“Remove on-street parking to install bike lanes between Holman and Dekum.”
– 2017 letter from NE 33rd Avenue residents to PBOT
As the city regroups and dust settles on the Northeast 33rd Avenue bike lane removal saga, I came across an interesting piece of history yesterday.
In September 2017, a group of people who live on the street were so concerned about speeding drivers and other safety issues on the stretch of 33rd between NE Holman and the Columbia/Lombard overpass, they penned a detailed letter to the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Atop their list of requests was to remove the parking lane and replace it with a protected bike lane.
To refresh your memory, PBOT installed a bike lane (unprotected, with a painted buffer stripe) on that exact stretch of 33rd last month; but then tried to remove it after some residents complained and the bureau says they forgot to give any notification of the change. Now the bike lane is in limbo as PBOT scrambles to engage with residents and find a path forward.
In an interview yesterday, PBOT Director of Policy, Planning and Projects Art Pearce said complaints from some residents about access to parking (specifically at a new fourplex without off-street car parking built since the plans were finalized) was one of the major reasons for his decision to remove the bike lane.
But back in 2017 the Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA) endorsed a letter to PBOT and city council that supported the removal of the parking lane in favor of a bike lane. The letter was signed by “the residents of 33rd Avenue area.”
“We wish to address the frequent disregard for the speed limits between NE Holman and N Lombard that creates risk for those using 33rd,” the letter states. “Many of the residents who have been here for decades and those new the neighborhood have seen auto accidents, hit and runs, cyclists being struck, risky attempts to pull out of parking lots, smashed garbage cans, cars speeding up to get onto Lombard, cars neglecting to slow down from Lombard, cars hitting parked cars, a car hitting a house, and pedestrian near misses.”
The letter went on to say CNA hoped to collaborate with PBOT to develop a safety plan for the street.
The lack of a bike lane was one of the specific problems identified in the letter. “Cycling route is disconnected. No bicycle signage, speed bumps or lanes are present from the Holman Street bike boulevard until Dekum despite the fact that this is the main route cyclists must take in order to connect to the Marine Drive Trail,” the letter stated.
Under a heading labeled, “Options to reduce community safety risk,” CNA requested that PBOT, “Remove on-street parking to install bike lanes and/or cyclist pavement markings between Holman and Dekum.”
One of the people who wrote the letter was former CNA board member and Land Use and Transportation Chair Garlynn Woodsong. I spoke to him on the phone this morning.
Woodsong, who’s no longer on the CNA board, said PBOT’s response to the letter was to say the street would be repaved in a few years and the city would address the issues at that time. Fast forward six years and that’s exactly what they did.
Woodsong said he’s frustrated that PBOT doesn’t follow their own plans and policies as outlined in the city’s Comprehensive Plan and he feels PBOT, “Has a big outreach problem.” “They either do too much of it, or they don’t do it at all and they don’t do it right.”
When I asked Woodsong to address the fact that some of the complaints Pearce is hearing loudest come from longtime Black residents, Woodsong acknowledged that there is a racial dynamic present. “But what I see is that PBOT will always find an excuse to not do the right thing when it comes to bicycles. If it’s not a Black person, it’s ‘We heard from this disgruntled business owner. If it’s not a disgruntled business owner it’s this white-dominated neighborhood association.”
That last point matters. The City of Portland weighs neighborhood association feedback much differently in 2023 than it did in 2017, and there’s widespread belief at PBOT and other city agencies that neighborhood associations often don’t include the voices of everyone in the community — especially Black, Indigenous and other people of color.
That being what it is, Woodsong continued, “It’s a sign that this is an agency in chaos, without effective leadership. They don’t have good direction, they don’t know where they’re going, they don’t have a good game plan. It’s just this constant scramble. And they’re like, in a frenzy.”
Right now that “frenzy” consists of having direct, one-on-one conversations with people who live on 33rd. A meeting with CNA isn’t scheduled yet. PBOT’s Pearce shared yesterday he’s reluctant to call a public meeting given the racial make-up of who’s pushing for and against the changes. His bureau has bolstered their commitment to transportation justice in recent years, and this episode is an opportunity to demonstrate progress toward it.
And so far, I haven’t heard back from current CNA board members whether or not they will wade back into the issue.
Stay tuned.