“The real strength of Minneapolis is its absolutely gorgeous, truly world-class off-street path system. Each has separate space for pedestrians. I biked on a half dozen wide, gorgeous separated bike-ped bridges.” — Mia Birk, CEO of Portland-based Alta Planning In the wake of Portland losing the #1 ranking in Bicycling Magazine that we’ve owned since … Read more
A few weekends ago my girls and I, and several other families, planned to attend a local event. Since it was a sunny day, the location of the event was fairly close, and we all tend to bike frequently anyways, it turned into an impromptu group ride. There were kids (youngest was age 7) riding … Read more
Commissioner Fish in front of a map of Forest Park at a roundtable discussion last April.(Photo © J. Maus) Exactly one year ago today, newly elected City Commissioner Nick Fish made a bold proclamation about the future of mountain bike access in Forest Park. Following an unprecedented groundswell of community enthusiasm and activism calling more … Read more
Many local bike folks (myself included) have been trying to think of ways to talk about the 2030 Bike Plan that clearly explain why it’s so important, without getting into all the wonky details. On that note, I came up with an analogy today (just before going on camera with a local TV station) that … Read more
Today’s front page. The Oregonian published a front page story today on the 2030 bike plan titled, Two-wheeled vision carries hefty price tag . In my opinion, the article (which was also sold to the Associated Press and is being picked up nationwide) frames the plan as a massive expenditure that’s being shoved down the … Read more
“The bicycle soldiers of Portland are as giddy as a cabal of neo-cons plotting regime change in 2002, and with good reason. There is a good chance that this week the City Council will approve the 20-year bicycle master plan…” — Letter to the Editor in The Oregonian With just a few days before Portland … Read more
[Publisher’s note: This op-ed was written the staff and board of directors of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance to kick off their new “Build It” campaign that was launched this morning in downtown Portland (stay tuned for more coverage).] Official campaign logo For years the momentum has been growing. There have been more bikes on the … Read more
But even here in Portland, particularly in parts of the bike scene with a strong connection with sports and business, assumptions about gender often remain unquestioned. February: I am asked to volunteer on a committee for a bicycle organization “because we need more women.” The person who invites me says that he had been frantically … Read more
Screenshot from Facebook group that has posted this horrific photo and added: My Way, Get the F%&* Out of It. A group on Facebook with 32,000 members that is encouraging dangerous behavior and fomenting hate toward people on bicycles violates Facebook’s terms of use and should be shut down. Among other things, the group named … Read more
Downtown Copenhagen.(Photo © Tom Miller) As hundreds of leaders, politicians, scientists, experts, and advocates from around the world gather in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Conference, the most important thing they experience might not even be on the agenda. If any of them happen to walk the streets of Copenhagen, the solution to many … Read more
(Photo © J. Maus) The City of Portland Auditor’s Office has released their annual Resident Survey and the results show that the number of respondents who drive-alone to work has increased while bike use fell one percent from last year. The City received 3,194 responses to their survey. One of the questions was “What is … Read more
A BikePortland reader has some ideas of what can be done to improve theI-5 crossing of the Columbia River.(Photo © J. Maus) Since a new era of planning for a new I-5 crossing of the Columbia River seems to be upon us, I thought I’d share a comment from last week that lays out several … Read more