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Mike Perham and I at a recent Timbers game.

I’m excited to share that we’ve received our first equity investment. What does that mean? It means that after 16 years, this little upstart media company you’ve helped build finally has some breathing room — and room to grow.

Believe it or not I’ve never had a business plan (shocking, I know). This business started in 2005 with a lot of long hours, love, optimism, hard work, and blind faith. And that’s pretty much been how it’s survived ever since. But everyone has a limit. And I probably would have reached mine by now if not for Mike Perham (@getajobmike on Twitter).

I’m proud to announce that Mike is a new co-owner of Pedaltown Media, Inc., the parent company of BikePortland.
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40-Mile Loop volunteer Jim Sjulin at the Quarterly Trails Forum last week.

A retired Portland Parks and Recreation planner has just gifted the transportation community something very, very special.

If you’ve ever tried to secure funding for a trail or path project, or advocate for one, you can relate to the dizzying array of acronyms and information that comes with it. What starts as an exciting idea to create a new bike path, can end up leading you down a rabbit-hole of application deadlines, funding parameters, and clunky government websites. It’s enough to cause premature burnout in even the most hardened advocrat.

Jim Sjulin knows this feeling well. As a retired Parks employee and current volunteer with 40-Mile Loop Land Trust, he’s ferreted his share of funding pots. I was impressed with Sjulin’s excellent work to fund remaining gaps on the Marine Drive bike path, but his latest effort is on a whole nother level.

At the Quarterly Trails Forum hosted by Metro on July 14th, Sjulin shared a spreadsheet with information on every government funding source available for trail projects in Oregon. To the uninitiated, that might not sound like a big deal. But once you browse the document, it’s scope and value become apparent. [Read more…]

(Source: Sunrise PDX)

“Enough is enough!”

Portlander Hami Ramani is pissed. He’s tired of what he sees as a lack of bold action against climate change from the Oregon Department of Transportation and their bosses. To do something about it Ramani has just launched a new ride that will happen this Wednesday (tomorrow, 7/21) to show support for Sunrise Movement PDX and their ongoing protest at ODOT headquarters in downtown Portland.

As you might recall from our story on this protest last month, youth climate activists organized by Sunrise PDX have staged twice-monthly protests outside ODOT Region 1 headquarters on Northwest Flanders. The protests have grown in size in recent weeks. This is in part because the clear evidence of climate change-induced catastrophes is unfolding here in Oregon and in many other places worldwide, as our leaders sit back and rest on incrementalist rhetoric and status quo decision-making. Also fueling these fires are recent decisions by the Oregon Legislature and at Metro to endorse funding policy that will lead to more freeways being built and more cars being driven. [Read more…]