Year: 2023

REI will leave Portland, taking its full-service bike shop with them

Corner of NW 14th and Johnson. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Large outdoor retailer REI announced yesterday it would close its location in northwest Portland. The announcement comes amid a spate of similar statements from major downtown businesses and adds to growing concern about what it all means for the future of our city.

While I believe that as our city goes, so goes cycling, I typically wouldn’t share news like this on the Front Page. But REI hits different because the full service bike shop inside the store is an important source of gear and equipment for cycling in a location that many of us can still bike and take transit to. When the first BikePortland reader forwarded me the news yesterday, they wrote, “Regrettable that REI will close the one store that was easily accessible on foot, by bike or public transportation and reducing it to the car-centric locations.”

REI’s store in the Pearl District was on NW Johnson (and 14th), a major east-west cycling street that the City of Portland has established as a key neighborhood greenway in recent years. The store’s closure (due early 2024) also means their large selection of bikes and accessories, as well as their well-reputed and professional bike service and maintenance department will also close.

In a statement about the closure (right), REI said the “safety of our employees” and “increase crime” were partly to blame for their decision. In 2022, the store said they had their highest number of break-ins and thefts in two decades. But they also said they have “outgrown this location,” so it’s not clear what has really fueled their decision.

And what’s not in the REI statement is a long-simmering battle with employees over everything from Covid policies, sick days, and efforts by workers to unionize. BikePortland has been contacted by several people who are suspicious about the timing of REI’s announcement and say it might be part of an effort to prevent union momentum.

A workers-rights movement among REI workers started at this same store in 2015 when a group called REI Employees for Real Change began to agitate online. According to one source we’ve heard from, workers at the Pearl District store have been organizing on-and-off for several years.

In January 2022, an opinion columnist for the Washington Post called REI “anti-union” and two months later an REI store in Manhattan voted 88-14 to support a union. And on the same day REI announced their Portland closure plans, news broke that the Eugene location has filed a petition to vote on a union.

Other reasons noted in local reporting include disagreements with their landlord and the fact that REI’s current lease terminates in February 2024.

Regardless of the rationale for their decision, losing the northwest REI location is a blow to Portland. And even without any worker issues, REI is just one of many large retailers that have recently waved goodbye to our city.

Given that REI said they’ll stay open until early next year, perhaps there’s a chance to reconsider if other factors change.

If REI and their bike shop are gone by next year, it will leave us with the following shops nearby: Fat Tire Farm (2714 NW Thurman St), Cycle Portland (180 NW 3rd Ave), and West End Bikes (1111 SW Washington St).

Opinion: Portland’s problems – and solutions – are in our streets

Our streets can be joyful places where bonds are built, not broken. These images made possible by a traffic and gun violence intervention collaboration between a neighborhood and the Portland Bureau of Transportation. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Many of Portland’s problems can be seen in our streets. And it’s the same place we should look for solutions.

This morning I read a tweet from Lakayana Drury, founder and executive director of Word is Bond, a Portland-based nonprofit that helps young Black men reach their  full potential (you might recall our story about the group’s walking tours):

https://twitter.com/LakayanaD/status/1648145320382177280

I agree with Drury. Every day it seems there is more bad news about our city. And every day it becomes more clear that so far, no one who works in City Hall is willing and/or able to lead us out of the darkness. So it’s up to leaders like Drury and folks like you and I to come up with ideas, and pressure our leaders to help us implement them.

I try to be very aware of how bias creeps into my initial reactions to things I read and how it informs my opinions and hunches. And I realize to many folks this might seem like just the “BikePortland guy” pushing his agenda again. But when I read Drury’s tweet this morning, all I could think of is: The problem is in the streets, and the answer is in the streets.

Our streets are the city’s largest public space. Portland has 4,842 lane miles of public right-of-way. Unfortunately, right now this vast resource is the cause of much of the inequity, violence, suffering, stress, and divisiveness that plagues our city: Many of the deadly shootings originate from people driving cars on our streets; Many of the assaults that go viral in the media happen in the streets; Many of the crimes and behaviors (street racing, car and bike thefts, dangerous driving, road rage, etc…) that erode the social fabric of our city, start on the streets; And the most visible form of despair that has hurt Portlanders for far long — people living in makeshift encampments under tents and tarps — happens on the street.

But what happens on our streets isn’t a force of nature. We choose to be bystanders, but we can choose to take control of them.

The City of Portland has all the tools to defend and renew our streets. We have permit programs for neighborhood block parties, public plazas, dining in the streets, painting intersections, and more. We have already shown we can do this, we have just been way too timid.

Consider just a few examples:

This can help our city heal. We should do much more of it. (Photos: Portland Bureau of Transportation)
  • Faced with concerns of car-based gun violence in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood, the Portland transportation, police, and parks bureaus formed an alliance and created interventions in the street. That effort could use more permanent traffic diverters and less flimsy, wooden signs and plastic cones.
  • Our transportation bureau has done great work lowering speed limits throughout city; but without enforcement and stronger street designs, it has only limited impacts.
  • After George Floyd was murdered, Portlanders took to the streets by the thousands. We joined arms, built communities that supported each other, and demonstrated the true potential of how streets can help us heal.
  • When there were shootings and dangerous driving outside a high school in north Portland, the transportation bureau responded with basic traffic calming measures.
  • Eager to give kids a healthier way to get to school, Sam Balto formed a “bike bus” which has ballooned in popularity and now there are nine of them across Portland. Now he and others want more funding to grow and solidify the movement.
  • In 2008, with inspiration from Bogotá, Colombia, we launched the open streets event Sunday Parkways. The event has been a massive success, but has failed to grow to its full potential because the City of Portland has been unwilling to adequately fund and grow it. 15 years after it began, this program that has widespread political and public enthusiasm, yet for some reason it is now smaller than it used to be.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can empower Portlanders to take to the streets — and they will do it — but only when the streets are safer, more accessible, and more fun. And while it certainly would help, we don’t need expensive infrastructure projects or even permission from City Hall to create these safer, more accessible, and more fun streets. 

One of Drury’s main programs is simply meeting in the street and letting young men tell stories about their neighborhoods. Another nonprofit in town, Talk a Mile, pairs young Black leaders with local police trainees so they can walk together and learn each other’s perspectives. Portland’s amazing cycling community has also done a tremendous amount in leading on this front. Saturday’s Ladds 500 was just one recent display of how events can bring people from all walks of life together to share joy together in our public streets and spaces.

Streets aren’t just for driving, they aren’t just for biking, they aren’t just for transportation. They are places to connect, where community organizing can happen, where neighbors can meet, and where locals intersect with folks just passing through. These interactions are more important now than ever. They form bonds. And these bonds act as our community’s defense against all the bad things many of us are anxious about.

Our “new narrative that inspires hope and creativity” can begin in our streets. Streets have always galvanized us. They can be a direct reflection of our values. We just need to stop acting like bystanders and take control of what happens on them. When we defend our streets, we defend our city.

So let’s not despair, let’s get out there!

Can’t wait to talk more about this and whatever else is on your mind at our weekly Bike Happy Hour this Wednesday, 3-6 pm on SE Ankeny and 28th.

Frog Ferry group still gung-ho about getting on the water

A mock-up of the Frog Ferry. (Source: FOFF)

“We’re really hopeful that with this new City Council, we can move forward.”

-Susan Bladholm, Friends of Frog Ferry

Over the past few years, the story of the Frog Ferry has seen more twists and turns than the Willamette River. The nonprofit Friends of Frog Ferry (FOFF) launched in 2018 to advocate for a Portland ferry system, and while there were some moments of optimism for the group along the way, the plan seemed to sink. But hold onto your hats, because FOFF is back and still determined to set sail.

Last year, FOFF leaders were trying to gather support from the Portland City Council to apply for a federal grant to get their ferry pilot project going. But there was no dice, in large part due to skepticism from former PBOT Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. At a press conference last April, FOFF president and founder Susan Bladholm said Hardesty’s disinterest in the project could be chalked up to a power play. Hardesty maintained that her concerns about the Frog Ferry were because of allegations of financial impropriety against FOFF as well as PBOT’s lack of bandwidth for new transportation projects.

Susan Bladholm at a press conference last year. (Photo: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)

In September, FOFF leaders announced that since they couldn’t find the political support necessary to secure funding for a pilot project, they’d be putting their program on an indefinite pause. In an interview with BikePortland at the time, FOFF board member Nina Byrd attributed this to the City of Portland’s lack of imagination and unwillingness to innovate on transportation projects.

But other commissioners — primarily Mingus Mapps, who now leads PBOT — expressed more willingness to climb aboard the Frog Ferry project. (However, with Sam Adams’ ousting earlier this year, FOFF lost him as a champion in City Hall.)

With Hardesty out, FOFF is restarting their efforts.

“We’re really hopeful that with this new City Council, we can move forward,” Bladholm said in a January KATU interview. “We must have the city behind us.”

In an email to BikePortland, Bladholm said support from City Council would allow FOFF to access the transportation and climate grants that would allow them to get a ferry on the water as soon as 2025.

“There is money out there—lots of it—but as a nonprofit we can’t directly apply for most of it,” Bladholm wrote. FOFF needs $2.25 million in order to ask for $6 million in federal funds this year and for the next three years, which Bladholm says will result in a 10:1 return on investment.

As the City of Portland finalizes its fiscal year 2023-24 budget, FOFF is launching another effort to persuade city officials to allocate some money for the ferry. They’re encouraging supporters to send testimony to city commissioners by April 25th. The nonprofit will host a news conference and “River Run” event between Cathedral Park in St. Johns and RiverPlace in the South Waterfront this Thursday to simulate the experience of a Willamette River ferry commute.

If FOFF still can’t get public support, leaders say they’re open to pursuing a private option with higher ticket prices. (Right now, proposed one-way ticket prices are $3.) But they want the ferry to be a viable means of public transportation for Portlanders, not just a novelty, so they’re hoping the city will come aboard.

Stay tuned for a BikePortland report from the River Run.

Joyously chaotic Ladds 500 relay takes over southeast Portland

An estimated 1,000 riders from nearly 100 different teams showed up to the event this year. Full gallery at end of story. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland unless otherwise noted)

Following months of way too many cold and wet days, people of all shapes, sizes, ages, colors, cultures and clubs rolled into southeast Portland Saturday to ride 500 laps (100 miles) around a traffic circle in the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood of southeast Portland.

The sixth edition of the Ladds 500 relay was absolutely massive and a huge success by all accounts. The team area inside the traffic circle (which is Ladd Circle Park, an official City of Portland park), was so packed that for the first time ever, people set up encampments on front yards of adjacent residential buildings. There was almost no break in traffic as the entire street around the circle was full with riders, rollers, and even runners. I estimated about 100 different team names scrawled onto small pieces of paper on the lapboard where riders tallied how many circles they had cycled.

David Robinson hosted the first Ladds 500 in 2016 and remains its ringleader. He says it builds on the proud Portland tradition of grassroots, free, bike fun where everyone is welcome. And this year, it seemed to take a major leap into the pantheon of local rides that have become pillars that hold up our colorful bike culture. “I got an official page on the Shift website, not just the calendar listing,” Robinson told me as he tried to navigate thick human traffic near the start/finish line of Saturday’s event. “So I think I finally made it.”

More photos below.

Another sign that Ladds 500 has gone to the next level? He’s gotten inquiries from other cities on how to replicate it elsewhere. Regardless of what status the ride reaches, it’s impossible to get Robinson to say anything serious about it. “This is the Ladds 500,” he replied, when to describe his event, “We make people do 500 laps of a traffic circle — because life is meaningless, but it’s also whimsical.”

The event’s slogan of “It’s spring, let’s do something stupid!” has been tightly embraced by all who participate.

Take Team Unbearables: They showed up with teddy bears on their heads with the tummies cut out for eye and mouth holes. It was more creepy than cuddly. “I don’t understand it either… I think it was inspired by a picture on the internet,” said Brock Dittus, a member of the team who was also wearing what appeared to be a suit of a Mormon missionary with “Elder Dittus” on the nametag.

Team Tie Dye donned homemade tie-dye shirts and passed out homemade vegan cake pops made with tie-dye swirled white chocolote made by Daniela Lais. Asked why she came to the event, Lais said, “We just wanted to do something really, really stupid and have a lot of fun.”

There was a team wearing all pink and ballet tutus called Super Best Pals Forever. They were riding one of those circular, conference bikes where everyone faces each other. I talked to one of their members, Monelle, who said it only goes 5 mph no matter how hard you pedal. She’s a recent transplant from Los Angeles who said events like this are one reason she loves Portland. “I used to live in L.A. and this would have been shut down. We’re standing in the middle of a public park, we’re blocking traffic, there’s like 2,000 people here, there’s amplified music. I can’t tell if the Parks people don’t know about it, or they just let us do whatever we want. They either don’t know what’s happening, or they just turn a blind eye. That’s what’s great about Portland.”

There’s so much about this event that is a testament to what is “great about Portland.”

Just a few of the many riders. See more below.

From families to freak bikes, and every dang thing in between, the Ladds 500 has it. There were people who looked like they were just picking up their kids on their bikes from day care, and there were costumed people riding tall bikes right next to each other. I saw guys playing according and juggling backwards while riding a unicycle. And all the roller skaters! That was new this year. The cross-pollination of Secret Roller Disco fans and bike fun fans is happening!

There were even a few runners this year, including Robert O’Farrell, who ran all 500 laps by himself. Yes all 500. He started Friday afternoon so he could finish with everyone else. He’d completed 400 laps by sunrise on Saturday and was celebrated with a special prize when he finished. Asked what he’d do now that he was done, O’Farrell replied, “Drink a fucking beer.”

O’Farrell might just want to walk around the circle a few times and snatch up freebies. Passing out snacks to riders as they come by has become a fun part of the Ladds 500 tradition. In addition to the cake pops, there were hot dogs and ice cream cones. Jason from Team Cream stood inches from the street with an open cooler and two large cartons of spumoni and cotton candy-flavored ice cream.

Physical therapist Maggie Min said, “I got many many hand-ups. I stole someone’s entire bag of family-sized potato chips, and the next time around they were like, ‘There she is!’ and I stole the White Claw out of their hands!”

The looping is what makes this event so magic. If you see someone or something you love, you only have to wait a minute for it to come around again. Joan Petit put it this way, “The thing that is amazing about this event is it achieves what seems impossible: It is a bike event where you don’t go anywhere. So you both get to ride your bike and hang out in one place.”

And that place is where almost anyone can find their people and feel at home.

Petit says her team’s goal is to welcome folks who are new to the scene. “If you don’t know anyone, we’ll talk to you,” she said. “We’re friendly, we like meeting new people.”

And who doesn’t like friendly places where you can ride your bike for free on a carfree street as you gawk and smile at odd, beautiful and often indescribable scenes while being handed free snacks?

See you next year. (And stay tuned for the Live from Ladds 500 podcast episode!)

Enjoy the rest of our images below…

(Photo: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
(Photo: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)
(Photo: Taylor Griggs/BikePortland)

Jobs of the Week: Velotech, Go By Bike, Metro

Need a new job? Want a better job?

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For a complete list of available jobs, click here.

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These are paid listings. And they work! If you’d like to post a job on the Portland region’s most popular bike and transportation news platform, you can purchase a listing online for just $75. Learn more at our Job Listings page.

Monday Roundup: Disabled riders, bus stop protests, National Cycle League, and more

Welcome to the week. Here are the most notable stories our writers and readers have come across in the past seven days…

**This week’s roundup is sponsored by the Cannon Beach Fat Tire Festival, an event on May 12-14th that promises a beach bike ride, a self-guided ride, a scavenger hunt to discover hidden treasures and tasty treats, and a bonfire with fat bike games and activities.**

Move over NFL, the NCL is here: I was already very excited about the new National Cycle League, but after learning how many investors in the league are pro football players, I think it might be the most important story in cycling right now. (USA Today)

Inaccessible bus stops are a crime: When a safe streets advocate was hit by a car while bicycling and paralyzed, he became radicalized around the issue of ADA accessibility and his work to make bus stops better even got him thrown in jail. (Streetsblog USA)

Bikeways for whom? In order to make bike networks work for disabled cyclists, planners need to talk with riders and get creative. (Bike Radar)

Haters in Hollywood: For many years advocates have grumbled about how bicycle riders are represented in the movies and now a popular podcast has broken down the issue. (The War on Cars Podcast)

Dealing with deadbeat drivers: If we want to ride our system of inequities when it comes to traffic safety, we must work even harder to use technology and other forms on non-police enforcement or the outcome will just be more deaths and injuries. (Bloomberg)

Adult trike guide: Three-wheeled bikes are all the rage because of how they expand cycling to a wider audience. Learn more about them in this handy introduction. (Momentum Mag)

Kotek and street racing: Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has said “yes” to most of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s request for help on street safety issues like illegal speed racing and drunk driving. (The Oregonian)

Induced demand is real: A $600 million expansion of Highway 101 in California’s Bay Area area has done nothing but add more cars and more congestion to the system. (Streetsblog SF)

Nah: Governor Kotek has thrown a wet blanket on ODOT’s wet dream of $1 billion in bond revenue to pay for Oregon’s portion of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program project. (Oregon Capitol Chronicle)

Heavy parking: Will cities pay millions to beef up parking garages to withstand the weight of EV cars? I sure hope not. (The Drive)

Thanks to everyone who shared links this week.

Man arrested after driving stolen car at high speeds on Springwater Corridor bike path

The stolen car stopped on the Springwater just south of the Ross Island Bridge. (Photo: Portland Police Bureau)

The Portland Police Bureau says a man driving a white Kia Soul tried to elude officers and drove nearly two miles on the Springwater Corridor bike path around noon today.

According to a statement released this afternoon, the driver was observed going over 50 miles per hour on a popular part of the path between Oaks Amusement Park and the Ross Island Bridge. There was at least one report of a pedestrian being nearly hit. Luckily, we are not aware of anyone being hurt.

Here’s the full PPB statement:

On Friday, April 14, 2023 at 11:18a.m., a Central Precinct officer on patrol located a vehicle in the 7800 block of Southeast Oaks Park Way in which 2 people appeared to be passed out. The officer asked for additional officers and they set up spike strips behind the vehicle’s tires in case the driver tried to drive off. When the driver was woken up, he eluded the officer, driving over the spike strip and damaging a fence. As additional officers responded to assist, the driver proceeded onto the Springwater Trail. The vehicle was observed going in excess of 50 miles per hour on the trail and officers got at least one report that a pedestrian on the trail was nearly struck by the vehicle.

Officers were attempting to deploy intervention strategies to stop the car when the driver jumped out and ran. Officers set up a perimeter and a K9 unit responded to assist with the search for the suspect. After a short search, the K9 located the suspect down an embankment on the Willamette River’s edge. When challenged, the suspect waded into the water to try to escape. Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office River Patrol and a Portland Fire and Rescue boat were requested. The officers convinced the suspect to come back to shore, where he was arrested.

The suspect claimed that he swallowed narcotics, so he was transported by ambulance to the hospital for evaluation. After being medically cleared, Lucas R. Lujan, 23, was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle (2 counts), Felony Attempt to Elude Police by vehicle, Misdemeanor Attempt to Elude Police on foot, Reckless Driving, and Failure to Perform the Duties of a Driver (property damage).

The vehicle, a white 2011 Kia Soul, was recovered (photo) and determined to be an unreported stolen vehicle. It was returned to its owner.

People driving cars on paths in Portland is a problem that the City has struggled to contain. Last August the Portland Parks and Recreation bureau erected large iron gates on the Peninsula Crossing Trail in north Portland to prevent driving. And in January 2022, Parks erected large concrete barriers on the Columbia Slough Path for the same reason.

Anyone who saw this incident on the Springwater and/or was put in danger by the driver of this car should contact the police at crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference case number 23-96312.

PBOT wants input on future plans for outdoor dining program

The ‘Rainbow Road’ on SE Ankeny is one of the results of the Healthy Business Permit program. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

For better or for worse, there are a lot of things from the COVID-19 pandemic that are now relics of a bygone era. One good thing from the pandemic that’s here to stay? Outdoor dining. Through the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Healthy Businesses Permit Program, those street seating installations that emerged as a way to enable social distancing during the pandemic will now become a permanent fixture of Portland’s street life.

But it’s not just going to be as simple as putting a table on the sidewalk and calling it a day. PBOT is currently developing a set of design guidelines (PDF) for outdoor dining to figure out how they’re going to run this program going forward, and they’re asking for community input with a new survey.

All Portlanders — whether you’re a customer, neighbor or business owner who is considering sidewalk café seating — are encouraged to fill out this survey, which asks questions about the program generally, proposed design standards, accessibility and more.

One of the design changes PBOT is proposing is to prohibit structures over sidewalks. Right now, the Healthy Business Permit mandates that at least six feet of sidewalk space be available for passage, but businesses have created outdoor seating areas using tents or structures partially set up on the sidewalk (see image on the right for an example).

PBOT is also proposing that a new ADA accessibility requirement that would mandate all new street seating installations in the parking lane with a year-long permit must be accessible for people in wheelchairs, achieved by creating sidewalk-level platforms or installing a ramp to an elevated dining platform.

The draft plan also proposes the following site operations guidelines:

  • Maintenance plan requirement: Permit holders must plan for site maintenance and graffiti removal.
  • No smoking in enclosed spaces: Per the Oregon Indoor Clean Air Act, no smoking is allowed in street seating installations with a roof and side wall enclosure. 
  • Good Neighbor Agreement requirements: A good neighbor agreement may be required to respond to complaints from neighboring businesses and residents. This may address hours of operation, noise, smoking or other issues.
  • Amplified noise restrictions: No amplified noise allowed within street seating installations. Request a variance from the Portland Noise Office.
  • No storage: No after-hours garbage and propane storage allowed within street seating installations.

We can’t imagine Portland without the outdoor dining areas that cropped up during the pandemic. The ‘Rainbow Road’ plaza on SE Ankeny is where we host our weekly Bike Happy Hour (Wednesdays, 3-6 pm) — we love all the outdoor seating in that plaza, and think more businesses should embrace the power of the outdoor cafe.

PBOT expects to bring a final proposal for their program guidelines to City Council for formal adoption in late May, and businesses would be expected to bring their sites into compliance with the final rules by the time the new permit cycle applications open in October. You can find more information about the Healthy Business Permit program here, and find the survey here.

Shakeup at Oregon Transportation Commission as two members step down before terms expire

Marcilynn Burke and Robert Van Brocklin. (Background photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland. Inset photos: State of Oregon)

Two members of the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) have decided to step down before the end of their terms. The OTC consists of five unelected members who oversee the budget and policies of the Oregon Department of Transportation.

OTC Chair Robert Van Brocklin sent a letter (PDF) to Governor Kate Brown in November stating that he was ready to step down. “I believe that the newly elected Governor should have the opportunity to choose her own leadership team,” Van Brocklin wrote. “Including by making appointments to the boards and commissions of the State.” Van Brocklin, a lawyer and former government lobbyist, joined the OTC in 2017 and was named as its leader in 2019. Van Brocklin will step down from his term at the end of June.

Van Brocklin’s last OTC meeting will be May 11th — just as debate heats up over a bill that would raise $1 billion for the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program. Van Brocklin has been at the center of difficult conversations about how Oregon pays for several freeway expansion projects ODOT is working on around the Portland region. At an OTC meeting in March 2022 he and other OTC members sounded alarms and shared skepticism about how the state would pay for the projects.

In a statement about his departure provided to BikePortland, Van Brocklin wrote:

“I am proud of what we have accomplished during my tenure as chair of the Oregon Transportation Commission. We have worked hard to make our transportation system more accessible and equitable for all Oregonians. Because of the work of the commission, Oregonians will soon experience less congestion, enjoy cleaner air and find it easier to travel by any means they choose. I am grateful for the opportunity to have served our state.”

Also leaving the OTC before the end of their term is Commissioner Marcilynn Burke. Burke was named to the OTC in November 2021 and her term goes through June 2024. ODOT’s Glenn said in a phone call this morning that the reason for leaving was the large time commitment required by OTC members. Burke is also dean of the University of Oregon Law School. Burke’s departure was announced at the OTC’s November meeting.

Burke is the third Black OTC member to leave the commission in the past three years. Maurice Henderson, a former manager at Portland Bureau of Transportation, served just four months of his term before leaving for a job at the US Department of Transportation in 2021. Former OTC member Alando Simpson served all eight years of his two terms which ended last year.

Three current OTC members: Julie Brown, Sharon Smith, Lee Beyer.

As per their charter, the OTC must have five commissioners to represent every region in the state. The absence of Burke and Van Brocklin reduce the body to just three members. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has already acted to replace the outgoing members. A source has shared a new list of nominations from the governor’s office that include two new names floated as possible new OTC members: Alicia Chapman from Portland would replace Burke, and Jeff Baker from Lake Oswego would replace Van Brocklin. I’m still working to learn more about each of those nominees.

This major reshuffling at the OTC leaves current Vice Chair Julie Brown as the most veteran member. Commissioner Brown, a former general manager of the Rogue Valley Transportation District, has served on the OTC since 2018 and her current term goes through the end of June 2024.

Commissioner Sharon Smith’s first term is set to expire this June and we haven’t heard whether or not she’ll seek a second one.

The newest member of the OTC, longtime state legislator and former Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation Lee Beyer began his first term back in January and his term expires in June 2025.

From here, Governor Kotek will nominate a new OTC chair and then the Senate will move to make final appointments. That will likely happen at the end of this legislative session.

New, improved DistrctR tool makes drawing new council districts fun (and addictive)

Author’s district map in progress, with shaded circles showing Hispanic population.

I don’t know where the hours went, but it might have had something to do with the new DistrctR tool which is awesome and addictive.

DistrctR is the computer program the Independent District Commission (IDC) is using to draw Portland’s new four-district city council map — and you can join in with your own map too! Everything has been set up so that you can draw a map and have it published on a Portland Community Gallery online. Get in early, there are only eight maps up so far. Here are three of them:

Three potential district maps from the public gallery.

Reed College Political Science Professor Paul Gronke contacted me earlier this week with news of the new version, which is now based on 2020 census data.

“The prior maps relied on 2010 Census data which was, frankly, quite out of date for Portland. In particular, the percentages of Hispanic were substantially lower, and residential patterns have changed quite a bit in the last decade,” Gronke emailed.

Plus, the new version is a whole lot slicker.

The “data layers” page lets you overlay neighborhood and school district boundaries and also precincts (in case you want your map to keep those communities whole). It’s also now based on census blocks, which allows for more granular, refined maps. Gronke tells me that his students are finding it much easier to hit the 163,126 “equal population” sweet spot that four districts requires.

Remember, your districts should:

  • be contiguous and compact
  • use existing geographic or political boundaries
  • not divide communities of common interest
  • be connected by transportation links
  • be of equal population

The IDC has a page of links to Key Documents some of which which are educational. Their timeline shows that they plan to have a draft district map by June.

DistrctR is the work of the MGGG Redistricting Lab at Tufts University (MGGG stands for Metric Geometry and Gerrymandering Group). MGGG is a non-partisan research organization which contributed to Portland’s Charter Reform effort by modeling Portland voting. FLO Analytics is providing technical expertise to the IDC.

Have fun!

Charter reform update: Portland’s transition to districts

Downtown Portland skyline from Bob Stacey Overcrossing in southeast. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

It’s been a few months since BikePortland last checked in with our city’s progress in moving toward its new form of government, so I’ll refresh everyone’s memory with a very short review of where we left off before launching into an update of what’s happening with the transition.

Readers will remember that voters rejected Portland’s “commission” form of government last fall in favor of a system which separates legislative and executive functions.

To achieve closer, fuller representation of constituents, November’s charter reform measure stipulated that the legislative body (the city council) be elected in four geographic districts using a ranked choice voting method to select three councilors within each district, for a total of a twelve-member city council.

The measure not only detailed the new structure of government and voting, it also provided a mandatory set of instructions for transitioning to it. The transition relies on three committees of volunteers with specific tasks and deadlines: the Independent District Commission; the Salary Commission; and the Government Transition Advisory Committee.

All committees have now been seated, and some of their deadlines are not too far away. So let’s look at what they are up to.

The Independent District Commission has been up and running the longest. The 13-member group will have its fifth meeting next week. Its job is to define the boundaries of the four new city council districts — by September. There is a lot of excitement around this.

In order to not run afoul of numerous laws regulating redistricting, including the Voting Rights Act, constitutional rules on race, and equal population requirements, there are several criteria each district must meet. Districts must

  • be contiguous and compact
  • use existing geographic or political boundaries
  • not divide communities of common interest
  • be connected by transportation links
  • be of equal population

With those requirements in mind, this is the committee that gets to draw the maps. And you can draw along too! Keep your eye open for our related story on the new, improved DistrctR tool, coming up soon.

The Salary Commission is the smallest committee and is made up of five volunteers with human resources expertise. With guidance from Portland’s Bureau of Human Resources, this group’s task is to set the salaries of the twelve councilors, the mayor, and the auditor. This is a change from past practice in which the city council set its own salary. These new salaries will be adopted by August 1st.

This is the only committee made up of experts, and they must set competitive salaries which will attract qualified people—within the guidelines of public employment—while recognizing that many of our future leaders will be relying on that salary to live in Portland. They meet for the third time on April 27.

Their work is an ongoing task which must be periodically reevaluated. A new salary commission will be appointed by the mayor and approved by the city council every two years.

The Government Transition Advisory Committee is the last committee to get up and running, which has caused consternation among charter reform advocates. It’s the committee which advises the city on the whole transition ball-of-wax. Fifteen members were approved by the city council at the end of March, and the group will have its first meeting at the end of April. It does not yet have a web page.

Those are the public-facing, charter reform measure-required, transition committees composed of community members. Obviously, there is also a bit of work going on within the city government, but those internal workings are harder to track.

For example, the Oregonian recently reported that the interim director of the Office of Community & Civic Life, Michael Montoya, has stepped down after two years in the position. Montoya punctuated his departure with a confidential memo to Commissioner-in-charge Dan Ryan which indicated that Civic Life is still in turmoil and detailed a host of bureau problems with overseeing Portland’s neighborhood association structure—including dropped insurance coverage and also possible financial impropriety across multiple district coalitions. Montoya is being replaced by Commissioner Ryan senior aide T.J. McHugh.

Those kinds of rumblings are hard to interpret for any but the most plugged-in city observers, but it leaves the impression that a lot of house-cleaning is still to come. Stay tuned as we keep you informed about this massive shift in how our city is governed.

Youth climate activist confronts lawmaker who supports ODOT freeway megaprojects

Oregon House Representative Susan McLain (Democrat – Hillsboro) is co-chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation (JCT) and there’s growing sentiment in some circles that she should be more skeptical of the Oregon Department of Transportation and the multiple, multi-billion dollar freeway expansion projects they’re working on.

After a meeting about the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program at the State Capitol in Salem Thursday night where McLain and other JCT members heard from an invite-only set of speakers who all expressed strong enthusiasm for a project that could cost as much as $7.5 billion and would widen five miles of I-5 between Portland and Vancouver, McLain was confronted about her support of the project.

Adah Crandall is a 17-year-old youth climate organizer and activist with Sunrise PDX who’s focused much of her work on transportation. You might remember her as the leader of the Youth vs. ODOT protests in front of ODOT’s Portland headquarters that began in 2021. Since then, Crandall has continued to fight against what she sees as projects that will lead to more driving and more carbon emissions that will hasten climate change impacts.

In a sign of increased frustration over how Rep. McLain has handled this and other freeway expansion projects in her eight years on the JCT, Crandall confronted in a hallway. Here’s how the exchange unfolded:

Crandall: Hi my name is Adah and I’m 17.

McLain: How are you?

Crandall: My classmates and I skipped school today to come here and talk to you because I’m generally concerned.

McLain: I talked to a bunch of you today.

Crandall: We’re really concerned about the climate crisis…

McLain: Would you like to stand and talk?

Crandall: … we’re concerned that the Interstate Bridge project that you’re supporting is going to increase emissions. And so we’re wondering if you would be willing to support a version of that project that is cheaper and still addresses the seismic issues and secures my generations feature by not adding freeway lanes.

McLain: So this is what I can tell you I’m absolutely willing to do all of those things through an appropriate process and review and that’s what we’re doing. So I’m happy to do that. Why don’t you come and see me in my office? Sometime or…

Crandall: I’m here talking to talk to you because this is really important. I want to talk to you right now. We’re going to talk right now because I’ve been here all day trying to talk.

McLain: So have I.

Crandall: I know, but your job is to represent us and I know that you used to be a teacher and that you care a lot about young people. And right now what young people need is your leadership on a project that is not going to extend freeway lanes. Our futures are literally depending on you taking action on climate.

McLain: And that is what I’m going to do.

Crandall: But that’s not what you are doing because ODOT hasn’t even studied a version of the project that doesn’t add lanes. Why are you trusting ODOT when they’ve failed time and time again to tell the truth about emissions and…

McLain: Do you want me to have a dialogue with you or do you just want to talk?

Crandall: I want to know if you’re willing to to prioritize my future over ODOT’s freeway expansions.

McLain: I want to very much talk about your future and about this bridge, but I’ve been here for 12 hours today.

Crandall: Can you tell me that you’re willing to prioritize my generation’s feature over upholding ODOT’s status quo freeway expansions?

McLain: So far I’ve said I’m absolutely here to support and to represent your generation and the future. So I am here for you.

Crandall: I understand that representative but that’s not what we’ve seen in your actions. And you haven’t asked ODOT to study other versions of the project.

McLain: I really appreciate your passion and we want to thank you for staying here to talk to me and I think that we need to have a sit down and I’m happy to give you my phone number. Would you like my phone number?

Crandall: Representative, it shouldn’t be difficult for you as someone who is representing the people of Oregon. It shouldn’t be hard for you to tell me that my future is important than a freeway expansion! Please my generation is counting on your leadership!

At that point, House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson escorted Rep. McLain away.

CORRECTION, 1:40 pm: The initial version of this story said a McLain staffer escorted McLain away. I regret the mistake.

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