Here’s a dose of good in a situation that started out bad: Yesterday before Bike Happy Hour I swung by Ota Tofu on Southeast Stark to deliver a check for $1,215. That was the amount nearly 50 of you donated to Cole so she can buy a new bike after hers was flattened by an errant driver last Thursday.
Cole was getting coffee across the street from her job at Ota when she saw someone in an SUV swing off SE Sandy right into the on-street bike parking corral her bike was locked to. That now-destroyed bike was how Cole got to and from work, and when I talked to her about what happened, it was clear she could use help buying a new one. With the check I dropped off, and some donations that were sent directly to her, Cole should have enough to find a solid, reliable bike.
Thanks to everyone who stepped up to help a complete stranger. And to the handful of folks who offered to loan her a bike, or in some cases, even give her one! The generosity of our community helps restore my faith in humanity. I can’t wait to see Cole’s new bike and I’m glad we were able to keep one more person on a bike in Portland.
What an amazing bunch of cycling human beings you are!
The driver who caused the damage should have paid, but I guess – as Fitzgerald said – some people make messes in the world and never clean them up.
Portland is a wonderful community, filled with people who ride bicycles, walk, ride transit, care about the future, and work to build a better city and healthier environment.
That’s not the surly comment I was expecting. 🙂
It would be amazing if we could buy (most) everyone a bike, and get rid of (most) cars .
“Motor vehicle crashes cost American society $340 billion in 2019, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced today. The agency’s new report, “The Economic and Societal Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2019,” examines the costs of one year of crashes that killed an estimated 36,500 people, injured 4.5 million, and damaged 23 million vehicles.
The $340 billion cost of motor vehicle crashes represents the equivalent of $1,035 for each of the 328 million people in the United States and 1.6% of the $21.4 trillion real U.S. gross domestic product for 2019.
When quality-of-life valuations are considered, the total value of societal harm from motor vehicle crashes in 2019 was nearly $1.4 trillion.“
Yep – we Americans experience a 9/11 in motor-vehicle deaths EVERY SINGLE MONTH, and no one bats an eyelash. It’s the cost of moving ourselves and our stuff around, apparently.
Thanks to everyone who contributed! This is a great ending to a sad and preventable event.
Good bike news for the day!
This scenario reminds me of what happened to my partner’s bike parked at a staple rack in front of her old gallery on Main St (VWA)…a driver backed out of a diagonal stall crossed 30FT [and the street centreline] and pushed her bike into the corral racking…she ran after the driver and got them to stop. They – youth driver with parent – had ‘not realized’ that they had hit “anything”. LOL
Luckily her 1972 steel brickhouse of a Raleigh 3 speed was not too mangled…that we could massage and de-tweak it to get it back on the road for another 20 years.