Happy Monday friends. Hope you had a good weekend.
Here are the best stories and other items we came across in the past seven days…
Protest party: Activists in Philly turned out for a “protest party” in front of a church after the city granted permits for service attendees to park their cars in the bike lane. (Philadelphia Inquirier)
Driving drunk: More people are dying on our roads because too many people think they can drive while intoxicated without any consequence. (Wall Street Journal)
WA’s rebate: The state of Washington has allocated $5 million for an e-bike rebate program, but the launch date is still TBD. (The Urbanist)
Ads that kill: I was extremely pleased to see that a major safety organization is making the point that auto ads that depict reckless driving are out of control and should be regulated out of existence. (IIHS)
Bike bus every day: A school in southeast Portland has begun leading their two bike bus routes every day of the week. It’s the first every day bike bus in the city and if it works, the model might spread. (Portland Tribune)
What Gent did: The first step toward making the Belgium city of Gent less car-dominated was something that should be obvious yet often eludes North American leaders: physically restricting where people can drive cars. (Global Cycling Network)
Active shooter: After trying to run cyclists in a charity ride off the road, a Maryland man pulled over, retrieved a gun and shot several times at the riders. (Velo)
Dream trip: I’ve always wanted to ride in Japan and this 8-day adventure from Tokyo to Kyoto seems to check many of my boxes (except for one: I’d want to be more self-contained and do it cheaper!). (Conde Nast Traveler)
Prime numbers: Many Americans love the convenience of having e-commerce purchases brought directly to their doors; but the vehicles that make those deliveries aren’t as safe as they should be — and we all pay the price in deaths and injuries. (Streetsblog USA)
Collegiate cycling FTW: As someone who raced in college for several years and loved every weekend of it, I fully support the idea that collegiate cycling can inject much-needed fun and creativity into the bike racing scene. (Bicycling)
Gas tax view: Don’t miss this opinion piece from Portlander Taylor Griggs where she explains why you should vote on the local gas tax, and why we should eventually move away from it. (Portland Mercury)
Thanks to everyone who sent in links this week. The Monday Roundup is a community effort, so please feel free to send us any great stories you come across.
They’re not wrong!
I don’t know about “any” consequence, but they can certainly do so without legal consequences.
Not specifically mentioned in the article, but worth pointing out: I’m sure lots of us have noticed that Amazon drivers extremely often park on the wrong side of the street to make their deliveries. This is both dangerous and illegal. How do we prevent it?
Start ticketing the residents who do the same?
There have been 2 or 3 times that I’ve almost gotten hit by drivers blindly pulling out of their parking spot and across the oncoming traffic lane before proceeding on their way. And there are dozens of other cars I see every day that are parked against traffic.
If you’re in Portland, be advised that PBoT Parking Enforcement has actually started to enforce that law recently, and you’re empowered to report an illegally parked vehicle to them yourself. I think the Amazon question is the tougher nut to crack, because they’re in and out so quickly.
I find them in bike lanes pretty regularly.
I get the concerns with delivery vehicles. It probably only takes several dozen drivers doing indidual trips to get the stuff that goes in one delivery van home. And dozens of private individuals just has to be safer than a single corporate driver.
Gent (also Ghent, Gand, and Gaunt): Great story, not sure how you would do it in Portland or any other US city, likely use the already-congested freeways I suppose. It’s useful to know that Gent is both a regional administrative capital and university city, quite a nice dynamic city, been there several times. Like nearby Bruges it was famous in Medieval times (for lace) and has a bunch of huge churches from that period, but unlike touristy Bruges all its houses and businesses were destroyed during the 1500s when it rebelled once too often, so it actually has a real mix of buildings from multiple periods, including modern architecture.
On the one hand, my gut response to the WSJ headline, “Drunken-Driving Deaths Are Up. Why Are DUI Arrests Down?” — at least from the perspective of a Portlander — is that our local electeds are too damn susceptible to the lobbyists and influence of the places that sell liquor, especially bars and restaurants. Did we *really* think that during a pandemic the kind of “emergency response” we needed was to allow to-go cocktails?? Why did the governor back down so quickly from the attempt to raise the liquor tax for the first time in many decades, despite the number of deaths from alcohol plaguing our state? And yet, there’s that Streetsblog piece about how delivery drivers are killing us, too. Also fits our own experiences on Portland streets. Yet in that case, the drivers are also undermining the local economy. If people shopped locally, more people would be employed in our community, more dollars would stay in our community, etc. etc.
So if one is really more concerned with profit over people, as our electeds seem to be around the first issue undermining community safety, why can’t we at least get them to move on the second issue?
I know why. Capitalism is the opiate of the masses. And it is impairing an awful lot of driving.
In addition to capitalism, it may also be related to the suspension of the traffic division and the general shortage of police compared to other cities our size.
Taxing liquor, like cigarettes disproportionately affects people of lower incomes and and doesn’t achieve the intended effect. And during the pandemic being able to walk and ride my bike to get a to go cocktail while the bar was closed for indoor service and at the same time help support my friends in the service industry was extremely gratifying.
“Local electeds are too susceptible”
Yes, but.
Don’t forget that the police union is conducting a work slowdown. In fact, they are currently asking for a do-over (Oregon Live: ‘Portland police union seeks voting redo on planned accountability board’) on civilian oversight now that we’ve had four years to experience first-hand what happens when they quit enforcing the laws.
It is possible this claim is true, but it is entirely without evidence. Can you tell me how to distinguish between a deliberate slowdown and being understaffed, a condition we know exists compared to other cities our size?
Taylor’s piece reminded me of that infuriating exchange, where Rene Gonzalez asked Director Williams if his gas taxes are paying for bike lanes, and she replied yes, they are.
Can we start paying a tax on cycling so we can put that idea to rest? I say we pay ten cents for every hundred miles on a bike. That should silence the critics.
It won’t work. The bicycle sales tax was supposed to silence the critics, but haters gonna hate, even if you try to confront them with logic.
Bike busses don’t go every day? I had no idea. Well luckily I happen to be in the Abernethy area, so hopefully they keep it up for when my child starts there in a couple years.