UPDATE, 10/18: The original post and photos on Nextdoor have been removed by Mel L.
People who live near Rose City Golf Course in northeast Portland awoke Monday morning to large scars of damage criss-crossing the grassy turf. The deep skidmarks and tread patterns make it clear the damage was done by people riding some sort of two-wheeled vehicle. Witnesses claimed the vehicles were electric and one Rose City Park resident, “Mel L.,” posted photos to Nextdoor and falsely blamed the damage on “e-bikes.”
“Just wait until bikes are allowed on the golf course,” Mel L. wrote. “Sorry, PP&R, but signage won’t stop this.”
The damage to the golf course has ramped up emotions surrounding a current proposal from Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) to build new bike trails in and around the golf course and adjacent Rose City Park.
It’s clear Mel L. is using this terrible behavior and vandalism to further a position shared by other nearby residents who’ve made it clear they do not support any new bike access as part of the PP&R trail project. Another person on Nextdoor, Janet Loughery, who’s been a loud voice against the bike trails in the past, piled onto the anti-bike sentiment in the thread: “These are the people the city wants to legally allow on the golf course by building trails they can have easier access to. This behavior will be come commonplace. Just say NO to trails on the golf course.”
Both Mel L. and Loughery are spreading misinformation and/or willfully misleading other residents because they don’t want more and/or certain type of people using the park.
The products used in the park were not “e-bikes.” As I recently explained in reporting on a tragic electric motorcycle crash in Tualatin, it’s common for people to use the term “e-bike” for vehicles that are not technically or legally bicycles in an way, shape or form other than having two wheels and a handlebar. For some folks, like law enforcement officials who write crash statements, it’s simply a matter of being ignorant of Oregon laws and/or not thinking the words we used to describe things matters. For others, like with these Nextdoor posters, it’s a matter of willfully painting a group with the wrong brush to further an agenda.
The discovery of this damage just as new access for bicycling is being considered, reminds me of the debate around bicycling in Forest Park. Back in 2010, as the conversation was shifting to support new and improved bike trails in Forest Park, someone tipped off PP&R staff about an illegal, handbuilt bike trail in a remote section of the park. The trail damaged a creek and was sloppily cut into the hillside. Bike advocates condemned the unsanctioned trail, but more importantly, PP&R staff and people who opposed cycling in Forest Park used it as a way to thwart forward progress on the biking plans. To this day, almost nothing has come from years of earnest advocacy to improve cycling in Forest Park thanks in large part to how some people leverage irresponsible actions of a few into an agenda that excludes all.
When it comes to the damage to Rose City Golf Course, a PP&R spokesperson told BikePortland this morning the greens have been repaired and the damage had no impact on golfers. As for what they were riding? “Some sort of vehicle,” the PP&R staffer shared. “We cannot confirm that e-bikes were used as someone claimed.”
We’ll get our first sense of how this damage might influence the city’s trail project tonight when PP&R hosts its second community meeting for the Rose City Recreational Trail Project. On the agenda is a discussion of trail designs, proposed trail locations, and more. The meeting will be held online from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. Find the meeting Zoom link and learn more here.
