🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
Stephanie Routh of the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition at an Eye-to-Eye campaign event in 2009.(Photo © J. Maus) The leader of the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, Stephanie Routh, has written a guest column in The Oregonian that provides a meaningful and important perspective on the recent TriMet bus crash that killed two people and injured three others … Read more
When too close leads to up-close.(Photo © J. Maus) The other day riding home from work I had an interesting interaction. I was riding my bike up N. Mississippi Ave. just past Widmer Brewing (map) when I noticed a big car door swing open ahead of me. Without making a sudden move, I positioned myself … Read more
The article below is a guest post by U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer. Blumenauer (right) and US DOT Sec. LaHood at the National Bike Summit.(Photo © J. Maus) When I first came to Congress in 1996, the concept of cyclists as a powerful advocacy group was, at best, near fetched. Now, almost fifteen years later, I … Read more
“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