We’re seeking staff for our Kerr Bikes rental store!
Kerr Bikes provides the public with seasonal bike rental services, bicycle service, and adaptive equipment recreation for the benefit of non-profit Albertina Kerr.
The Kerr Bikes Mechanic is a part-time position, approximately 4-12 hours weekly, with flexible hours to fit your schedule.
Click here to learn more about Kerr Bikes!
Essential Duties:
– Assesses fleet for repairs needed, makes repairs, and performs bike maintenance.
– Communicates with manager repairs that need to be done, are in the process of being completed, and have been completed.
– Organizes tools and workspaces.
– Notifies manager of parts needed, parts that are running low, or tools needed.
– Acts within the interests of Kerr Bikes and creates value while on shift.
– Keeps up to date fleet maintenance log, and adaptive fleet maintenance log.
– Effectively uses time keeping app (Paycom).
– Puts parts on order.
– Trains staff on how to do common repairs.
– May be asked to assist with customers or rentals.
– Other duties at the request of the manager.
Gotta’ do what you gotta’ do. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Don’t let the weather get you down. There are plenty of fun ride options to inspire you and people who will face the cold, rain, snow — or whatever else is thrown our way — with you!
Friday, February 7th
Bike Dykes – 6:15 pm at Wilshire Park (NE) There’s a country dance happenin’ and the fun crew at Bike Dykes wants to take you there. More info here.
Saturday, February 8th
New Library Day Ride – 9:00 am at Grand Central Bakery (NE) The new North Portland Library is re-opening after major renovations and since bike lovers and book lovers are one in the same, it’s very fitting to ride together and celebrate this awesome new community resource. More info here.
Saturday Social Ride – 10:00 am at Woodstock Park (SE) An experienced road ride leader from Portland Bicycling Club will lead this 20-mile or so excursion in the metro area. More info here.
Illuminated Bike Ride – 6:30 am at Roses Equipment and Supply (SE) The Winter Light Fest is here and there’s no better way to see it all than from the seat of your bike… especially if your bike is all lit up! More info here.
Sunday, February 9th
Ride Westside – 10:00 am at Garden Home Recreation Center (SW) Explore new sections of the wonderful Fanno Creek Trail with a merry band of cyclists and advocates. More info here.
All Bodies on Bikes Chapter Kickoff – 1:00 pm at Hollywood Library (NE) Don’t miss the launch event for Portland’s very own chapter of All Bodies on Bikes — a nonprofit that promotes inclusivity and bicycle for everybody. This event begins with a film screening followed by a ride. A co-founder of ABOB will be on hand for inspirations and questions. 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.
A large truck completely blocks visibility of a curb ramp in Portland. This type of parking is illegal in Portland. Trucks over six feet high are not allowed to parking within 50 feet of an intersection. (Photo: Melissa Kostelecky)
The City of Portland has made a new commitment to daylight 200 more intersections over the next two years. The news comes in the form of a quiet update to the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s website.
Daylighting, or what PBOT refers to as “vision clearance”, is an intersection treatment that removes visible barriers like parked cars and trucks from corners in order to improve visibility. The treatment has gained popularity among transportation advocates nationwide because of how it can radically improve safety at intersections (where most serious injury and fatal crashes occur) and it’s extremely inexpensive. In Oregon it also has legal backing.
In 2020 nonprofit Oregon Walks launched a “Clear the Corners” campaign to ratchet up pressure on the City of Portland to abide by the Oregon Vehicle Code (ORS 811.550 section 17) which says drivers can’t park within 20-feet of a crosswalk. But the law makes individual cities responsible for parking regulations, and road safety activists think PBOT is using that to shirk legal requirements. Also in 2020, the City of Portland was slapped with a lawsuit brought by a person who was hit as a result of what his lawyer claims was negligence on the part of the city to enforce the daylighting law. Pressure from the lawsuit (which is still pending in the Court of Appeals) and advocates worked. In 2021, former Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty secured $200,000 to daylight 350 intersections.
But as BikePortland reported one year ago, there are still way too many intersections in Portland with terrible visibility due to people parking cars at the corner.
In fact, an analysis by Portland State University student and road safety advocate Melissa Kostelecky found that there are about 4,000 intersections in Portland that should be cleared of parking. At around $600 per intersection (the price for signs and poles at four corners), that would cost about $2.3 million. Kostelecky’s report analyzed 18,143 intersections citywide and looked at factors such as proximity to a school, presence of ADA ramps, crash history, speeding patterns, bike network connections, and so on.
Determining which corners to clear first is part of the challenge. PBOT’s standard practice is to apply vision clearance standards (no parking within 20-feet of the corners) on all major paving and capital projects. But when they find extra funding, they have expanded that scope to include more locations. The upcoming treatments will be targeted near schools, neighborhood greenways, and in designated pedestrian districts (as identified in city plans). PBOT will also respond to specific locations based on complaints. Anyone can call PBOT Parking Enforcement at 503-823-5195 (and wait for option 3) to report a dangerous corner for consideration.
The latest promise from PBOT to daylight 200 intersections will be funded from a $50,000 commitment from the Fixing Our Streets (local gas tax) program and from a portion of PBOT’s General Fund allocation for safety improvements.
Colleen Barclay stopped for a portrait of her trusty steed with the bridge at Deception Pass, on Hwy 20 between Fidalgo and Whidbey islands, during a tour of the Olympic Peninsula last year.
As we hunker down in Portland winter, why not let your mind wander to the possibilities of you and your bike on the open road? There’s simply nothing like traveling our world on two wheels and there’s an event tomorrow (Tuesday, February 4th) that will help bring you closer to that undisputed truth. Ted Buehler, a longtime friend of mine through his tireless advocacy for cycling, is hosting the first in a series of bike touring slideshows.
“I’ve been bike touring since I was 18, and have met a lot of fellow Portlanders who have also gone to far flung parts of the world on their bicycles,” Ted says. “So I’m organizing this slideshow series to give us all an opportunity to learn from each other, and provide motivation and instruction for people who would like to begin touring the world by bicycle.”
Join Ted and three other special guests for a night of storytelling and tips to help you take that trip you’ve always dreamed about. The event will take place at Migration Brewing on North Williams Ave (same place as Bike Happy Hour). Below are the folks who will be presenting at the kickoff event tomorrow:
Spruce Railroad Trail along the north shore of Crescent Lake. (Colleen Barclay)Buskers in a train in Ukraine. (Ted Buehler)Rest spot with nice grass in Ukraine. (Ted Buehler)
6:30: Ted Buehler — Bike touring in Rural Ukraine I rode through the Carpathian Mountains, visited the cities of Lviv, Odesa and Kyiv. Rode trains from place to place. Enjoyed the chill pleasantness that was Ukrainian Culture pre-2022. Photos, maps, stories on my Facebook page.
7:00: Maren Souders — Touring Around the USA by Amtrak, with a Brompton and Trailer Maren took about 15 months in 2021 and 2022 to visit dozens of Intentional Communities and botanical gardens, from Portland to San Diego, to Florida, to Quebec, to British Columbia. Many adventures along the way, on the backroads and highways getting from Amtrak stations to outlying destinations. See Maren’s blog for more.
7:30: Emily Wilson (and maybe Ben Foote) — Vashon Island by Bicycle, Train and Ferry It’s an easy starter bike tour — Amtrak to Tacoma, ride to the ferry, ride the length of Vashon Island (Seattle’s greenest suburb in many ways), then ferry to Seattle and Amtrak back to Portland.
8:00: Colleen Barclay — Olympic Peninsula by Bicycle Colleen is new to Portland, and bicycled Whidbey Island and the Olympic Discovery trail in 2023, self-supported. But she is not new to the Pacific Northwest — in 1978 she and a friend did a much longer bike camping trip up Vancouver Island, then to Prince Rupert by ferry, and across British Columbia and through the Canadian Rockies to Banff.
This is the first event in a three-part series at Migration’s back patio o North Williams Ave. Free and informal. Come and go as you’d like. Enjoy Nicaraguan food from Papas Frita Chef Rene. And the beer and other drinks are good too! See the Shift Calendar listing for more details.
Detail of funeral service for Tuyet T. Nguyen, the 71-year-old killed while walking on SE Cesar Chavez on Sunday, January 26th.
The bad news is another person was hit. The good news is changes are likely coming soon.
As a southeast Portland neighborhood grapples with the loss of a beloved member of their community due to a fatal traffic crash along Southeast Cesar Chavez Blvd, BikePortland has confirmed that yet another person on foot was hit by a driver on that street yesterday.
According to the Portland Police Bureau, a person walking at the intersection of SE Stark and Cesar Chavez (Laurelhurst Park) was hit and injured around 4:15 pm on Sunday. Officers responded to the collision and found an adult female had been struck by a car driver. A Reddit user posted that they drove by and “saw a car… on top of a pedestrian.” The victim was taken to a hospital for treatment of back pain. PPB have confirmed the case with BikePortland and say the driver was given a traffic citation for failing to stop for a pedestrian (ORS 811.028).
That collision comes just one week after 71-year-old Tuyet Nguyen was killed by a car driver two miles south of Stark St. That crash is still under investigation and I’m working to learn more about how it happened.
I’ve also learned that a memorial service is planned for Nguyen. A witness who was one of the first people to arrive on the scene of the collision reached out to BikePortland and shared the memorial event flyer. The flyer gives us a photo of Nguyen and shares names of the people she left behind — including three daughters, a son, and eight grandchildren. The memorial will be held in Newberg on February 8th.
Many Reed and Woodstock neighborhood residents were familiar with Nguyen as she walked their streets constantly. “She was the most kind and gentle woman who always had a smile on her face,” one witness told me, then added: “I truly hope something is done to make Cesar Chavez safer. I live two houses off Cesar Chavez and Cora and it’s awful. The speeding, reckless driving, and amount of accidents is insane.”
On that note, there’s some good news to share: In response to questions about the future of SE Cesar Chavez Blvd today, PBOT Communications Director Hannah Schafer said they are in the process of setting up a project page on their website for, “a new safety project in the area” funded through the Oregon Department of Transportation’s All Roads Transportation Safety Program (ARTS).
This is the project I mentioned in the wake of the Jeanie Diaz tragedy in 2023 where PBOT is going to consider safety updates on SE Cesar Chavez between SE Powell and Holgate. A lane reconfiguration (aka “road diet”) is not guaranteed yet (since public outreach hasn’t started), but after Diaz was killed by a driver while waiting for the bus at SE Chavez and SE Taylor, PBOT City Traffic Engineer Wendy Cawley told the Richmond Neighborhood Association that PBOT would consider going from the current four-lane cross-section to a three-lane cross-section, “or potentially even a two-lane cross-section.”
Today Schafer confirmed we will know more very soon about the safety project between Powell and Holgate, and said a separate project will bring a new signal at SE Gladstone. PBOT is still working to make sure full funding is in place before moving forward, and we will know more once the project webpage is published. Stay tuned.
Welcome to the week. It’s a strange, confusing, and concerning time as the Trump Administration runs wild over our government and institutions. As we continue to understand how he will impact our country, this week’s roundup should help you learn what’s going on with transportation policy and beyond.
Trump and transportation: Biggest story of the week is what the impact of the Trump Administration will be on transportation policy and projects. David Zipper has a solid look at what’s going on and what cities can do about it. (Fast Company)
Trump doing Trump things: President Donald Trump’s zeal for upending everything he thinks liberals like has led to a funding freeze of road safety grants. (Streetsblog USA)
Social engineering: The US DOT under Trump has floated a memo that would tie transportation funding to very specific demographic statistics including giving priority to places with high birth rates. But yeah let’s talk about how bike lanes are social engineering. (Construction Dive)
Boring Tunnel is actually, well, boring: Noted transit expert Jarrett Walker has long been skeptical of Elon Musk’s “Vegas Loop” and using it for the first time has only strengthened that skepticism. (Human Transit)
Same ol’, same ol’?: After off-road cycling advocates spent six years of working in good faith to successfully gain access to trails on Mt. Tam (the birthplace of mountain biking) in California, a few conservation groups have filed a lawsuit to prevent it from happening. It’s the same playbook of stalling and NIMBYism every damn time and it’s getting old. “Liberate Mt. Tam” is the very fitting riders’ battle cry. (Outside)
Humans make the difference: Turns out that when people put their bodies on the line, it inspires change. Protesting gets the goods, says a new study that looked at People Protected Bike Lanes. (Streetsblog SF)
Speed limit(ers): You won’t agree to speed limiting technology in every car? Fine. How about requiring them in the car of people with a history of reckless and fast driving? That’s what a bill in the Washington Legislature aims to do. (Washington Standard)
