Sign from Occupy Portland march on October 6th.(Photos © J. Maus) Taking part in both Occupy Portland marches and watching support for the protestors grow both here and across the country, has been extremely inspiring for me. It has also got me thinking (of course) about the national bike movement. Are there lessons to learn? … Read more
Just another day in the Netherlands.(Screen grab) The Dutch Cycling Embassy launched this week. Their mission? “To facilitate cycling worldwide as the most modern, efficient and sustainable means of transportation by sharing our expertise and technology as the world’s number one cycling country.” They’ve also released Cycling for Everyone, a 7-plus minute video that gives … Read more
Stencil seen in Mt. Tabor neighborhood.(Photo: Adam R.) Reader Adam R. sent me an interesting photo a few days ago. It’s a DIY stencil that’s apparently one of many painted on streets throughout Southeast Portland. It reads, “Vehicle’s Only!” and it’s written in all caps. Grammatical slip-ups aside (bikes are vehicles too and of course … Read more
A common sign on multi-use paths. Why don’t we use these on other transportation facilities that are narrow and have users that need to use caution around one another?(Photos © J. Maus) The other day I was riding out to Southeast Portland along the I-205 multi-use path and I came across a sign I’d seen … Read more
NOTE: 5 and 1/2 years later, I have decided to delete this cartoon because now I fully understand how inappropriate its contents were. In hindsight, I regret publishing it. I’m sorry to everyone that was offended by it. — Jonathan Maus, 2/10/17. — For background, see past coverage of the Williams project. For past cartoons … Read more
Cars on the Sunday Parkways route yesterday irked some. Was it another sign of catering tocar use convenience?(Photo © J. Maus) An article published in the New York Times Science/Environment section Sunday points out something that many U.S. bike insiders and advocates have known for a long time: The reason European cities (and in the … Read more
Whose cars? Our cars! An economy putting the pinch on pocketbooks, rising gas prices, foreign oil imported from terrorist havens, a bankrupt federal infrastructure budget — all of these factors (and others) are creating a perfect political storm that could lead to a significant change in U.S. energy policy. With about 2/3 of our country’s … Read more
Last night, The Oregonian’s commuting reporter and columnist Joseph Rose published an article about Portland Mayor Sam Adams’ budget decisions. The article, Portland Mayor Sam Adams boosts funding for bike projects, but now there’s less for paving streets, attempts to make the point that Adams’ decision to allocate a larger percentage of discretionary revenue to … Read more
“Wealthy people often tend to see cyclists as losers and indigents; after all, if cyclists could afford cars, they would drive them.”— Al from PA, BikePortland commenter Last week we shared the news that several entities have spoken up in opposition to various motor vehicle restrictions being proposed as part of an effort to improve … Read more
Chris Smith [This article is written by Chris Smith. Smith is a former City Council candidate and current City of Portland Planning Commissioner with a long list of transportation activism palmarès.] “Many of the economic interests at the table are simply unwilling to agree (or sincerely unable to believe) that we can grow the Central … Read more
Time to get it off the shelf.(Illustration: Mark Markovich) I just returned from an open house for the Lloyd District Bikeway projects. Unfortunately, my hunches about the direction each of them is headed have been confirmed. At this point, I think it’s time to take the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 off the shelf and … Read more
“The… project has the opportunity to be a cycle-track the whole length if we don’t let the traffic engineers reserve too much space for cars… First, we have to have the guts to try it and then we’ve got to make it succeed.”— Chris Smith At a stakeholder advisory committee meeting later today we’ll learn … Read more