4/25: Hello readers and friends. I'm still recovering from a surgery I had on 4/11, so I'm unable to attend events and do typical coverage. See this post for the latest update. I'll work as I can and I'm improving every day! Thanks for all your support 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor
Portland State University’s Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) will host Anna Zivarts on Wednesday, April 30th. Zivarts is an author and advocate for nondrivers whose known for her book, When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency (Island Press, 2024).
Here’s more about Zivarts from event organizers:
One third of people living in the United States do not have a driver’s license. The majority of involuntary nondrivers are disabled, lower income, unhoused, formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, kids, young people, and the elderly. They are also largely invisible due to a mobility system designed almost exclusively for drivers. Zivarts explains how improving our transportation system with nondrivers in mind will create a better quality of life for everyone.
Anna is a low-vision parent, nondriver and author of When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency(Island Press, 2024). Anna created the #WeekWithoutDriving challenge and is passionate about bringing the voices of nondrivers to the planning and policy-making tables. Anna sits on the boards of the League of American Bicyclists, the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium and the Washington State Transportation Innovation Council. She also serves as a member of TRB’s Committee on Public Health and Transportation (AME70) and the National Aging and Disability Transportation Center Coordinating Committee.
Zivarts was invited to speak as part of PSU’s annual Ann Niles Transportation Lecture. This series has previously featured YouTuber Ray “CityNerd” Delahanty, reporter Angie Schmitt, urban planner Tamika Butler, for Los Angeles DOT leader Seleta Reynolds, and others. The event will take place at Lincoln Recital Hall on Wednesday, April 30th at 5:30 pm. Tickets are free and you can learn more here.
Portland Police officers and a Portland park ranger talk to a man in Waterfront Park. (Photos: Portland Police Bureau)
The path through Waterfront Park and the Eastbank Esplanade will see more effective police patrols, thanks to a new collaboration between the Portland Police Bureau and Portland Parks & Recreation.
According to the PPB, members of its Central Bike Squad have been doing walking beats in Portland parks every week for the past several months. It came about when a sergeant on the Central Precinct Bike Squad would do hikes in Washington Park and Forest Park during his on-duty wellness time. (Each PPB officer is given one hour per shift to focus on personal wellness.) During those hikes, the officer met City of Portland park rangers and struck up a friendship with them.
It took a few years of conversations and on-again, off-again partnerships for specific crime issues, but the PPB says the idea was recently rekindled by a park ranger supervisor.
The problem for Portland Park rangers is they often get pushback from some park users when the request identification for various rule violations. And since rangers aren’t law enforcement officers, they have no legal mechanism to compel someone to identify themselves. That’s where police officers come in.
“So the Rangers asked the Officers to go out with them from time to time and patrol Pioneer Square, the North Park Blocks or Couch Park because that’s where most of the issues were,” wrote PPB Public Information Officer Sgt. Kevin Allen in an email about the initiative sent to local media outlets today. “It’s a powerful partnership because some problems can be dealt with by the Rangers, others are better handled by Police, and sometimes a combination of both. And it shows inter-Bureau collaboration and alignment under our shared values of public safety for the community.”
Sgt. Allen said there have been numerous examples of how this collaboration has led to the ability of both bureaus to more effectively reduce crime and address issues in parks.
Safety on central city paths has been a big concern for many bicycle riders over the years.
Have you seen these new walking beats in action? Have you noticed any improvement in safety in Waterfront Park or the Esplanade?
Car abuse continues on a section of the I-5 bike path north of Marine Drive.
Last Thursday, BikePortland reader Israel L., was headed back to Vancouver from Portland and had just left Delta Park en route to the Interstate Bridge. As he crossed the I-5 offramp toward the bike path he noticed the driver of a large, black tow truck turn left (west) from N Union Court. That seemed odd to Israel, since the truck driver was headed onto a one-way off-ramp. “I thought, ‘Oh they might be doing some kind of weird highway access maneuver,'” Israel shared.
“Then to my horror, they did not go onto the off-ramp, they went onto the bike path.”
Truck in the distance in this photo looking northwest from entry of path just north of Delta Park.Truck driver on the path, just about to roll through a short path tunnel.(Photos sent in by reader Israel L)
Israel was on an electric bike and kept riding while he tried to process what he was seeing. “Then it dawned on me: The truck driver just used the bike path to get around traffic.”
Israel said the driver was honking their horn to warn possible path users of his presence.
The driver stayed on the path and headed north under NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd and then twisted around toward the underpass of the I-5 freeway ramps. Israel didn’t think the truck would fit under the short tunnel, but it did. He pulled out his camera and took video of the driver on the path inside the cloverleaf of freeway ramps just as he exited the path and continued onto I-5.
Here’s the path the driver took (according to Israel):
Driver entered from bottom (N Union Ct) and exited at the top (dashed line).
Despite being on an electric bike, Israel said he wasn’t able to catch up and get close enough to get a license plate.
Chalk this up to yet another breach of what is supposed to be safe infrastructure for non-drivers. The Oregon Department of Transportation must do more to prevent drivers from using these paths. What’s next, it shows up on Google Maps as a way to bypass traffic?!
According to readers, car and truck drivers use these paths very often. This is the third instance I’ve shared. In July 2024, someone was driving northbound on the path over the Columbia River, and earlier this month a BikePortland reader was forced off this path by the driver of a large SUV. The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is aware of this problem, but has so far not shared a plan to prevent it from happening.
Conceptual rendering of future N Vancouver Avenue, looking south toward the Moda Center. (Source: Independent Cover Assessment Report, 2021)
There’s been a lot of talk about the highway covers that are planned as part of the I-5 Rose Quarter project; but there hasn’t been much chance for the public to look under the hood and have a say in what might happen on top of them.
That will change this coming Monday, April 28th as the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) co-host an event dubbed, Future I-5 Highway Cover: Lower Albina Planning Session.
These covers will play a crucial role not only in what type of neighborhood ultimately emerges on top of them, but also in how the bikeway network connects on key surface street routes.
The event will bring together staff from PBOT and ODOT, as well as the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS). They’ll have an interactive work session with members of ODOT’s Historic Albina Advisory Board (HAAB) and Community Oversight Advisory Committee (COAC), and some invited guests. The session will be facilitated by ZGF Architects, the firm that helped prepare the project’s Independent Cover Assessment in 2021. Here’s more about the event:
“This session continues the exploration of how potential highway cover uses relate to public spaces and the surrounding street network, building on visioning work previously done by Albina Vision Trust in collaboration with HAAB, COAC, and community stakeholders.”
Meeting organizers will allow public comment at the end of the work session, which will be held both online and in-person. The event will be held at New Song Church Community Center from 4:00 to 6:00 pm on Monday April 28th. More info here.
I grabbed this shot while riding on the Columbia Slough path in October 2013. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Hope your bike, body and brain are ready to ride because there are all manner of fun things to do this weekend. I’d do the Bike & Bird thing Sunday for sure if I could. The Columbia Slough and Smith & Bybee wetlands are hidden gems and there just happens to be a carfree path along the entire way. Whatever you do, enjoy your weekend. You earned it!
Friday, April 25th
Breakfast on the Bridges – 7:00 am to 9:00 pm on the Blumenauer, Steel, and Tilikum bridges Come out and enjoy free coffee and yummy treats in beautiful places made by wonderful folks who are just happy to see you. More info here.
Saturday, April 26th
Vvolt Warehouse Sale – 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at Vvolt HQ (SE) Get great deals on great bikes at Portland’s home-grown e-bike brand. Sale items will also include Showers Pass apparel. More info here.
Co-Motion Cycles Open House – 10:00 am to 3:00 pm in Eugene Yes I know this isn’t Portland, but I’m breaking my own rule because Co-Motion is such a great Oregon bike company… And they’re having an open house! See American bike making at its finest with a behind-the-scenes factory tour, group ride, bike swap, and more. Definitely worth a trip to Eugene. More info here.
Cycle Oregon Bike Block Party – 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at Baerlic Brewing (SE) It’s a big bike party from Oregon’s beloved nonprofit that’s spent almost 40 years spreading biking statewide. Enjoy a carfree street with fun games, vendors, and other shenanigans. Read the backstory. More info here.
The Flute Ride – 1:00 pm at Salmon Street Fountain (SW) I love rides that are inspired by sounds! This one seeks to unite lovers of woodwind and brass instruments for an aural adventure that will include playing and pedaling. More info here.
Sunday, April 27th
Gorge Gravel – All Day in Dufur (South of The Dalles) The first of three race events in the Oregon Gravel Series, this event is a great excuse to hit the road and sample some of Oregon’s finest unpaved routes. Choose from 47, 64, or 95-mile courses. More info here.
Bike & Bird the Columbia Slough – 9:00 am to 12 noon at Vanport Historical Marker/Delta Park Dog Park (N) Roll out to Smith & Bybee lakes with birding experts from Columbia Slough Watershed Council. You’ll hit the best habitats along the way for prime spring viewing. One lucky attendee will win a pair of binoculars! More info here.
Sunday Social Ride – 10:00 am at Woodstock Park (SE) If you’re looking for a medium-paced (13-15 mph), 20-30 mile long group road ride, consider this urban meander with Portland Bicycling Club. More info here.
Bike Dykes Fiber Arts Ride – 1:45 pm at Laurelhurst Park (SE) Ride to a shop to buy yarn, do about a 10-mile loop, and then hang out in the park. It’s what Sundays are made for. 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.
In front of the Shed a few minutes ago. Notice the scar on my right knee that starts right at the end of my shorts. (I will spare you an up-close shot of it.) (Photo: Juli Maus)
Hello everyone. It’s been 12 days since my total knee replacement surgery (which I wrote more about here) I want to check in.
First I want to say thank you. I have received so many nice well-wishes and notes of support. I loved the card everyone signed at Bike Happy Hour last week, and all your messages make recovery so much easier. I’ve heard so many stories about other folks in our community who’ve had joint replacements and other injuries that I’m thinking of leading a Joint Replacement Ride during August.
Why wait until August? Because unfortunately I plan to have my other knee replaced on June 20th. I know, right?! I could have picked a better time to do all of this, but once the condition of my knees sunk in and I found a doctor to help fix them, I didn’t want to wait any longer. (I’ve had bad knees since my first (of two) ACL surgeries when I was 15!).
So far the recovery has been a roller-coaster. The best thing has been how my amazing wife Juli is taking care of me and I enjoy being at home more with her and my kiddos. The first week was really hard, but now I’m in a more predictable and manageable cycle of pain and PT. My docs and PT guy say I’m progressing well. I know it’s healing and I should be patient, but I still get frustrated at the pain and tightness and my physical limitations. Overall this is (another) very humbling experience for me as I enter my 50s. Let’s just say I underestimated the impact this would have on my body and what it would take to fully recover.
During my operation on April 11th, the doctor shaved down the surface of my upper and lower leg bones. He then attached a 3-D printed titanium implant and a polymer cushion between them. Right now, my existing bone is growing directly into the titanium. The process takes six weeks, so I don’t want anything to disturb the very crucial healing process taking place.
I’m so bummed to miss all the cool things going on! I can’t wait to get back into the full swing of working and creating stories and covering events and all the other things I took for granted for so many years. For now, I’m able to work a few hours a day and I’m trying to stay on top of things as best I can. I hope I have a window of time before my next operation on June 20th when I can get back out there.
Speaking of which, I will get back out there today for Bike Happy Hour. I’ll be at Migration Brewing on North Williams Ave from 3:00 to 6:00 pm. I’d love to see you and chat. Tell me what you’ve been up to! Pitch me stories! Let’s talk about the latest news! Share your injury journey with me!
Thanks again for all your support and understanding. Knowing that I have such an awesome community to return to is all the motivation I need to make a full and fantastic recovery.
View looking west on N Channel Ave. The car came to rest in this right turn only lane. The driveway in lower left leads into a fast-food outlet parking lot (that was closed at the time of the collision).
On Monday night someone was hit and killed by the driver of a car while walking in Swan Island. Portland Police say it happened around 10:20 and the driver remained on the scene.
According to video from local news outlets, the vehicle was a four-door Subaru Forester. It showed severe damage to the center front hood and windshield. The car was facing east on North Channel Street just west of N Port Center Way, in a right-turn only lane that led to a driveway into a fast-food outlet.
This section of N Channel/N Going is 105-feet wide and has eight general traffic lanes with no shoulder. The posted speed limit is 40 mph. Swan Island is an industrial hub and N Channel/N Going is a high volume freight truck corridor. There is no residential zoning in the area and no local businesses would have been open at the time of the collision.
Star marks location where police found car.
This is the eighth fatal traffic crash so far this year, and fifth that killed someone on foot. This is the lowest year-to-date death total since 2018. At this same date last year Portland had 19 fatal crashes.
Last night a group of safe street advocates rode bikes to the location of the crash. They laid flowers and hung a memorial sign created by the local chapter of Families for Safe Streets.
If anyone has further details about what happened, please let me know. You should also contact the PPB at crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov, attention Traffic Investigations Unit, and reference case number 25-103320.
Has the start of the bike fun season been amazing or what? From a massive Ladds 500, to over 150 City of Portland employees riding to work bike bus-style Tuesday morning — our city is bursting with bicycling!
This Saturday, venerable nonprofit Cycle Oregon will add to the spirit with their first annual Bike Block Party— and I have a hunch it will be a huge hit. The plan is to throw a big bike fair on SE Sherman Street between 10th and 11th, which is right outside Baerlic Brewing, a business that’s become something of a cycling clubhouse in the past few years.
Cycle Oregon got a permit to close the street to cars so they can set up bike rodeo courses and a vendor expo full of cool local bike brands and cycling organizations. The event
Cycle Oregon began 37 years ago and came to prominence for their seven-day, fully-supported tours of Oregon’s best bike routes. When they sunsetted that event two years ago, it wasn’t an end to Cycle Oregon, it was a step in the organization’s evolution. They still host three bike rides, but are now also focused on their Jump Start program that gets kids on bikes throughout the state. With the Bike Block Party, Cycle Oregon is signaling their role as the state’s main bicycling booster and living up to their updated mission statement to, “Bring the joy of riding a bike to all of Oregon.”
Executive Director Steve Schulz told BikePortland that Cycle Oregon’s transition from an event-based organization to the “new Cycle Oregon” (a donor/program-based organization), “Was founded on the premise that the simple act of bicycling can be an antidote for physical and mental isolation.” But what good is bicycling if folks can’t access a bike or plug into the cycling community?
“Cycle Oregon is working to get more people on bikes by tackling barriers such as cost, accessibility and safety and so that anyone who wants to can experience the joy of riding a bicycle,” Schulz shared. “We are doing this collaboratively with creativity, an open mind, and enthusiasm, one person, community, and event at a time.”
“We want people to know that we are developing into so much more [than just an event-based company],” Schulz continued. “With events like the block party, youth education programs, camp and event scholarships, bike giveaways, repair services — and of course events — we are working to expand our reach throughout the state.”
When it comes to Saturday’s Bike Block Party, Schulz said Cycle Oregon is making it happen because, “We all need a little more joy and a community to share that joy with.”
If you want to hang out with cool bike friends old and new, while plugging into cool local brands and organizations like Biketown, Trophy Cup, BikePOC, OMTM, Salmonberry Trail, Blaze the Trail Cat, Candlelighters for Children with Cancer, Bike Bus PDX, Sorella Forte, BikeLoud PDX, Community Cycling Center, Bike Summer, and more; roll over to the Bike Block Party on Saturday.
Cycle Oregon Bike Block Party Saturday, April 26th from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm (rain or shine!) Baerlic Brewing, SE Sherman between 10th and 11th. Free entry (food and drinks available for purchase) Event details
Attendees at the 2023 summit mingle between sessions. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Tomorrow (Wednesday, April 23rd) transportation advocates will have a huge opportunity to learn, network and be inspired when the annual Oregon Active Transportation Summit (OATS) kicks off. This year’s event takes place at the Doubletree Hotel in the Lloyd and is jam-packing with amazing speakers, workshops, and social mixers.
Organized by The Street Trust, the event is billed as, “a platform to share best practices, tackle pressing challenges, and explore strategies that drive safety, equity, climate action, and community mobility and connectivity.”
I’ve attended a bunch of these over the years and it’s just getting better and better. BikePortland did a bunch of stories from the 2023 edition, but I can’t be there this time around as I need to focus on recovering from my recent knee surgery. Speaking of which, I need to sign off for today, but wanted to make sure there was at least some mention of OATS in case folks hadn’t heard about it yet.
Check out the schedule, consider grabbing some tickets, and have fun becoming smarter and getting fired up to change our city and the world!
Advocates at City Council meeting Monday. L to R: Winta Yohannes and JT Flowers with Albina Vision Trust; Chris Smith and Joe Cortright with No More Freeways.
Advocates for and against the I-5 Rose Quarter project had a rare opportunity to voice their perspectives at Portland City Council on Monday. But it wasn’t a fair debate, as city councilors Loretta Smith and Olivia Clark were clearly in favor of one side and were deeply skeptical of the other.
Members of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee heard from leaders of nonprofits Albina Vision Trust (AVT) and No More Freeways (NMF) as part of an agenda item organized by City Councilor and Vice-Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Angelita Morillo. AVT has emerged as a powerful force in the Rose Quarter since it first came on the scene in 2017 with a plan to re-establish the neighborhood around the Moda Center that was destroyed by construction of I-5. NMF is a grassroots organization trying to stop and/or dramatically reform ODOT’s plans. The lack of any industry representatives or transportation agency staffers was by design. Morillo said at the outset that she felt it was important to have these “different community perspectives” offered by AVT and NMF at the table, “Because we often hear from industry and other voices a lot.”
But two of Morillo’s colleagues on the committee — councilors Loretta Smith and T&I Committee Chair Olivia Clark — clearly didn’t agree. They not only lamented the absence of project leaders from the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), they were clearly on the side of AVT, a nonprofit working to redevelop Rose Quarter neighborhoods that strongly supports the I-5 Rose Quarter project’s highway lids and expanded freeway lanes. This bias for AVT and the project in general manifested in part by how Clark and Smith treated NMF co-founders Chris Smith and Joe Cortright, both of whom were invited to testify.
The hearing began with AVT Executive Director Winta Yohannes. Yohannes used her time to clarify her organization’s position on the controversial project. She knows there are many Portlanders who are excited about plans to build a new neighborhood on lids over I-5 through the Rose Quarter; but who strongly oppose other project elements that would increase auto capacity by widening I-5 between I-84 and I-405. AVT’s support of the project, “is rooted in our very clear and deep understanding of trade-offs of project components,” Yohannes said. For AVT, the benefits of the estimated (and likely to be higher) $1.9 billion project outweigh the possible harms. Yohannes also knows that the $450 million federal grant to build the project (which would not have been awarded without AVT) would be in jeopardy of the widening elements were stripped away.
“This project represents the braiding of climate, community and statewide economic development goals,” Yohannes told the committee. “At this point, we ask that you continue to stand with us, not us a rubber stamp for a project, but as vigilant partners committed to forward momentum. We do not want to see this council be the one that snatches defeat from the jaws of victory on a project that represents over a decade of hard-earned work and community building.”
Before Yohannes and her co-testifier, AVT Director of Government Affairs & Communications JT Flowers, completed their remarks, Yohannes shared one last comment — one that directly undercut the testimony that would come next from No More Freeways.
“One last note here about the slogan, ‘Lids not lanes.’.. There is no highway cover without a complete project… so unless you know someone has a secret plan for delivering just the covers [and not the lanes], I want to be really realistic and just honest on the record and saying that that is not a real position.,” Yohannes shared.
At that point, and with an eye on the clock, Councilor Morillo suggested having NMF reps Cortight and Smith give their presention, so that both groups would have equal time to share their remarks and a Q & A with the committee could be held after hearing information from both sides. But Committee Chair Clark overruled Morillo and allowed a discussion to begin.
Councilor Loretta Smith was the first to speak. She was glad Yohannes and Flowers made a clear argument that the lids and lanes were inseparable and said, “I think the public is getting confused as if we could [just] do the lids.” Smith wanted to get a clarification on the record so she asked Flowers, point-blank: “Do you think we can do these lids without doing the whole project?”
“There’s absolutely no path, financially or politically, to developing a highway cover without the expansion of the freeway,” Flowers replied.
Smith was pleased to hear that and quickly accepted it as incontrovertible fact. Smith might be so accepting of AVT’s views because she appears to have worked for them in the past. Smith is a registered lobbyist with the State of Oregon via her Dream Big Communications company, which she lists on LinkedIn as being principal of from 2019 to the present. According to state records from the Office of Government Ethics Commission, Smith lists AVT as one of her clients as of January, 2024.
(UPDATE, 2:00 pm: In a phone call with BikePortland today, Smith confirmed she was hired by AVT last year to help them earn $25 million in state funding for a housing development. Asked if her conduct at Monday’s meeting was influenced in any way by her prior relationship with AVT, Smith said “No, because I didn’t work on [the I-5 Rose Quarter Project]. They have different people who work on different projects. I never worked on the I-5 Rose Quarter.” Then Smith added, “Don’t make something out of nothing. This is no big deal… I don’t appreciate you trying to check me on this. You can try to write something up, but I would be very careful [then laughed a few times] about how you characterize my interaction [with AVT] as being favorable. It is not a good thing to do just because you are more favorable, obviously, to the other group.” “I never said that,” I replied. To which Smith said, “Well, you’re calling me on something, so you must be favorable to the other group.”)
After hearing Flowers response, Smith said the public must be “confused,” she implied that anyone who says otherwise is spreading “misinformation,” and she characterized NMF’s concerns that the actual freeway ODOT wants to build could be much wider than they’re letting on as, “totally ridiculous.”
Councilor Loretta Smith in February, 2024. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
“I wish ODOT was here to be able to tell their story,” Smith lamented. “I want the misinformation to stop. I want people to tell the truth about the project and not confuse it.” These comments shocked me as I listened in real time. I’ve never heard anyone cast such aspersions on the work of Chris Smith or Joe Cortright, two widely respected advocates who’ve devoted countless hours to their work on this project. And Councilor Smith’s initial comments were just a precursor to what was to come.
In his presentation, NMF Co-founder Chris Smith laid out his organization’s concerns with the project and attempted to get the new council members up to speed. NMF believes any investment in widening freeways is “adding more harm that could go to proactive investments like transit, walking, biking, that could reduce greenhouse gasses,” Smith said. NMF is suing ODOT to force them to do a comprehensive alternatives analysis that would consider whether congestion pricing and/or transit upgrades could alleviate traffic concerns in lieu of lane widening. “We have never had a full alternative analysis at that level,” Smith explained.
And he also responded directly to Yohannes’ assertion that “Lids not lanes” is not a real position. “We do believe in ‘Lids not lanes,'” Smith said. “And if ODOT won’t allow us to imagine a project that will do that, we need a better political imagination.”
Smith then passed it over to his fellow NMF co-founder, economist and City Observatory publisher, Joe Cortright.
Source: ODOT, with annotations in red by No More Freeways.Detail of ODOT rendering of I-5 obtained by No More Freeways via public records request.Slides shown by No More Freeways at the meeting.
Cortright shared graphics of a massive freeway (above), much wider than anything ODOT has shared publicly for many years (this project has been bouncing around since 2012, but its current form took shape in 2017). The images came from ODOT themselves and NMF acquired them through public records requests. “This is something they never show anymore, because what they’re really proposing is a massive freeway-widening project,” Cortright explained against the backdrop of a freeway rendering and a technical cross-section drawing created by ODOT that puts the total width of the freeway at 162 feet. “ODOT is proposing is to essentially double the width — and in some cases triple the width of I-5 through the Rose Quarter.”
Cortright also pointed out that independent consultants hired by ODOT as part of their analysis of the highway covers told the state agency they could narrow the planned freeway widening by 40-feet and still achieve project goals. Then, as Cortright warned the committee that once ODOT gets shovels in the ground (a “classic Robert Moses technique from the 1930s” he said), the city and other partners would be obligated to build the entire project no matter the costs (which Cortright believes will be much higher than the $1.9 billion estimated today (of which a $1 billion gap still remains)) — Committee Chair Clark cut him off and told him it was time to wrap up.
After an abrupt ending to their presentation, Councilor Clark was first to respond. “I think some of the data you’re talking about is outdated,” she said, in reference to Cortright’s claims that ODOT plans a much wider freeway than what’s proposed. She then said she would have PBOT and ODOT come to the committee to “rectify some of the misunderstandings here.”
“I appreciate your passion,” Clark added, before trying to pass the baton to Councilor Smith.
But NMF’s Smith forcefully interjected: “The physical dimensions are correct. The striping underneath is a matter of opinion about what ODOT would do in future.”
“We’ll wait for to hear from ODOT and PBOT,” Clark replied, in what felt like an attempt to quiet the NMF advocate.
Then Councilor Smith began her questioning. She implied they weren’t ODOT documents because she didn’t see the ODOT logo on them. When Chris Smith reiterated they were indeed authentic ODOT documents, Councilor Smith not only waved-away Smith’s comment, she dressed him down. “I agree with the Chair. That is outdated information and that’s really unfair and disingenuous of you to bring it here as if it was released yesterday.” (Asked in a phone call today how she knows the doc is outdated, Smith replied, “ODOT said it’s outdated.”)
Then the councilor asked: “Do you think you can actually do the lids without expanding the freeway?” As NMF’s Smith answered and Cortright attempted to add some context of his own, Councilor Smith spoke over Cortright, saying, “Excuse me, you don’t have the floor. I do.”
With Cortright silenced, Councilor Smith asked again: “Now, could you please answer the question Chris? That’s what I’m asking you — not your political, environmental plan — I’m just asking you, as it stands right now, can we do the lids without doing the freeways?”
“The goal of a full EIS [the larger alternatives analysis called for in NMF’s lawsuit] is to answer that question,” Smith responded.
“Thank you,” Councilor Smith replied. “I would appreciate, when you come to this this committee, that you give us real information and not what you would hope. That is a question I would ask ODOT if they were here.”
It’s unlikely Smith would get a clear answer from ODOT either, but according to documents currently published on the official project website, the width would be even wider than what Cortright shared at the council meeting. Asked about the exchange via text message after the hearing, Chris Smith told BikePortland, “It’s frustrating they’re focusing on the date of the document and not the width of the freeway.”
When Cortright spoke up to remind Councilor Smith that ODOT’s own consultants said the freeway could be narrower, Councilor Smith said, “But you don’t want any freeway, whether it’s narrow or wide, so it wouldn’t matter if it’s a narrow freeway or not.”
“I don’t think we said that,” Cortright replied, and then Councilor Clark cut off the exchange and gave Councilor Mitch Green the floor. Green stated his strong opposition to the project, saying he’d rather invest in better transit service instead of more lanes and that he doesn’t trust ODOT to be fiscally responsible.
After that, Clark closed the hearing.
Watch the meeting below. The player starts at the end of Chris Smith’s presentation:
In dozens of videos posted to the keepingitlittlike06 account on Instagram, a man who goes by “Mr. 06” can be seen driving a pick-up truck with his legs while hanging out of the drivers’ side window and filming himself with his phone. In other videos, he can be seen doing donuts in public parks. Many people are worried that his highly distracted and dangerous behaviors while operating a motor vehicle could lead to an innocent person being injured or killed.
A man who posted dozens of videos of himself driving dangerously on Portland streets has been arrested. The Portland Police Bureau say 33-year-old Oscar Burell Jr. called in a report of a hit-and-run on Southeast Hawthorne and 37th on Friday, April 18th. But the officer realized the caller was actually a suspect in a series of crimes the PPB had been investigating since March.
The officer called for backup and responded to SE Hawthorne, where he ultimately arrested Burell. “The officer’s investigation determined that Burell was involved in a confrontation with another driver on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard,” reads a PPB statement. “The other driver sideswiped Burell, who was standing in the roadway, as he drove away. Burell did not report any injuries. The other driver has not yet been located.”
According to PPB, they’d been tracking Burell since March. As we reported, he showed no shame in doing donuts in public parks and driving with complete disregard for other road users. Then he would post the videos to Instagram for all to see. PPB says they’ve been investigating him since late March, following tips from the public about Burell’s posts. They noted how videos showed him, “speeding, passing illegally, failing to maintain lanes, hanging out of the window of his moving truck, driving through parks, and other reckless conduct throughout the Portland metropolitan area that put the community and himself at risk.”
Burell’s posts spread not only to his followers online, but to officers throughout the bureau.
Burell’s blue, 1994 GMC Sierra pickup has been towed and he’s been booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on charges of Reckless Driving (3 counts), Criminal Mischief in the First Degree, and Reckless Endangering Another Person.
The investigation is ongoing. PPB wants anyone with first-hand information about Burell’s crimes and behaviors to email crimetips@police.portlandoregon.gov and reference case number 25-89041. (“Please do not send social media posts, links to websites, or any secondhand information,” PPB says.)
James John bike bus organizer Jessica Fletcher (right) with volunteers (left to right) Nat West, Joseph Perez, and Brendan Price. (Photos: Jessica Fletcher)
Organizers of the James John Elementary School bike bus held a special Earth Day edition of their morning ride to school, and it was made even more special because of a temporary traffic diverter that kept car users off their route.
As I reported last month, there’s huge demand for the bike bus in the St. Johns and Cathedral Park neighborhoods. The one big thing stopping advocates from meeting it is that many families either don’t have a bike and/or don’t feel safe sharing the roads with drivers. James John Elementary school parents and school groups came together back in March to give out free bikes to kids and parents in need, and now they’ve taken concrete steps to make their route safer.
According to ride organizer Jessica Fletcher, they pulled off what the Portland Bureau of Transportation referred to in a meeting last week as a “community initiated diverter” this morning. Fletcher applied for and received a block party permit from PBOT and was able to prohibit drivers from turning on North Charleston between N Smith and N Hudson.
They used a combination of hay bales, “Street Closed” signs, and homemade bike bus route signs to communicate that drivers were not welcome. Further strengthening the route and the ride were PBOT’s brand new bike bus wayfinding signs that James John’s bike bus used for the first time. These signs were made possible thanks to a $50,000 grant delivered to PBOT from Metro that aims to shift travel trips away from cars.
“The diverter worked great,” Fletcher shared with BikePortland. “Our neighborhood association provided all the barricades and the ‘Street Closed’ signs. The SJNA [St Johns Neighborhood Association] and Cathedral Neighborhood Association are all about community and safe streets!”
To get the block party permit, Fletcher knocked on every door along the blocks and let them know what she was working on. She’s now sold on the idea of doing these quick and inexpensive diverters as a way to demonstrate their effectiveness and show how they are often well-supported by folks who live along bike bus routes.
Fletcher also enlisted the help of advocates at BikeLoud PDX, who showed up to help install the diverter and assist with the ride. Former city council candidate Nat West, Brendan Price, and active BikeLoud volunteer Joseph Perez were among the helpers. One of their jobs was to count car traffic as part of the PBOT-sanctioned diverter pilot program.
The cherry on top of this wonderful effort in St. Johns is that several of the students riding this morning received free bikes last month. Fletcher says a group of four fifth graders who received bikes ride their bikes to school every day (and even park their bikes in the racks together).
It’s so great to see how this bike bus effort in St. Johns has grown in such a relatively short time. It validates so much of what many advocates have been saying for years: if you just get bikes in the hands of those in need and make streets in their neighborhood safer to ride on, magical things will happen.
Way to go Jessica, Joe, Brendan, Nat, and everyone else who’s working on this project and many others around the city!
Volunteer Nat West counting traffic as part of the PBOT pilot diverter program.