2022 Archives

Mayor Wheeler bans street camping along Safe Routes to School routes

Summer vacation is coming to an end and the start of school for kids K-12 kids in Portland is just around the corner. In an ostensible effort to help children safely walk, bike and roll to school this upcoming academic year, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler made an emergency declaration to ban unhoused people from camping along city-identified key walking routes to Portland’s K-12 schools.

Since the Portland Bureau of Transportation has identified these routes for more than 100 schools across the city, there are now a lot more places around the city where unhoused Portlanders can’t legally camp. As soon as The Oregonian broke the story yesterday afternoon, some transportation advocates denounced the restriction as needlessly harmful to people experiencing homelessness in Portland and expressed skepticism that it is in fact the best way to help kids get to school safely.

The emergency declaration cites “trash, tents in the right-of-way, biohazards and hypodermic needles” as potentially dangerous hazards preventing school-age children from being able to safely walk, bike and ride buses to and from school. It will “prohibit camping around school buildings and along priority routes to and from schools” and “prioritizes the work of the Impact Reduction Program to post and remove camps in these areas, and enables them to keep these sites free of camping with no right of return.” According to the declaration, this ban is effective immediately and will be in place until the end of August, but may be renewed.

This new camping ban is an addition to an emergency order Wheeler issued in February banning homeless camping along Portland’s ‘high crash corridors,’ which came after the Portland Bureau of Transportation released its 2021 traffic crash report that showed unhoused people in Portland are disproportionately victimized by traffic violence. This declaration was not well-received by local homeless and transportation advocates.

People who have experienced homelessness and advocates point out that when unhoused people are banned from camping in certain areas and their campsites – and all their belongings – are removed, they are often left without a place to go. With this many places throughout the city now on the list of prohibited camping spots, it’s certain a lot of people will be displaced. The declaration states the city will handle this by increasing shelter capacity, but even if there was enough room, not everyone feels comfortable staying in sanctioned shelter locations. Many people will simply start over at other campsites around the city.

“Removing houseless encampments along all school routes is not on the long list of initiatives that would improve safety for children. There are a lot of other ways to care about children’s safety and experience walking to school.”
– Sam Balto, teacher and safe routes to school activist

Though some homeless Portlanders have set up camps along school walking routes around the city, it’s not evident this poses an inherent risk to children walking to and from school, and Wheeler didn’t provide any explicit examples of such a risk in the declaration. Children are very vulnerable to traffic violence, however, and kids have been tragically injured or killed after getting hit by car drivers while walking to school. In 2018 and 2019, two students at Harriet Tubman Middle School were hit and injured by drivers within a few months, and in 2020, an 11-year-old boy was killed by a driver while walking to school in Gresham.

National Safe Routes to School advocates cite traffic danger as the top reasons kids might be unsafe traveling to school via active transportation. They propose transportation infrastructure investments and community education to improve safety.

Portland’s own Safe Routes to School project plan says the top safety concerns for kids walking to school are unsafe crossings, missing sidewalks and traffic speed. The City of Portland used the map of key walking routes provided in this SRTS plan to guide the new camping ban. This map was designed to be an interactive tool for people to find out about SRTS projects throughout the city, however, so it does not serve as a very clear guide for which streets will be off-limits to homeless camps. It’s difficult to navigate the map to find out in complete detail how many of these streets there are around the city or what the network of banned streets will look like.

Sam Balto is a physical education teacher at Alameda Elementary School in northeast Portland who wants kids to be able to safely walk, bike and roll to school. Balto has organized and led “bike buses” – a.k.a., large groups of students and parents riding to school together en masse – to encourage families to ditch the carpool line and get to school by bike. In a statement to BikePortland, Balto said students will be better served by tactics like these than homeless camping bans.

Balto said the city should also increase traffic calming measures and expand existing initiatives – like the School Streets, Walking School Buses and Corner Greeters programs – to help kids use active transportation to get to school. He also wants the city to encourage more community-driven safety efforts like bike buses by compensating parents and community members for their involvement, and said this would “create a more equitable and sustainable student transportation model that would serve students and their families much better than removing houseless individuals.”

“I appreciate Mayor Wheeler wanting to improve the experience of children walking and biking to school, but removing houseless encampments along all school routes is not on the long list of initiatives that would improve safety for children,” Balto wrote in an email. “There are a lot of other ways to care about children’s safety and experience walking to school.”

Past and present Citybikes owners in legal tussle over assets, shop’s future

A dispute between current and past co-owners of Citybikes Workers Cooperative has turned into a messy legal battle that will decide the future of the storied institution.

Founded in 1986, Citybikes has been a cornerstone of Portland’s cycling scene with its “mothership” location on Southeast Ankeny near 20th and its former Annex location (now closed) 12 blocks west. The shop grew right along with Portland’s reputation as the best cycling city in America. By 2008, Citybikes expanded to a second location, doubled its retail space, and had 25 workers and owners at its peak.

Citybikes pioneered a DIY, self-reliance, bike education ethos that remain strong currents in Portland to this day. In 1992, when a veteran bike mechanic named Brian Lacy showed up to work at Citybikes, he spent most of his days out on the street helping kids fix their bikes. It was such meaningful work it inspired him to create the Community Cycling Center two years later — a nonprofit that thrives three decades after Lacy opened it on Northeast Alberta Street.

Now Lacy and a group of other former Citybikes worker-owners say a mutiny is afoot.

Citybikes painting seen at Last Thursday on Alberta.

“Citybikes Workers Co-op is being looted!” screams the headline of a statement signed by Lacy, along with two of the five original founders Roger Noehren and Mike Kennedy, and longtime past co-owners Sara Stout and Peter Young. They say three of the shop’s four current owners are “trying to sabotage Citybikes for personal gain” and “seek to rewrite or absurdly interpret Citybikes’ bylaws to put in motion their theft of assets plan.” Flyers have been printed, there’s an online petition, a GoFundMe, and a “Save Citybikes” Facebook group.

Lacy sees the effort as nothing short of a life or death struggle for the beloved shop — and he blames the trio of current owners for trying to kill it and profit off the carcass.

According to Lacy, the problems started back in March when he and others got wind of a plan by three of the four current worker-owners — Bob Kamzelski (who also owns Bantam Bicycle Works), Bryce Hutchinson, and Claire Nelson — to dissolve the shop and “swindle” all remaining assets among the four current owners.

You might think an bike shop that specializes in cheap parts doesn’t have much in the way of assets; but Citybikes owns those two buildings on SE Ankeny outright. Lacy estimates they’re worth about $2.5 million.

Noel Thompson, the one current worker-owner who has split from the other three, says Kamzelski just wants the money. Thompson has been with Citybikes for 25 years and says when Kamzelski called a special meeting back in March he suspected something sinister was afoot. Thompson had received a letter prior to the meeting request from Kamzelski’s lawyer Brian Jolly that stated an intention to dissolve Citybikes and split the assets among the four current worker-owners.

“My main concern is that this thing is failing. I just think it’s time to move on.”
– Bob Kamzelski, current Citybikes worker-owner and president

Bob Kamzelski in 2013. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

“According to Oregon law, it only takes a two-thirds majority to make a decision on dissolution, but our internal policy is full consensus,” Thompson shared in an interview. “I think [the other current owners] saw that and set up a special meeting to force that vote. They were going to have the meeting without me even knowing … to do it quick and dirty and not let anyone in the community know what was going on.”

Kamzelski, who’s been a worker-owner for seven years and is listed as president of Citybikes in the shop’s most recent filing with the State of Oregon, denies much of what is being said about him. He says he simply wants to talk have an honest discussion about the future of the co-op. Kamzelski feels Citybikes is on life-support and he’s worried if he doesn’t act fast, there will be no remaining assets to distribute.

In an interview with Kamzelski Thursday, he said he has no intention of rewriting bylaws or closing the shop. At least not right now.

“If the business shutters, and we don’t actually have a plan at the moment to do that,” Kamzelski said. “As officers of the business we are legally required to distribute whatever assets are left over, as our articles of incorporation say. And that’s exactly what we intend to do.”

Asked if he thinks Citybikes’ assets should be distributed to the four existing worker-owners or among the 50 others that have been worker-owners since the co-op started like Lacy, Noehren and others want, Kamzelski said it’s up to lawyers to decide.

“If that’s their interpretation, I mean, they should probably get a lawyer and have a lawyer figure it out for them because I’m not a lawyer and none of these other people are lawyers. I don’t think we’re qualified to actually make that decision.”

Citybikes articles of incorporation from 1990.

Citybikes’ 1990 articles of incorporation (right) state that only shareholders should receive assets upon dissolution. Since shares are held only by the current owners (“Class A shareholders”), it appears as though Kamzelski has a case that, as the articles state, he and the other three current owners should, “share equally in all cooperative assets.” There is a clause that “excess assets” to go all present and former shareholders, but that appears to be triggered only after shareholders receive their distribution. And if “all assets” were paid out to shareholders, there would be no “excess”.

Interpretations of old documents are at the crux of this disagreement. On one hand there are the intentions and spirit that have sustained the organization without need to worry about bylaws and articles of incorporation. On the other are actual words on paper. Even Lacy admits their bylaws and other legal documents are outdated and aren’t up to dealing with this type of dissention among the ranks. “They were created in a more innocent time,” Lacy shared. “Tim [Calvert, a founder] and Roger didn’t wonder back then, ‘How would we deal with sabotage?'”

Shawn Furst, a business consultant who specializes in co-ops, told me that, when it comes to asset distribution, typically they’d be spread beyond current owners. “When they dissolve, they pay off all their debts, then they split rest of assets based on how many hours each worker has worked for the co-op over the life of the organization,” she explained.

Furst said when disagreements like this pop up, it can be very challenging. “In democratic organizations, since newer voting members wield equal power to more established workers, the group can move towards ill-considered decisions. This is something I’ve observed before. At the same time, like any business, co-ops sometimes need that new fresh perspective. In democratic organizations, it’s important for the whole group to work collaboratively to serve the needs of the workers, customers and community as a whole to make hard decisions.”

Based on the tenor of comments from people I’ve talked to in the past few days, collaboration seems unlikely.

“We’re going to rebuild Citybikes. We don’t want it to die.”
– Brian Lacy, Citybikes former worker-owner

Beyond the disagreement over how assets should be split, there’s also a difference of opinion about whether or not Citybikes is even worth saving.

Sara Stout spent 15 years as a worker and owner at Citybikes. “I think it’s a shame the current owners are trying to close the shop,” she said. “It’s valuable for people who use it and it’s a community resource. Why close it?” Stout wishes Kamzelski would just move onto other things if he doesn’t want to keep the shop open. “I’d rather the owners just take their leave. To close it seems like a waste.”

The way Stout sees is, “It was just sort of understood” that Citybikes would last forever and it was never thought of as “somebody’s business.” The idea that just four current owners would benefit from any potential payout feels very wrong to her.

While Kamzelski told me he has no plans to force a closure of the shop, he was being coy. Later in our conversation, when I asked him about the special meeting he called with Thompson in March, Kamzelski acknowledged he and the other two owners who support him wanted to discuss shutting the business down. It was only when Thompson “delayed and deferred” that conversation for two months and then began sending harassing letters, Kamzelski says, that he hired a lawyer.

While he said it’s not a “happy situation,” Kamzelski feels the best way forward is to close Citybikes for good.

“It’s not a viable business anymore,” he said. “We’re looking at a loss of tens of thousands of dollars every year and we’ve been in decline for the last 10 years.” Kamzelski paints a dark picture, saying there’s not enough money in the business to hire more people, to make much-needed building repairs, or to pay anyone much above a poverty range. He says the shop is going to go bust regardless of what happens.

In addition to the four worker-owners, there are only two non-owning workers on staff at the moment — barely enough people to keep working hours.

Citybikes old Annex location on SE 8th and Ankeny.

“I realize Citybikes has served this community for 32 years, but my main concern is that this thing is failing,” Kamzelski said. “If we don’t shut the business down soon we will go into default. We have mortgages and bills to pay. Summer is usually the busiest time for a bike shop but even now our account is empty. It’s been a very successful run and I’ve been here for a third of it. I just think it’s time to move on. Other shops are closing. It’s a very hard time to run a bike shop.”

Thompson, Lacy, and others strongly disagree. Stout said if the business needs cash they should sell the old Annex building on SE 8th and Ankeny.

Thompson knows times are tough right now, but he thinks Citybikes can make a comeback. “I feel positive about it. While a lot of shops have been closing down, we’re on a busy commuter route, we own our shop. I can’t imagine that if we had the right people in there we wouldn’t sustain ourselves.”

For Thompson, Lacy, and founder Roger Noehren, the “right people” no longer includes Kamzelski. They want him to leave.

“I have no doubt that Bob (whom I have a favorable opinion about otherwise) was/is unhappy working at Citybikes, so rather than just leaving and focusing on his frame building business, hatched his plan to dissolve the co-op and abscond with a quarter of the assets,” Noehren shared with me via email this morning.

And Lacy said they’re demanding the “termination” of Kamzelski and Bryce Hutchinson (they believe Claire Nelson is on the fence).

“I know it’s rather bad-bloodish the way we’re coming at this,” Lacy said. “But if you [speaking to Kamzelski] would have followed procedures properly and been respectful of what you signed up to do when you became an owner, none of this would be happening. At this stage, given that our cordial attempts to communicate have fallen on deaf ears, you need to go away. There’s been too much damage done for too long. So off you go.

And we’re going to rebuild Citybikes. We don’t want it to die.”

With heavy hearts, we say goodbye to three more friends from our community

The community around bicycles in Portland is a strong, interwoven thread that runs through a vast network of people, events and organizations. The community has enjoyed one of its best summers ever — a comeback for Portland’s bike culture glory days of sorts — powered in large part by the hundreds of well-attended Pedalpalooza rides. People have been eager to shake off pandemic-induced social doldrums and embrace what makes Portland, Portland.

But there has also been substantial grief.

Since we heard the sad news about Aaron Tarfman’s suicide at the end of May, there have been four other folks with numerous and close ties to the bike scene who are now dead. Just a few weeks after Aaron left us, another friend, Rabbitt Fox, also died by suicide.

And now, with sadness, we acknowledge three more.

Aaron Truman

Aaron competing in the gravity bike competition at the 2008 Maryhill Festival of Speed.

I first met Aaron in 2007 when he helped open A Better Cycle bike shop on Southeast Division. After that, I’d see him around a lot. A creative dude and master mechanic, he was big into Zoobomb and freak bikes. In 2008 I jumped in a car with him and a few others to find a big hill in Washington County. Aaron was into the nascent sport of gravity biking. He and other Zoobombers, Gabriel Amadeus and Chuck Bridge, needed to train for the Maryhill Festival of Speed where they competed as Team Zoobomb.

Whether it was a tiny bike in full leathers bombing down a windy road at 40+ mph or atop his penny farthing, Aaron was quite the character.

Aaron died July 12th. He was 46 years old. You can read more about him in the obituary that ran this week in The Oregonian.

Derek Johnson

I was never fortunate enough to meet Derek Johnson even though he was a regular at the Thursday Night Ride and many fun bike events all around town. When I saw him at the Thursday Night Ride last year (lead photo), it was his colorful bike tattoo and wide smile that caught my eyes.

According to a story from The Oregonian, Derek drowned in the Sandy River while paddleboarding on July 27th. He was 46 years old. Derek had many friends and admirers. They shared a huge collection of photos online of him doing things he loved with the people he cared about. There have also been several events where Derek’s friends and family were able to remember him and celebrate his life.

People gathered for a potluck in Oregon Park on August 1st and there was a “Derek Forever” Pedalpalooza ride this past Monday. Dozens of people came together for an evening ride to exchange stories and release candle lanterns in the river.

A memorial fund for Derek has been set up to help with funeral costs.

Yohhei Sato

Yohhei at this year’s Bike Play. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Also on Monday we heard the terrible news that Yohhei Sato has died. Details around how it happened haven’t been shared yet, but we know that he passed on August 13th.

You might recall seeing Yohhei on Pedalpalooza rides or most recently as one of the stars of Bike Play: Beyond Velodrome. I saw that production twice this year and Yohhei was such a standout! He played Dwayne “U-lock” Johnson and had such a powerful presence that was funny and endearing at the same time. His crew at Bike Play are understandably crushed and they are helping the community remember his life. You can follow them on Instagram for updates.

Yohhei ran a knife sharpening business and would regular visit restaurants to ply his craft, as his trusty dog Spiky waited by his side.

Friends who’ve launched a memorial fund for Yohhei say he was a “catalyst for adventure.” He was, “A colossal spirit, an indomitable charisma monster, a wild child, a sensitive boy, kind, generous, talented, beautiful, with an open and honest heart,” they wrote.

This post also feels strange to me. In 17 years, I’ve covered way more death than anyone should. But it’s almost always layered with frustration and anger about road designs, drivers, our dysfunctional traffic culture, and so on. But that’s absent this time. None of these five folks above died in traffic crashes. That’s new for me, and I assume for many of you. I just wanted to acknowledge that.

I share all this with a very heavy heart for these wonderful humans and the people who loved them. May they all rest in peace.

There’s more than racing at Saturday’s Portland Criterium

If my post about it earlier this month didn’t make it clear: Saturday’s Portland Criterium is a huge deal. It marks the first major bike race downtown in eight years and it shows that Portland’s elected officials have finally come back around to the idea that cycling can be a powerful tool not only for urban mobility, but as a means to bring people together and rediscover our city’s swagger.

But who cares about that stuff! The event is going to be a ton of fun — whether you race or not.

Since our last story, organizers have built this into a block party celebration that will rock the Park Blocks from 1:00 pm to around sunset.

Here’s why this is a must-do event…

The racing itself will be worthy of your time: Imagine standing on a street corner as dozens of racers swoop by you, shoulder-to-shoulder and almost touching each other, at speeds of 30+ mph. Then run over to the finish line to see an all-out, finishing sprint. There’s nothing like it. (Watch our video on a recent crit to see what I mean.)

In addition to the restaurants along the route, organizers will have three excellent food carts too choose from: No Q’ No Taqueria, Baon Kainan, and Matta. And of course there’s the New Belgium Brewing beer garden to wash it all down.

But wait, there’s more: Meet at Salmon Springs Fountain at 4:30 for a sporting-themed Pedalpalooza ride to the race venue. Riders should wear their best sportif-attire, as in uniforms or jerseys from any sport, to amp up the good times. Judges will be at the finish to award prizes to the best outfit! (I think I’ll show up as a Damian Lillard wannabe.)

If organized racing isn’t your thing, but want to show off your speed, there will also be a Biketown-sponsored street sprints competition (wonder where they got that idea) with cash and product prizes for the fastest and funnest sprinters. Open to all bikes and all comers. Starts at 2:30.

And guess what else you can do? Check out the queer-friendly Rainbow Market happening the same day at the Cart Blocks on Burnside and Ankeny. (The Cart Blocks has not just more food and drink options, they also have more bike parking if you need it.)

Racing starts at 1:00 and goes all the way to twilight.

Don’t miss this opportunity to show the haters that Portland is alive and well — and that cycling and the people who love it will play a big role in our city’s renaissance.

PortlandCriterium.com

Weekend Event Guide: Loud n’ Lit, Portland Criterium, and more

Go get some this weekend! (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Time to plan your weekend. And of course, it’s going to be hot out there, so plan accordingly. That means not just prepping for heat, but you should also check official event pages to make sure organizers haven’t cancelled.

As you make plans, consider grabbing a Gorge Pass. It’s just $40 for unlimited rides for you and your bike on any of the Columbia River Gorge transit shuttles. Find bike routes and custom itineraries at GorgePass.com/bikes.

Friday, August 19th

Loud n’ Lit Redux – 9:00 at Irving Park (NE)
The first one in June was so frickin’ massive that everyone wanted to do it again. This time around the original creators of the ride — Dutch and Sysfail — will be leading and they’ve got at least one big surprise for everyone who shows up to party. More info here.

Saturday, August 20th

Bike Scavenger Hunt – 12:00 pm from your own home
The Community Cycling Center has gone all-out for this one. Start at your home and use clues to ride all over town finding fun treasures and completing activities en route to a big party in Woodlawn at the end. A fun-draiser for CCC programs to boot! More info here.

Portland Criterium – 1:00 to 8:30 pm at North Park Blocks (NW)
The Big Day is almost here. Be a part of history as this major race hits downtown with a full day block-party vibe with something for everyone. Don’t miss the street sprints and Pedalpalooza ride for non-racers, and then settle into the Park Blocks with food, drinks, DJs, friends, and amazingly fast bike racers. More info here.

Weird Portland Ride – 1:30 Ankeny West Cart Blocks (SW)
Join the Unipiper, artist Mike Bennett, Olive & Dingo and other colorful folks for an exploration of the people and places that Keep Portland Weird! More info here.

Kidical Mass North Portland Kids Ride – 1:30 at Peninsula Park (N)
Meet other cycling families on a short and fun 3-mile loop of wonderful parks and playgrounds. More info here.

Sunday, August 21st

Sunday Parkways East Portland – 11:00 am to 4:00 pm (E)
Roll with your fellow Portlanders on a carfree loop around east Portland that will take you to cool parks filled with activities, food, live music, and more! It’s the last one of the season so make the best of it. More info here.

Have fun out there this weekend! And remember to check out the Gorge Pass and thank them for supporting our work.

CORRECTION, 8/12 at 8:57 pm: This post initially had the North Portland in Motion Ride under Sunday. It is on Saturday. I regret any confusion this may have caused.

City will seek federal grant to study southeast train crossing delays

View of the tracks looking west from Bob Stacey Crossing toward SE 12th Avenue and downtown Portland. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

People are fed up with being at the mercy of Union Pacific trains that rumble through inner southeast Portland every day. The trains create an impenetrable barrier (unless you risk hopping through them) and long traffic delays that have frustrated locals and everyone who uses nearby roads and bike paths for many years. Now, thanks to a new federal grant program with funding to mitigate the impacts of problematic railroad crossings, something might finally give.

The problem

How big of a deal is this? This summer a Brooklyn neighborhood advocate led a Pedalpalooza ride and published a website about it to share tips on how to avoid it.

#pdxcyclists jump a train near SE 12th and Clinton St. The train began moving 1-2 min. later. pic.twitter.com/Vu5DqF4u5h
— Mark Graves (@markwgraves) November 10, 2017

The tracks come into Portland from the southeast via Brooklyn Yard and follow SE McLoughlin Blvd up to SE 17th Ave, then line up with the Willamette River’s eastern bank until they veer north up to Vancouver (or vice versa). The portion of the tracks north of Powell Blvd and south of Stark St causes the most disruptions, with frequent blockages for people trying to go north-south through the area. Recently, the problem has worsened because of changes in Union Pacific operations to increase train lengths, making it much more difficult to get around them.

This area also lines up with heavily-used bikeways and obstructs what would otherwise be some of the smoothest bike routes in the city. For example, you might have an uninterrupted ride west on the Clinton Street greenway toward the Tilikum Crossing before having to stop at the tracks. People traveling from south of the tracks might have easier access to the Tilikum, but they suffer the same fate when trying to go north.

While people biking and walking have more options for crossing the tracks compared to someone stuck in their car these options aren’t always available. Most notably, the Bob Stacey Overcrossing elevators over the tracks at SE 14th are notoriously unreliable, making it impossible to use for people who can’t climb the stairs and/or lift their bikes up them.

People using public transit suffer as well. I’ve watched the MAX orange line train depart from the Clinton and SE 12th Ave station without me because of an unrelenting freight train, and passengers on the TriMet bus lines that run through the area are stuck in the same situation as people in cars. And TriMet’s $175 million Division Transit Project to bring faster bus service to the Division corridor opens next month on a route that will use the Tilikum Crossing to travel from inner southeast to the south waterfront. Major train-related blockages are incompatible with an “express” bus route.

“The train blockages encourage unsafe behavior. Drivers might try to beat the gates if they see a train might be sitting there for a long time, and people walking and biking will sometimes hop the trains, which is really unsafe. We have a high level of community concern [about this].”
-Zef Wagner, PBOT

The advocacy

A train rolling north near Water Ave and SE Taylor Street. (Photo: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)

Last year, members of the Central Eastside Industrial Council and Hosford Abernethy and Brooklyn Neighborhood groups put together a Change.org petition asking the Portland Bureau of Transportation to address the frequent train blockages, saying railroad intersections in this area “need major improvements to keep the roads safe for all and easy to commute, and address concerns of increased carbon emissions.”

In the comments section of the Change.org petition, people recounted their experiences waiting at the train tracks with real emotion and said it hurts local businesses and impacts where people decide to live.

“I moved to SE Portland thinking it was a reasonable commute from work. That was because I had been lucky enough to avoid the train the first couple times I visited. Now I plan pretty much every trip around avoiding this train, which adds time driving longer routes or through construction zones. It’s ridiculous. Can’t wait to move out of this area for this reason.” one commenter said.

“This regularly impacts my travel and more recently I am just avoiding this area and nearby businesses altogether due to chance of being stuck behind trains,” another person wrote.

Mobility in the central eastside is on a roll right now with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry District plan, the new Blumenauer Bridge, and renewed interest in the Green Loop. Unpredictable and long heavy rail crossings could pull the brakes on all that momentum.

The solution?

At Tuesday night’s City of Portland Pedestrian Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting, PBOT planner Zef Wagner said the city hears these concerns and are working to tackle the problem – or at least start to figure out how.

The federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed last year includes a grant program for railroad crossing elimination projects across the country, providing funding for “highway-rail or pathway-rail grade crossing improvement projects that focus on improving the safety and mobility of people and goods.” This is a $600 million national competitive grant program with $18 million allocated to planning studies, which PBOT wants to snag $1 million of to conduct the Central Eastside Railroad Crossing Elimination Study.

Josh Hetrick (in black) led a ride about the tracks back in April. (Photo: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)

“We think this would be really competitive for this program, because those train blockages encourage unsafe behavior. Drivers might try to beat the gates if they see a train might be sitting there for a long time, and people walking and biking will sometimes hop the trains, which is really unsafe,” Wagner said at the meeting. “And we have a high level of community concern [about this].”

With this study, PBOT would look at the feasibility of more grade-separated crossings or undercrossings, as well as potential non-infrastructure solutions like wayfinding to give people information ahead of time about when trains are coming. Grant applications are due in early October, and Wagner asked the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committees to consider writing letters of support for the project.

Brooklyn neighborhood advocate and self-appointed train track crossing educator Josh Hetrick has advocated for more access across the train tracks. He said he sympathizes with people aggravated by this problem and has felt it himself, too.

“When long blockages occur, there are tons of cars idling. Our neighborhood already has some of the worst air quality in the city (due to highways, the rail yard, heavy freight traffic, a TriMet garage, and other industrial sites) and idling emissions just compound that,” Hetrick told me. “It’s just one more thing to deal with each time you leave the house and need to cross the tracks. You don’t have to wonder ‘Can I use the road today?’ with most other roads.”

Create your own DIY family summer bike camp

I was inspired to create our own family bike camp after hearing about my mother-in-law’s stories of home-made summer camps.

Too often, summer fun seems to be prohibitively expensive, but with a little creativity and effort, it can also be free. Here’s an idea for creating a Do-It-Yourself Family Bike Camp. All you need is your bike, your home-packed picnic, and your sense of summer adventure…

I was inspired to create our own family bike camp after hearing about my mother-in-law’s stories of home-made summer camps. She and her friends couldn’t afford to send their kids to camp, so every summer they decided to plan a week of camp fun which they made up themselves. This summer, I was fortunate enough to be able to send my oldest son to the WashCo Bikes Saddle Up Summer Bike Camp (he loved it!), but I needed something fun–and cheap–to do with the rest of us. My other kids were too little to send to camp, but I made the vow to get all of us up and ready for a week of bike outings, as if we were going to bike camp too.

Every morning, we loaded up a full picnic, waters and sunscreen, then scrambled to get my son to his camp on time. We biked the 2.5 miles to his drop-off, then began our own “camp” adventures for the day. We rode to multiple parks and even found a new-to-us favorite with hiking trails and nature play. While my oldest son had a blast pedaling all over town, enjoying visits to parks, a splash pad, the library, and an ice cream shop, we basically did the same, and actually crossed paths with him multiple times. It was the most biking we have ever done, and the most time we’ve spent outside, as we rode over 10 miles a day, and stayed out at parks all the way until naptime. It was one of the most fun weeks of our summer. Indeed, I daresay it made bikers of us all!

Here are a list of suggestions for planning your own DIY family bike camp:

Check the map for fun destinations. Pull up a map of your community and look for all the bikeable parks, libraries, shops and greenspaces. You may be surprised at all of the places you’ve overlooked, forgotten about, or never visited. Put together a list of new places to visit, along with your current favorites.
Extend your range. Pick one challenge destination to get you biking a little farther. Often, the most fun camps are the ones that challenge kids to accomplish something hard. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourselves; it might be the most fun thing you do all week.
Check your community calendar. Are there any events or festivals you can bike to? Storytime at the library? Outdoor market? Don’t forget to check the BikePortland Calendar for more ideas.

Make a bike plan. Pick out destinations and routes for the week. Be sure to pre-test any unfamiliar routes.
Get creative. Think about some camp-y activities you can do yourself that don’t involve much equipment. (Go ahead and Google ideas, or check out a book of summer activities from the library.) Here are a few suggestions to get you thinking:
- Create a scavenger hunt to do at your local park.
- Make nature boats from sticks and leaves to race in a creek.
- Get wet at an outdoor sprinkler pad or splash in your local river/swimming hole.
- Take sketch books and colored pencils and try nature drawing or journaling.
- Pack your favorite chapter book or poetry book and do a read-aloud under a nice shade tree.
- Bring a speaker and music to help you sing goofy songs or even have an outdoor dance party.
Be fully present. I admit that I didn’t actually make up special camp activities (but I am planning to do so next year.) Instead, I decided to let my kids lead our playtime at various parks, giving them the opportunity to enjoy lots of unstructured outdoor nature play. If you don’t have time or resources to plan games and activities, don’t let that deter you. Kids are the most excited to have your full attention. Little kids are thrilled if you will just play tag or hide-and-seek, or spin in circles until you all get dizzy. Simply pledge to keep your screen device turned off, and focus on your children. It can be a great week, even if you don’t plan anything except to bike to some parks and be fully present when you get there.

Set an alarm. Pick a morning leave time and stick to it. If you have gotten in a habit of sleeping late this summer, challenge yourself to leave earlier than you normally would. You’ll beat the heat, enjoy the freshness of a morning ride, and be able to pack in a full schedule of activities by lunch time.
Stay outside. It might be tempting to head home early, but challenge yourselves to stay outside and away from screens. You’ll come home sweaty and tired, just like real summer campers.
Pack well. Pack extra snacks, a picnic lunch, lots of water and sunscreen. Get as much prepared the night before as you can. (Pro tip: Try packing all of your ingredients in your bag and assembling lunch at the park. I like to throw a loaf of bread and my jars of PB and jelly in my pack, along with a block of cheese, fruits & veggies, a knife and small cutting board. I often find it easier to prep lunch while my kids are rolling down the slide, than when I am trying to get us out the door in the morning.)
Do a bike check. A flat tire could really mess up your plans. Fill up with air, and remember to pack a patch kit or spare. Check that helmets fit. Also, see if bike seats are at proper heights–we finally adjusted these mid-week and everyone was happier!
Invite friends. The more the merrier! Group rides are especially fun and sociable. It’s also a lot easier to play tag with other kids along for the trip. Try some old-fashioned fun, like a game of capture the flag or kickball.
End with a treat. Ice cream? Popsicles? Home-made frozen juice pops? Reward yourselves for a week of biking with something cool and sweet.
Add a tent? I meant these suggestions as a biking day camp, but you could try overnight bike camping, perhaps by taking a small tent to a friend’s house and camping out in their backyard.

There are still a few weeks of summer left. Enjoy them while you can! Usually, the hardest part is getting out the door. You can do it. Happy biking.

OMSI plan with new Water Avenue alignment and cycle-track gets hearing Thursday

The plan to create a new district surrounding the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) has been in the works for almost 15 years. Tomorrow, proponents of the plan to redesign 34 acres of land in Portland’s central eastside will ask the city’s Design Commission to review their proposal – the most concrete action yet toward breaking ground on the transformative development project.

If all goes according to OMSI’s plans, the project would come with a major new bikeway.

OMSI is a favorite destination for Portland tourists and locals, located near a slew of multimodal transportation options – including MAX light rail, streetcar, bus, bikeways and even a (dormant) submarine. But the museum is located in an industrial part of town with few other nearby attractions.

Before/after of circulation plans through the district.

If it comes to fruition as project boosters want, the OMSI District will include a new waterfront education park and create new access to the Willamette River. It will also be the site of major new residential and mixed-use development, with plans to build up to 1,200 new housing units alongside new restaurants and businesses.

The success of these plans hinges on a major redesign which project proponents say will allow the district to safely accommodate people biking, walking and rolling through the neighborhood while also maintaining car and freight access.

OMSI wants to realign SE Water Avenue, which forms the district’s spine, to the eastern edge of the plan area. This would split the street into two – “New” and “Old” Water Aves – which would serve different purposes for people traveling through the area. There would also be a Loop Road to the south of Old Water Ave and a “central pedestrian spine” running through the district.

“New Water Avenue will allow freight and vehicular traffic heading through to points north or south the center of the plan area on a street with softer curves and fewer access points, while Old Water Avenue is prioritized for pedestrian activity and local service and loading access,” OMSI’s land use review application states. Plans for New Water Ave show 12-feet of dedicated cycling space split between 2 bicycle lanes (six feet each) next to 37-feet split between three, 12-13-foot wide standard travel lanes (which seems excessively wide for a road like this).

SE Water Ave just north of Tilikum Way. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

New Water Avenue will be “the most direct and convenient route” for through car and truck traffic and include a two-way bikeway along the west side of the street. This new bike route would provide a connection from the central eastside to the Tilikum Crossing Bridge and would also connect the Hawthorne Bridge with the Springwater Corridor path.

Old Water Ave will also have the two-way, 12-foot bikeway — except for one block in front of the main plaza where the plans show the bikeway vanishes and is replaced with a bus lane.

But as we’ve pointed out before, the existence of this New Water Ave wouldn’t be a deterrent to people biking on the Eastside Esplanade or within the OMSI district. Old Water Ave will integrate a two-way cycle track as well, and the plan is to include 12-foot-wide sidewalks with 8-foot through pedestrian zones, street trees, and landscaping.

Advocates for the Green Loop around Portland’s central city foresee the OMSI district playing a key role in the future active transportation circle. With two carfree bridges on either side of the district – the Tilikum Crossing and the new Blumenauer Bridge – its in a good position to offer active transportation connections to the rest of the city.

Because this project is so large, it won’t be able to receive approval without significant conversation between the involved city bureaus and organizations. There is already some design pushback beginning to emerge: a staff report released earlier this month includes a skeptical memo from PBOT’s engineering department, which states “while the layout and general geometry of the existing and new public streets acceptable, the details including lane widths, stacking lanes depth, location and design of protected bike lanes, and the number and location of new traffic signals is still under review.” They note a particular concern with how cyclists will enter the new district just south and north of the site. All of this will be up for conversation at Thursday’s hearing.

The Design Commission plans to review the OMSI district plan from 4-6 pm at tomorrow’s hearing. You can register to testify here, and stay tuned for updates as the plan moves forward.

Tuesday: Two serious collisions, two crosswalks, one half-mile apart

Tuesday was another day that illustrated how Portland has a long way to go to make its streets — even one with a much-heralded recent investment — safe for people not inside cars. Even on Southeast Hawthorne, where the Portland Bureau of Transportation recently completed a major project billed by Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty as a significant upgrade in pedestrian safety, we see that the consequences of car-dominance are no match for a few median islands, signs and paint.

Portlander Nicole Funke shared on Twitter that she was “pretty beat up” after being hit while walking in the new crosswalk on Hawthorne at 38th. “Been a pedestrian for 38 years and finally got got by a Volkswagen while crossing Hawthorne. The driver took PBOT’s fancy new zebra crossing as a suggestion, I guess.”

As BikePortlanders know, PBOT completed a major renovation of Hawthorne billed in large part as an upgrade to pedestrian safety in November 2021. While I think the new street design (in photos below) has tamed drivers significantly, it’s clear that risks remain. I don’t have more details on what led up to Nicole’s collision, but I’ll update the post if/when I hear more.

Arrow points to crossing where Nicole was hit.

Also yesterday, just a half-mile south of Hawthorne on SE Powell Blvd, we learned from local news coverage that a 15-year-old person riding a bicycle was hit and very seriously injured while crossing SE Powell at 45th. KATU says the victim has “life-threatening” injuries. We can see from KATU’s photos that the car driver was operated a large SUV and headed eastbound when the collision occurred. There’s significant front-end damage to the vehicle so the person must have either been driving at a high rate of speed and/or slammed into a curb.

SE 45th Ave in 2007 City of Portland plan.

The location is adjacent to Creston Park. There’s a neighborhood greenway route just one block west at 43rd. A BikePortland reader heard about Tuesday’s crash and told us they filed an official complaint about the 43rd Ave crossing in January 2021. Their main concern was “lack of visibility of cyclists at the intersection”. The complaint has worked its way through PBOT’s process and they plan to install bike boxes on 43rd and 42nd (its an offset crossing) sometime this summer. It’s unclear if our readers concerns are directly related to what happened to the bicycle rider yesterday.

SE Powell is a state highway and is and owned/managed by the Oregon Department of Transportation.

We hope the victim will make a full recovery, but in my experience when the Portland Police Bureau says “life-threatening” they really mean it.

These are just some of the collisions that have happened recently as Portland remains a hostage to dangerous drivers and street designs that don’t do enough to rein them in.

CORRECTION, 8/29: This story originally said PBOT owns and manages a section of SE Powell from 99th west. That is wrong. Powell is all under ODOT jurisdiction. I regret the error and any confusion it might have caused.

Carry Shit Olympics draws cargo bike enthusiasts to north Portland

**Note:** You can now swipe or arrow-click through our photo galleries! (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

The Carry Shit Olympics event drew a wonderful mix of people and bikes to Peninsula Park in north Portland Tuesday night. In true everything-is-a-cargo-bike spirit, some people showed up on bikes with pannier racks, there were a few traditional bakfiets front-loaders, a few longtails, a homemade rig, and even an electric, off-road trike with big knobby tires.

The event was organized by Zack Reinhardt (@zackpizzabikes on Instagram), a 30-year old cargo bike evangelist who moved to Portland from Pennsylvania three-and-a-half years ago. “I basically just wanted to put on a cargo bike race a little bit more relaxed and underground than DRT [Disaster Relief Trials, the large-scale event that happened back in June],” he told me at a checkpoint along the route.

Here are just some of the bikes that showed up:

The mix of riders was amazing to see. Several folks showed up with kids in tow and my estimate on the age-range was 6-60+ (see them in the video below). They received a manifest at the start and had to navigate to checkpoints throughout north Portland from Overlook Park to Kelley Point Park. At those stops they had to pick up a variety of cargo. There were extra points for filling up a bag with trash found along the way, or for interesting ground scores.

Why put on an event like this? For Reinhardt, it was just an excuse to have fun on a summer weeknight in Portland during Pedalpalooza. But there’s also an advocacy element:

“I think cargo bikes really have the potential to really change how people live, and they have the potential to save the world, change how a lot of people are living, change how we go about our lives, both in the city and outside the city. So I think this is a good way to kind of show folks what those kind of bikes are capable of.”

At the end spot on a beach in Kelley Point Park, Reinhardt tallied up the scores and volunteer Anthony Dryer was there to grab photos of a few of the winners:

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Check out a few more actions shots in the gallery below:

NW Trail Alliance hires first-ever executive director

The Northwest Trail Alliance has hired its first-ever full-time, salaried executive director.

Lisa Olivares has over two decades of nonprofit management experience and holds a Master of Urban Planning degree the group says will help them, “move into new areas of land stewardship and trail building.” The Portland-based nonprofit that maintains, builds, and advocates for off-road trail access across the region, has been run by volunteers for over 30 years.

NWTA launched in 2009 as part of a rebrand of the old Portland United Mountain Pedalers. Since then their membership has skyrocketed along with the miles of trails and acreage they’ve helped open for cycling. Stub Stewart, Gateway Green, Sandy Ridge, and Rocky Point are just some of the excellent riding areas NWTA helped create and continues to steward. In recent years they’ve expanded to offer many social rides, monthly clinics, youth skills programs, in addition to their bedrock service of volunteer trail maintenance work parties.

“This is a historic moment for NWTA.”
– Bob Lessard

Bob Lessard, a former NWTA president will now serve as director of operations. In a statement from the group this week, Lessard said, “I am very excited to have Lisa at the helm… [She] brings a degree of nonprofit management experience that will benefit the organization and its members in many ways. Volunteers are still our number one asset, but it takes constant attention and leadership to grow an organization and to keep it running smoothly. This is a historic moment for NWTA.”

You can meet-and-greet Olivares and the entire NWTA crew at a member meeting on September 27th at Hopworks. Stay tuned for details.

City of Portland zoning code proposal for electric vehicle charging leaves out e-bikes

Last week, the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) released a new draft proposal for its Electric Vehicle Ready Code project, which would amend city zoning code to require electric vehicle charging at new multi-unit dwellings. But advocates for electric bikes – who frequently lament being left out of efforts to expand electric vehicle usage – will notice bikes are missing from the equation yet again.

As we pointed out when we looked at the discussion draft for this code amendment back in May, the plan acknowledges there is a need for alternative forms of transport, like electric bikes, to substitute for car trips in order for the city to meet its climate goals.

“Fundamentally, the number of private vehicles must decrease, the distance travelled must shrink, and alternative forms of electric transport (including electric buses, electric- scooters and electric bikes) must substitute for car trips,” the document states.

But that’s where the conversation ends. Neither the discussion draft nor the most recent draft proposal provides a plan for less private vehicle ownership and more e-bike usage through added charging facilities.

Even with tax credits for electric cars, these vehicles can be prohibitively expensive for broad adoption. And although they’re certainly better for the environment than cars that burn gasoline, e-cars have their pitfalls. E-bikes can serve as transformative, climate-friendly car replacements – but only if people can easily use them.

The crux of the plan is to require new multi-unit and mixed use developments with five or more units to provide the conduit for electric car charging infrastructure at 100% of parking spaces if the complex provides six spaces or less, or 50% of spaces when more than six are provided. The amendment won’t require developments to include parking spaces – but if they do, they need to follow these rules.

The lack of access to charging facilities for all electric vehicles – cars and bikes – impacts people of color and people who make low-incomes the most. As such, this impedes on the city’s equity goals, which is something they’re trying to tackle with this amendment.

“Access to EV-charging facilities in multifamily housing is key to ensuring equitable access,” the document states. “Renters…represent a greater portion of low- and moderate-income and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) households. To date, these households have largely been unable to benefit from electric vehicles.”

“It’s kind of ridiculous that we’re bending over backwards to support cars but we’re not doing anything for e-bikes when the environmental benefits of e-bikes are so high.”
– Chris Smith

It’s true that people who live in multi-unit dwellings have a more difficult time accessing charging facilities for electric vehicles. But the logic applied to electric cars in the draft document, which states the “adoption of electric vehicle use is slowed by lack of familiarity and concerns about the availability of charging infrastructure,” also applies to electric bikes.

People who live in apartment or condo complexes may not be able to lug their bike to their unit to charge it if the battery isn’t removable, and the bikes can take up a lot of space in a small home. Having accessible charging infrastructure would make e-bikes easier to use for a lot of people.

It’s worth asking if e-bike owners would actually use charging facilities if they were provided alongside e-car charging in multi-unit dwellings. Portland’s major 2019 bike parking reform made it a requirement for bike parking – and outlets – to be included in many new multi-unit dwelling developments, so people should have access to more optimal places to charge them than in a parking lot with questionable security. But e-bike charging infrastructure needs deserve the level of attention electric car charging receives, so advocates say they should at least be included in the discussion for policies like this.

“My reaction is that it’s disappointing and kind of ridiculous that we’re bending over backwards to support cars but we’re not doing anything for e-bikes when the environmental benefits of e-bikes are so high,” Chris Smith, a Portland transportation activist and former member of the Planning and Sustainability Commission, told me.

People who use e-bikes as their primary means of transportation often need to get creative with charging solutions. The Oregon Department of Transportation has outfitted new electric vehicle charging stations with e-bike charging capacity, which is a small step toward e-bike accessibility, but does nothing to help bring easier charging closer to where people live.

Beyond the infrastructure itself, any time we update city code it’s an opportunity for government to send a message that they support and encourage non-car transportation, which in turn impacts whether or not the population at-large views e-bikes as a viable car alternative.

The next step in adopting this plan will be a BPS hearing on September 13, which will be open for public testimony. You can register to testify at the draft hearing here.