The Oregonian reports this morning that the driver of the car that killed Gareth Parker last September has been sentenced to seven years in prison. Gareth was a passionate advocate and tireless volunteer in the Portland bike community. He was struck while riding his bike in Oregon City (here are details of the crash). For … Read more
On the Fremont Bridge during Sunday’s Bridge Pedal, PDOT wasn’t the only agency handing out something cool. TriMet bike guy Kiran Limaye (photo) was proudly passing out this awesome new sticker to promote “multi-modalism.” Kiran’s been up to all sorts of cool stuff to make TriMet more bikey. I hope to share more of them … Read more
[KATU’s coverage] In case you haven’t noticed, KATU (our local ABC-TV affiliate) has been doing some quality reporting on bicycle-related news stories lately. I can barely stand to watch most network TV news, but KATU reporters Anita Kissee-Wilder and Brian Barker are doing great work. As avid cyclists themselves, they bring a much-needed perspective and … Read more
[Traffic Division officer Ron Hoesly] Last week I joined Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division officer Ron Hoesly for a ride-along. Why go on a ride-along? First and foremost is my ongoing desire to build good, working relationships with the cops (especially the Traffic Division). Whether you like them or not, I think our experience as … Read more
[Click for full PDF, 2.1MB] Mark Ginsberg, lawyer in the Ayla Holland case, has just sent me the official transcript (PDF, 2.1MB) from her traffic court trial. It’s an interesting read. If you don’t get around to downloading the file, here’s the excerpt from the judge’s final decision: Judge Lowe: “The testimony here is that … Read more
[Click here to seethe rest of his display.] We have a lot of highways in Portland. Maybe too many of them. They require huge public subsidies to build and maintain, they break up neighborhoods, they promote sprawl, they encourage more driving and thus more pollution, they are the site of daily fatal crashes, and their … Read more
Citizen bike advocate Susan Otcenas just forwarded along an email response she got from Beaverton mayor Rob Drake. The email (full text is below) was also sent to several other citizens who had written Drake about their questions and concerns regarding the recent death of Mike Wilberding. Most notable is the mention that the “failure … Read more
[Jason Atkinson, Oregon State Senator.] Republican Oregon State Senator Jason Atkinson read about Ayla Holland’s court case on CyclingNews.com and was furious. Atkinson—who was elected to the Oregon State Senate at the ripe age of 30—is an avid cyclist and traveled through Oregon on a fixed-gear bike during his campaign for Governor in ’05. Atkinson … Read more
Usually when I go to an event like Bridge Pedal I’m running and riding around like crazy, trying to get good photos and talk to as many people as I can. I enjoy that tremendously, but this time I brought the family along to savor the spectacle with them (and 18,000 or so fellow Portlanders). … Read more
[The action heated up as the sunwent down.] Last Friday night, downtown Portland got a taste of big time bike racing at the Portland Twilight Criterium. Thousands of spectators jammed the sidewalks around the South Park Blocks to gawk at the high-speed action. It was hard not to feel the adrenaline as the racers swooshed … Read more
[BikeAds.org screenshot] 28 year-old Southeast Portland resident Mika Lepisto was frustrated after his recent search for a used bike. He scoured Craigslist and local newspaper classifieds to no avail, “Everyone uses a different word to describe something, and it’s hard to find what you want. As an example, for a mountain bike, it’s either written … Read more
[Michael Wolfe enjoys the view.] Michael Wolfe is an unabashed bike nut. About the only thing that gets him more excited than riding, is discovering and sharing new bike routes with others. Last winter, he showed me a whole new perspective on the Sandy River when I joined him for my first-ever recumbent ride. Then, … Read more