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Skate, scoot, or cycle — the streets are ours! (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
This Sunday, the City of Portland will launch its annual open streets season. East Portland Sunday Parkways is a 3.3-mile out-and-back route between Gateway Park on NE Halsey to Lincoln Park on SE Mill.
If you’ve never attended one of these events, you can rest assured conditions are safe enough for all riders and ages. You can expect mostly carfree streets and whenever the route crosses a major street there is a human crossing guard that makes sure everyone gets across safely. But safe riding is just one thing to get excited about!
What really makes Parkways shine is what happens along the route. The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) stuffs the three parks along the route full with vendor booths, food carts, music and performance stages, and free activities of all types. It’s also fun to see garage sales, lemonade stands, and impromptu front-yard parties that spring up at houses along the route.
If you don’t have a bike, you can grab a Biketown and get unlimited, free 60-minute rides on the day of the event (as long as you start and end your ride on the route). If you want to ride free longer than 60 minutes, just lock the bike and then restart another trip.
Here are a few other special happenings you can expect on Sunday (via PBOT):
Family-Friendly Activities: Families can explore the joy of circus performance through physical and artistic expression with Circus Cascadia, enjoy games with Portland in the Streets, and much more.
Kaiser Permanente’s Sticker Hunt: During the event, Sunday Parkways Presenting Sponsor Kaiser Permanente will host the popular Sticker Hunt. Participants will win a prize by visiting the Kaiser Permanente booths at each park. Each booth will inspire participants to get their body moving while also having a load of fun!
Bike Play performances at Lincoln Park at 1:40 and 2:00 pm.
Bike Programming: Participants can belt out their favorite tunes while riding the route with bike karaoke hosted by NakedHeartsPDX. Boom Bike PDX will serenade our open streets with performances by Larry Peace-Love Yes and Dan Kaufman on their pedal-powered mobile stage. Bike Play, a beloved Pedalpalooza favorite, invites participants to immerse themselves in their creative and entertaining performances! These diverse bike activities showcase the vibrant spirit of Portland’s cycling culture.
Mobility Resources: With bike fleets and free 60-minute rides offered from BIKETOWN and Adaptive BIKETOWN, individuals can access bicycles suited to their preferences and needs. The Rose City Roller’s Skatemobile will provide free skate rentals from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m., inviting roller enthusiasts to join in the festivities. TriMet’s Fan Van will be on-site for those interested in exploring transit resources. Lime will on-site for participants to learn more about their electric scooters.
Another cool way to enhance your experience is to join a group ride at or to the event. One person is leading a BIPOC and Friends ride that will cruise the entire route from Gateway Park south. There’s even a Bike Bus to Parkways ride being led by Kidical Mass PDX that will meet at Rose City Park playground at 11:40 and head over to the parkways route.
Parkways is a chance for us to live our vision. While I wish it lasted longer, happened more often, and took place on major streets — those quibbles melt away whenever I show up and see all the beautiful happy people enjoying our city from the seat of their bikes.
Red dots are 2023 deaths. 2024 deaths are shown in blue.
For all the critiques lobbed at the Oregon Department of Transportation on this website, the fact is they actually do a lot of very good and important work. While the bad stuff (which is mostly how they throw billions at freeway expansions and don’t do enough to reduce driving capacity and improve safety on urban arterials) tends to overshadow where they’re actually moving forward, that doesn’t mean change and progress isn’t happening at the agency.
During an update on ODOT’s safety work shared at the May 9th Oregon Transportation Commission meeting, the agency’s Policy, Data and Analysis Division Administrator Amanda Pietz shared several important items. Chief among them is a map that just launched a few months ago that gives us a more up-to-date and interactive view of where people are dying on Oregon roads.
Beyond engineering, enforcement, education, data is a huge part any good road safety program. Similar to the City of Portland and Metro, ODOT wants zero deaths to occur on the entire system. They’ve stated a goal of “no deaths or life-changing injuries on Oregon’s transportation system by 2035.” And that’ll be an extremely tall order given current trends.
Slide from May 9th OTC meeting.
Fatality rates in Oregon are the highest they’ve been in three decades and we’ve settled into a grim average of about 600 deaths per year — about half of which occurred on state-owned roads. The number of people killed while walking is a “pressing issue” according to one slide shared at last week’s meeting. 126 pedestrians were killed in 2022 compared to the previous five year average of 80.
One shocking graph Pietz shared was how all types of crashes increased in 2022 versus the five year average from 2017 to 2021. Intersection crashes were up 71%. Crashes that happened around a school bus or in a school zone were up 109%! This chart is the best illustration of the post-pandemic driving freak-out I’ve ever seen.
Pietz is big on data and believes it’s key to reaching zero deaths. On that note, she shared ODOT’s Crash Analysis & Reporting Unit Initial Fatal Crash Information Viewer (CARUIFCIV, lol). It’s a GIS-based map that contains information on all fatal crashes in the state. So far the map includes details about all fatals from 2023 and 2024.
The timeliness of this information is a new thing for ODOT.
In the past, data would take months — even years — to trickle out of city police and DMV reports, then local transportation departments and eventually to State databases. But with “crash data timeliness” one of the areas ODOT was tasked to address in their Strategic Plan, Pietz and her team have rolled out this map as one way to tackle that problem.
“When we get a report about a death we enter it that night,” Pietz told Transportation Commission members at their May 9th meeting. “So this is essentially live information where you can see traffic fatalities across the state that’s interactive. So instead of waiting a year, or even longer in some cases, to have that information, we have it live so we can start to be more responsive to some of those things.”
If you’re an advocate, city staffer, or in the media, you’ll definitely want to bookmark this page. And hopefully by 2035, you can delete it.
Grab your squad and head east for open streets! (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Ever ridden a fat bike on the beach? This weekend would be a great time to try it. The Cannon Beach Fat Bike Festival happens all weekend long. And the organizers are wonderful people who do tons of bike advocacy and also support BikePortland with an ad campaign for their event. Check it out!
If that’s not your thing, here are some other really cool things to do on a bike this weekend…
Friday, May 17th
Vvolt/Showers Pass Warehouse Sale – 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at their shared HQ (SE) Buy e-bikes at 25-50% off and save 40-60% on rain gear and related apparel. Sale also runs Saturday from 9:00 am to 12 noon. More info here.
Breadwinner Cycles Moving Sale – 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm at Breadwinner Cycles (N) Breadwinner is downsizing and they have tons of cool stuff to sell off. Come grab smokin’ deals on everything from high-quality framebuilding tools to frames and even new and used complete bikes! Sale also runs Saturday, 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. More info here.
Saturday, May 18th
Reach the Beach – Sauvie Island The big annual ride that benefits the American Lung Association shoves off from bucolic Sauvie Island en route to Astoria. More info here.
Coffee Outside & Pop-Up Market – 9:00 am to 2:00 pm at Lords Luggage (SE) Get your DIY caffeine fix and then check out the wares of local artisans and makers. More info here.
PSU Farmers Market Ride – 10:00 am at SE Clinton & 41st (SE) Join a merry and social crew for this weekly jaunt from inner southeast, across the Tilikum Bridge, and into downtown to purchase and peruse wonderful food and other items at the market. More info here.
Milwaukie Greenway Ride – 10:00 at Water Tower Park (Milwaukie) Explore new greenways just south of Portland and bring a few bucks for a cookie stop and food carts at the end spot. More info here.
Ride to Outdoor Bike Storytime – 10:00 am at UO Concordia (NE) A bike-themed storytime hosted by Multnomah County Library out on the grass is a perfect excuse for a ride with the kiddos! More info here.
Beaverton Policy Ride – 10:30 am at Beaverton Central MAX Station (West Side) Hosted by Ride Westside and led by two Beaverton city council members, this is a must-do event if you are interested in bike policy and projects. More info here.
Bike Swap Meet – 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm at Rose City Food Park (NE) Clean out your parts bin and bike shed, grab a table for $10 and hang out with fellow bike nerds. $1 off beers. More info here.
Sunday, May 19th
East Portland Sunday Parkways – 11:00 am to 4:00 pm (E) This it it! The big kickoff of Portland’s favorite open streets event. So many cool things to see and do along the out-and-back route. You can do it any way you want: take a chill cruise and swing into parks for treats and people-watching, or grab your squad for a party on two wheels. More info here.
Cycle Homies Cycle Sundays – 11:30 am at Salmon Street Springs (SW) A new ride series led by a collective of cyclists and DJs that will happen every other Sunday. Expect 15-20 mile routes with “moderate to fast-pace.” More info here.
Heidi Across America Author Talk – 3:00 to 4:00 pm at Powell’s Books (W Burnside) “Hailing from big sky country of eastern Montana, Joe Wilkins joins Wyoming-imprinted Heidi Beierle in conversation about Heidi Across America – One Woman’s Journey on a Bicycle through the Heartland. More info here.
— Did I miss your event? Please let me know by filling out our contact form, or just email me at maus.jonathan@gmail.com.
One major reason our roads are so dangerous is because our system does not keep dangerous people from using them.
The man who was convicted for killing Mitch York while he straddled his bicycle on the St. Johns Bridge in October 2016 was arrested again in January. He then boasted about his driving skills on his Facebook page about being in a high-speed car chase with the Portland Police Bureau.
“So yeah any way, got into a high-speed chase 140mph [sic] with Multnomah county’s finest down division the other morning,” reads a post from Joel Schrantz posted January 23rd, 2024. “They spiked stripped me twice, that’s cheating. It used to be about if they could catch you or not, who was the better driver, not anymore.”
It seems nothing will prevent Schrantz from wantonly dangerous driving: Not the threat of legal consequences; not admonishments from judges; not his Facebook friends (none of whom expressed concern for his post, and six of whom replied with a “Haha” emoji); not even killing an innocent person.
Schrantz was sentenced to 42 months in prison on May 17th, 2017. In the courtroom that day prosecutors explained how he’d been driving without a valid license for 25 years and had not paid the 40 traffic citations that had piled up on his record. Just two years prior, Schrantz was convicted of hit-and-run. During that case a judge warned Schrantz, “He needed to stop driving or he was going to kill someone.”
He didn’t stop driving. Then he killed Mitch York.
Then on January 21st of this year, Schrantz, now 49, was caught yet again driving recklessly around innocent people. The Portland Police Bureau arrested him following the aforementioned car chase and he was slapped with five charges: attempt to elude by vehicle, reckless driving, attempt to elude on foot, escape in the third degree and intent to deliver methamphetamine.
According to court records, Schrantz appeared in front of a judge on April 18th. But due to lack of an attorney his case was dismissed (along with 26 others). The Multnomah County District Attorney’s office has called this lack of public defenders “an urgent threat to public safety.”
Schrantz’s case was dismissed “without prejudice” meaning the judge didn’t rule on the merits of the charges. Technically, this means he could face a court date in the future if/when an attorney can be provided for him. But with hundreds (thousands?) of cases impacted by the lack of public defenders, it’s hard to say when — or if — that would ever happen.
Multnomah County DA’s Office Communications Director Liz Merah told BikePortland they plan to bring this case back to court, “In the near future.” “And we certainly hope that the court will appoint counsel if/when we get to arraignment.”
I-5 running under NE Broadway and Weidler through the Rose Quarter. (Google Earth)
If you’re new to the I-5 Rose Quarter project and never looked too far beyond recent headlines or press releases, you’d think it was a community redevelopment project that will build a highway cover, restore a vibrant community, and add a bunch of new bike facilities to surface streets.
But the thrust of the $1.9 billion project from the get-go, and still it’s most expensive element, is something Oregon Department of Transportation officials and other project partners hardly ever mention these days: A significant expansion of I-5 and new freeway lanes between I-84 and I-405 that will exacerbate many of the same community wounds the recent $450 million federal grant aims to heal.
This week a coalition of nonprofit organizations emerged once again to remind ODOT of this inconvenient truth and filed of another lawsuit against their Rose Quarter project. Led by ODOT’s most persistent nemesis No More Freeways, the four other plaintiffs on the suit are Neighbors for Clean Air, Oregon and SW Washington Families for Safe Streets, BikeLoud PDX, and the Eliot Neighborhood Association.
They claim ODOT is not in compliance with city and regional planning documents — specifically the Portland Central City Plan and Comprehensive Plan and Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan. The 15-page complaint (read it below) filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court May 10th calls out ODOT’s failure to comply with Portland’s Central City Plan, which calls for congestion pricing to be implemented in conjunction with any project that seeks to expand I-5 through the Rose Quarter. “No such plans or analyses of congestion pricing or TDM options were included in ODOT’s final Rose Quarter I-5 project as adopted, nor were such analyses included in the project’s published Environmental Assessment, nor were such inconsistencies discussed in ODOT’s findings on supposed compatibility,” reads the complaint.
Litigants also claim ODOT is running afoul of Metro’s RTP, which states that before any road authority adds new capacity or lanes, “agencies must demonstrate that system and demand management strategies, including access management, transit and freight priority, pricing, transit service, and multimodal connectivity improvements cannot adequately address identified needs.” The complainants state in the lawsuit that, “ODOT has not demonstrated whether any of the listed alternative improvements would be incapable of addressing any identified congestion issues.”
This is the third time No More Freeways has joined with some of these litigants on a lawsuit against ODOT and this project. In two separate lawsuits filed in 2021 they claimed ODOT failed to adhere to federal environmental law and that the plan to expand the freeway ran afoul of the City of Portland’s Comprehensive Plan. Both those suits were withdrawn in 2022 when Federal Highway Administration officials told ODOT to go back to the drawing board and do more environmental assessments.
This new lawsuit that ODOT’s proposal still fails to comply with the City of Portland’s Comprehensive Plan as well as Metro’s Regional Transportation Plan, citing numerous specific details of the proposed expansion that litigants say are, “demonstrably out of alignment with the city’s tentative approval of the expansion back in 2012.”
While ODOT has maintained their freeway work isn’t technically an expansion or that it will add new lanes — preferring more politically innocuous terms like “auxiliary” or “ramp-to-ramp” lanes or the phrase they used in a meeting today, “safety and operational improvements in the areas underneath the highway cover” — No More Freeways and their partner groups see it differently. City Observatory, a website run by economist Joe Cortright, a co-founder of No More Freeways, maintains ODOT is hiding a wolf in sheep’s clothing and their true intent is to double or triple the width of the freeway and make it wide enough to include ten lanes. That would be “in direct contradiction of the city’s formally adopted climate, transportation and lane use plans,” according to a press release from No More Freeways released today.
ODOT drawing obtained via public records request by City Observatory (red annotations by City Observatory).
“It’s absurd for ODOT to claim that their proposed $1.9 billion 10-lane highway is in compliance with the city’s existing plans,” said No More Freeways co-founder Chris Smith. “We filed this lawsuit because state law requires ODOT to follow the city’s clean air and climate goals. ODOT shouldn’t be allowed to advance a project that brazenly violates the city’s adopted plans.”
And Allan Rudwick, chair of the Eliot Neighborhood Association’s Land Use and Transportation Committee added, “The Eliot Neighborhood needs more homes, not more highways. Routing lots of extra traffic onto our roads may put a damper on this revitalization for another century and we continue to oppose ODOT’s road-widening project.”
Nakisha Nathan with Neighbors for Clean Air said she’s joining the lawsuit because ODOT’s freeway plans “would significantly pollute the air in the Albina neighborhood and actively harm the health and well being of North Portland residents.”
For road safety advocate Michelle DuBarry, ODOT’s investment in a wider freeway to increase driving capacity flies in the face of more urgent needs like improving crossings of local streets similar to the one where her 22-month-old son was killed in 2010. “ODOT has continued to prioritize investment in endless freeway expansion instead of targeting improvements to streets like North Lombard, where my son was killed,” DuBarry said in the statement.
This lawsuit and accompanying critiques of the I-5 Rose Quarter project create dissonance in the community. On one hand we have Albina Vision Trust and ODOT’s Historic Albina Advisory Board (made up of Black residents with ties to the neighborhoods destroyed by construction of I-5 in the 1960s) who are eager to start the project and are forging ever stronger ties to ODOT to make it happen. And on the other hand you’ve got the No More Freeways coalition and many local transportation reform advocates who remain appalled by the freeway expansion elements and want to, “Construct the caps. Lose the lanes.”
Whether or not the freeway expansion can be decoupled from the highway caps and surface street elements of the project, depends on who you ask. A clear ruling from a judge about whether the expansion is even legal would help settle the debate.
Crossing SW Farmington Road is often a leap of faith. (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Riding a bike in Beaverton can be a treasure hunt. I typically use Google Maps, Strava, and local friends’ knowledge to sleuth out safe routes on park paths, cut-throughs, and neighborhood streets to avoid major roads like Tualatin-Valley Highway or Murray Road. Cut left behind the mailbox between two houses, cross a footbridge, and you’re there! Riding a bike in Beaverton can also be a terrifying game of Frogger, where I leap across five- and six-lane roads like Farmington or Canyon, and hope I’m not flattened.
But with a series of plans coming over the next few years, that might change. The City of Beaverton is updating their Transportation System Plan (TSP) for the first time since 2010. What is a Transportation System Plan? It’s a long-range plan required by the State of Oregon, which has told cities and counties they must reduce vehicle miles traveled. It lays out the city’s transportation priorities for all road users. In theory, it will cover planning and investments, as well as what to do and how to pay for it.
According to Beaverton Senior Transportation Planner Jessica Engelmann, the “Go Beaverton” project has been about two years in the making, and has two-and-a-half years to go. Engelmann said the city wants to hear from a wide swath of the city — from families, retirees, business owners, drivers, cyclists, and students. “Transportation decisions affect everyone in our community,” Englemann shared in an email to BikePortland last week. “From the little kid who would like to ride their bike to their friend’s house to the 50-year-old business owner who depends on customers visiting their business, to the 85-year-old elder who wants to continue to live independently.”
The City of Beaverton has secured funding, a consultant team, and community volunteers to serve as advisors (a Community Advisory Committee or CAC) and a new team of transportation ambassadors. The ambassadors were appointed by Beaverton’s City Manager in February. Although the ambassadors haven’t met yet, they have ambitious goals to connect with friends and neighbors and find out what they think about transportation issues in the city.
Beaverton adopted a complete streets policy in 2023 that defines rules and guidelines for making streets welcoming for all users. These efforts align with the State of Oregon’s Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities rules for transportation planning. Beaverton’s TSP update will include many other agencies and voices as part of a Technical Advisory Committee or TAC, such as ODOT (which owns major thoroughfares like TV Highway), Washington County, TriMet, Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation District, Beaverton School District, and others.
It all sounds fabulous and hopeful on paper. It has all the right buzzwords, and I’ve heard the transportation ambassadors have been assigned the book, Walkable City Rules by Jeff Speck (a great book by the way). But what will it really mean, on the ground when/if the policies and projects are implemented? While I’d love to see Dutch-style protected and connected bike and pedestrian infrastructure spring up out of the bike lane paint stripes on Murray Road, I’m skeptical. In a car-centric suburban city like Beaverton, where will the money come from to make these changes? Will real change even happen?
Engelmann, who’s leading the TSP update project, thinks so. “The City’s Transportation System Plan, at its core, is a policy and investment plan for the next 20 years. It will consider transportation revenue sources the City expects to have, both over the short and long term. It will also consider what it would cost to program and build the transportation system the community desires.”
Imagine a future rebuild of a current major road like Cedar Hills Blvd between Walker Road and TV Highway. It’s currently five lanes general traffic lanes with lots of shopping and restaurants, and a patchwork of bike lanes—which are only paint and have fast-moving cars, trucks, and buses roaring by inches away. (I mostly ride the sidewalk there and yield to pedestrians.) When it comes time to decide between reducing traffic lanes, or removing space (sometimes landscaping) from business parking lots to create protected bike lanes, or staying with the status quo —what will we decide in the future?
Engelmann says, “That’s for the community to discuss and City Council to decide. [Future projects] could happen in a multitude of ways that we will explore as the plan progresses. Among several things, it could include exploring new sustainable revenue sources, restructuring city processes to better align with the plan’s vision and goals, or leveraging community resources to go after additional funds. Underpinning any of these actions requires a shared understanding of what the City is working toward and clearly articulating the City’s priorities.”
In other words, we’ll explore all kinds of options to come up with funding, and whoever’s on City Council at the time will need to be on board.
I hope we get this right. All of us who live, bike, or walk in Beaverton can see the result of decades of car-centric infrastructure — when we cross Cedar Hills Blvd or Jenkins Road on foot or bike and feel our blood pressure rise until we make it to the other side in one piece. I hope the city can produce ambitious projects that match their words and I’m eager to follow this project. For more information on the TSP update, check out the project website and stay tuned for more reporting from Washington County.
Tina Ricks writes for BikePortland about transportation policy across Washington County. She lives in Bethany and rides her bike around the county. Have a tip about Washington County transportation? Email tinaricksbikes@gmail.com.
Got an idea to encourage folks to put their damn phones down? ODOT might fund it! (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
If you have an idea for a road safety project or program, the State of Oregon wants to help make it a reality.
The other day a source at a local government agency forwarded me an email from the Oregon Department of Transportation about a grant solicitation. There was no link to a website and a few key details were missing, but the email piqued my interest because it appeared to be an open-ended request for road safety project ideas — and most importantly — a promise to fund the best ones. Since I know many of you care about saving lives, I found a contact name and fired off a few questions.
What I’ve learned is that ODOT’s Transportation Safety Office (TSO) has launched a new, annual safety grant program. This is the first time TSO has administered this grant, and the timeline is crunched this year. Applications are due by June 15th!
ODOT TSO has 19 different grant funding sources, all of which have different eligibility criteria. Instead of having to navigate those options, this new approach will make it simpler for community members and organizations to tap into federal and state funds. If you have an idea, simply fill out the Funding Opportunity document (the application) below and then the staff at TSO will determine which the the best funding source for your particular project.
When I asked about the cost range of successful project, the ODOT source replied, “Go for the moon and see where it sticks!”
If you apply, ODOT TSO says you should keep these points in mind:
ODOT’s 5-year Transportation Safety Action Plan (TSAP) outline the individual programs, problems identified, and strategies encouraged to be used to rectify the transportation safety problem.
All grant projects that are approved must be data-driven; so include data that supports your problem identification (that you want to solve).
For ‘proven countermeasures,’ per program area (DUII; Bike/Ped; Distracted Driving, etc.) please also see this NHTSA publication.
You can submit as many individual Funding Opportunity requests as you’d like.
The projected grant year is October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025 for federal funds; and July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 for state funds.
All applications will be reviewed and scored by a committee a traffic safety professionals.
TSO is specifically interested in proposals that address safe road user behaviors and education and outreach for the following topics:
Aging Road Users
Community-based transportation safety programs (and programs that reach underserved communities)
Distracted Driving
Driver Education (teens)
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and public health partnerships
Impaired driving (alcohol and/or drugs)
Motorcycle Safety
Occupant Protection (seat belts and child safety seats)
Pedestrian and/or Bicyclist safety
Preventing roadside deaths or injuries of first responders, stranded motor vehicle drivers, and others
Protecting children and others from risks related to being left unattended in a motor vehicle
Roadway Safety and Work Zone Safety
Speeding and Aggressive Driving
Traffic Law Enforcement and/or Judicial programs
Traffic Records (traffic safety research studies and improved data collection, dissemination, and access)
Vehicle Equipment Safety Standards
Projects that include proven countermeasure strategies or that introduce innovative ideas or best practices with measurable outcomes are encouraged, as are programs that foster collaboration among community resources.
From here on out, TSO will solicit applications every February.
All submissions for the coming grant cycle must be submitted to TSO via TSOGrantApp@odot.oregon.gov on or before June 15, 2024. It can also be mailed directly to TSO at 1905 Lana Ave NE, Salem, OR 97314.
Scenes from our anniversary celebration on 4/17: Dan Kaufman on the Boom Bike, me trying a lowrider from PDX Vintage Bikes, and Free Fries at Four fans on the patio. (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Just a quick check-in about Bike Happy Hour. In case you’ve missed a few weeks, we are now back on the Gorges Beer Co patio after a long, dark, and cold winter across the street in the plaza in front of Ankeny Tap & Table.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved gathering in the plaza under dim lights, huddled together with bike-minded friends old and new. And I’m so grateful for all you regulars who sustained BHH through winter — and through our entire first year. You showed up rain-or-shine and we’re all stronger together because of it.
Speaking of our first year, when I left town suddenly after our First Anniversary Celebration on April 17th, I never said a proper “thank you.”
This week should be more great patio weather and I’m looking forward to seeing all of you. We’ll have Free Fries at Four (please contribute to the Fry Fund to keep this tradition going) and open mic at 5:00.
Next week, May 22nd will be our annual Bike T-Shirt night, so start thinking about which special tee you want to wear and share. And the following week, May 29th, we’ll be joined by PBOT’s annual bike count program manager Sean Doyle. He’ll tell us all about the counts and will encourage you to sign up to be a volunteer.
Remember, we meet every Wednesday from 3-6:00 pm on the Gorges Beer Co. patio on carfree Ankeny Rainbow Road (at SE 27th). Be sure to tip your servers well, meet someone new, and don’t forget your name cards!
