Note: I am still on hiatus. Part of what I’m doing is seeking advice and feedback on how to build back better. This post is part of that process.
When I started documenting Portland’s bike scene in April 2005, my main goal was to provide a window into an amazing community. I was new to town and was deeply inspired and excited by what I saw on the streets — and I figured other people would be too. I wanted everyone on the Internet to get a taste for the creative and vibrant culture around bicycles that was being created in this city and a daily blog just happened to be a great tool for the job. As the site grew and my role changed, there was always one question I would ask myself when I needed editorial guidance:
What does our city need most from BikePortland?
Was there a new bike-related business that needed help getting off the ground? Do a profile. Was a nonprofit looking to gain traction? Highlight their work and events. Was a good policy or program under threat? Draw attention to the issue. Was a politician being bad? Expose them. Was a piece of infrastructure dangerous to cyclists? Explain why and help push for changes.
Today, as I’ve stepped away from the daily grind of BikePortland, that question seems relevant once again. I want to strip BikePortland down to the studs and rebuild it, while adding back only what’s needed most. And I would love your feedback as I go through this exercise.
So again, I ask: What does our city need most from BikePortland?
At its core, BikePortland is a trusted, multi-channel platform with an audience from all walks of the cycling life. So what should we do with that? What type of information does Portland need from a bicycling and transportation site? Where should I focus my energy in the future? And how could readers like you take on a larger role?
Below are some types of content BikePortland has created in the past. Which of these are most important? Least important?:
- Breaking news
- Policy deep dives/explainers
- Personality profiles
- Event coverage and ride recaps
- Product reviews
- Infrastructure project previews, breakdowns, and reviews
- Event promotion
- Sharing relevant links (Monday Roundup) and examples from other cities
- Interviews with interesting people
- Guest articles
- Guest opinions
- Editorials by me
I can’t do it all anymore — nor do I want to! — so what pieces should I pick back up? And which pieces should I look for others to do?
Beyond the various types of stories and content you’ve seen on BikePortland, there’s also the question of framing and intent. As in, does a story push specific advocacy buttons? Or is it more for general interest or fun? (For example, Streetsblog is 100% focused on advocacy and pushing a specific agenda.)
If you wanted to build an influential and widely-read, cycling-focused outlet, where would you focus your energy?
When I started BikePortland, cycling in our city was on an upward trajectory and my work added fuel to a fire that was already burning. Today, we’re coming out of a bicycling decline/plateau and a socio-political milieu where bicycling doesn’t have the potency it once did. Even with me in a reduced role, I believe BikePortland can play a big part in whatever comes next.
I’ll be asking this question at Bike Happy Hour tomorrow (Weds, 4/29 from 3-6 pm at Migration Brewing on N Williams Ave) and wherever else I bump into you. Thanks for your feedback and patience as I go through these thought experiments.
Thanks for reading.
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I come here for a lot of reasons, but one of the big ones is local news coverage. I think you have a deeper and fuller understanding of how city government and backroom politics work than do the local television stations, the shell of the Oregonian newspaper, or the local weeklies. Also, all local news is biased and stilted. But you’re open about your perspective and you’re not bought and paid for by corporate interests.
I also dig general info about local cycling events and culture, infrastructure projects, and the Monday news roundup. I could do without the comment section. It is typically dominated by a handful of serial commenters that drown out others. I get involved in comment threads sometimes, but usually only out of frustration.
I would ditto this. You just don’t get coverage of committee happenings, etc from the bigger outets, and even social media accounts miss covering a lot of these. To your point about bias, I always appreciate how Jonathan Maus is clear about the distinction in articles; we’ll get the objective facts, and then there will be some writing caveated with “from my perspective”, etc. Obviously bias can be more complex than that, but it’s great journalism IMO. I care a bit less about the Monday, not-Portland-focused roundup, but I do peruse it.
Thanks Gron. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback about the comments section and I plan to moderate it differently going forward. And I hear you about the value of local news with a transportation focus. I’m really trying to find out if I can do less overall and still make BikePortland have value and impact. Then the question becomes, what do I stop doing?
I also find it interesting how often bias comes up when people talk about BikePortland (over on Reddit, it’s a lot of comments). That is only because “bike” is in the name. I mean, people need to realize that every major media outlet has all types of biases. They’re paid largely by corporations FFS! And outlets like NPR and PBS are biased toward being fair, which is actually a huge bias in an of itself! It’s just weird to me that people get hung up on that instead of just reading the words I type and taking them for what they are.
And yes, I’m biased! My bias is that I want bicycling to grow and I want our community to win. But does that mean my work is slanted? Nope. Sometimes covering things in a way that’s not good for our community can actually help us win IMO. My point is that having bias doesn’t result in the type of coverage many people assume it does.
Many people in my experience don’t really understand the concepts of bias, opinion, fact, reporting, & news, and how they overlap and intersect with how we make sense of the world around us. To me your site does not exhibit bias but is rather shot through with passion; passion for bicycles and bicycling, passion for justice, for infrastructure, for people, for fun: the things that get many of us excited and inspired. Your opinions are an important part of this and to try and skirt passion and opinion to me sucks the life out of most any such enterprise. Bikeportland has lasted so long and been so successful (I think) because you have strong views and those views inform your reporting. No need to apologize for any of that.
And for the folks who like to harp on bias and opinion as somehow antithetical to reporting, journalism, I don’t think they really understand how this works, how it fits together.
And since you brought up NPR, their bland, passion-free, reassure-the-Middle-Class-no-matter-what, and balance-where-balance-doesn’t-belong to me drowns out what value the facts they report on may have once had.
I’ll take a real person with values they can articulate and defend and bring to bear on the stories they are telling any day over what too often passes for news and reporting these days.
I agree 9watts. It’s just annoying to me that I do all this work and then when people outside the core audience talk about bikeportland it’s dominated by whether I’m biased or not. I think a lot of people who aren’t intimately familiar with my work just cannot get based their own assumptions about a “bike advocacy site” run by a “bike activist who thinks he’s a journalist.”
I think that is because we don’t talk about these terms much or enough. And by ‘we’ I mean all of us, both here on Bikeportland and elsewhere. Advocacy and activist are not, per se, antithetical to reporting. You care about these issues which is why you started Bikeportland. Some people will demand you keep your feelings, values, passions out of sight; but in my view what you then would most likely get is something so bland and without soul or passion that the people who also care about those things would not be inspired. I know I wouldn’t. In a messed up world where would we be without compassion or outrage. Justice isn’t going to be advanced without commitment, passion, a fight.
I’m a BP reader who comes for the articles but stays for the comments. The comment section is, for me, by far the most interesting and engaging part of BP. It works best when JM gives us all a discussion prompt and then some really interesting people with diverse perspectives weigh in, and we get wisdom that is greater than the sum of its individual parts.
Is the comment section perfect? No way. But do you always feel 100% safe and validated in your daily interactions with other humans? No, you do not. The imperfections in the comments section reflect the imperfections in the wider world. I sometimes walk away from the comments feeling a bit burned but that’s life, IMO.
I’ll offer two suggestions to improve the comments:
I know it’s a lot to think about but when you invite comments – and I really really think you still should invite comments – you add complexity so the environment you create must be equally complex and nuanced.
Thanks Fred. This is really good feedback. I think you and I see the comments in a very similar way. My problem with concerns that they comments are “too abrasive” or “mean” is that I abhor echo chambers and the last thing I want to have is a site where everyone is friendly and nice and in agreement all the time. And yes, I know it’s possible to be nice and disagree. My point is that I want the comments to reflect real life outside the bike bubble — and IMO that means us bike folks need to be able to handle some harsh disagreement and some annoying folks.
That being said, I also realize that it’s my responsibility to not center my own feelings and perspective when managing this website. So I am very open to changing how I moderate and have a record of talking about this and making adjustments.
I think going forward I will just delete/block the repeat commenters who always have the same exact party line (usually that Portland is a terrible liberal hellscape blah blah blah). It’s not the points those folks make that bother me, it’s the repetition and single-issue tone they have.
Also, in response to your comment, I will never try to vet commenters or investigate if they’re real people or not. That exercise is fraught with problems. Obviously, if I think it’s a bot or AI, I will delete/block. But I want to welcome all types of folks here, I don’t care where they live or if they ride bikes or not. If they have an opinion and take time to comment, they should be welcome to. Again, I don’t want a walled garden echo chamber here.
Thanks again for the feedback and support.
There is a difference between challenging someone’s outlook or views and personally attacking them. I highly value being challenged, but find the personal attacks to be very corrosive of what I think you are trying to do.
Most commenters were pretty good about this, but some were habitual offenders.
I think the news and investigative reporting around transportation issues is most important to me, as well as ways for community to engage and mobilize around it.
I think focusing the coverage around transportation, mobility, and healing the car afflicted wounds of our city in general (not just bikes) might expand the circle in terms of the audience as well. It seemed like over the years you had already be doing this, despite continuing to call the site “Bike Portland.”
Hi John,
Thanks for coming to that “Tough Shit” event last night. It felt so good to have familiar faces in the audience!
I appreciate your feedback. And yes, I have narrowed the scope of coverage in recent years. I am very proud of the breadth of topics BP has covered well, but I think it was just part of the energy shift that I’ve narrowed things of late (also, it was easier to cover more things when I had other writers on staff!).
The other piece of moving past bike stuff is that I have a rule on the Internet: The further out of my lane I go, the less I will say. I tend to stick to the stuff I know best and leave other things to other people. I’m trying to get better at riffing about other topics, but I’ve always been in this lane and it’s been hard to find my voice and confidence around other things. I’ll keep working on it and take your input to heart.
There’s simply no other source of this quality for local Portland news (as it relates to biking & transportation): reviews of new infra, breaking news, policy, interviews etc
I also really enjoy the extent to which BikePortland has created and shaped the biking scene in Portland, I do enjoy guest articles and the like.
Thanks Nick.
One reason for the hiatus was for me to feel what it’s like to stop doing BikePortland — something I’d never felt for 20+ years. Why? Because I want to see how much I truly love doing the work still, or if I was just going through the motions. You know that saying about how you don’t really know how much you love something until it’s gone?
So right not I’m letting myself feel what it’s like to just stop. There are stories I feel like grabbing and doing right now (waymo, PBOT funding, etc…), but I’m forcing myself to ignore them.
So far what I’m feeling is that I still want to share stories and that I still love the work. What I’m trying to gain clarity on however, is how much work is healthy and what aspects of the work are truly exciting/interesting/worthwhile for me to do.
I know this might not make a ton of sense and my head is pretty messy right now, but I’m letting myself go through this because I’ll gain clarity soon and be able to move forward. Thanks for the support.
In the blog title you ask “What does are CITY need?” In the article, you ask “what does OUR COMMUNITY need?”
I moved here in ’08 to live a car-free lifestyle and BikePortland was an invaluable resource that very well documented the burgeoning radically fun bike community with its bike rides/parties, bike moves, bike shops and maybe most importantly the DIY/Hacker blue sky culture that was cooperative, collaborative and w/o limits!
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Back then, Portland felt like a big town w. a chill vibe. “The dream of the 90’s” was alive & kickin’!!!f I was in my early 40’s hanging out w. 20-somethings, learning how to live a car-free lifestyle and having tons of fun along the way!
Portland evolved into a small city w. more vehicles of all types, a more serious economy and more people who sought the good life of what was becoming one of the most liveable cities in the U.S.
I say this b’cuz I think so much changed, so fast that city gov’t got caught flat-footed and struggled with practicing good governance in a time of rapid change and growth.
Anyway, I say all of this b’cuz we all find ourselves in a very different landscape. These days, I think a lot more about transportation in general and less about bikes specifically. I tend to read the articles that help me understand the problems, the politics, and the policies.
Yeah, it’s not nearly as fun, but I think it matters more to more people b’cux trying to get’ around town in a safely & timely matter is something almost everyone does every day.
What I think OUR CITY needs is more info, education and advocacy around general transportation. i don’t know what OUR COMMUNITY needs, because I don’t really feel a part of any community other than the neighborhood I live in, which a bike isn’t generally necessary.
What question which seems fairly obvious to me to ask you, is who’s the audience you’re serving and what stories, topics, events inspires you to write interesting, helpful blog posts?
If you can get metrics on articles such as how many people read an article, which topics are read the most,, etc, I’d start there. There doesn’t seem to be a simple like/unlike button on the posts.
There’s this Japanese philosophical idea of when one can align one’s interests, talents and skills to societies needs a sense of happiness and fulfillment can be achieved. However, I’m still trying to figure that out and I’ll be 60 yrs old soon.
Anyway, I don’t know if that’s at all helpful, but that was my intent.
Yes good catch! That was a mistake. I started with “community” but wanted to change it to city.
I love your comment. Thanks for sharing it. Especially the part about the Japanese philosophy of aligning one’s talents and interests with what society needs. That’s it! If more people were able to do that, imagine how much happier our world would be. That’s what I’m trying to do – – and with so much change in the media world and how people consume information, it’s been a challenge to find that alignment.
Also, your point about the need to shift toward more general city transportation stuff is very well taken. If you audited all my stories in the past 10 years and compared them to the first 10 years, you’d see a LOT less about bikes because my work has always been a reflection of where the city is at.
Lately for various reasons, I’ve lost some of my connection to the city and the bike community and that’s another reason I knew it was time for a reset. My knee surgeries and not biking hard for 5 years had something to do with that, not to mention just getting older and wanting to spent more time at home with my family rather than go on bike rides after-hours. I think not going on as many rides has led to some loss of spark and inspiration that fuels my work. I’m feeling now like I want to get back out on some rides and see how it shifts my brain (or not?).
But I digress… Thanks for the feedback.
I kinda got out of the habit of hard riding for exercise in the last few years, too. Partly it was from crashing and breaking my wrist and arm, but even afterward, I was running more and didn’t need the cardio. I was still on the bike, commuting downtown for work… but that’s not the same.
I started riding around my neighborhood for fun and exercise again this last month and I’d forgotten how great it is. There’s nothing like it!
Of course it’s good exercise, but it just *feels* good. It’s possible to get around so quickly that I can see much more of the city, and yet it’s also real easy to pull over and look at a funny sign, or take a quick detour on a gravel path.
Anyway, I hope your knees are bomber, and you’re riding everywhere and having a great time.
It sounds like you may benefit from finding some sort of handoff or succession framework to allow you to shift back into the parts that you love about the cycling community or advocacy of whatever strikes your fancy.
Cut it off, let it fade, hand it off / give it away, let it evolve, send it into its next form, splinter it, coalesce it, … or change it into the thing that inspires you *today… instead of yesterday.
It does not need tomorrow to look or feel the same as yesterday or today.
Love & find wholeness in the process!
Personally, I really look forward to the Monday Roundup. I also like getting news about infrastructure projects. I probably could find a lot of that elsewhere, but it kept me coming back here every day.
Thanks Douglas. I like the Monday Roundup too and feel like it should continue. It’s not super difficult to put together, but it does require me to scan social media for story leads. And boy am I getting sick of being on social media!
Thanks.
I also really enjoy the Monday Roundups and would be disappointed to see them leave. I did wonder how much of it was other people sending stuff to you and how much of it was you finding things. I wonder if a software dev in the community might be able to create a custom bsky feed that helps with collecting that information.
Thanks Matthew. It’s not a ton of work to create the Monday Roundup. I use my social feeds, google news alerts, and then folks just send me tips. Since I don’t do a lot of “Here’s what XYZ city is doing,” posts like I used to, I feel like the Monday Roundup takes the place of that. It also feels nice to have a routine way of beginning the week.
There isn’t a thing on that list that doesn’t cause a big information void for someone to fill. I think you should follow your heart and pick the ones that you most enjoy and give you energy.
It’s not on the list, but the comment section seems like a giant amount of work. I’d rather you turn them off if it can add another item from your list of focus areas.
Bike Happy Hour seems to bring you joy. It’s an amazing venue for discussion and feedback. Maybe think of it and/or something like it as the new comment section.
There could be a bikeportland Reddit where discussion could happen if there were a person in the community, other than you, who would be willing to be admin.
Whatever you decide, thank you.
If you turn off the comments, you’ll remove a type of community-building that only BP could have accomplished. A lot of us aren’t going to Bike Happy Hour but we love the comments and get a sense of community from them.
Heck – JM could turn off BP completely and just host in-person events!
BP started as a blog with comments. Commenting is a unique affordance of the medium, so why not use it as well as you can? Just b/c the comments haven’t lived up to everyone’s expectations doesn’t mean they can’t work better in the future, with just a few tweaks.
Comments are the best!
Yes, Fred, you are definitely someone who heavily engages in comments and I’m not surprised to see you wanting them to be a priority.
I also like to comment and think they’re important. But as I think about the larger good that this page provides, the comments aren’t at the top of the list.
It tends to be the same group of people dominating the section. It may influence Jonathan, but so can emails, phone calls, and conversations.
In the circles I run in, people don’t talk about the comments in a productive way. They do talk about the reporting and the accompanying reporting by other media due to what Jonathan writes.
I know I definitely learn a lot more from the articles than the comments. So, if there has to be choices, I put more time for Jonathan to write over more time moderating comments.
Some comments are really great, though. Blumdrew always has really wonky and informed comments. That’s valuable in my opinion. There are other commenters that are solid, too. Are there stinkers? OMG yes, of course. I think comments can often add a lot to JMs articles.
I will never turn them off. The comments are a pillar of BP. And as long as I’m in a position to decide, they’ll be here. I’ve always said the problem with blog comments isn’t the commenters, it’s with site owners and managers who aren’t willing to invest the time/money to make them productive.
And I agree Fred. Not everyone has the ability to have their voice heard other ways and the comments are very valuable in that regard.
My position is to keep finding ways to make them better, rather just nuke them entirely.
It’s interesting to me to read your adamant defense of the comments, Jonathan. I say that because it often does seem to me like the same folks saying the same things. Commenters who haven’t read the original post (or at least not carefully, including looking at the links for the sources cited), or who do ad hominem (or more often ad feminem!) attacks, etc. It would seem to me like amount of time/energy it takes for you to manage the comments is a huge drain. And I think there are ways that other sites manage comments that might reduce the “same people having the same arguments over and over” pattern.
But, that is my perspective. If you find the comments section as it is now to be a valuable use of your time and energy, that is entirely your call.I just don’t want it to come at the cost of time and energy to write or edit content.
Hi Lois. To be clear, I’m defending the idea of a comments section and its potential value – but am totally aware that these “same folks saying the same things” have really not been great. I’ll be deleting them much more liberally in the future.
I’m very happy to hear you will keep the comments section. It allows for a socially horizontal, peer-to-peer exploration of topics, not just a top-down, vertical integration.
So they have to be in the same form? Do you have to be the one moderating them? If someone else moderated you could still read and engage.
The other moderator could perhaps come in the form of a separate forum like Reddit or just someone else who would be admin here.
Hi I’ll Show Up. Thanks for saying that.
And yes, I do love Bike Happy Hour. But it’s a big time commitment which is one reason why I’m going to be handing over hosting duties to BikeLoud in June.
I think guest editorials would be great to continue or expand. Leverage your public’s knowledge and passion.
I wonder if you’d be interested in becoming less of a reporter and more of a coordinator – someone who collects articles from volunteers who want to write about cycling in different parts of town. I know you have tried to branch out to Beaverton etc, but BP has an east-of-the-river focus cuz that’s where you are.
BP has always been very personal to you but you might find joy in expanding your skill-set to coordinating with others and bringing out the best in them rather than putting everything on yourself all of the time. The burden of doing everything yourself gets heavy after 20+ years.
Bingo Fred. And yes that’s something I’ve been thinking of. The next chapter will definitely include more posts from others. And I do like working on other peoples’ writing and helping them. One thing I’ve considered is maybe putting together some advocacy journalism trainings for folks who want to learn how I approach the work.
great idea. even Aaron Cometbus would do issues of mostly guest articles.
“Being a reporter” or “being a writer” is a skill set. Everyone who can peck at keyboard is not a reporter. And as a professional writer who does a fair bit of editing, I can say that having people “volunteer” to generate text that then needs to be edited to be useful/publishable quality can take just as much, and even more, time for the person who is ultimately responsible for the quality of the published content.
Either turn the comments off, or allow 1 comment per person per post, so they become more thoughtful deeper responses, more like letters to the editor, than obnoxious tit for tats that I’m sure are a handful to moderate.
This is a great take. I do think there are valuable comments. The problem is that a lot of good points get buried below 3 sets of tit for tat arguments that go on and on between a couple of people over multiple days.
We haven’t I don’t think ever really taken the time to discuss what the conversations within the comments is for, why people participate, what they hope to get out of them? My sense, as a once frequent commenter, is that people bring a huge variety of different and not necessarily compatible expectations to the comments section. I have never understood the (undifferentiated) gripe about arguments-in-the-comments. Or the (undifferentiated) gripe about too-much-commenting. To me it is more about what people contribute, how inclined they are to engage, listen. Some commenters don’t listen, don’t engage, are pretty clearly here for other reasons. But others bring a wealth of knowledge and curiosity to the comments, and if they post a lot I for one don’t mind. Commenters who disagree *can* lead to greater insight.
To give just one example, wsbob used to comment here a lot. I often found his perspective maddening but engaging with him opened up issues and assumptions and blind spots that could lead to great insights.
What I’m trying to say is, without some common understanding about what the comments section is for, could be, it will be difficult to make it better.
What an insightful comment about commenting, 9watts! And I agree about disagreeing: it’s often the comments I disagree with that teach me the most b/c I think about them the most. BP should be a place for *thoughtful* exchanges.
JM could create a tip sheet that contains reasons for rejecting certain comments (ad hominem, bad faith etc) and use those to explain to people why he is rejecting their comments – more work but still good, IMO, to screen out the bad-faith comments.
The problem, Jonathan, is that ALL of those things are what the community and city needs, and you filled those roles!
I still say you should pick a few things you still love to do, and find folks willing to fill in the rest. Weekly roundups and events can be done by the community at large – even something like a ‘chat’ page where links can be posted. Comments are great but moderation is exhausting, so neutral on that one. Maybe have a few people willing to mod? Reviews and profiles could be done by others in addition to any you feel like doing. Be an editor emeritus and just post something when it moves you.
Or step away completely, and let the community figure out what it needs and have people make what they feel is important.
There isn’t a wrong choice, as long as it feels right for YOU. You don;t owe anyone else a thing.
Thanks cct. Great reminders. I appreciate that.
And yes it has crossed my mind that maybe BikePortland has run its course and the community doesn’t need a thing like this anymore. I’m totally open to that and if that’s what I felt in the end, I’d have no problem (well it’d be sad of course) just keeping the archives up and walking away.
My hunch is there’s still a need and value for it, but with the rise of social media and all the changes in local news, that value proposition is much different that it was in the past.
I think that the rise of social media makes blogs like this even more important! Sooooo many people are sick to death of drowning in social media slop,and old-school platforms are so refreshing, and so rare!
Much of the difficulties in the comments section can probably be attributed to social media engagement habits too.
I’ll give you a version of the excellent advice you gave me back in 2010: stick to the things that nobody else is doing well, and that you like doing, and that drive revenue. Anything that isn’t in the center of that Venn diagram is off-limits (regardless of what anyone else tells you they want you to do), unless it happens to be the one and only thing that brings you joy, in which case do it separately as a hobby.
tl;dr: the community needs you to be whole and happy and not burnt to a complete crisp. I can’t believe you’re still at it, you have got to be tired as heck.
(Now off to go keep trying to take my own advice.)
Elly! Hi! So nice to hear from my very first co-conspirator! Will never forget those days in the Activespace off SE Hawthorne thinking we would change the world.
Thanks for that advice. Totally hear you. I know that whatever happens I won’t let it burn me to a crisp.
Thanks for checking in and sharing here. Hope you’re still kicking butt and finding joy in your work.
Seems like a great opportunity to finally rebrand to CarPortland and exclusively advocate for more freeways and road projects 🙂
JK JK
A while back you had a somewhat viral video of you coaching a driver passing cyclists on a rural road safely. There were certainly haters but I think it was mostly well-received and made an impact. For better or worse, our system has a lot of conflict points. Normal, safe drivers often genuinely don’t know how to navigate those conflicts. Things like turning across bike lanes or greenway etiquette aren’t always obvious if you don’t have the perspective of a cyclist. I’d love for those folks to get out and ride but in lieu of that, I think you are in a good position to help provide some education for the community in that regard.
I agree with others that the comments can be pretty abrasive. I say that as an abrasive commenter myself. A lot of randos have (unfairly) mapped the comment section on to you personally. I think that limiting or turning off comments for most articles would probably be for the best.
I love the guest articles. Would like to see the site really lean into that. I think it could be a better vehicle for discussion and could help platform a wider variety of viewpoints.
Though, I know that does rely a lot on people volunteering their contributions and creates editorial work for you, so I can see why making it a big thing could be a challenge.
The pod is great, love the interviews with people around town. Your interviews with candidates for city council and mayor were extremely valuable for me.
Sharing community events is great. I work during bike happy hour but I think it is a wonderful thing and should definitely continue.
Ultimately, I think you should do what’s interesting and fulfilling for you and I’ll keep up regardless! Take care.
Hi dw,
I totally hear this! I have a whole series of educational videos like that I’ve been wanting to do. And on a similar note, I’ve always had this vision of doing a column in local n’hood newspapers. Something friendly and fun like, “Ask the Bike Guy” or something like that. I love translating bike speak into normal language that non-bike people can understand and respect.
I love the pod and interviews too. In fact, I’ve one of my ideas was to just reposition BikePortland as a podcast. That’s it. No more news or typed up stories. Just audio stories and interviews. Doing good interviews takes a lot more time than people think and I’ve never felt like I had the luxury to spend as much time as needed to really do a podcast justice. But I love audio/video and I’m definitely thinking how it will play a role going forward.
The news gathering and reporting is a huge chunk of what BP has always done. But what if I just dropped all that and focused on other types of content? It would free me up and open new paths for sure (or vice versa, I could give up all the video/audio and just focus on hardcore news coverage).
Anyways, thanks for the feedback and support.
Local cycling events, transportation policy and infrastructure, Monday roundup, and an occasional interview would be my wish list.
At the moment the city and the state needs good information about the transportation funding issue and you have typically done a decent job covering this discussion. We are really at a breaking point with transportation and education funding in the state and need good coverage that does more than cover the news releases by agencies. Ideally in the next 6 months you can convene leaders from government, business and advocacy to help raise awareness about the structural funding issues and where reform is needed. Don’t quit now, we need you
I hear you loud and clear joey. It’s hard for me (in some ways, in others, it’s really easy to just say, ‘not my battle right now!’) to not weigh in on that funding issue story but I want to stay clear and clean when it comes to the hiatus.
Thanks for the feedback.
I subscribe to and visit bikeportland because you fill a giant hole in coverage that pertains to biking and pedestrian infrastructure that I wouldn’t know about without your hard work. I know there are so many of us that care about our city and want to see growth in car-free infrastructure so we can enjoy what Portland has to offer on two wheels or two feet.
Ultimately, what I feel Portland needs is a way for us to aggregate our voices and power to get the city to understand that other cities lapping us in biking/pedestrian infrastructure, so many of us care about the topic, and it can improve everyone’s life in the city. If your role in that is letting us all know what moves the city is making and what they’re talking about doing or not doing, you’ve already done so much more for the cause than anyone else I’ve found.
Adam. Thanks for this, and for being a subscriber. I appreciate you.
And your point about how Portland, “needs is a way for us to aggregate our voices and power to get the city to understand that other cities lapping us in biking/pedestrian infrastructure,” is well taken. I often get the impulse to just go all-in on advocacy and use the platform to be more of an organizing tool than a media outlet. But then I stop myself and realize there’s a unique value in having independent media and there are other groups to do advocacy. And also, like you said at the end of your comment, BP’s advocacy is simply sharing information and letting the community put it to use.
Anyways, thanks for the feedback.
We are so grateful for the enrichment Bike Portland has brought to our community – thank you for all of your hard work that made that happen!
If I had to pick one thing (and sorry it’s not on your list), it would be covering car on bike fatalities and injuries. So often drivers get away with murder (quite literally) without any of the mainstream (aka car-centric) news outlets exposing the details. I theorize that when these details are publicized, consequences for the guilty are more likely.
Thanks for all you do and now that you will (hopefully!) have more free time, please come on my bike rides! There’s one this Saturday, May 2 starting at Trek Slabtown:
https://www.shift2bikes.org/calendar/event-23359
Hi Maria,
And thanks for bringing up coverage of fatal and serious crashes. I lump those into breaking news, but wow they are so much more. I could make the case that coverage of fatal crashes is the single most important type of story I’ve done all these years. There have been way too many of those stories, but they are ones I take very seriously and take extra care with. The relationships I’ve had with survivors and family members have been a special part of this job. And being able to help our community make sense of these tragedies — and often translate that into activism — is one of my most cherished memories.
And thanks for the ride invite!
I appreciate this coverage too because these people almost never get any news coverage. Over the years I’ve really appreciated how the spot light you’ve put on these crashes has helped if not get justice it’s at least brought to light how broken our system is.
I was just sharing your coverage about Adam Joy the other day with some cycling advocates and how in part your coverage lead to eventual charges. It’s criminal that they then let Weeks plead down to a misdemeanor but without your coverage I think it’s unlikely anything would have happened. Especially with that initial police report.
I know you’ve expressed in the past that it takes a toll on you but I hope you’re able to find a way to keep that part of this site going because I feel like it really helps drive advocacy for all vulnerable road users.
I have always loved the ride along posts. Something about getting a glimpse of other’s routes and bike and clothing and commentary reminds me that riding a bike is FUN and there’s definitely not one right way to do it. It’s a great counter to the White Supremacy tenant of only one correct way to move about our world with no room for diversity.
As for the bias discussion — as a climate scientist who is constantly told I’m biased for framing my life on the knowledge that climate is changing due to human activities, of course we’re biased. The great fallacy is that any of us or our systems are not biased – journalism, science, education, transportation.
Ride Alongs! Wow I really loved those too Carrie. I’ve been wanting to bring them back in video form. That’s the kind of non-news content that I like doing and could build a full operation with. One vision I’m having for the Next Chapter is really just focusing on people and their cycling stories. BikePortland would be interviews, photo essays, ride alongs, personality profiles, and so on. Could still cover policy and news, but always through the lens of a specific person and their experience. Thanks for the comment.
The day before your big post about talking a breather, I was going through your Flickr page trying to find a particular pic. I didn’t find it but I went through a number of the Ride Along series and they were so much fun to look at. They also bummed out a bit too because in so many pics you could see jammed bike lanes and that’s just not our reality now. Too many folks WFH? Just drive now? I have a 11 mile round trip from inner SE to outer SE and I might see 10 other bike commuters on my route on a good day. I miss bike traffic.
I’ve made the same observation. And much of what you do see nowadays is motorized.
Absolutely. I try to not get hung up on that, at least they aren’t in cars. I don’t love getting my doors blown off by someone that isn’t even pedaling. It irks me. Go to JM’s Flickr page, he has a folder called Bike Traffic or something along those lines. It’s awesome! So many pics of people flooding out of pre-Covid downtown over the bridges. I really miss all that stuff!
Long time reader, first time commenter. While I don’t always agree with your takes, I do appreciate what you bring to the table in terms of shining a light on transportation issues that might otherwise go unnoticed by traditional media outlets. With that in mind, my suggestion of how to move forward with BP would be to focus on actionable items and issues in the Metro region.
I don’t think we need a weekly roundup of adjacent stories from across the globe. And not to belittle senseless traffic deaths, but maybe we don’t need individual stories for each and every one – patterns are important, so save your reporting energy for when there’s a particular street or intersection that’s overly dangerous. Again, make it something the reader can actually take action on.
I’d much prefer fewer, but more in-depth articles over daily reports just to make it seem like the site is still alive. Take your time, dig in to the bigger issues and let us know how we can get involved.
More regular guest contributors could also go a long way in keeping things fresh, while also ensuring things don’t become too one-sided.
That’s enough rambling from me. Enjoy your rest.
Excellent feedback. I hear you. Thank you.
IMHO, it would be wise to “hold off on proposing solutions”. From Robyn Dawes’s Rational Choice in an Uncertain World (bolding added):
This doesn’t mean that proposing solutions is never appropriate. If we want improvement, at some point in the pipeline there needs to be an actual solution, and before that solutions need to be proposed. I just think that there’s also a large space in the pipeline that comes before proposing solutions that should be explored more, in general and specifically in the comments on this post.
Hi Adam,
Thanks for this. I think what you’re getting at is something I’ve been feeling and thinking about too… Which is that I want to just pause and let feelings and thoughts happen without clutter of anything — not writing more stories, not posting on social media, and not getting too attached to any proposed solutions.
I’m trying to balance keeping a clear head and allowing my self to feel new proposals so that I can weigh them on merits as free from emotion and bias as possible.
I’ve already shifted quite a bit since my announcement in the ideas and possible paths forward that I’d like to take. It’s interesting and confusing and exciting. So yeah, thanks for the comment.
Ah yeah, somehow I hadn’t realized it at first but I see now that your hiatus is very much along the lines of “hold off on proposing solutions”.
FWIW, I’m at somewhat of a similar place in my life, needing to pause, slow down, get a clear head, and figure things out from there. It’s kinda validating and inspiring to see you doing that. Thanks for being open about it.
I’ve been in Portland for just over a year, after a decade in Southern Oregon. The most important thing for me is discoverability. I’ve found it pretty hard to figure out where to focus my energy, and resources like BikePortland are invaluable for learning about what’s going on around me.
I will echo many of the other comments about changing the comment moderation or simply shutting the comment section down. There are too many talking points, too many flamewars, and not enough genuine curiosity. Jonathan sets a really good example of how to listen and be open-minded. It’s annoying to see people then clogging up the comments with their own dogma.
Hacker News is an example of moderation done well, I think, but it would require some new tools. And it still seems very labor intensive to me.
BikePortland is just an incredible resource. Jonathan is irreplaceable. But I very much welcome an evolution of the site, even if it evolves into something smaller and more manageable for just one person.
BP is the soul of the Portland bicycling community, so I’ve been sad to not have it for the last couple of weeks — and even sadder at the idea that it might go away completely.
For me, breaking news, infrastructure, and (local) policy are the most important BP topics. The others are great, too, but I count on BP for those 3.
The Monday roundup would be lowest on my list. Those articles are interesting, but typically don’t have much local impact.
I don’t listen to most BP podcasts because they take more time of my time than reading stuff.
I do glance through the comments. I can quickly skip the rants, so I don’t really care about them. They instantly get no credibility with me.
Spreading the load by soliciting more guest writers is a great idea. You’ll quickly recognize which ones take a lot of hand-holding or editorial work, and avoid them in the future.
Hello Jonathan, have you considered spinning up a Discord server? That could help offload some of the current duties – for example, that would allow people to directly post interesting news articles and events, rather than having these items go through you. And of course, the whole thing would be one big comments section, for better and for worse.
I would love a discord server. Seems to be all the rage these days!
Hi Peter.
Yes I have looked into that a bit. I should talk to my web dev guy about it and see what he thinks about how it might/might not integrate with the blog. I think there’s potential for something like that — and that’s why I’ve tried to host a community bulletin board-type forum on this site a few times.
There are currently some healthy and active Slack channels in our community, but they are siloed of course around one organization. I would really love to host a BP discord that could embrace all the wide array of transportation-minded folks we have in this town. I could also pull from it for BP content and I feel like it could be a really nice yin/yang. Thanks.
Your photography skills easily equal your writing, editing, moderating skills.
And documenting morning/evening commutes–where the rubber hits the road–always brings smiles to my face.
1 pic = 1,000 words with much less work and hassle.
Most important for me on BP is local transportation infrastructure and policy news as it relates to cycling. You’ve been doing this long enough that I trust you to put things in historical perspective, and nobody else in Portland is doing this. These are the stories that bring me back.
I especially appreciate that no other media holds agencies accountable on bike-related issues like BP. And you get officials to respond, which tells me you have credibility.
I sometimes scroll through the comments, but I rarely trust anonymous posts, and I don’t want to waste time on back and forth rants.
I listen to some of the podcasts if it’s with someone I’m curious about. These aren’t as important to me.
I enjoy the Monday roundup when I have time (although I sometimes can’t finish an article behind a paywall). But these non-local stories aren’t as critical to me.
I’ve been to a few bike happy hours, but they don’t really work in my schedule. There are a lot of bike social functions in Portland.
I hope you continue BP in some aspect.
Bike Portland has been very successful because over 20 years it has remained focused and it has not changed that much. However, I’m sure it has influenced the entire discourse about transportation and bikes in Portland. It has buoyed cycling and the cycling community and created a presence of biking that has likely led many people to have the courage to bike like it’s normal.As media, journalism and storytelling has dramatically changed around Bike Portland. I think of you, Jonathan Maus, more as a dedicated craftsman, a kind of Shokunin that has honed their skills over half of a life time- refining their craft and developing skills and insights that are not measurable. The value we create in this world is illusive and often hard to define, but we are drawn to its transendance.
Thanks SD. This is truly one of the coolest compliments I’ve ever received. And without it going to my head, I will take something important away from it. It’s feedback like this that makes me feel like I should absolutely not give up on doing BP and that it would be such a waste if I left it behind completely. Thank you!
As someone who enjoys Bike Portland from afar, I really enjoy most coverage and wish you could do it all but from my lens your most impactful work is:
The breaking news seems to be something that gives you an edge over other publications and gives advocates something to rally around. The policy deep dives help hold public officials accountable for decisions they make, and the infrastructure reviews give people like me in other cities something to point to and say “look Portland did this, why can’t we do that?”. But your other work is valuable, spotlighting the culture and characters of the biking scene in Portland helps normalize and inspire people to ride more and take leaps I am sure.
I think the thing that I value the most about BikePortland is as a transportation-focused local news source. Particularly stuff like the coverage of the Broadway bike lane removal fiasco doesn’t really have a counterpart anywhere else in the media landscape here, and so I think that is what is truly invaluable. It is admittedly the case that I think everything that you’ve done with BikePortland has been great, but that specific component was the gap that I felt most keenly when you announced you were stepping back.
I personally enjoy the comments section here, but I think this could probably go away if you were looking to save some work. It seems like there are some other folks here who really value these, though, I am wondering if you couldn’t find some trusted moderators to help you out?
Applying heat and shining a light on the politics/issues of biking so that the bureaucrats and elected officials are aware that others are watching. Seems like bp coverage has helped push Portland to better outcomes than otherwise would have happened.
Absolutely. “Democracy dies in darkness” is maybe a bit overblown, but directionally correct. Lots of policy, planning, and law is boring, buried in long documents, or in the middle of a meeting held on a weeknight. Surfacing the relevant info and spreading to people who care requires some skill!
I totally agree with this comment. The problem, as I see it, is that the most valuable services something like BikePortland can provide also require the most effort.
Reporting local transportation policy news takes a lot of work and doesn’t scale well, but it’s a lot more useful than a weekly list of links to articles in other outlets.
Jonathan, I’m sure this isn’t a new idea for you, but I’ll emphasize it at least. If you’re choosing which parts of this job to continue, the most important factor should be which parts of the job do you like the best. Drop the parts you hate. Focus on the parts you love. It might not be exactly what the city needs but what you need is important too, and if you focus on doing your favorite parts, it benefits not only you but also makes it easier to keep up the quality of your work.
Two comments:
1) I love all the content on BP, but I especially value the comments. I hesitated to post that, because I know it must be a ton of work to moderate them. I’ve learned a lot from the comments and I think there is a lot of good discussion among the predicable noise. It’s the most stimulating discussion venue I have outside of work.
2) An important context for my understanding of this blog is that the local news scene in Portland (and everywhere else) is a shadow of the once vibrant industry that used to keep us informed. So there is a huge need for local reporting. The Oregonian, WW, and the Mercury all used to be sniffing around town and turning up info. Now original reporting has slowed to a trickle. You have been filling that void for bike and transportation related stuff, which is a huge accomplishment. You should be very proud of what you’ve done, but I cannot imagine a one man show being able to report on a whole medium-sized city! But whatever you can deliver, we will lap up with the thirst we have always had for your great reporting.
I started reading in 2007, when I moved to North Portland and bought a bike to ride to the MAX.
BP has actually probably been my primary local news source, though I do also scan the O online sometimes. There were periods when I would not miss a single BP article for months.
I’d be embarrassed to learn how many words I’ve contributed to the comment section. I’ve easily spent dozens of hours of my life writing comments, and getting one selected as a Comment of the Week was, no kidding, one of my proudest moments.
Along the way, I learned so much about climate change, transportation policy, mtb advocacy, urbanism, local politics, and more. I’m a YIMBY partly because of BP.
I think the most important service provided by BP over the years is the *in-depth* reporting on local transportation policy. Without Maus’ coverage, a lot of stuff would likely have flown under the radar, until it was too late! Would I have ever heard about delays to the N Williams bike lane project, or the Broadway bike lane removal plan? BP has been my main source for reporting about missing middle housing, as well as the I-5 bridge debacles.
These issues are highly consequential, but don’t generate the same kind of attention as national culture war issues.
I have read that there’s an increasingly fast decline in the number of newspapers in the US, and that without these papers, lots of really important local issues don’t get much coverage. I’ve heard of a few solutions to this, and non-profit news outlets offer one path forward.
From what I understand, compared to the kinds of things rich people waste their money on, it wouldn’t take make much wealth to support non-profit news gathering operations. Of course, that’d be a very different business model, and it’s not like creating a board and trying to raise donations would make the job of creating BP *more* fun and rewarding!
Anyway, I think BP has proven that there is a hunger for local news that is relevant to at least a specific kind of readership. I hope we enjoy it for years to come.
I admit my readership here has fallen off in the last couple of years, but then…I am just reading less, especially online. I’m also riding less (no more commutes)
In past years I appreciated the culture reporting (like upcoming events, recaps, ride-alongs & interviews). I always like a good editorial too, I don’t care what your bias is (TBF is it probably also my bias). But that was in the past
When I was a more active commuter I really relied on your up-to-the-minute news like road closures or path conditions, but I got most of that from Twitter. I don’t do social media at all any more.
The thing I have always appreciated and still appreciate is reporting on local (city hall) politics, and infrastructure new. This is where I learned about RIP, and keep up to date on things like the I5 project. IDK what your readership is for that kind of news, but it is definitely the most valuable.
And because people are talking about comments, I went from frequent comment reader/writer to just outright ignoring comments. Comments everywhere (not just BP, in fact this place is much better than platforms like Reddit) are basically like pro wrestling, but sincere not fake. There are regular characters who hold reliable (usually irritating) positions, they spar ritually, but only the only effect (& probably the whole purpose) is to inflame the audience’s passions. You do a better job than most mods but it seems like a thankless task and I wouldn’t blame you for dropping comments entirely.
To start with, what you’ve been doing has been amazing…but obviously too much for one person. Transportation news is vital, and you are practically the only reliable source. What is lacking (in all of our lives since January ’25) is joy. I worry that covering so much negative news has worn you down. Perhaps more of a focus on the joyful side of our favorite machine can help? Is that too polyannaish? Wishing you well, Jonathan.
What I think Portland needs is very different than what I need or what I suspect most people here need.
People here are passionate about riding and care about things of interest to people passionate about riding (such as news). But the people that need to be reached are either not passionate or they don’t ride at all.
To complicate matters, these people aren’t here so reaching them at all is a problem. This strikes me a good idea
Policy, projects, and politics interest me most.
Next, build community.
You have been remarkable in both spheres.
Pete
Portland, Let’s get you an outdoor velodrome, similar to Jerry Baker Memorial Velodrome in Redmond, Washington. We can do this -Tommy
Portland needs to give permission to volunteers to build the Red Electric Trail between SW Shattuck Road and SW Cameron Road. The 600 or more people living at Alpenrose dairy by 2030 need that trail as do nearby neighbors.
For me breaking news, policy deep dives and Infrastructure project previews, reviews and breakdowns are what is most important to me. Also, anything not directly related to Portland biking, is not of substantial interest to me on a Portland biking site.
But the main thing is just to have a voice out there in the world outside of disjointed nonprofits and group bike rides, about the issues related to biking in Portland.
From an outsider looking in it seems there is a power and value in having a news outlet that can call up Portland government officials and say, hey this is bike Portland, our readers want to know why… it keeps our government on their toes when they know that they will be held accountable or put on blast if they make decisions that negatively impact us
Yep. Point 3 is what came to mind most for me. Bike Portland helps establish (through the reporting and comments) that there is a political constituency for safer streets, in contrast to the assumed default carbrain. In Seattle, there are (or were) blogs for different neighborhoods, mode-specific blogs, general politics blogs like PubliCola, as well as advocacy groups like Neighborhood Greenways that organized citywide and neighborhood-scale planning efforts to proactively push the City for change. Those all combine to create more political power for safe streets advocates. I think Portland is missing – and without bikeportland completely devoid of – a voice for this constituency. I keep thinking that there could be a way to more explicitly link the reporting on bike portland to advocacy/political power, or that there is an ongoing gap in terms of political organizing. My greenway sucks and is overrun by speeding cars using it as a cut-through – where do I go to organize to make it better? How do we overcome the inevitable carbrain pushback on PBOT?
I would not write BikePortland’s obituary yet. Not by any stretch. It will be back. Some really good irons in the fire. Please be patient and I’ll share updates as soon as I can. Thank you.
I didn’t mean to imply it wouldn’t be back! More highlighting that there is nothing else filling this important role in the community. Looking forward to seeing what evolves!
BikeLoud is one such voice. Bike Bus is another, and neighborhood associations remain a good way to connect with others who know how to advocate and navigate the city.
Personally, the journalistic/editorial content on local active transportation infrastructure improvements, from funding, to politics, to design, and the need for them, is the reason I found and come back to Bike Portland.
There is close to zero coverage of these politics and conversations out there.
The other stuff is kind of redundant. The Shift calendar does the job of what, where, when of events.
Don’t forget the important function BP.has served of representing the city to the world, ala TravelPortland. Whether those considering moving or just visiting here, I think your coverage of the positive studf, as well as your representation of how much we care about the tough stuff has brought a lot of people here.
As someone who moved away right before the 1st Bikesummer explosion, I very well might not have moved back if not for BP.
I know you meant this as a compliment to Jonathan’s website, but I feel the need to push back against the urge to celebrate people moving here. That is the last thing this region needs – for crying out loud. Tom McCall wasn’t wrong. Everything we (profess to) care about is made more difficult by population growth, of which in-migration is a part.
Completely agree.
Part of the reason rents are so high is because of pressure from so many people moving here, to make just one observation. Now, after a few years of stagnant and even falling population, the city of Portland can’t find a tenants for many of its affordable properties in part because of competition from market rate units.
Completely disagree. This city and region needs more people, more differing opinions, more energy, more positivity, more jobs, more people riding their bikes. We can figure out the housing angle with more and smarter people here.
I’d disagree. It’s made difficult by politicians who don’t want to work on the issues and problems that we care about. They are only working on their pet issues. Prime example, telling Portlanders what they can or can’t eat. An issue that likely affect <1% of Portlanders, why waste time on that when there are bigger fish to fry?
Those same politicians make Portland less affordable for those that live here by their constant need to raise taxes. We are already seeing an exodus of population, and no not just the rich. Citizens just can’t afford to live here.
I’m fortunate, I got a degree back when they were affordable, put my nose to the gridstone, paid off my debts and house, and now very near to retiring. Our kids aren’t so fortunate. We were empty nesters for a time, but now one is back. They are trying to find a part time job and its difficult. Their goal is to go into the trades and get a better paying and more steady job. They’ve already said they have no hope of every buying a house.
It’s sad.
SolarEclipse, it doesn’t appear you have thought your response through, are rather replying reflexively. You concluded with this: “They’ve already said they have no hope of every buying a house.”
Surely you can appreciate how demand (for housing) plays a role in this state of affairs, is not incidental to housing affordability. You’re not seeing the forest for the trees.
I think that in 2005 the bike scene was much more radical, DIY, and underground(relatively speaking). I attribute a lot of the “slump” in ridership and enthusiasm to the demographic shift away from this. Mainstreaming, class and cultural differences, and the resulting differences in incentives within the scene. recapturing some of that energy would help, IMO — mainstream attention and involvement are useful and fine, but will never be exciting or motivating. People who choose alternative transportation rather than rely on it can’t value it in the same type of way. And a bike scene that is embodied in community spaces, streets and sidewalks, is more crucial. Any way you can maneuver the weight of your emphasis in these directions would be helpful.
Bike Portland is a blog. Write about the topics you want to write about. The way one gets burnt out to begin with is chasing what they think others need of them. Make it about your interests again and ignore the expectations you think are being put on you by everyone else.
This city need truth.
To continue to try and pretend everything is ok when the reality is far from it.
Even the City bureaus know there are problems, their stats prove it. But they conveniently cherry pick and massage data that is then released to the public.
We need politicians that work to solve the big problems, then once those are solved or on the way to being solved then work on your social justice causes.
I always have to wonder when people say downtown is great, management at my work (located in old town) keep saying how awesome downtown is. But when I walk around, I see that, no everything is not ok. Why lie? Tell it like it is. And claiming that tossing more money at the issue will solve everything when we constantly see how the non-profits steal our tax money, that politicians only see raising taxes as a solution when it acerbates affordability, on and on.
Fortunately, I’m retiring this summer. I will no longer have to ride the failed MAX trains. I will no longer have to wade through the needles on the ground, the open drug use, and the anti-social behavior that occurs daily around my workplace.
We need politicians to stand up and do what’s right for the community as a whole and quit letting a few voices block transportation improvements, especially ones that improve safety.
Johnathan – first thank you for everything you’ve done from the bottom of my heart. You are truly an amazing person, and a force of nature. It cannot be over-stated how important you’ve been to this community for the past ~20 years.
If I may, you should go bigger in your thinking than your list above. You should be thinking about your legacy and getting ready to pass the baton on this amazing thing you’ve built. You should shift into a strategy and mentorship role over the next few years.
Pick a big impactful goal… maybe scaling up BikePorltand into a sustainable organization with an expand scope…. (BikeCascadia/America..? making a StreetsBlog for Oregon), I don’t know what form that takes, I bet you intuitively know what it is.
Maybe this goal is something political, like putting the right people in leadership at ODOT (Yes, I think you are capable of orchestrating something huge… you might be one of the only people in this state who could).
Whatever it is map out the steps using this platform as a vehicle. Do the things you do best until you reach that goal. You have amazing skills, think about teaching those skills to a new generation. Take on mentees, make it a contest, find the best folks for the job.
Bike Portland has provided a human connection to our community and our city! Thank you Jonathan, this connection is a thing that is much more valuable beyond anything I can imagine! I believe however you decide to move forward you will foster this beautiful bicycle adjacent human connection. Even if you decide to be finished completely with Bike Portland, I believe you have provided a path and map for others that want to continue to offer this incredible connective opportunity. Thank you Jonathan, however you move onward you have left a undeniable positive light/force in our community that ripples and grows.