🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

To prevent right-hooks, PBOT will take bold step and close Wheeler Ave

PBOT’s Greg Raisman shares plans for Broadway/Wheeler.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) has announced plans to close auto access on N Wheeler Avenue where it intersects with Broadway. The surprise announcement — nothing short of a bold attempt to prevent right-hook collisions — was made at a special meeting of neighborhood reps, ODOT, and other stakeholders at the City of Portland building earlier today. The meeting was called to discuss “immediate” steps to improve what PBOT (and many others) see as an urgent safety issue: Right-hook collisions at N. Broadway and Wheeler.

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White Peugeot Corbier P4 1986

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Year: 1986
Brand: Peugeot
Model: Corbier P4
Color:White
Serial: Y603 4(6 or 8) 231
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2012-08-9
Stolen From: My apartment SE 23rd and Division
Neighborhood: Clinton
Owner: Justin Warber
OwnerEmail: justwarber@gmail.com
Reward: $150
Description: White Peugeot that has many upgraded parts (mostly black) including bull horn handlebars. It is a single speed with a flip flop hub (fixie)
Police record with: PPD
Police reference#: T12006649
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Black Giant Iguana

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Brand: Giant
Model: Iguana
Color:Black
Size:19
Serial:70274
Stolen in Portland, OR 97212
Stolen:2012-08-10
Stolen From: NE 6th Ave between NE Shaver and NE Failing
Neighborhood: NorthEast portland
Owner: Aaron Altman
OwnerEmail: lovecontext@hotmail.com
Reward: Yes
Description: Black frame, 27 speeds, silver friction gear shifts in center of handlebars, black cork wrapped drop handlebars, black duel-layer Super Tourist back-rack, Planet Bike brand seat, 26×1.75 wheels, front and back black fenders, purple clip on front holding brake line in place, two bottle cages
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: 12-154862
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

29 bikes stolen from non-profit Bike Clark County in Vancouver

The stolen bikes.
(Photo: Vancouver PD)

Yesterday afternoon, Vancouver Police responded to a burglary and theft call at the Hough Pool/Recreation Center and discovered 29 bicycles had been stolen. The bikes were used by the non-profit Bike Clark County to teach kids bike safety and were being stored in the rec center prior to the theft.

Now the Vancouver PD — and the entire community — is on the lookout for the bikes. According to the VPD, the bikes were mostly silver in color with only a few solid blue bicycles. The brand of bikes is “MTX” and the words ‘two twenty five’ is part of the logo. Anyone with information on this burglary and theft is asked to contact the Vancouver Police Department West Neighborhood Response Team Detective Adam Millard at (360) 487-7449.

Below are a few more detail shots of the bikes (images courtesy of VPD):

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yellow & white Kastle Tour Montagne unk

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Year: unk
Brand: Kastle
Model: Tour Montagne
Color:yellow & white
Serial:FS801130
Stolen in Portland, OR 97203
Stolen:2012-08-10
Stolen From: University of Portland, the racks in front of Kenna Hall. 5000 N Willamette Blvd.
Neighborhood: Portsmouth/St. Johns
Owner: Abi Stokes
OwnerEmail: abistokes@gmail.com
Description: The bike was a white & yellow Kastle hybrid (male bike), serial
#FS801130 (hard to read the number). It had plastic fenders, a
speedometer, a black metal water bottle holster, and a plastic light
mount; and a red rear reflector under the seat. It also was registered at
University of Portland, and had a sticker on the front, registration
#2204.
Police record with: Portland PD, Public Safety
Police reference#: 12-154861
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

The BTA releases status report on ’05 ‘Blueprint’; launches new effort

BTA Annual meeting-1

BTA Board Chair Stephen Gomez at
their annual member meeting
Wednesday night.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

At their annual meeting Wednesday night, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) launched an effort to identify and prioritize a list of projects that will update their ‘Blueprint for Better Bicycling.’ The BTA’s first Blueprint, a report that identified a list of their top 40 infrastructure projects around the region, was released nearly seven years ago.

Along with announcing the start of a process to develop a new Blueprint report, the BTA offered an update on how those projects have fared since 2005. Addressing the crowd of members as they milled around the Portland Art Museum Sculpture Garden dining on tacos and beer (served by bike by Taco Pedaler and the Hopworks Beer Bike), BTA Board Director Stephen Gomez reflected on the 2005 project list. “I can’t say we’ve had success with everything on this list. But the list, it really matters.”

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Black and Yellow Gary Fischer Mountain Bike 2004

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Year: 2004
Brand: Gary Fischer
Model: Mountain Bike
Color:Black and Yellow
Photo: http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/5462/sroost027.jpg
Stolen in Portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2012-08-10
Stolen From: 31st and Division, lobby of apartment building
Neighborhood: Division/Clinton
Owner: Marta Lewis
OwnerEmail: marta.e.lewis@gmail.com
Reward: 75
Description: Older Gary Fischer Mt. Bike, black and yellow, well used, plastic covers over gears cracked and breaking off. U-lock bracket attached to main frame of bike.
Police record with: Portland Police
Police reference#: 12-69498
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Riverview property holds major mountain biking potential

Riding and working at Riverview property-6

Volunteers gathered at the Riverview property
for a work party yesterday.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Yesterday I rolled out to southwest Portland to get a closer look at the Riverview property — and I am now even more optimistic about its potential as a riding area. Riverview could become what is now major missing element of Portland’s bicycling ecosystem — a fun place to ride singletrack that doesn’t require two hours of driving.

The City of Portland purchased the 146 acre parcel from Riverview Cemetery back in May. The property is in a heavily wooded area bordered by Lewis & Clark College (to the south), the cemetery (to the north), Highway 43 (to the east), and SW Palatine Hill Road (to the west). For years, the land has been used by nearby residents, Lewis & Clark College students, people without homes, and people who weren’t afraid to ride their mountain bikes on the technical, steep, and private trails (thankfully, trespassing laws were never enforced by the owners).

Now that it’s owned by the City, Riverview is no longer a secret.

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Black with mint green underneath Pake C’mut

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Brand: Pake
Model: C’mut
Color:Black with mint green underneath
Photo: http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/1151/407906801027016f7337b.jpg
Stolen in Portland, OR 97214
Stolen:2012-08-9
Stolen From: SE Ash St. & 12th ave.
Neighborhood: Buckman
Owner: Trevis Hutsell
OwnerEmail: pocketone@tgmail.com
Reward: $200
Description: A low profile bike meant to NOT attract thieves. Spray painted matte black, with no logos on frame, chipped with mint green factory paint. Has a rack and fenders, all details black, seat, bar tape.
Recognizable components.
Shimano 600 Ultegra cranks,
Shimano 600 rear derailleur,
Exage 500EX front derailleur,
Bontrager Sport bars
Truvativ stem
8 Speed Shimano bar end shifters
Handbuilt rear Alexrims AT400 rim with a Shimano 600 hub
front is WTB rim on a Deore hub
Tektro brake levers

My phone number is 503.936.5301
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: T12006627
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

National mag says bikes part of Portland’s “economic renaissance”

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It’s sort of a running national joke that while Portland might have its perks (great coffee, beer, biking, food, independent businesses, natural areas, and so on), our economy isn’t much to brag about. Portlandia’s “Where young people go to retire” joke was the punchline heard ’round the world.

But what if we turned all that great stuff into a foundation for a healthy local economy? Well, according to Slate Magazine’s “Moneybox” blogger and commentator Matthew Yglesias, who visited Portland last week, we have. In a blog post today titled, How Portland Got Its Groove Back: The city where “young people go to retire” is having an economic renaissance, with lessons for the rest of the country, Yglesias takes a close look at current economic indicators and determines that Portland is “now doing fine.”

Not only does Yglesias’s article feature a person on a bike in the lead photo, he directly includes our local bike industry and general bike-friendliness as one of the key reasons we’ve rebounded. Here’s an excerpt:

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New bike counter tallies 7,432 Hawthorne Bridge bike trips on first day of operation

6,038 as of 7:49 pm last night.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePorltand)

Portland’s new bike counter had its first full day of operation yesterday and it logged 7,432 bike trips across the Hawthorne Bridge. That number is relatively close to 8,044, which is the average daily number of trips PBOT tallied in their official 2011 counts.

As the counter rolls out, I’m still learning more about it and clarifying some confusion surrounding it.

First, I want to share that contrary to what I understood from PBOT staff, the daily and annual bike trip data is available online. The company we purchased the counter from, Montreal-based Eco-Counter, has a website up for the Hawthorne Bridge counter which displays the data in a few different formats. (UPDATE: According to PBOT bike coordinator Roger Geller, the website is updated once a day at 2:00 am.)

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