and signs I guess.
I say get some real leadership and bring back law enforcement.
You’re thinking of PBOT, not PPB. And data shows that the “silly barrels” are effective, whether you like it or not lol
PPS pulled out of Sunday Parkways in 2015 because the money to support it was in their Traffic Enforcement budget which they have chosen to underfund. This decision had nothing to do with the public not wanting PPS presence at Sunday Parkways.
Deleted my comment after realizing i should just keep my mouth shut
There are SO many events in Portland that close down streets but simultaneously encourage increased driving to the area. Rose Parade, Mississippi Street Fair, Alberta Street Fair, Last Thursday, (nevermind events at Moda Center, literally AT a transit center) etc. I don’t know if the events in SE cause as much increased car traffic, but it’s not like the city has done much to increase transit or biking to and from these events, so most people drive, and then when it is difficult to find parking, or leave they get frustrated and drive dangerously and aggressively. That’s why I don’t love when those events happen in my neighborhood. And yet, I’d still rather live in a place where events are happening than… no cultural or social events and everyone just sits in their house watching TV. There are ways in which I could’ve had empathy for the driver if he weren’t being such a jerk and endangering people, but it is so clear that he is the type of truck driver who is OFTEN start shit.
Washington plates?
“I pay taxes”, says truck-driving neighborhood resident with out of state plates.
I’m virtually certain I pay more in taxes than that magabilly.
Hey, man, he pays rent, too.
How much do think his Mom is charging him?
The “I pay taxes” line has always been classist. The amount you pay in taxes (a proxy for wealth) means nothing about how much you’re entitled to.
What they’re really saying when the say this is that because I pay taxes you’ve no right to block of the street or clog it up with bikes * peds so that I can’t drive the speed limit unimpeded and not caring that people who walk & bike & skateboard & onewheel & scooter & wheelchair also pay taxes and have a right to use the public streets.
Weird how some insults and slurs seem to be allowed here
‘magabilly’ haha love it!
He probably doesn’t pay ANY taxes in Oregon. I see Washington plates on that truck. He’s probably from Battle Ground.
One has to ask if he lives along the route why is his vehicle registered in Washington? Oddly though he never appears to go to a home on the route but simply wants to drives through the event in a threatening manner for no clear reason.
lives in Oregon, registers his vehicle in Washington b/c it’s less expensive. Oregon just raised vehicle registration rates, so expect more of this…
Also, no traffic enforcement in Portland(or parking enforcement outside of the central city). Makes it very easy to not register your vehicle at all, if you don’t want to.
So the guy who claims to pay taxes is a tax dodger.
I live in WA. There is no universe in which WA plates are cheaper than OR. Trust me. NO ONE puts WA plates on an OR vehicle to save in fees. It is actually the opposite. People are driving all over Vancouver with OR plates to save on taxes and fees.
Kent is right here, they have done news stories in SW Washington about police officers busting folks on the first day (or at least during) of public school. “If your child is enrolled in school here, you must live here… why are you sporting Oregon plates?” Obviously occasional leeway for custody arrangements or non-traditional guardians
Not bike-related but it’s a real bummer to know this man is statistically most likely to use his gun to hurt himself or someone in his household, but his very public behavior last weekend gives the authorities 0 grounds to take that gun away.
Uh, well to be fair, when have the authorities ever taken a gun away from anyone except from their cold dead bloody hands when they were laying in the street?
Yeah, that’s the issue.
I’m sure pointing that gun at people was a felony but the cops would have to disagree with him to do anything about it.
Thank you to all the volunteers. It was a very special event besides this event and maybe a couple other upset drivers. It was wonderful getting to bike around East Portland.
Imagine that, a angry young man in a pick up truck spewing cliched insults. You got to love the other guy bemoaning the cyclists was riding in the drivers lane. Classic! I feel sorry for the lady in the passenger seat
Best way to shame/further enrage him is to appeal to the lady in the passenger seat….
Even better would be to follow him shouting “angry driver!”
This better produce a strongly worded media release from the PPB that cyclists should obey the laws and wear brightly colored clothing and, besides, cyclists should wear helmets.
Seriously, how about a reckless driving charge (for deliberately driving over the curb)? How about charges related to weapons? Isn’t it assault or menacing to point a firearm at people? Nah. Probably an investigation into whether cyclists and volunteers had insurance and proper training.
good luck with that, I doubt PPB even have much of a presence at Sunday Parkways, but I don’t really know b/c I haven’t gone in many years.
He just slammed it on the dashboard. Didn’t aim it or threaten to shoot anyone. Besides, he’s a white male w. a gun. Cops have no problem with that. If it was black man w. a gun being all aggro, cops would be there in no time.
Could potentially be charged as menacing (ORS 163.190).
The police response was to blame volunteers and say there was no gun. We’re on our own. We should DIY some spike strips I guess.
I was a volunteer there also yesterday and also had to de-escalate a few situations with cars, but most of the time, when approached with a little hustle and wave and a quick apology for the frustration with a very clear and direct alternative, most drivers were willing to take it. Not all drivers, for sure, but most. I did have two cars ignore me, go through the barrier and speed down the bike lane and had to chase them to warn people up ahead.But for example one driver was an Amazon delivery driver who was exasperated and also kept getting different instructions from volunteers and had to drive around several times. The volunteer, an older white woman, was very confrontational and rude about the driver’s options (a young, black woman) and made her feel like she was being subversive and offensive. She kept saying, “You can’t go this way! You keep trying to get through. I’ve seen you in the neighborhood several times!” The driver was so exasperated and wasn’t being heard. It only took two seconds of listening to understand that she was a delivery driver and was trying to drop off packages around the neighborhood. All she needed was clear instructions and an apology and compassion that she was trying to do her job and needed a clear, direct route. I felt that the main issue with most (not all) drivers who were angry and reactive was that they didn’t want the event in their neighborhood and that some of the volunteers were confrontational, confusing in their directions and/or aggressive in their requests for drivers to use alternate routes. The woman in the second driver example wasn’t necessarily confrontational, but she just kept saying,” you’re not hearing me”. It seems to me that she was the one who wasn’t hearing the driver or giving him helpful responses to get him on his way. In my view, the driver was being very direct and stating where he needed to go and she just kept saying he couldn’t go that way. A better approach would have been, “man, I hear you, it sucks that you’ve been on the road for hours and just want to get home and didn’t expect a big event to shut down your neighborhood. Here, if you just go four blocks over this way, we’ll get you back home. Sorry for the disruption.” There were so many similar instances like this where volunteers came at drivers like they were a boon to society and it just made things so much worse. More training for the volunteers would have helped, like some examples of how to be courteous and suggest alternate routes. But to be clear, it’s also true that courtesy doesn’t get you everywhere and a gun-toting hothead might not listen. I’m not saying that better communication and compassion will solve everything and make people everywhere love bikes, but it’s a start and I experienced it diffusing several situations firsthand. Some people have more things to worry about, like keeping the roof over their head or feeding their kids or getting a few hours sleep after working 3 jobs. I love bikes, I ride them everywhere with my daughter and husband and race cyclocross. Our family drives very little and I’ll always promote bike riding as an awesome way of life, but I feel that there’s a time and place and way to promote that and somehow the Sundays Parkways was incredibly tone deaf to the neighborhood’s preference to not have bikes (as great as the music and food and games and offerings were). I do applaud Sunday Parkways for trying to make a positive impact and appreciate the time and energy it took to put on such a big event for 15 years running.
The guy clearly wasn’t in his neighborhood, if he was he could have easily detoured around the event. The Washington plates on his truck are also an indication that he does not live there. Additionally that he did not go to a house along the event but drove along the event for awhile before heading off another direction indicates that there was no reason for him to be driving on the closed street. The handgun makes me think that this guy read about the event, loaded up his gun and drove his big truck there looking for violence. I am glad that no one was hurt but the driver should not be allowed to possess a firearm or drive a motor vehicle.
I get where you’re coming from but it’s missing the point I think. Many of the volunteers were rude and demanding and bossy. Sure, the driver was being an ass, but I really feel that the way many volunteers spoke to the drivers made things worse and is worth addressing. Sure the driver also could have lied, but there were so many better ways to have that conversation and get him to move. I’ll admit I feared for my safety several times during the 3 hours I was helping direct drivers around the intersections, but this isn’t a black and white situation where the drivers are all jerks just for no good reason. Again, I think there’s some tone deafness about how drivers were handled and perceived which is part of the bigger issue at large. Where this video starts with the Washington truck driver isn’t the beginning of the conversation and the volunteer was being difficult, assuming the worst of him. He mentioned multiple times that he tried other ways to get through. I came across many cars who said “I keep getting told to go different places and have gone in circles.” If we don’t approach this driver/cyclist divide with more compassion, it’ll just become more divisive.
The guy was obviously having a really crappy day. You know what makes it worse? Having some twit riding along side you shouting “ angry driver” .
Same thing with the WNBR “security” people and corkers. I have witnessed nothing but condescension and escalation tactics from them. No compassion or sympathy for those they are frustrating– and it seems like “frustrating random motorists” is often the point.
Some volunteers are looking for a fight, they feel empowered by the potential for mob justice to intervene before someone gets hurt. So they just press peoples’ buttons, and keep pressing, trying to get a reaction.
It’s toxic. Confronting people in America, needling them and shouting them down, is going to eventually turn violent, almost every time. I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s the outcome any reasonable person should expect. Activists know this, then act shocked when it happens.
Seems like there are many drivers I’ve encountered on my rides around town that also exhibit these (non)qualities every day. Difference being, they can kill me..without escalation.
Which is *exactly* why de-escalation rather than confrontation is so important for event volunteers. Especially since it’s more likely an innocent 3rd party is most likely to be the one being hit by an enraged driver.
Lots of people have crappy days. Not all of them brandish guns at little old ladies.
There are tons of people that live in Portland that have Washington plates (or plates from other, non-Oregon, states). Some are trying to evade emissions testing requirements, others don’t know the law requires them to register within 30 days, others have suspended licenses and can’t legally register a vehicle, and others just don’t care).
That person could easily live in that neighborhood and not know any other routes (if you never leave your house in any way other than behind the dashboard of a vehicle, you may not learn other routes).
They could also be new resident who has recently moved there.
You could also be correct, that they just showed up to cause trouble because they have an axe to grind with people who choose to travel in vehicles that don’t run on fossil fuels. But I don’t think your observations definitively prove anything.
Until they get the plates, I don’t want to hear it. It’s their responsibility as an Oregonian.
Agree. I’m not saying it’s okay, I’m just saying, there’s a pretty decent chance that they actually do live in the neighborhood.
Yet, somehow I am absolutely sure that the state they are from has similar requirements about getting new plates, new license, new registration, new etc within a certain time limit. It is simply uncredible claim that they do not (or even may not) know they are supposed to update their information/etc to reflect the new state they have moved to.
That’s an awful nice truck to not have it properly registered. I live on 138th and Division. I bike this route every day with my 5 year old in his little chariot. I regularly have people turn in front of me when they see it’s my right of way. I have people honk and not let me through where I need to go. People use the bike lane for parking on Division and on Market through 112th to 122nd.
My family was invited to this event through David Douglas but we didn’t go, I worked instead. Getting to work we were held up about 7 minutes by bikers. We were all cool with that. We waved from our 4Runner. I survived. I have it way worse than this man.
Anyone who acts dangerously with gun and vehicle should not have either a gun or a vehicle. My life, my son’s life, should not be usurped by this egocentric man’s entitlement. It’s disappointing to see you act as his apologist as he endangered lives.
I’m not sure how long you’ve lived in Portland or what part of town, but out of state license plates aren’t uncommon as many people are slow to change their plates once they’ve moved.
I didn’t hear much discussion about where he lived or what route to take to get there, but I like to give people the benefit of the doubt.
I suspect he feels like the inner SE granola eating biking yuppies are in his hood even thought it’s mostly his neighbors.
It has been 3 mths of Pedalpalooza rides so I suspect probably not the first time he’s had to deal with a bunch of cyclists in the road.
I don’t think the “angry driver” person helped the situation.
I don’t understand why the 2 cargo bikes just don’t escort him home. You had everyone overreacting that a car was on the route as if a kid on a bike had never encountered a car in the road before.
We played in the streets as a kid and when cars came down the street we just called time-out, moved out of the way, let the cars pass and said game on.
Also “Where I’m from, gas is $6 a gallon.” Isn’t he “from” the neighborhood he’s purportedly returning to? He’s been driving relentlessly for seven days—apparently all the way from Chile or something since that’s a long time to take driving across the continental US—and is now very concerned about the waste of gas from taking a detour for a few blocks? Maybe he’s just ranting and making stuff up because he’s angry, but it all sounds pretty intentional to me.
Exactly! This guy lives in Vancouver & his name has been published in Willamette Week. He came looking to create trouble. Typical MagaMoron!
First, it’s not any volunteer’s fault – no matter how sensitive or not they were to some guy having a hard day – that the driver pulled a gun and slammed it on his dashboard and told everyone on the route to fuck off. Don’t victim blame here. Yes some volunteers are better at handling conflict than others, but that was not the central problem on the route yesterday and we’re all fortunate someone wasn’t hurt by an aggressive driver. And second I don’t think Sunday Parkways was “tone deaf” for holding this event. The great majority of people in the neighborhood were enjoying themselves and glad to have the (relatively) car free streets for a few hours. For a small but loud minority of residents it obviously really pissed them off that driving was more challenging for that one 5-hour period in the year.
I agree with Sara 100% After just watching the video, I expected to see an irrational driver. Instead I saw a frustrated driver who was effectively begging to just go home and go to sleep. I have a huge amount of respect for the volunteers and infrastructure of these events. And the community that the events foster is truly beautiful…and…. there needs to be a better solution for this scenario. There was a lot of language intended to provoke that under slept driver who had two deadly weapons at his disposal. What Sara wrote should truly become the script used every time, re quoted here ““man, I hear you, it sucks that you’ve been on the road for hours and just want to get home and didn’t expect a big event to shut down your neighborhood. Here, if you just go four blocks over this way, we’ll get you back home. Sorry for the disruption.”
The guy PULLED A GUN. I don’t care how unskilled at negotiation the volunteer was or how hard a day the guy was having, I’m incredulous at the comments from people here who are blaming the volunteers for this. You’re saying that pulling a gun, revving your engine, telling people to fuck off, and end-running the barricades was rational (that would be the opposite of “irrational”)? “Underslept” and armed and you’re still ok with him even being behind the wheel at all? Those are exactly the people most likely to kill a vulnerable road user.
You are very much missing my point Michael. When dealing with a person who presents a risk as this person did, the best approach is to do things to reduce the risk. If a police officer had been present, the man could have been arrested and detained. That would have been ideal.
If he had a more hot temper, we’d be reading about people being shot and/or run over. You are also putting words in my mouth. I never said I was ok with him behind the wheel. I’m also not ok with that sort of citizen owning and brandishing a gun. I do not condone his actions in any way. Wanting to get to his house was a rational request. His other words and actions were not rational nor ok in any way.
Anyway… whatever. Trying to discuss such a topic via posts is a fool’s errand. I’m fairly sure that if this were all discussed in person, we’d all find ourselves on close to the same page.
If you expect the police to deescalate every situation, you had better learn to do the same. Don’t get in an argument with a person displaying a firearm. Get them a rational way out, back off if need be, deescalate. That might mean you lose the argument!
Don’t have a twit ride along yelling “angry driver.”
Yes, untrained volunteers should totally be held to the same standard as cops. This man was clearly extremely rational lmao
They are not yelling “angry driver” at the driver, it’s a warning to the people in his path of destruction that they need to look out. Stop whining about how that makes the driver feel.
This isn’t about losing an argument, if you “lose the argument” this guy drives his behemoth down a street crowded with kids that don’t think vehicles are allowed on the road at the moment.
It’s not about how the driver feels, it’s about adding fuel to the proverbial fire. Deescalate, deescalate, deescalate.
That’s nonsense and de-escalation has nothing to do with it. This is about protecting the people who might get run over, they need to be warned. This is past the time for escalation or not, the guy is already driving dangerously through the place and you’re complaining that bystanders aren’t being alerted with a nice enough word. Priorities.
Wow. I saw a hero trying to warn people with tiiiiny children that a road rager was coming through but I guess you saw a twit?
WTF.
Dude pulled a gun out on an older female volunteer. He’s a jerk, a coward, an unstable, violent person, whatever. Characterizing him as simply a tired, “frustrated driver” absolves him of all responsibility to be an adult.
He seems to have no self control, sense of proportion, or patience. And I’m pissed that his son (from the looks of it) is seeing this and learning that this is how adult men behave. I bet he sees himself as a sheepdog, but he appears to be a wolf.
ok Michael and Charley…. I want to thank you for calling me out. You are right and what I wrote was wrong. This sort of thing is why comment sections are tedious. I wrote something with *some* thinking but not *enough* thinking. Characterizing him as not irrational was wrong. My clarified response is this:
The driver was unhinged, menacing and a risk to everyone. He was not being rational. The one thing I do stand by is that his ask to “just go home” is a rational request. That was the only rational words he spoke. He then went off on a random tirade. And what I did see were words and actions that could have escalated this menacing person.
Goodonya, Charlie. And to some extent, I sort of agree with you.
I hold a religious conviction that we are all flawed beings, full of greed, anger, and ignorance. I’ve gotten in road-rage arguments myself. That’s partly why I insist on riding a bike: when I’m in a car, I’m more dangerous to other people. It’s important to me that, when I’m calm and thoughtful, I make decisions that take into account my own emotional disregulation: deciding to ride a bike nudges my statistics away from the violence that I know I am capable of. That’s also a big reason why I don’t own guns: I cannot guarantee that I’d be a responsible owner.
For these reasons, I recognize myself in the angry, armed driver. Unstable and violent would have described me at my worst moments. I have to be an adult and take responsibility for that risk. I have relied on my family and my best friends to point out this risk, and they’ve helped me stay on the straight and narrow. Well, mostly.
My religious conviction doesn’t apply to actions in the same way it does to people. Some actions are clearly just plain wrong. No amount of “reasons” or “excuses” should exempt a person’s actions from judgement or consequences, and I bet we’d agree that he should face consequences of his threats and harassment.
Back in the olden days of BikePortland, I remember Jonathan inviting a radio DJ who threatened to run over cyclists on a bike ride. Maybe we can teach this guy that bikes are fun actually? I’m not volunteering but maybe someone nicer than me?
I was a mobile volunteer on the route yesterday – went through the intersection at 130th just after this driver left and folks there were pretty shaken up. I was on the course for about 3 hours and honestly spent most of my time escorting drivers through or across the route. 90% were appreciative and chill. But I saw/experienced several tense exchanges and was sworn at by angry drivers three times (“It’s MY fucking street!” was my personal favorite.) South of Burnside and east of 122nd I’d say I never saw the route without at least one car on it, so while the goal is car-free streets, that wasn’t the reality on this event. We had similar experiences on the two Outer NE events we did several years ago and I know at least one longtime Sunday Parkways volunteer who’s sworn off the events saying they’ve become too dangerous for her comfort. Two final notes: The volunteers manning the intersections, including those in the video, did heroic work yesterday in the face of some tense and uncomfortable exchanges, and to the resident at 130th and Salmon who – when her friend was complaining about the 30 guests who were supposed to arrive (by car of course) at 3:30 – turned to me and said “I wish you’d do this every week. I love seeing my street without cars!” You made my day.
““I wish you’d do this every week. I love seeing my street without cars!” You made my day.”
To which you should’ve replied, “Well, you can organize events and get permits too!”
What’s amazing to me is that some cities (Los Angeles) shut down major streets for an event like this. New York semi permanently shut down tons of streets- even with businesses on them.
Portland does a 5-hour closure of an unobtrusive route and it takes a large number of volunteers to make it work.
Seattle does it. They close Lake Washington Boulevard which is a major road every weekend during the summer: https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/stay-healthy-streets/lake-washington-blvd-keep-moving-street
So the police have video, witnesses, vehicle description, and plate numbers. And they’re doing what exactly? Raging, MAGA poisoned pickup drivers are exactly why I mostly stick to MUPs where I only have to worry about potential violence, theft, broken glass, dogs, and staggering in my path by the drug addicts who have taken them over. If Portland and environs is among the best bicycle cities in the country, I’d hate to experience some of the worst.
MAGA? You are just creating things in your mind.
Fwiw there was a “Fuck Biden” hat on his dashboard.
Yep, definitely a magabilly.
Am I the only one who is bothered by casual anti-rural slurs?
Dude, I’ve got nothing against rural people, or urban people, or suburban people. I do have a lot against triggered, entitled, fascist snowflakes who have been told it’s okay to behave violently in public by a fat orange Hitler wannabee.
Maybe I misunderstood — did the “billy” refer to an urban person?
I take the -billy suffix to mean “ignoramus” in this context.
I think you made my point better than I could.
If you say so. There are ignorant people all around.
I’m going to guess that “billy” means male in some north England slang. As in billy goat. It’s the “hill” part of hillbilly that refers to rural people in Appalachia.
So you could have a “burbbilly,” a “citybilly,” the possibilities are endless.
Bryan is good.
I’m going to guess that you’re wrong.
Guess again!
I think it’s interesting that someone expressed offense or unease with a pejorative term and yet the BP crew seems to be ignoring the offense taken and even taking steps to defend the offensive comment. My understanding of current norms is that the intent of the speaker of the offensive term does not matter as much as the feelings of the offended party. Does that not apply in this case?
In a previous comment someone referred to “white male privilege” which could be taken as an attempt to paint all people with certain immutable characteristics with the same brush. Is that okay?
More than one of us approve comments. “White male privilege” is not a phrase that is ok w me.
I personally think the intent of the speaker matters.
It’s ok to use a pejorative for someone who has pulled out a gun to threaten a volunteer at a city-sponsored event, a woman who appears to be in her eighties.
As long as I’m here, “billy” is indeed N English slang for a man. Kind of like “buddy.”
You’re missing the point I’m trying to make. I don’t care if one mocks someone who pulls a gun and screams at an old lady. Such a person probably deserves mockery. My concern is the mode of the mockery. There are people who label themselves as hillbillies. There are others upon whom that label has been foisted. By calling the gun toting person who screamed at a little old lady a “hillbilly” the commenter was associating hillbillies with that person. The insult is to people who volitionally or not carry the label hillbilly
Second, there are many slurs and epithets that have inoffensive dictionary meanings, or whose meaning can be described as having been derived from inoffensive origins. When they are wielded as a slur or an epithet it doesn’t really matter. Do you think the author intended to use the phrase to refer to a “buddy”?
MAGAbilly, not hillbilly. Bryan wrote Magabilly, and clarified what he meant in his response to Watts.
But I do understand what you are saying, and I even think you are right. But I also wouldn’t moderate this any differently than I did the first time around.
You and Watts are correct that the moderating is sometimes inconsistent, not just between JM and me, but even within my own efforts. But for all our flaws, I think the comment section is better off moderated than not. We put a lot of effort into it, much of which you don’t see (and with more subscribers we could up our game with a lot of things).
Readers alert us if they don’t like how something was called, often we act on that. In this case I think I just disagree with you about the severity of any harm caused.
I would use the word double standard rather than “inconsistent” in describing the moderation of comments on this site. If the views of the commenter align with the moderator then more sway is given in using racial stereotyopes and casual slurs..
It’s only okay when “we” do it against “them”.
What a healthy attitude.
Yeah. My family was hillbilly as they come. I don’t identify as a dummy, though, so I’m not insulted when people call out dummies.
I ride the MUPs and yes there are houseless folks, lots of trash and a few people that look sideways at me, but there’s also high-speed spandex kitted out bike gangs, e-scooters, e-bikes, e-mni-bikes, one-wheels, etc.
All of it has got me seriously considering moving away from Portland. Probably more when than if at this point.
I watched some videos of people biking around Minneapolis. Seemed a lot cleaner & nicer.
white man entitlement no surprise
What does race or gender have to do with anything? If you truly want to discuss entitlement, then you must also consider the entitlement of the bike riders taking over the road completely. Surely seems some entitlement there, one would think.
How dare those entitled cyclists participate in a city-sponsored and permitted public event, smh
You do realize Sunday Parkways is for everyone else except car drivers and not just bike riders?
So, skateboards, rollerskates, walkers, people using walkers, wheelchairs, scooters and all the events, food, activities in the parks along the route too.
Some people who live along the route even put out drinks, food, sprinklers, play music, etc.
It’s a community / neighborhood event that everyone can participate in not just us entitled bike riders who don’t create noise or air pollution, road damage, and take up public space for our cars to sit still 90& of its life and depreciate in value.
Entitlement is getting in your car and thinking you’re entitled to the whole road and don’t have to share it with anyone else.
If you want to complain about Sunday Parkways, you’re welcome to contact
PortlandSundayParkways@portlandoregon.gov
503-823-7599
It’s an organized event that occurs a couple of times a year that is free and open to all. They give ample warning, publish the routes in advance, do local neighborhood outreach, and make accommodations for people that need to get through on vehicles. The event routes are a handful of miles. Meanwhile, there are still thousands of miles of Portland roads that are free and open to motor vehicle use while the event is ongoing.
Completely? It was a one day event unlike the dominating presence of automobiles on every other street. Streets belong to people not cars.
No, I don’t have to consider the bike riders who were participating in SUNDAY PARKWAYS for BIKES.
LOL! “Angry Truck Driver” sums up my experience of living and biking in East Portland 2007-2015. So many of the road rage drivers use the 4M streets as a back way through East Portland to avoid the streets they really ought to be on – Division & Glisan – so I can imagine his surprise that his favorite way of avoiding the cops was being blocked by a bunch of liberal granola-eating bicyclists.
If I had to guess, I’d say he was stopping in East Portland to pick up some drugs before going home in the Vancouver Washington area, hence his being so tense and nervous, so much so that he felt compelled to display his gun. Obviously not a particularly rational driver. And equally clearly not from East Portland.
Drugs? But Vancouver has sudafed!
Welcome to Amerika.
Not a good situation, these F’rs have just gotten ruder since DJT taught them how to get even better at it.
It’s important not to read about these anger responses and think “they” don’t want safe infrastructure for people to walk, bike etc. I’ve talked to big pickup types at crash locations for World Day of Remembrance. In that more sobering context they tell me how fast traffic on their street puts kids in danger and how people should have safe ways to go.
sorry, but I’m not going to do the love, peace and happiness thing with the giant pick up crowd; for every one that’s sympathetic there are 99 who are not. Please prove me wrong…
Sounds like an awful lot of stereotyping and implicit bias. I feel sorry for people with closed minds.
From your comment above…
Enjoy your day.
Withdrawn…not worth it.
Being nice to each other is a practical matter. They’re not gonna learn if we hate them just looking at them.
Plus, their idea of the ‘safe way to go’ is no doubt somewhere else than where they drive. No thanks; neither group is more entitled than the other but one is clearly more dangerous.
That’s one of our problems. “All streets should be as fast and as wide as possible except the streets near my house” is how we got suburban stroads with cul-de-sacs everywhere.
It’s not going to stop them from driving their dangerous bro-dozers or reducing speeds wile they drive.
My giant truck neighbors with an also-giant American flag also have a Slow Down sign. None of us want people hurt by cars. If this guy feels any shame about the toddlers who had to dodge his truck, I hope he’ll look into some therapy.
So scary.
There is a lot of anger on our streets these days. Not just against bicyclists. We all need to be careful out there and those on bikes are vulnerable. I’m riding nearly everyday and I see a lot of traffic violations. Mostly drivers running red lights and running stop signs. People are pissed off about a lot of things, and this anger surfaces in road rage incidents. It doesn’t help that the police are understaffed, and that perpetrators know this. Cyclists beware, there are drivers out there that don’t think bikes should be on the road. FDUP is saying this, things are FDUP.
Agreed. Sadly, I assume all drivers are armed these days. That goes double for black crew cabs with Washington plates.
There are plenty of Oregonians to balance that out.
https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_163.190
Menacing: up to one year in jail or $6,250.
He should also have his gun(s) and his license taken away.
I am glad folks at cell phones and supported the volunteer “corkers” at a city of Portland approved event…once I saw that gun with the big [medium] truck angry driver…it was like watching those unarmed Ukrainian grannies talking to Russian tank solders in welcome …as they escorted them to a calmer place…as they planted sunflower seeds.
Thankfully the angry truck driver is a home owner/ renter from Portland and has just forgotten to register their newly purchased big truck vs. being a visiting shopper. (One less medium big truck in Clark/ Skamnia County.)
I am sure intelligent folks will share this video with this driver’s automotive, commercial (CDL?), homeowners insurance companies…plus their Oregon registered (?) small arms permit (ORS 166.4XX etc.) file may be curious about public brandishing of a firearm on a public street.
***Hi Racer X. We don’t feel comfortable sharing the license plate in the comments so I’m deleting this comment. I hope you understand. Thanks – Jonathan***
I feel like this recorded encounter explains so much about vehicular violence and violence in general. To me it seems the driver is suffering from a type of cognitive bias. He keeps saying that he doesn’t understand why this is happening, “why do you people do this.” Sunday Parkways is a temporary experiment in livable streets. For a short pre-planned period, a small stretch of streets which are normally dominated by the vehicular violence of a few tyrants like this gun-toting pickup driver, are transformed into a safe place for families to enjoy their own neighborhoods and start to rebuild community. It’s ironic and interesting that he can’t understand or tolerate even a temporary space that is not dominated by violence, instead he falls back on the only thing he knows, posturing menacingly with his vehicle and firearm in an attempt to regain control. When his posturing doesn’t immediately result in a reversal to the status quo, he has no options so the standoff starts. Even though evidence is everywhere that this isn’t a conspiracy by granola-eaters, but instead a family-friendly neighborhood event patrolled by grey-haired grandmas and dads on bicycles, he still can only process it all as an incomprehensible threat.
Motorized vehicles aren’t inherently violent. They’re however dangerous and violent people behind the wheel of heavy, fast, large, metal rolling object can do a lot of damage.
I think it’s important that most of America is designed around and caters to motorized vehicles to the point where it’s a monumental mental feat to think that the public roadways are solely for their use.
The reality is as John Stewart so aptly put it is “Most Americans are just late for something.”
Most working class folks are just trying to get through their day. Our Capitalist system has kicked down on them all day. They’re tired, frustrated, broke, powerless and now they’ve got some other people telling them what they can & cannot do.
Trump & his MAGA mafia gaslighted these folks for 4 years and FAUX news was gaslighting them before that.
I’m not excusing this guy’s behavior at all but I’m starting to understand where it comes from.
Violent fascism is a big tell that someone is extremely afraid of things they don’t understand.
I volunteered once at a Sunday Parkways intersection and it was really, really hard work. Most car drivers were just looking for an alternate route & I’m sure it was frustrating because I didn’t know the neighborhood that well to give them great directions. I do think pbot could maybe have summery info sheets with alternate routes to hand out? Anyway, it was a difficult volunteer gig which is why I switched to mobile volunteering for future events….
And I’m so sorry this happened. Sunday Parkways was my family’s introduction to biking joy in Portland, rather than street caution, so this sounds pretty rough for everyone…
For context it’s helpful to know that all residencies along the route received prior notice of the event in the mail, including a map of the route so they could make contingency plans in case they needed to drive during that 5-hour period. That doesn’t help the non-residents who are arriving to visit, but most folks there had the info they needed to find another route.
I think all Carrie is asking for is that the map be shared with the volunteers. It sounds like an excellent idea to me.
Intersection Superhero volunteers get two maps – one a detail of the area they are supporting, and one for the full route. I think Carrie is asking for something I’ve asked for – a handout to give to drivers.
Also an excellent idea.
The volunteer booth literally had stacks of the Sunday Parkways brochures which included a route map available for volunteers so we could hand out to drivers if they wanted a map. We were encouraged to grab a bunch of these to distribute as needed. Unfortunately, most of the drivers had no interest in the map, I think I gave out maybe 2 out of dozens of interactions and now have a good handful of these brochures destined for my recycling bin.
The neighborhood didn’t want this event.
PBOT forced it on them anyway.
BikePortland echo chamber astonished that East Portland isn’t immediately convinced of their moral inferiority.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
By “the neighborhood,” do you mean all of the local people who were out riding their bikes and enjoying a safe, fun event?
I strongly doubt the majority of participants at any Sunday Parkways are local to the neighborhood it’s set in. PBOT and others (this blog) relentlessly promote these events as a destination for “bikey” families to visit.
*** Moderator: deleted sentence ***
If you’ve got evidence showing otherwise, I’d like to see it. Because in my opinion, it’s like a free, miniature version of Bridge Pedal. Something that everyone comes out of the woodwork for, travels across town for… usually driving to get there.
After years of neglecting East Portland, PBOT has arrived to tell us what’s best.
*** Moderator: deleted sentence ***
Anyone else will be displaced, same as what happened to POCs in Northeast.
I didn’t write anything offensive. Preferring a certain brand of clothing or car is not a protected class.
Bottom line is that SundayParkways caters to groups of certain income levels who tend to live in certain neighborhoods. If you’re not ready to acknowledge the inherent classist divide in bicycling, then you shouldn’t be covering bike events in Portland, or anywhere for that matter.
Jonathan: you’re blatantly censoring things you disagree with.
For the millionth time. Where’s the integrity?
No doubt you’ll censor or remove this comment too. It just shows that your echo chamber is more fragile than ever.
Maybe you could post your credentials as the neighborhood spokesperson, otherwise yeah that’s your opinion. One of many.
Seems from the video a lot of people in the neighborhood were out there enjoying the event.
Do you mean the locals who set up stands along the route right outside their homes to provide lemonade and various treats along the route? Or the neighbors with the homes at the corners of the intersection I volunteered at who offered words of support for the event and support for me when they saw the reactions of so many of these drivers. Or even the folks who lived along the route that were inconvenienced every time they wanted to get in and out, who patiently waited for my help in getting them to/from their homes in a safe manner and did what was asked of them and waved and beeped a thank you for the help? I think they were all a-ok with the event but that’s just me.
Or maybe you’re talking about the folks who were hellbent on using the neighborhood as a cut-through as presumably they are accustomed to? Folks that couldn’t bear the thought of driving back 5 or so blocks to Stark, another 5 or so blocks to 122nd and another 10 or so blocks to Division to get around the event? Yeah I suspect they didn’t want this event to be sure. I’m not sure how safe it is to assume they lived in East PDX, judging from the number of WA plates in this cohort. But I do know it’s not fair to think this group represents the majority of East Portlanders.
There were things PBOT and the Sunday Parkways team and us volunteers could do better and the organizers are collecting feedback so they can make those improvements for the next SP event. Feedback that I’m happy to provide to them, including some comments that were made to me that struck me as reasonable and valuable despite the belligerent tone. I suggest you draw on your own experience of the event to add your own helpful feedback so these events can get better.
Most of these drivers – as articulated so clearly by this rogue pickup driver in the video – believe bikes don’t belong on *any* road, not just this particular one, bikes only belong in parks. Should we concede that to them as well else get stamped as acting “morally superior”? And say who’s the one with the superiority attitude here? The guy telling me to stay off their roads, that I don’t belong on them and oh by the way he’s saying this operating a threatening 2-ton vehicle with a gun on the dashboard (that timeless “might makes right” moral belief)?
I was a volunteer at one of the more stressful intersections on this route on Sunday. I’m sure some volunteers are better at this than me and others, but I can say that for the 3+ hours of near constant driver anger around that spot I didn’t witness a single volunteer being “rude and demanding and bossy.” For my part, I totally got drivers’ frustrations and tried to engage in a respectful and friendly manner, offering a lot of mea culpas and doing my best to help, though I wasn’t always super helpful as I didn’t know those neighborhood roads like my own.
However … I sure was the *target* of a lot of “rude and demanding and bossy” drivers, coming in the form of insults, cussing-outs, and general verbal abuse throughout most of that time. I’d say over half the drivers were understandably frustrated but accepted what was going on, maybe with a view choice words for me before moving on but on the whole a rather great response.
The rest ranged from being insulting and verbally abusive to reckless and out-of-control. They’d flip u-turns aggressively, while honking and screaming a lot of f-bombs, often hopping curbs, then peeling out, sometimes fishtailing into the other lane or running over event barricades and street closure signs. (Oh the irony of drivers gunning their engines and screeching away after complaining about gas!)
There was no stopping some of the most out-of-control drivers, they were going to drive onto the course come hell or high water. So hats off to the folks who quickly jumped in to escort the rogue driver in this case (I didn’t witness it firsthand), as they were warning those on the course and keeping them safe – and I certainly don’t have a problem with them using the words “angry driver”, given that he was, well, very angry and I think that detail was critical for folks on the course to have been alerted to. If he can call everyone “f*ers” along the course well he should be able to handle being called “angry” (surely a dude with a “F Biden” cap ain’t such a snowflake, right?).
Also, I would estimate about 1 out of every 5 times a driver rolled down their car window I could smell weed strongly. On top of that there were several other times the drivers smelled of alcohol. So, not anything new or surprising, but note to self: there is probably a not insignificant number of impaired drivers on the road even on a random Sun afternoon.
Lest we run the risk of making generalizations based on neighborhoods, I see the same “losing their goddamn minds” driving behaviors in NE when Sandy gets blocked off for a few hours during the couple of parades that get put on there each year. It is entitled, angry (there I go using that “a” word again), car driver mentality and you’ll see folks exhibiting this behavior from all walks of life and in all types of cars.
He is from Washington. I pay taxes on these streets so people can enjoy riding on them ONCE A YEAR. If he wants to scream about paying taxes he needs to *** Moderator: modified word *** get out of Oregon.
I was a floater for Sunday Parkways – I thought the volunteers did an amazing job and the folks participating seemed to be having a great time (at least in Hazelwood) There was plenty of advance notice for residents on the route and alternate routes were easy to use (for people who actually live in the neighborhood) Many community members were excited to have Sunday Parkways back in East Portland along with all the other events that were tied to the event in the various parks along the route.
This guy will eventually kill someone and unfortunately most likely it will be a family member. Something needs to happen to this guy fast because he is full of irrational rage. There is no making nice with a person like this, we are just postponing the inevitable. Hopefully the police can take a way his guns before that but I doubt it.
The most effective thing to keep him from killing his loved ones in a rage would be therapy. I hope that’s not too granola for him.
…yes that is the correct plate from what I saw AND the vehicle model aligns with what is on-line for the most recent registration (vs switched plates).
Furthermore, its interesting that on-line databases have zero [reported] ‘vehicle accidents’ tied to this plate…so just a guess here…based on that and the driver’s verbal statement (‘living down the street’) it is highly likely this Oregon driver has not updated this vehicle’s registration after recently buying it in Washington? Again just a guess.
It’s a day later now; has the PPB done anything about this? Taken his guns away, charged him with menacing with a gun, given him a slap on the wrist?
Just kidding, of course they haven’t!
It’s three days later now. The police spokesman blamed volunteers and said there was no gun.
Some one is going to get killed by a driver on these group rides. I’ve seen drivers pull out mace / bear spray, threaten to run people over , get out of cars to get into physical fights with bicyclists and even worse, uride into groups of bikes riders *** Moderator: phrase deleted. *** . No more corking for me, people are nuts, I’m not getting run over or shot for a group ride.
I don’t blame you when a comment blaming a volunteer for this guy’s violent tantrum has so many up-votes.
So his plate comes back as a 1999 Silverado 1500 4WD. Sadly this kind of truck is almost “quaint” when compared to the modern versions. I really wish we didn’t spend the past 20+ years flooding the streets with huge pickups and SUVs. A lot of these huge vehicles will likely still be around for another 20 years. UGH.
I’m all for meeting people with compassion and kindness but…
The driver’s level of entitlement is astronomical (not surprising for a mediocre white man). Driving and using the roads is a PRIVILEGE not a right. Just ask the DMV. Not to mention his out of state plates, which shows he does NOT in fact “pay taxes” as he purports, because paying licensing fees is part of how we pay taxes in Oregon. I think the volunteers were incredibly patient with him, and there was plenty more compassion they tried that you did not see on camera. Ultimately, it’s no one’s fault but his own that he 1) failed to plan (neighborhood residents get mailers well in advance of Sunday Parkways), 2) chose to drive past his limits (a grown adult should know if they will be mentally incapable of driving a certain distance/time period), 3) cannot manage his emotions and 4) that he chose to live in Portland. What’s the phrase people like him use? “If you don’t like it, leave!” Another phrase that might help him is “failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.”
Calling him an “angry driver” is merely a fact. If you don’t want your behavior to be described that way, then stop acting that way. Other humans are not in charge of your emotional regulation. It’s quite simple, really.
Might I also add that brandishing a weapon is a crime. Period. Regardless of how people talk to you or how unfair you think life is. Additionally, he did it in front of a child which could potentially be endangering the welfare of a minor.
Can you name any practical way that this is an important distinction in this context?
A privilege is something you might not get all the time, a right is something you should expect to get all the time. So people cannot expect to always be able to drive exclusively on every street unimpeded. This is also the reasoning why we can/should be taking over some streets and/or lanes for bike and bus infrastructure. It’s public land and we can do what we want with it.
I’m not seeing a lot of practical differences between not being allowed to drive in certain places and not being allowed to carry a firearm in certain places. Even if driving is a “right” (which I believe it is in practice), we could still close streets and hold Sunday Parkways.
So, rhetoric aside, I’m not seeing any practical difference.
To your point, is the woman who was reported in recent weeks that had 13 crashes and killed 5(?) people in danger of having her right removed or her privilege? Does a right require someone to demonstrate responsibility and capability before enjoying the fruit?
Some rights do, such as carrying a concealed firearm. Others, such as voting, have age limits (a proxy for responsibility and capability).
As to the woman who killed 5, whether its her right or her privilege being (hopefully) revoked, it still requires due process, so I’m not sure where the difference lies. In some ways, it is easier to revoke someone’s right to possess a weapon (at least temporarily, via red flag laws) than it is to revoke their license.
I think the right vs. privilege issue is largely academic.
Can no one run his plates to find a name?
He is Max Bruhn of Vancouver. In Portland we need Willamette Week to do the job that the police won’t do.
https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2022/08/26/a-bystander-called-police-after-driver-raged-through-east-portland-he-never-heard-back/
As a side issue, the article says the police spokesperson said, “It also appears that another car was also traveling down these closed streets, so it is difficult to say how well managed the event was”.
That seems like a gratuitous slam. Isn’t the way traffic control works at these is that the streets are closed, but the traffic volunteers will allow some vehicles through, such as residents driving to their homes?
The spokesperson could have just as accurately speculated, “The fact that there’s another vehicle going through indicates that the people directing traffic were trying to accommodate drivers who needed to get through”, which would have painted an entirely different impression than his speculation that the event may have been poorly managed.
it seems like a slam because it is. Unfortunately it appears to be yet another example of the PPB putting petty politics above public safety. Totally uncalled for and inappropriate. Some PPB staff appear to be so immature that they are willing to throw shade at their own city just because they got called off the Parkways job. Just like with other issues in this town, it goes along with how they are slow-walking and totally willing to let crime and other stuff go to hell so that everyone comes crawling back to them and grovels at their feet.
Either he has a concealed carry permit and was brandishing the gun to intimidate and threaten people, or he doesn’t have a concealed carry permit and was putting it in open view recognizing that the police might appear at some point at this street event with official looking barricades.
In either case he is a total menace who knew exactly what he was doing and was being very deliberate with his actions.
Yeah but will the cops actually do their job? Seems like they’ve been on permanent vacation for the last 2 years. There are over 600 cops in this town, they have the largest budget or any department, but when was the last time you ever saw one or got one to respond in under 4 hours?
Maybe launching nightly assaults on police stations and telling the cops to kill themselves kinda killed the mood? And add to that a city government that essentially backs that up.
Oh cool so I can stop paying my taxes that cover their budgets then? I mean, since they can just decide they don’t want to work anymore but still collect a paycheck. What other job can you do that cause your fee-fees got hurt like 2 years ago? This is completely ridiculous, stop coddling them
You mean the city government that keeps giving them more budget? And the mayor who can’t stop heaping praise on PPB even in the face of all the terror they’ve wrought on this community? The mayor who helped PPB run a misinformation campaign when a neo-nazi executed a 60 year old woman last Feburary? I think they’re getting they’re getting plenty of love from our elected officials.
“That customer was rude to me, so now I’m just going to spit in everyone’s fries from now on.”
Yes…this is exactly what you asked for.
So it is your opinion that the police are choosing not to do their job.
Or the politicians are stopping them.
The Mayor and DA don’t want the police to bother those kind, loveable, campers that are out there. Afterall they don’t have to follow the rules like the rest of us because its somehow compationate.
Or how about the police being told to not pull people over for traffic infractions? Yeah, became Mad Max zone in my neighborhood after the great Mayor declared that one to the public.
I’m not a huge fan of police, but sometimes I feel sorry for them because they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.
Just stop. The police can issue a ticket any time they want period. If the DA chooses not to pursue charges well that’s his decision and his job. We give that power to an elected official. Police are hired to do a job and in the case of this incident they are failing massively by choosing to let this right wing extremist slide. This isn’t about the campers, this is about a violent liar who the police are choosing not to prosecute.
If the police want respect they can clean up their act and do their job.
If you don’t have an Oregon CHL it’s illegal to carry both a gun and a loaded magazine in public at the same time (regardless of whether or not the mag is currently in the gun). And Oregon and Washington don’t share CHL reciprocity, either.
From my quick research, the state is only concerned when there’s a loaded gun or gun & ammo on the person or in close proximity in a public space.
I didn’t see that he actually aimed the gun at anyone.
I’d say however, there’s a pretty decent case for menacing. 63.190 Menacing. (1) A person commits the crime of menacing if by word or conduct the person intentionally attempts to place another person in fear of imminent serious physical injury.
There’s a newer video. He’s for sure pointing the gun.
So the cops are totally on top of this, right? They’re reviewing the video as we speak, they got all his info, and they are writing up the gun menacing charges. Gonna cite him for driving through a closed road, for the out of state license. Right?
I’ve been a Sunday Parkways volunteer for many years. My receipts are in my T-shirt drawers. I usually staff the Info tents, but I’ve also worked as an “Intersection Superhero” on occasion, as I did last Sunday. Just prior to starting my afternoon shift, I learned about the incident on SE 130th St.
Here is an excerpt from the Q&A email I sent on Monday to Axiom Event Productions, who coordinated the event: I know there is now discussion on BikePortland about the incident with the motorist on SE 130th St. I haven’t weighed in yet, but if I do I’m going to try to reinforce the good that SP has been for Portland. As I’ve seen repeatedly over the years, sometimes it takes a while for Sunday Parkways to become popular in areas where it has never been at before.
During my very hot shift on Sunday, I encountered a few impatient motorists, as well as many understanding neighbors. I also observed a little girl riding her bicycle up and down the street near my intersection. I think I can confidently say it was the first time she ever rode on that busy street. She was all grins and giggles and her handlebar tassels were flying, even when she was riding up a slight hill. I told her mom I was very impressed!
I sincerely hope that the incident on Sunday doesn’t shut down Sunday Parkways. I also hope it doesn’t dampen the enthusiasm current volunteers, or prospective volunteers, have to continue helping out. To repeat what I said in a comment on BP in 2011, I encourage you to volunteer for one of the Parkways events. It is a great way to get actively engaged, and there always seems to be a need for more help.
Mark, it’s really wonderful that you want to help make a great event happen. But think for a second about how pathetic it is that Portland makes you and others *volunteer* to make it happen. In most other American cities, police are paid to close streets for public events. Why not in Portland? Why can’t we have competent governance like other cities?
Let’s all vote for the charter revision in November – it’s a start.
I volunteer to help organizations and causes that I think make the Portland metro region a nice place to live in. I’ve never regretted my involvement. At the tail end of this webpage, under the ‘Active and Public Transportation Themes’ section, I list the organizations that I’m currently involved with, along with those I’ve helped in the past.
Yes, I’d like to see Portland police actively support SP events again. I think their presence in the past was beneficial. They provided safety measures and also gave SP participants an opportunity to meet the officers on the streets (out of their cars), a la community policing.
If future SP events are held in neighboring metro cities, such as Gresham, Milwaukie, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Milwaukie and Vancouver, I think the police in those cities should also participate.
I definitely think Portland needs competent governance, like other cities of our size. I’m waiting to read the alternative charter package proposal before I make a decision. I see in this Oregonian article this morning (paywalled) that a draft will be released by October 3.
Portland commissioner plans rival fix for city government as charter change battle ratchets up
Driver tells volunteer he lives south of Mill on 135th, but is driving around North on 130th and through the route on Mill? All he had to do was go south on 130th and take a left on division and then 135th, or cut through on the local street south. No sympathy, and no excuse for brandishing a firearm.
It’s as if he doesn’t know his way around his own neighborhood. Weird.
FYI, there are right wing vloggers fearmongering about “car free sundays” e.g. https://youtu.be/o6LmZm6P6W4
Not to mention that some people think bike lanes are part of an Agenda 21 conspiracy theory. Not worth dismissing as this kind of paranoia seeps further into our society.
Why hasn’t this loose cannon been arrested? For what? Let us count the ways…
Cmon coppers, his license plate is clearly visible. Lock him up!!!
Washington plates? Shocking.
Whoever de-escalated this situation potentially saved many lives.
Willamette Week just ran a good story that unmasked the road-rager, who is named Max Bruhn, and revealed that the Portland Police are their usual useless selves.
I’ve been threatened by a guy who showed a gun in a truck while I was riding my bike. He didn’t point it at me – but he didn’t need to. Just takes a millisecond to point it in my direction. When you’re on a bike, you are so completely vulnerable to idiots brandishing guns. Time to change the law so that police can charge people who clearly threaten others by brandishing deadly weapons.
There already is, it’s called Menacing. ORS 163.190 – Menacing (public. Law)
Now whether the DA would prosecute is a whole other story.