Rabbitt Fox, a person who inspired many people in many different ways, is no longer with us.
As word has spread throughout the community this week, people are mourning and sharing memories online, in group texts and in sad conversations.
You might have known of Rabbitt, even if you didn’t actually know Rabbitt. That was the case with me, before we built a friendship forged over years of bumping into each other at local bike events. As a wide-eyed new Portlander in 2005, I first met him when he was a member of the Alberta Street Clown House troupe and my family and I would visit Last Thursday. The Clown House and its creative and fun denizens was one of the first things that inspired me to document this community, and Rabbitt was always in the middle of the creative chaos on the corner of 25th and Alberta.
Mini-Bike Winter Chariot Wars, 2010Ladds 500, 2022.Burnside Bridge, 2009Multnomah County Bike Fair, 2014Mini-Bike Winter Chariot Wars, 2010Alberta Street Clown House, 2006.Multnomah County Bike Fair, 2014Multnomah County Bike Fair, 2014Multnomah County Bike Fair, 2014(Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Then I’d see him at Zoobomb events like Chariot Wars. And then there was jousting. He was one of the best. A fearsome warrior on the bike who had no care for consequence when a crowd was there to cheer him on.
He was tough on the outside, but kind and sweet on the inside.
I didn’t know Rabbitt deeply, but we shared an important bond that runs deep: We both loved Portland bike culture and the community around it. I admired his role in creating it, and I think he respected my role in documenting it.
I knew Rabbitt had a hard life and that I only saw him during his happy times. He would tell me about his love of hopping trains (he also went by “Railroad Rabbitt”) and this week a friend of his told me when he got in a down mood, he’d skip town on the rails to try and clear his head and figure things out.
He was a skilled carpenter and builder and would do odd jobs to get by. One time we heard he was looking for work and had him build our backyard shed. It still looks great and is still standing tall!
I’ve seen a lot of people come and go from this scene in the past 17 years, and Rabbitt was one face I was happy to know was still around. When I saw him riding at the Ladds 500 back in April, I was eager to include him in my video. What he said that day, totally unscripted and unprompted, was something I’ll always cherish:
“I’m actually having a great time out here, this is a big family and this is an annual event. Ladds 500! Tall bikes, all kinds of freak bikes, six-wheel bikes. Clowns! You know, we’re having a great day here. I’ve been part of the bike culture since ’92. Originally, I rode bikes with Hard Times Bike Club and the Black Label and I was a Dropout for a long time. I was a clown and a feral clown and with Rebel Alliance. And now I’m Dead Baby Bikes, a Seattle original club and there’s a chapter here in Portland. I mean, we all Zoobombed like crazy back in the day. A lot of us were pretty hardcore about it. There’s been some flux in the bike community, but it’s definitely coming back to life and it’s a lot of the new school people riding bikes and they’re kind of picking up where a lot of us are growing older. While we’re still crushing it, we’re running out of steam you know. OK. I got two laps and I gotta go. See you all later. Thank you Jonathan.”
We love you Rabbitt. We miss you. Rest in peace friend.
Postcard mailed to people who live on greenways. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Portlanders love yard signs and neighborhood greenways and a new initiative from the Bureau of Transportation wants to take full of advantage of it.
About 25,000 people who live on our 110-mile network of neighborhood greenways citywide received a postcard in the mail this week that exclaims: “You Live on a Neighborhood Greenway!” The postcard offers all recipients their choice of two sign designs. One of them is a general neighborhood greenway sign with stick figures biking, walking a dog and playing ball; the other is yellow to mimic a traffic caution sign and includes “15 MPH” in large font.
In passive-aggressive Portland, anonymously planting a sign in the grass that tells other people how they should act is the perfect way for many people to exercise their activism muscles.
PBOT says they hope this latest effort helps raise awareness about the 15 mph advisory speed limit and other traffic calming installations they’ve recently installed on greenways.
PBOT Interim Communications Director Hannah Schafer says, “Our goal is raise awareness among people traveling and living along greenways that they are great streets for walking, biking and rolling.” Funding for the signs comes from the Slow Streets program.
Schafer said they’ve printed 1,000 signs, 500 of each design. If you want one, you better act fast as she reports they’ve had 287 orders in the first two days of the campaign.
This free sign program is available only to people to who live on neighborhood greenways. If you’re one of them, you can request yours here.
Riding through plaza on SW Harvey Milk. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
The honeymoon for free use of Portland’s public right-of-way will soon be over. The bureau of transportation just announced a new fee structure for their Healthy Business permits that have been awarded to over 1,000 businesses since May 2020.
Starting September 1st, businesses will have to pay $150 for an application, then pay $500 for every parking space and $6 for each linear foot of sidewalk space they use.
These permits have been extremely popular with restaurants who were eager to expand onto streets and sidewalks in order to keep patrons healthy during the pandemic. Back in March PBOT announced the program would become permanent. Up until now, businesses have been using public space at no charge. PBOT has offset the expenses with federal pandemic relief funding and their own generosity borne out of a goal to help keep businesses alive during a difficult time.
In a statement today, PBOT said the new fees will cover administration costs and allow them to support and evaluate permit holders. Current Healthy Business permits are valid through August 31st of this year. The new fees go into effect September 1st and permits issued under the new system will be valid through December 2023.
PBOT Signals and Street Lighting Division Manager Peter Koonce pointing out spots for people on bikes to stand while waiting for the light to turn green across Naito Parkway. (Photos: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
Taking a look at a bike signal headed across Moody in the South Waterfront next to the Tilikum Crossing bridge.
Good urban planning means the average person traveling around a city doesn’t need to know anything about what went into designing it – they can just get around intuitively. Peter Koonce, who manages the traffic signals and street lighting division at the Portland Bureau of Transportation, is keenly aware of this. Koonce and his team oversee signals many people use without much thought. But that’s okay with him, as long as they work.
On a ride last Thursday, Koonce led a group around Portland’s central city to talk shop about a few of the 1,200 traffic signals he manages. It was just the latest “policy ride” hosted by local bike advocacy group Bike Loud PDX that give the urban planning-curious a backstage look at what’s going on with projects around the city.
When it comes to signal operations, they’re much more complex than you think, especially when you take into account all the different transportation modes that need to function together. Koonce and his team at PBOT do take all these modes into consideration. And since private cars are at the bottom of Portland’s transportation hierarchy, PBOT always has an eye toward using signals to improve safety and be easy for non-drivers to use.
One way PBOT uses traffic signals to make it safer to walk and bike is to install a lot of them.
“We actually manage the speeds of traffic by using the signals frequently,” Koonce said.
The more signals there are, the more traffic will have to stop, unless people are going a safe speed. Most signals in the central city are timed to reward users with a string of greens if they’re going about 11-12 mph. That happens to be an average cycling speed. It’s also fast enough to get around, but slow enough to prevent calamitous crashes.
Making our way downtown, riding fast, relying on traffic signals to keep multiple transportation modes functioning correctly.
While some of Portland’s traditional signals are programmed with bicycle riders in mind, there are also bike-only signals installed specifically for them.
Koonce talked about a particular kind of bike signal they’ve imported from the Netherlands. It lets people on bikes know their presence has been registered and then offers a countdown so they know how long they’ll have to stop. In the gallery below, you can see a new signal on Naito Parkway on the left and a close-up of a similar signal installed on Broadway at North Williams Ave in 2020.
New signal on Naito Parkway. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Using imported bike signals is not normal for American traffic engineers. PBOT’s Koonce happens to be an exception to the rule. He’s also a national expert who travels the country sharing insights about what we do here in Portland. His motive for encouraging other cities to try bike-friendly signal treatments, he said at the ride, is a roundabout way of influencing national signal standards (something he also gets to do in a direct way as an executive board member of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, a Federal Highway Administration advisory body).
“When Portland does something that’s new and innovative, [the FHWA, who authorizes new treatments] will say, ‘oh, that’s just Portland. That’s not in New York. That’s not LA. It’s not Boston. It’s just Portland,'” Koonce said. “So we’re hoping other cities will actually use them so it’ll become a more of a de facto standard.”
Koonce by a traffic signal box in the South Waterfront.
Koonce is known to push the envelope with what the (traditionally very conservative) FHWA allows, so he and his team have to carry out federally-mandated experiments when implementing signals like the ones used on Naito. They monitor data and usage patterns for the new signals, then report back to the feds. Recently, OSU and PBOT have partnered to analyze the Better Naito Forever bikeway and upcoming SW 4th Avenue Improvement Project to evaluate “bicycle safety and comfort, especially with respect to conflicts between turning vehicles, buses, and bicyclists at signalized intersections.”
The Bike Loud group looked at several different signal types on the ride. The one I found most compelling was on the new Naito Parkway protected bikeway at the intersection with Morrison Street. At this crossing, walkers need to cross the bike traffic lanes to get to the pedestrian beg button, which is on a concrete median island between the lanes (see image below).
While we were there, two passersby became unwitting participants for us to observe. Koonce pointed out they were good subjects because they did what PBOT doesn’t want people to do at that intersection: After crossing the bikeway to press the beg button on the island, they moved back to the curb they started on to wait for the signal (so they ended up crossing the bike path three times instead of just once).
Two people walking downtown gave us a chance to see human behavior in action.
“They’re walking out, not feeling comfortable waiting out there and walking back,” Koonce said. “We were actually worried [people would do that.]”
This was an important scene to witness because it demonstrates one of the most vital parts of Koonce’s job: to understand human behavior. Good signal design shouldn’t force people to do things that aren’t natural based on the transportation bureau’s agenda. That can lead to low compliance and dangerous outcomes. Koonce instead aims to constantly tweak the system so it achieves the city’s goals while also being intuitive. And he’s a sponge for data, always asking for more input.
“We’re ironing out those kinks, and so continue to give us feedback as you experience Better Naito,” Koonce said. “We’re always debating: Is this really going to work for people? How do we communicate to people? And how do we make things better?”
An e-bike rider in downtown Portland, January 2022. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
“The increased popularity means greater demand on already subpar active transportation infrastructure that fails to meet our climate or safety requirements and goals.”
– Electric Bikes For All coalition
A broad coalition of business owners and nonprofit organizations who are pushing for more electric bicycle use in Oregon are sounding an alarm about the lack of safe infrastructure after a fatal crash in northeast Portland earlier this month.
The Electric Bikes For All coalition has written a letter to Oregon Department of Transportation Region 1 Director Rian Windsheimer and Portland Bureau of Transportation Director Chris Warner that warns of more deaths as the popularity of e-bikes skyrockets far above the safety of streets they are used on.
The crash that spurred the letter happened on June 7th when a man was hit while riding an e-bike on NE 102nd at Glisan. As we reported at the time, the victim was dragged 600 feet as the driver of the truck sped away and fled the scene.
“Electric bikes continue to grow in popularity, expanding the types and distance of trips that people are able to make,” the letter states. “The increased popularity – not just for e-bikes but for all individual mobility from classic bikes to e-scooters – means greater demand on already subpar active transportation infrastructure that fails to meet our climate or safety requirements and goals.”
The group goes on to say that the top excuse Oregonians make for not buying an e-bike is that roads are unsafe. Urgency for better bike infrastructure grows when you consider that e-bikes are a feasible and attractive option for a much wider range of people than acoustic/analog bikes. As the price of e-bikes falls, so does their appeal and the need to expand the network of safe routes well beyond Portland’s central city.
Here’s more from the letter:
“It is imperative that we create and maintain safe streets for these new riders… While there are many benefits to light transportation, without separated facilities they add vulnerability to users when competing with automobiles.”
The group makes two specific recommendations: Make protected bike lanes a default treatment and add automated traffic cameras across the city’s entire “high crash network”.
Below is the list of signatories:
Kiel Johnson Chair – BikeLoud PDX
André Lightsey-Walker The Street Trust
Brenna Bailey ABC (Andando en Bicicletas en Cully)
Barrett Brown Forth
Sara Wright Oregon Environmental Council
Neil Bausgard The Environmental Center
Sarah Waits The Outer Rim Bike Shop
Lenny Dee Onward Oregon
Alan Acock Mid-Valley Bicycle Club
Steve Abbott Climate Revolutions by Bike
Molly Conroy-Schmidt Go By Bike Valet
Helen Hitt Cynergy E-Bikes
Claire Vlach Oregon Walks Plans and Projects Committee
Melinda Hanson Electric Avenue
Eli Spevak, CEO – Orange Splot LLC
Megan Ramey Bikabout.com and Active Transportation Rep-at large for ODOT Region 1 ACT
The traveling public is advised to plan ahead and choose an alternate route around construction taking place on SE 19th Avenue and SE Lambert Street in Sellwood this summer and fall. Sections of Southeast 19th Avenue will be closed starting June 20th as a contractor working for the Water Bureau replaces more than 4,800 feet—just under a mile—of aging water main.
Street closures: Streets will be closed during work hours, Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., and detours will be in place. For limited local access, please talk with a member of our crew before driving into a work zone. We want to keep you and your vehicle safe.
Traffic detours on SE 19th Avenue: People walking, cycling, and driving will likely be detoured at least one block east or west. Plan to detour around the work zones. If you live in the work zone, plan for it to take extra time to get to and from your house.
“We want everyone to get home safely to the dinner table, the dog park, or the ball field. Much of the work is underground. Work zones around trenches protect those workers you may not see,” said Water Bureau Chief Engineer Jodie Inman. “We thank our neighbors for their patience while we do this crucial work in your neighborhood. It may seem inconvenient now, but we believe that the results of our investment in Sellwood’s water system will be worth it.”
The Water Bureau encourages people to keep their distance from crews at work and to slow down when traveling through work zones. Changes in traffic patterns combined with the presence of workers and the frequent movement of work vehicles could lead to crashes, injuries, and fatalities.
To protect yourself and city workers from death and injury, we ask Portlanders to follow these safety steps:
Keep your distance. For the health and safety of everyone, please give our crews the space to complete their work while maintaining proper distance. City bureaus will send mailers or door hangers to homes and businesses in an area before major work.
SLOW DOWN. Speed is a major factor in crashes. If you must drive, follow the work zone speed limit. Slow down, don’t tailgate.
Use an alternate route. When you can, avoid streets with posted work zones.
Obey all speed and warning signs. Work zone signs apply to everyone traveling through—whether the person is walking, biking, rolling, or driving.
Be alert and look out for all road users. Put down your phone and pay attention to the road conditions ahead of you.
Stay clear of construction vehicles. Heavy vehicles travel in and out of the work areas and can make sudden moves. We know it’s interesting to see our machines at work, but please keep a safe distance from the work zone if you plan to watch.
Expect delays and be kind. Our goal is to get you through our work zone safely, while also completing our street improvements in an efficient manner. We appreciate your understanding.
Project improvements
The existing main was installed in 1927 and has had six breaks in the last 10 years. This new ductile iron pipe will make Sellwood’s water service more reliable, reducing the likelihood of breaks in the future, and is expected to last at least another 100 years. The project also improves neighborhood fire protection. Six new fire hydrants will improve firefighters’ access to water and help the bureau continue to meet state fire codes. Several new ADA accessible crossings will also be installed as part of this project. To learn more about the project and sign up for project updates, visit portland.gov/water/Lambert19.
Water Bureau contractors plan to take this project on five blocks at a time. The affected areas are:
Southeast 19th Avenue from Southeast Marion Street to Southeast Lambert Street
Southeast Lambert Street from Southeast 19th to Southeast Milwaukie Avenue
Rep. Blumenauer at the launch of Portland’s Biketown bike share program in 2016. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
“I don’t want to sound like ‘Johnny-one-note’ with our cycling agenda, but burning calories instead of fossil fuel is something that will make a difference right now.”
-Earl Blumenauer
Thanks to inflation and the war in Ukraine, gas prices have hit record highs, and in the car-dependent United States, a lot of people across the political spectrum are unhappy.
But instead of using this as a wake-up call to shift toward low-car transportation and loosen the Americans’ grip on their steering wheels, many local and national officials have proposed band-aid policies to make gas cheaper. Recently, President Joe Biden announced a proposal to temporarily lift the federal gas tax – about 18 cents per gallon for regular gasoline – to lighten the financial burden for Americans who drive petrol-powered cars.
But this idea has not been very well-received. Critics say it’s a political gimmick at best. At worst, it’s outright climate arson to continue encouraging people to drive gas vehicles.
One of these detractors has been Earl Blumenauer, the U.S. Representative from Oregon who represents most of Portland east of the Willamette River. In a June 16th letter to Biden, Blumenauer urged the President to seek alternate solutions.
“While there is undoubtedly a need to provide American consumers relief from spiking costs, there is no guarantee a gas tax suspension would reduce prices at the pump or stem the broader inflation affecting the global economy, and it may only increase oil companies’ bottom lines,” Blumenauer wrote. “Suspending the federal gas tax would not lower prices for consumers, and would not have the desired political effect; it also would seriously damage important policy opportunities, and should be rejected by your administration.”
I spoke with the Congressman on the phone Monday morning and asked him to elaborate on what he thinks about the future of transportation policy given the political temperature in D.C. and the bipartisan fixation on ‘pain at the pump.’ One thing Blumenauer (who is the co-chair of the informal U.S. Congressional Bike Caucus, by the way) thinks would help? Bikes.
“One of the things we routinely emphasize is there are things we can do that would cost a fraction of this and would actually help people,” Blumenauer told me. “I don’t want to sound like ‘Johnny-one-note’ with our cycling agenda, but burning calories instead of fossil fuel is something that will make a difference right now.”
For the last year and a half, Blumenauer has been trying to use infrastructure talks to propel bike legislation, specifically with a bill to make electric bikes more affordable as a way to reduce car dependency.
“Electric bikes can transform even nominal cyclists into bike commuters. It really makes a difference.”
“Electric bikes can transform even nominal cyclists into bike commuters,” Blumenauer says. (We concur.) “It really makes a difference.”
One particularly troublesome element of the gas rebate discussion is how it ignores the fact that many lower-income Americans don’t drive cars. They need better active and public transportation infrastructure, not prepaid gas credit cards. Blumenauer agrees these people have been left out.
“Low income people and people of color are heavily transit-dependent. But [gas tax holiday proposals indicate] we shouldn’t be as concerned with them as we are with the suburban single-occupant vehicle commuter. It’s not rational, and it’s not fair,” he says. “It’s been really frustrating they don’t get the they don’t get the same attention.”
At this point, it seems unlikely Biden will be able to shore up support for a federal gas tax holiday. But several state governments, including in states with liberal governors, are going for it. And just the fact that it’s on Biden’s radar at all is cause for concern.
Even with these disappointing trends, however, Blumenauer appears hopeful for progress in the future. While bold transportation infrastructure investment may seem like a lost cause should Democrats lose control of Congress in the fall, Blumenauer says he still trusts Biden’s administration and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to make moves.
“Working with federal, state and local agencies, we can have a profound influence, regardless of the outcome of the midterm elections,” he says.
Blumenauer points out the transportation provisions in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed last year, acknowledging it’s only a “modest breakthrough” (advocates say it may actually increase carbon emissions) but that some of its funding will help fund active transportation projects across the country. He also says he is seeing a cultural paradigm shift against freeway expansions, including in very car-centric communities like Phoenix and Los Angeles. (Check out the Freeway Fighters Network map to see other places – including Portland – where this battle is playing out.)
“Communities all over the country are struggling with the same challenges. A more diverse set of low-carbon transportation alternatives – with less reliance on single-occupant vehicles and more on bikes, pedestrian and transit – is key to success,” Blumenauer says. “We’re in it for the long haul.”
There are lots of things we need to do to create more heat-resilient cities. One of them is very simple and cheap: Maintain and expand our tree canopy and access to shade. Planting trees sounds obvious and trite, but we should not underestimate the power of this simple act.
For those of us who use vehicles — like bicycles — that require human energy to propel and don’t have air conditioning systems, shade takes on even greater importance. It’s one thing to create shady destinations like parks and plazas; but for bicycle riders, a shaded journey is essential too. After all, streets are Portland’s largest public space.
That’s why we are so grateful for Portland’s street tree canopy and for our neighborhood greenways — a citywide network of bike-friendly streets that were designated as such in part due to having more trees and shade than larger arterials.
We’re also grateful for a nascent local movement that’s helping folks connect the dots between heat, trees, and mobility.
Heat Week is a new effort to commemorate those lives lost in 2021 and to raise awareness of the issue. It kicked off Sunday and continues with a bike ride tonight (6/28) as part of Pedalpalooza. The ride is organized by 350PDX and meets at Lents Park (SE 92nd and Holgate) at 5:00 pm. If you can’t make the ride, you can join the picnic starting at 7:00 pm at Colonel Summers Park (SE Clinton and 21st). Along the route you’ll hear from tree experts and experience the impacts of tree canopies firsthand.
So next time you’re riding under stifling sunshine and find yourself steering toward shade, remember it doesn’t just happen. It’s the result of advocacy and smart planning. Cool huh?
Check out our latest TikTok below to learn more and experience some of Portland’s natural air-conditioning:
If you rode a bike in #Portland during the heat wave the past few days, you should thank trees! Streets are our largest public space and trees keep them cool. Don’t miss the #heatweek#pedalpalooza ride Tuesday night to learn more.
A scene from the epic Splash Dance ride in 2008. ( (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Can you believe it’s already week four of Pedalpalooza Bike Summer. How are you holding up?
To help guide you through the fun options, every Monday we choose one ride from each day that looks interesting and worthy of your attention. As always, check out our Weekend Event Guide and Calendar for more of our ride selections (remember you can filter our calendar to only show the Pedalpalooza category).
Here are our selections for tonight and the coming week:
Monday, June 27th
Heat Wave Splashdown – 5:00 pm at Bill Naito Legacy Fountain (Naito Parkway at Portland Saturday Market) Fountain splashing is one of my favorite Pedalpalooza ride genres. If you are new to town, we swim in our fountains here (despite what signs might say). So grab your suit and roll out for some good cool fun. More info here.
Tuesday, June 28th
Taylor Swift Ride – 6:30 pm at Laurelhurst Park (NE) News got you down? This ride will help you “Shake it off”. Haha. Get it? I’ll let you imagine how this ride will go. More info here.
Wednesday, June 29th
The Big Lebowski Ride – 7:00 pm at Colonel Summers Park (SE) Put on your favorite Big Lebowski outfit and watch devoted fans act out scenes from this classic movie. More info here.
Thursday, June 30th
Star Trek Ride – 6:00 pm at Oregon Park (NE) Join fellow Trekkies for a mission to new planets where you’ll admire and show off costumes and take part in a trivia contest with a Grand Prize! More info here.
Friday, July 1st
Jock Jams Ride – 7:30 pm at Laurelhurst Park Show the world how Portland sports fans roll. Grab those jerseys and pads and other sports gear and rock out to fun music. More info here.
As always, check the official calendar for details on every single ride. And be sure to check official event pages for latest updates and cancellations before you roll out. Have fun out there!
Soaking up sun at Fernhill Park.Riding through Cully’s rural-feeling streets.Bhangra!Riding up NE 37th Ave(Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
It almost felt like old times on Sunday: The live music, the freebies and food from vendors in the parks, smiling families where everyone is on a bike. Sunday Parkways made a big comeback yesterday after a two-year hiatus and thousands of Portlanders showed us once again that when given a safe place to ride a bike, they will turn out in droves.
The route stretched from NE 37th to 72nd, and from NE Mason in the south to Holman in the north. The two most popular parks along the route, Fernhill and Khunamokwst (“K Park” I heard someone call it), were popping right from the start. With 90+ temps forecast, it was clear most people showed up right at the 11:00 am opening to try and squeeze in some fun before the heat became unbearable.
Given the heat and hiatus, I was actually surprised how well-attended the event was. Maybe it’s just me, but as cool as Sunday Parkways is, I feel like it has stagnated a bit since it first happened in 2008. If you would have told me at that first one 15 years ago that we’d still be doing exactly the same thing in the same way, I’d have scoffed and chided you for being so pessimistic. “We’ll be rolling on major streets!” I’d have said back then. “The city will keep them closed to drivers all day and into the night. You just wait and see. We’ll have so much fun!”
That hasn’t happened. I hope we can push to make Sunday Parkways even bigger and better in future years, but I digress.
So many smiles! Listening to the band in Fernhill Park.So many families!Like cheetahs in Africa, they swarmed the shade.That’s right.Sno cone!Love these little stands.Cassie from Gladys Bikes.Portland Opera singer.Josh Hetrick from Shift.Jumptown Big Band was splendid.
Yesterday it was clear PBOT hasn’t forgotten how to make streets and parks a lot of fun!
In Khunamokwst Park, I watched a few dozen folks dance Bhangra (traditional folk dance of Punjab region in India) and even more wait in line for sno-cones. Folks seemed to relish the chance to talk to nonprofits and other groups that had set up tables and tents. Our friends at Shift were there to quiz people on local bike fun trivia. So were Oregon Walks, where I scored a cool walking kit with a fanny pack, water bottle, mask, and tote bag.
At Fernhill Park, ODOT’s Urban Mobility Office had a booth and somehow the staffers who worked it managed to make the I-205-Abernethy Bridge freeway widening project to interesting that lots of folks stopped in to chat about it. A bit later in the day, the Jumptown Big Band took over the main stage and — despite sweltering heat — did a fantastic rendition of Ella Fitzgerald’s very apropos tune, Too Darn Hot.
Jenna!Madi from The Street TrustPaul B from BikeLoud PDXIzzy Armenta, Ashton Simpson, and Mical Yohannes from Oregon Walks.
But what’s most special about Sunday Parkways are the little nuggets of joy you see scattered in lesser-known spots along the route.
Business at household lemonade stands was brisk and there seemed to be misters and sprinklers pointed into the street every few tenths of a mile.
As I turned onto NE 72nd and the lush Roseway Parkway, an opera singer’s voice pierced so sharply through the heavy air it instantly felt 5-degrees cooler. It was Opera a la Cart (thanks Portland Opera!) and there were no seats to be had under the viewing tent as folks took full advantage of this artistic respite from the route.
If you missed it, you’ve got just one more chance this year. The final Sunday Parkways of the season is on August 21st. See PBOT’s website for all the details.
“Lesser Evil candidate knows they don’t have to be good, they just have to be slightly less evil than Greater Evil candidate.”
Welcome to the Comment of the Week, where we highlight good comments in order to inspire more of them. You can help us choose our next one by replying with “comment of the week” to any comment you think deserves recognition.
Everything I know I learned from the BikePortland comments section.
Okay, not really, but we do regularly get commenters who are quite knowledgeable about their subject—you can learn a lot from them even if you don’t agree with what they are saying.
In response to our post about City Council now appearing to support the I-5 Rose Quarter project, Damien grabbed the elephant in the room by the tusks. What do we have to do to get representatives who don’t just talk tough on climate change but actually follow through in their decision making?
Damien’s insightful comment points to voting (and just happens to be a nice follow-up to today’s article on charter reform). Here’s what Damien wrote:
Quite the contrary, dwk – supporting compromised candidates is what gets us bad candidates. It incentivizes it.
The problem with the “lesser of two evils” rationale/strategy is that it’s only rational in the context of one election. Over multiple elections, it’s a self-defeating downward spiral, i.e., it always leads to greater evil. Taken to its absurd conclusion, we eventually get a choice between, say, just for example’s sake, a mass-murdering psychopath who killed 100 people last week and a mass-murdering psychopath who killed 99 people last week, and well, you’d better vote for the 99-count murderer because they are the lesser of two evils. In the next cycle they’ll double those numbers, because Lesser Evil candidate knows they don’t have to be good, they just have to be slightly less evil than Greater Evil candidate.
Thank you, Damien, for the pushed-to-the-extreme example. You can read Damien’s comment and the full comment thread under the original post.
Charter Commission members. (Source: Portland Charter Commission)
Our city hamstrings itself by putting city commissioners — who possibly have no management experience, background or interest in a bureau — in charge of running them.
Portland took another step toward good governance with the recent Charter Commission vote to advance their reforms to the November ballot. This City Council appointed, 20-member group of volunteers has been grappling for a year and a half with how to improve the way we run our city, this vote was a milestone in their efforts.
With their recommended changes to Portland’s charter more formalized, I decided it was time to become better informed about the issue.
With an open but skeptical mind, I plunged into the Commission’s materials. It only took a few hours for me to realize that I wasn’t bringing a very big pole to this pond.
How to design fair elections is a well-studied field and there is a lot of expertise involved, much of it technical. Probably the most useful thing I can do for the BikePortland reader is to summarize and link to the sources that most helped me become “informed enough” about charter reform.
So on that note, what follows is a link-rich synopsis of my path to charter enlightenment.
The Big Picture
Portland has had a “commission” form of government for over a century. It is an antiquated system in which each commissioner, in addition to their roles of passing ordinances and responding to constituents, oversees a portfolio of bureaus. In other words, commissioners have both policy and executive roles. This type of governance was long ago abandoned by other major US cities, with Portland being the last hold-out.
Currently, we elect four “at-large” commissioners and a mayor using a winner-take-all system. Voters get to choose candidates in all four races and are not restricted by having to live in a particular district. The candidate who receives the majority of the vote wins the seat, although this may take two rounds of voting, a primary and a run-off.
Oregon Public Broadcasting published a helpful article by Rebecca Ellis which describes our current system and the proposed changes.
(Source: Charter Committee Progress Report #5)
What the Charter Commission is proposing
The Commission has proposed three changes to the way we elect our Commissioners and run the city:
• Allowing voters to rank candidates in order of their preference, using ranked choice voting
• Four new geographic districts with three members elected to represent each district, expanding the city council to a total of 12 members
• A city council that focuses on setting policy and a mayor elected citywide to run the city’s day-to-day operations, with the help of a professional city administrator
They write that “it is the Commission’s belief and desire that this proposal will make Portland’s government more accountable, transparent, efficient and effective, responsive, and representative of every area of the city.”
The Charter Commission Progress Report #5 discusses the proposed changes in detail beginning on page 23. UPDATE (6/29/2022):Soon after our original preparation for this story, the Charter Commission released Progress Report #6 which is a summary designed “to give a high-level view of the approach and work of the Charter Commission at this stage in the process.”
How did they come up with that?
There are two main parts to the proposed changes: 1) moving management of the bureaus away from the commissioners and to the mayor/city manager and 2) changing the way Portlanders elect the City Council.
Concerning jettisoning the commission structure, the Charter Commission conducted discussions with bureau directors and elected officials, as well as 106 sessions with community groups and the public. There does not seem to be significant opposition to dropping the commission system from any quarter. On the contrary, the idea appears to have a lot of support. One vocal supporter, City Commissioner Mingus Mapps, said of the commission system, “It’s a crazy way to run a city, and it’s one of the reasons Portland underperforms on everything from homelessness to permits, time after time.”
The Progress Report summarized what Portlanders believe are the main weaknesses of our current way of doing things including: lack of accountability, failure to move forward on complicated issues, lack of coordination, silos, inconsistent and unqualified management, micromanaging, et cetera. It is a long list.
Broadway bike lane last fall. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Portland’s homelessness crisis serves as a good example of this government dysfunction. Last week’s BikePortland Monday Roundup included an article about Houston’s success in addressing homelessness and their use of a “Housing First” model. They credited getting everyone “to row in unison”—the city and the non-profits—with their success.
But Portland’s more fundamental problem is getting the citybureaus to row in unison. As Mapps told KOIN 6 in March,
One of our challenges right now is to get different city bureaus to work together. I know Portlanders are furious with the state of houselessness out there, but one of the reasons why we struggle is that we have about five different bureaus that play a role in solving houselessness. It’s not just a matter of providing housing, houselessness is often a mental health issue, and a public safety issue. And if you’re camping in a park, it becomes a Parks issue, if you are camping on a sidewalk it becomes a PBOT issue.
One of the things we have failed to do over and over again is to get these different bureaus to work together to solve problems like getting people off the streets to safe, supportive housing. You see the results of what the status quo does. If we move toward a coordinated system run by professionals, I believe we would do much better.
To sum up, our city hamstrings itself by putting city commissioners — who possibly have no management experience, background or interest in a bureau — in charge of running them.
Eberhard makes a strong case for proportional ranked-choice voting and brings to life the analysis that the MGGG Redistricting Lab at Tufts University did of Portland voting.
It is the MGGG (Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group) mathematical models of how various voting schema would play out in Portland that informed the Charter Commission’s recommendation of ranked choice voting for multi-member districts. And although MGGG used race as their model for underrepresented voters, Eberhard points out that “the results apply to Portlanders who are in the minority for any number of reasons: small business owners, people who are dependent on transit, those who get around by bike, youth, or parents of school-age children.”
The Charter Commission concluded that four multi-member districts and ranked-choice voting will bring fairer and fuller representation to city government, could improve participation, and also promote more issue-oriented, civil campaigns with less negative campaigning.
But it wasn’t a unanimous vote. One of the three commissioners who voted against the reforms was recent city council candidate Vadim Mozyrsky. Similarly, City Commissioner Mingus Mapps has not taken a strong public position in support or in opposition to the whole package, although in an April interview with the Rose City Reform substack he expressed doubts about some aspects of it. So there are dissenting voices, but it is probably too early to detect an organized opposition. The Charter Commission work sessions were taped, and around 1:18:00 of the June 6th meeting, you can listen to the comments of two dissenting commissioners, as well as an impassioned rebuttal by the committee co-chair.
The takeaway
The four-district, multi-member proposal combines elements of both geographical representation and of fairer representation of non-geographically defined minority concerns. The tension between geography (with neighborhood associations often being the stand-in representative) and minority interests (such as better bicycle infrastructure) underlies many of Portland’s political skirmishes. The changes the Charter Commission recommends could result in a more productive political dynamic with more non-majority concerns achieving a voice on the city council.
UPDATE(6/29/2022): Yesterday the Willamette Week reported that two newly-forming PACs (political action committees) will be taking opposing sides on charter reform. Vadim Mozyrsky has recruited Chuck Duffy and Steve Moskowitz (two former Bud Clark aides) to his yet-to-be-named PAC which will oppose the package of reforms advanced by the Charter Commission, and Building Power for Communities of Color is starting a PAC to support the reforms. Mingus Mapps’s existing Ulysses PAC will most likely be hosting “educational forums” about the reforms, as a softer way of pushing back against the bundled changes. Mapps and Mozyrski favor adopting a mayor-manager system but are against aspects of the other commission-proposed reforms.
