BikePortland

Job: Senior Parks & Nature Real Estate Specialist – Metro

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title

Senior Parks & Nature Real Estate Specialist

Company / Organization

Metro

Job Description

Metro is dedicated to shaping a better future for the greater Portland region. The work the people of Metro do every day benefits the lives of the people who live here, today and tomorrow. We offer a highly competitive compensation and benefits program. Learn more about the benefits Metro offers.

Metro’s Parks and Nature Department seeks compassionate, collaborative, creative thinkers who are passionate about real estate, conserving fish and wildlife habitat, providing safe places for biking and walking, and creating an equitable region for all.

Parks and Nature’s land acquisition team is seeking two Senior Real Estate Specialists; however, they do have the ability to fill as an Associate Real Estate Specialist.

Real Estate Specialists in Parks and Nature work to purchase natural area lands and rights to build trails. These purchases protect and enhance ecological values, mitigate climate change, and fill gaps in the off-street biking network in the Portland region. The incumbents will work with Metro conservation and parks planning staff, attorneys, landowners and other partners to develop successful real estate transactions that advance the commitments Metro made to voters through the 2019 Parks and Nature bond measure.

You will join a team of 4 Real Estate Specialists each responsible for leading land acquisition efforts for their assigned geographic portfolio. The team acquires a variety of interests including fee simple, conservation easements, and trail easements, and works across the tri-county region. The work is independent, so we seek candidates that have experience working in real estate, demonstrated good judgement, and the ability to manage multiple complex transactions simultaneously.

Metro strives to cultivate diversity, advance equity, and practice inclusion in all its work, both within and outside the organization. To be successful in this role, you must understand the history of inequity in the United States and how systemic racism, racial disparities, and white supremacy culture play out in today’s environmental movement and through settler/colonial concepts like land ownership. Building and maintaining authentic relationships with colleagues and community members is an important function of this position, so we seek candidates with self-awareness, strong cross-cultural communication skills, and experience successfully working with staff and community members from a wide variety of cultural and racial backgrounds.

As the Senior Real Estate Specialist you will:

Negotiate property acquisitions with landowners, from prospecting through closing, including development and implementation of negotiations strategy, and development, review, interpretation and monitoring of contracts and related documents.
Evaluate, prioritize, and conduct targeted outreach to private landowners, educate landowners about Metro Parks and Nature’s mission and goals, cultivate willing sellers, and be responsive to new opportunities and community questions.
Study real estate market trends, understand market dynamics and land use limitations or opportunities, conduct market analysis, and develop defensible estimations of fair market value.
Conduct site visits on properties that are often rural, heavily forested, and/or have difficult terrain, either alone or together with landowners, other Metro staff, or consultants (e.g., surveyors, landscape architects or environmental professionals).
Maintain updated knowledge of legal requirements, regulations and bills that impact Metro’s parks and nature real estate work.
Coordinate with legal staff to conduct due diligence processes prior to closing.
Coordinate between planning and design staff and local agency partners to identify desired trail easement areas based on site constraints.
Work regularly with administrative, legal, and technical staff, committees, contractors, and consultants to facilitate natural area or trail acquisition or further department goals; may develop or lead cross-disciplinary work teams on special projects.
Coordinate and/or develop agreements with external partners (e.g., local jurisdictions, planning agencies, transportation departments, non-governmental partners and other park and trail providers) to facilitate park, natural area, and trail acquisition.
Provide support, research and materials for committees that advise or oversee Metro’s work; prepare complex reports and present results or analyses to colleagues, Metro Council, committees, boards or other government agencies or their staff.
May provide advice and guidance to other agency staff regarding real estate processes and procedures as well as negotiation strategy.
Act as an engaged member of the Parks and Nature department in support of the mission and vision; perform other duties as assigned.

Attributes for success:
Knowledge of systemic racism, government’s role in creating and upholding systems of oppression, and history of systemic racism within the conservation movement and land use planning.
Knowledge of and experience applying the theories, principles, practices, and techniques of real estate negotiation.
Knowledge of the Portland metro real estate market dynamics and trends.
Experience engaging with diverse community members, building consensus, and resolving conflict.
Experience structuring and negotiating real estate purchase and sale agreements, particularly for habitat conservation, parks and/or trail acquisition.
Knowledge of real property law and government land acquisition policies and procedures, including local land use regulatory frameworks and capital project development processes.
Ability to combine sound business sense and commitment to public open spaces, parks, and active transportation.
Excellent negotiation, written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to handle multiple tasks and work on complex real estate transactions with moderate level of supervision.
Passionate about providing superior public service in a team environment.
Excellent listening and interpersonal skills.

Diversity and inclusion: At Metro, we’re committed to hiring a workforce representative of the communities we serve, recognizing that a diverse workforce strengthens our organization. We invest in employees by supporting equitable and inclusive hiring practices, employee policies and training programs.

TO QUALIFY

We will consider any combination of relevant work experience, volunteering, education, and transferable skills as qualifying unless an item or section is labeled required. Please be clear and specific in your application materials on how your background is relevant.

Minimum qualifications: Senior Real Estate Specialist
Bachelor’s degree in applicable area of study; AND
Four years of experience in a similar position; OR
We will consider any combination of education and experience that provides the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties and responsibilities of the position.
The ability to pass State of Oregon broker license exam within one year of hire.

Minimum qualifications: Associate Real Estate Specialist
Bachelor’s degree in applicable area of study; AND
Three years of experience in a similar position; OR
We will consider any combination of education and experience that provides the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform the duties and responsibilities of the position.
The ability to pass State of Oregon broker license exam within one year of hire.

Required:
The candidate selected for the position will need to pass a Driving Record check prior to being hired. Speeding tickets do not necessarily preclude employment and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Working Conditions:
Duties are performed in an office environment and in the field. Work is expected to be performed with a mixture of telecommuting and on-site hours. The position frequently requires travel throughout the Metro region to off-site locations, often walking on uneven or rough terrain and ability to spend extended time outside in all weather conditions. This position requires talking in person and over the phone, sitting, repetitive motions of the hands/wrists, and good general hearing and vision ability.

COVID-19 vaccination requirement:
Metro is committed to ensuring the health and safety for our employees and our community. As a part of this commitment, Metro has implemented a vaccine requirement policy for employees, paid and unpaid interns and volunteers.

Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination is considered a minimum qualification requirement for Metro job applicants. This proof will be requested during the hiring process.

If you require an accommodation under this policy for a medical condition or disability, or sincerely held religious belief, please email benefits.help@oregonmetro.gov.

If this statement is true for you, then you may be ineligible to apply:
If I was terminated for cause during any of my employment with Metro, or resigned in lieu of termination, I understand I may be ineligible for rehire for a minimum of 3 years.

Like to have qualifications:
You do not need to have the following preferred qualifications/transferable skills to qualify. However, keep in mind we may consider some or all of the following when identifying the most qualified candidates. Your transferable skills are any skills you have gained through education, work experience, including the military, or life experience that are relevant for this position.

Direct experience in property acquisition for public benefit (public agency, land trust or other non-profit).
Direct experience advancing racial equity within a government agency, non-profit or other organization.
Work or project experience or demonstrated knowledge of principles of park and trail planning, land conservation and/or ecology.

How to Apply

https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/oregonmetro/jobs/3969719/senior-parks-nature-real-estate-specialist?page=3&pagetype=jobOpportunitiesJobs

How Portland’s chief bike planner explains the decline in cycling

“It’s possible that Portland is just too easy a place to drive… an urban driving paradise for people who are accustomed to congested cities they come from.”
– Roger Geller, PBOT

How much does the City of Portland know about the decline in cycling and when did they know it?

As I continue to do research around the decline (following the release of the 2022 Bike Count Report two weeks ago), I’ve been struck by this question. In some respects, the City of Portland is saying they don’t know what’s causing the decline. But in others, they’ve offered relatively detailed explanations. In this post, I want to share the theories for the decline offered by Portland Bureau of Transportation Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller and compare those to what we’ve heard from other city officials.

First let’s start with the most recent official statements. In the report itself, PBOT wrote, “That a decline is occurring in both numbers of people bicycling and in mode split is undeniable. Why it is happening is difficult to determine.” And in a story published yesterday on MomentumMag.com, PBOT Public Information Officer Dylan Rivera also declined to share a specific rationale. “We see a need for scientifically valid public opinion research that can help us understand attitudes towards biking,” he said. “Until we know more about why people are biking less, we won’t have any new recommendations on how to address this.”

Those statements struck me as odd, given that I know PBOT has already put considerable thought into exploring the cause of the ridership decline. If we go back to the July 2022 PBOT Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, we learn that longtime PBOT Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller has put considerable thought into this question.

Geller, who’s worked in PBOT as a bike planner since the 1990s, shared a presentation with BAC members titled, Why has bicycle commuting/bicycling been in decline in Portland (2014-2019)? (PDF)

“I’m really kind of stumped,” Geller said at the outset of his presentation, “I’ve been in this position for a long time and the general thinking has always been, ‘build it and they will come.'” Geller explained how PBOT built new bike infrastructure each year and the rise in bicycle use followed up until a peak of 7.2% of commute trips in 2014. “But then things changed and the numbers began to drop,” he said.

“The network has grown, the quality of the network has grown,” he continued. “And so this is why it’s kind of confounding because our strategy of ‘build it and they will come’ is just not working anymore.”

Geller’s candor was appreciated. But is he really “stumped”? At that same meeting he shared some theories as to why it’s happening.

The first theory Geller shared was that Portland saw a “tremendous increase” in the number of commuters between 2000 and 2019 — and far too many of them drove cars. According to the U.S. Census, there were an additional 95,211 new commuters on our roads in 2019 compared to 2005. Thanks in part to progressive transportation policies and projects, Portland has able to keep driving at a minimum until about 2014 (see chart below).

In fact, between 2000 and 2014 bicycling (blue line in chart above) did more than any other mode to absorb those new commuters. In 2013, the number of new commuters who used a car was about half the number who biked. Just three years later, it jumped to twice the number of bike riders! And the number of drivers continued to skyrocket (relative to other modes) every year after that.

This led Geller to share what is perhaps one of the biggest understatement in the history of Portland bike planning: “Portland’s bikeway network is better than it has ever been, but perhaps it is not able to withstand an average annual growth of 6,700 drive alone commuters.”

And that’s not good, because not only will our transportation system eventually grind to a halt (it already would have if not for Covid’s impact on congestion), but if people keep driving at these rates, our city will become a much worse place to live. “One thing [more car drivers] causes,” Geller continued. “Is there’s more aggression on the road, there’s more aggressive behavior, there’s more overflow into the neighborhood greenways…”

Geller is rightfully worried about the quality of cycling on neighborhood greenways, because those streets shoulder the majority of the load in our bike network. “If people are overflowing… cutting through greenways [with cars],” he said. “Then that’s a problem and people are not going to feel especially comfortable there.”

The second theory Geller fleshed out at the BAC meeting last summer was about demographics. He thinks one explanation is that as younger, lower-income, bike-inclined residents who lived in Portland’s most bicycle-friendly neighborhoods moved out, they were replaced by people who weren’t well-versed in cycling. “Maybe wealthier residents don’t know about bicycle transportation?” he posited.

This trend was a double-whammy because not only did some new residents lack awareness of our bike network and/or an inclination to use it even if they did; but the folks who moved away now live in places where bicycling was an even less attractive option due to longer trip distances and a relative lack of safe infrastructure.

Why would new residents be clueless about our bike network? Geller has some thoughts about that too:

“If you don’t live on a neighborhood Greenway, you may not know that there’s a bicycle transportation network in your neighborhood that you can access… our bikeway network is a little bit hidden to new people coming to town.”

The last of Geller’s theories I’ll share today is related to the one above and I haven’t heard it talked about a lot yet: He thinks it’s just too easy to drive in Portland.

“Depending on where people are moving from, people are moving here from areas where it’s much more difficult to drive, and Portland remains a very easy city in which to drive,” Geller explained. And he continued:

“The congestion here isn’t bad, there’s relatively inexpensive parking… despite complaints you hear, parking is plentiful here. And so it’s possible that Portland is just too easy a place to drive, it’s a very attractive means of transportation, it’s effortless, it’s relatively quite safe — an urban driving paradise for people who are accustomed to congested cities they come from.”

I think all of Geller’s theories are very important pieces to the puzzle. They also lend themselves to a road map on how to turn these trends around: make driving less attractive, build more high-quality bikeways more quickly, defend greenways against drivers, build a stronger culture around cycling, and so on. Even with these solutions seeming like obvious steps, it might take some hand-holding to help city officials connect the dots.

At a city council meeting one day after Geller made this presentation at the BAC, a former BAC vice chair, David Stein, testified about it in front of Mayor Ted Wheeler and other councilors. After hearing Stein’s concerns about the cycling decline, Mayor Wheeler said, “I’ve often wondered if safety is really the primary question here, or whether there isn’t something else. I just don’t know.” (Also at that meeting Wheeler said he would visit a BAC meeting last fall, but that still has not happened.)

And after sharing his insights at the meeting, Geller himself seemed to not know the best way forward (or at least he’s unwilling to share them publicly). “It’s hard to know what to do because we don’t yet have a grasp on… what are the barriers to increasing bike use?”

Geller knows. PBOT knows. City Hall knows. The question is, will they have the guts to put that knowledge into action?

Job: Temporary Bike Ambassador – Go By Bike (FILLED)

Sorry. This job has been filled.

Checking up on NW Overton and Pettygrove bikeways

Back in September, I rode over to the Slabtown neighborhood to check out a new neighborhood greenway in Northwest Portland. Due to high numbers of drivers, the Portland Bureau of Transportation wanted to move the NW Overton greenway over one block north to NW Pettygrove. At the time, the project wasn’t complete yet, but the plan was to include a variety of traffic calming measures on NW Pettygrove from 11th Ave to 25th (west of The Fields Park).

In order to create a smooth connection to the new greenway from the Naito bikeway, PBOT also made some big changes to NW Overton between 9th and 10th avenues — removing most of the car parking and adding plastic safety posts to create short post-protected bike lanes on both sides of the street. This bike infrastructure also prevented auto traffic from driving westbound on this stretch of Overton.

Ah, those plastic safety posts: we hardly knew ye!

As those of you who followed the Overton saga know, these changes didn’t last long. Only a month after they completed the street redesign, PBOT got cold feet. One reason for this might have been complaints about losing parking spaces from owners of a nearby business and residential tower.

Well, the car parking is back on Overton, and people driving can, once again, travel in both directions. As a result, most of the bike-friendly changes to the street have been reduced to mere sharrows. There are still some protective posts on the south side of Overton near 9th, but their placement so close to a parking lane doesn’t make a lot of sense.

In order to bike behind these posts for a few feet, you’d have to travel through the parking door zone, requiring a sharp turn if there’s a car parked behind the posts. Although it seemingly offers some protection for people against drivers taking a right from Overton onto 9th, I saw several people biking in the car lane instead of using this piece of infrastructure.

While less-than-ideal biking conditions on one block of Overton may not make or break someone’s commute, what happened here still matters — especially in light of the city’s recent bike ridership report. If we want more people to ride bikes, we should maintain every piece of bike infrastructure we have. And the fewer cars and drivers we have in the system, the better.

NW Overton is located in one of the densest, most walkable and transit-rich parts of the city, where it should be the easiest to convince people to look for alternatives to driving cars. The Overton saga was bad for morale, and it resulted in a street that (to this reporter at least) is less comfortable to ride on than it should be.

On the other hand, things are looking a bit brighter up on Pettygrove, where PBOT completed a section of the NW Pettygrove greenway project between 11th and 12th. Now, this stretch of the street only allows westbound car traffic, and PBOT has installed a short post protected eastbound bike lane similar to the one that used to be on Overton.

As I pointed out in September, there is still work to do at the intersections between Pettygrove and busy NW streets in order for biking on this corridor to be a really smooth experience. But overall, I appreciate what PBOT has done on the Pettygrove greenway: unlike some other “bike streets” throughout the city that heavily rely on sharrows to deter car traffic, the city has installed quite a few physical diverters along this street to make it more comfortable for people biking.

This design really highlights the importance of built infrastructure when creating facilities that truly prioritize people on bikes. It would be impossible for a car driver to take the greenway for any longer than a few blocks at a time because so many streets are one-ways in different directions. So, hopefully, the future of PBOT’s design ethos is better represented by Pettygrove than Overton.

Podcast: TriMet bus driver Dan Christensen

Last week, someone I follow online shared a story about something that happened on the bus and it made me realize how much I wanted to sit down and have a conversation with them. That person was Dan Christensen, who you might know as Bus Driver Dan on Twitter.

Dan is a real gem. I’ve known of him since 2008 when he garnered some controversial BikePortland headlines for what I’ll just say were some overly candid personal campaigns related to bike safety. His relationship with our community started off very rocky, but those were early days and people change, and all of that is now water under the bridge. I’ve followed Dan online since then and his Twitter updates and general outlook on life in our city always makes me feel better.

If you’re hoping for a technical conversation about transit policy or infrastructure projects, you might be disappointed with this episode. That’s not why I wanted to talk to Dan. I invited him to the Shed because I wanted to hear what driving a bus means to him, what he’s seen while “watching Portland on the big screen” (his description of the view from his windshield) for the past 16 years, whether TriMet’s bad rap has gotten to him these last few years, his assessment of how people ride bikes around his bus, and lots more.

Dan Christensen in the Shed, March 24th. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

A lot of people will say, ‘Well, you know, transit is only like 10% of the population,’ or whatever number they throw out. But what that doesn’t tell the story. Because it’s 10% now; but of young people, it’s like 90%. I don’t know anybody who grew up in Portland that didn’t take the bus at one time regularly. And a lot of it is older people who can’t drive anymore, or who have epilepsy or who have some sort of disability. To them, 90% is the bus.

He ended up sharing some great stories; like how his favorite part of taking the bus to Kennedy School as a kid (yes, that Kennedy School) was when his bus driver (whose name he still remembers) would take them on bumpy gravel roads, the bus driver who inspired him to leave a former job he hated, how he uses his power of observation and belief in nonviolence to do his job better, and much more.

And for those of you who always thank your bus driver before getting off, you’ll definitely want to listen all the way to the end to see if you pass Dan’s “backdoor test”.

Listen to the episode in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts. I’ve shared an edited version of the interview below and you can read a full transcript as a PDF here.

Did you take the bus to school? Or what was your first experience taking the bus?

I went to Kennedy grade school… The Kennedy School that’s now a bar and theater and everything. In fact, if you go in the back towards the parking lot, there on the wall is a class picture. I’m in the lower right hand side with the big head. I think my head was the same size in third grade.

I had to take a bus there. And I even know my bus driver was Mrs. Yost, everyone in the neighborhood knows that bus driver! She was fantastic! And if you were really good all week, she would turn off of Killingsworth two blocks early to go down the gravel roads and throw us all over the bus. We would bounce around and it was great.

Hearing that, it’s no too surprising that you had a good impression of what it would be like to be a bus driver. How did you end up working at TriMet?

I worked at a big bank that was prominent in the problems of 2006 to 2008. And so that was driving me nuts. And then I noticed that every night when I got off at Willow Creek to take the train home, there was a bus driver, and she was juggling these glow-in-the dark balls and just relaxing on her break and laughing. Everybody was interacting with her. Everybody was having fun. And I went, ‘I’m want that job. I want a job where on my breaks I walk out and it’s done.’

And that bus driver just retired at 47 years. I even gave her a big hug the other day. And yeah, just totally amazing. She just represents everything good about bus driving,

How has being a bus driver changed you?

Well first of all, I learned more about the city than I ever thought I knew. You learn far more about Portland than you ever thought you’d know… So that’s been one of the fun things is all of a sudden, I know all these little nooks and crannies of the city that I didn’t have a clue existed before. Even after the couple years after I first talked with you, I was still learning. And that hasn’t stopped. I’m always learning. And that’s kind of the fun part of being a bus driver.

And you’re open to it. It’s something that you embrace? You could just close it out and just do your job.

I think that there are drivers who do that to survive. But my coping mechanism is engaging. That’s how I feel better.

So to you, the job is to embrace it not to shut it out?

Yeah.

Do you mind if I read a little thing you wrote the other day on Twitter? I love the little stories you tell. Here it is:

“Meeting people where they are. It’s not just a growing buzz phrase. It’s an essential tool. A rider in tears admitted she missed the hospital stop because her father was in his last hours, and she was afraid. A lady on the bus I called Ms. Flower came over and embraced her, then asked, ‘Is it okay, if we say a prayer for you?’ At the far end of my run, with time to spare, I secured the bus and joined the others crowding around. Ms. Flowers said a wonderful prayer. She empowered others with what she learned firsthand about grief.

Ms. Flowers held her hand until we returned to the hospital, and then gave her a hug before she got off the bus. She thanked everyone.

Understanding what people need and doing your best to meet them there. That makes you a better driver.”

You see the the hero there is Ms. Flowers. That was not about me. It was what I observed. And you know, I used to say, I’m a good storyteller. But I’m really an observer. So this is something I observed in the person who stepped out of her comfort zone to come over and say, ‘Hey, do you need help? Can I say a prayer for you?’ That person was reaching out to her. I supported that. But she was the hero of that story. To do that, for another person you didn’t even know. That was my hero.

How do you feel like your role as a bus driver impacted that situation?

I think people were surprised. I think a lot of bus drivers try to keep that emotional distance, and I don’t fault them. That is a defensive mechanism. But you know, I learned from people like this Ms. Flowers, that you got to have the courage to step out. You gotta say, even if it’s a mistake, even if it’s wrong, you know, there’s been times when I saw someone on the side of the street, and I stopped the bus and checked on them and they screamed at me. One through a half-eaten can of beans at me! But I’m still going to do it. You know, if I see somebody in need, I’m still going to do something.

But [in that story] she made the effort. And I felt my job was supporting her. When I got out of my seat, the other of the bus joined in. And the one guy says, ‘I’m an atheist,’ and he was crying as much as the rest of us were. Because it wasn’t about us, it was about their moment. And what it meant to that lady was phenomenal.

You also sort of believe that there’s something about the bus itself and the act of taking transit, that connects people? You wrote something that really stood out to me when you wrote, “Transit is all of us.” Can you connect the dots between that story and this idea that somehow transit itself — and the shared space of the bus — is important?

A lot of people will say, ‘Well, you know, transit is only like 10% of the population,’ or whatever number they throw out. But what that doesn’t tell the story. Because it’s 10% now; but of young people, it’s like 90%. I don’t know anybody who grew up in Portland that didn’t take the bus at one time regularly. And a lot of it is older people who can’t drive anymore, or who have epilepsy or who have some sort of disability. To them, 90% is the bus.

You’re passing through the bus at different times at different speeds in your life. And it’s different for everyone, but it touches everyone. Even if you never rode a bus, there’s somebody riding a bus to your job. So it is this micro-community in the bigger community. And it has its own rules. It has its own way. Like things people do on the bus, they don’t do just sit standing on the street or walking by each other.

It’s hard to extract what’s really going on. It’s easy to grab a headline. And it’s really easy if you’re one of the people on the internet going, ‘Oh, this is always happening all the time!’ But I talk to drivers who are assaulted and, and no one likes that. No one wants that. Everyone wants to stop that. But it’s not the defining quality of transit, and of people on transit.

I wonder, though if it weighs on you that how some people act on the bus has changed. A lot of people listening to this are thinking it might be less positive than the story you shared. You certainly know that the reputation of transit has not been good these last few years. Does that matter to you? Does it weigh on you at all?

That doesn’t matter to me at all. I try the best I can. I’ve been assaulted. I’ve had problems. But there’s so much to unpack there. Because it’s it’s a simple and easy question to ask. But there’s a lot of layers to it. Because first of all, humans are negatively biased. We’re built with that. You know, ‘Plane lands safely. News at 11,’ you never hear that, right? That’s an old joke. You know, the person that said there’s no lions between here and the waterhole, they got eaten!

No one asks the real question, which is, ‘How violent is our society?’ And, you know, the bus has a slice of society on it. So if there’s violence in society, there’ll be violence in transit. So is transit dangerous? Well, compared to what? Is it compared to just walking down the street? You’re around 300 people on the bus. Are you safer than around 300 random people, you know, standing around a 7/11 at night?

It’s hard to extract what’s really going on. It’s easy to grab a headline. And it’s really easy if you’re one of the people on the internet going, ‘Oh, this is always happening all the time!’ But I talk to drivers who are assaulted and, and no one likes that. No one wants that. Everyone wants to stop that. But it’s not the defining quality of transit, and of people on transit.

Is that part why you share what you do online? To try to and infuse the narrative with something more beautiful or more positive than what people are usually hearing?

I would say this: I have a name for the negative people on Twitter, I call them ‘hose pipes’. They just blow out of a hose, like, anytime something negative happens, they’re ready to jump on board… I observe this negative thing happening, but you’ve got to saw these in half: observation and solution. No city has ever been made better buy people withdrawing. So it gets to a point where you’re just reiterating this avalanche of negativity and that’s never going to fix a city.

Do you think some of your driver colleagues have withdrawn or stopped driving because of some of this negativity?

I don’t know many people that have left just because of that. There could be… I find that people who’ve been disconnected from driving for maybe a decade are far more negative about what’s going on than the drivers I know who are actually doing it now.

OK, switching gears a bit, are there things that bike riders do that make your job harder? Easier?

Well let’s start with 15 years ago, when biking was just booming. I saw a rift between what I call professional commuters — they paid attention, they had lights, they had helmets, they took defensive action, they weren’t worried about who has the right-of-way as they were about just doing what was safe. And then there was a whole bunch of new people who were just starting on that path. So if there were problems, it wasn’t like, this is a problem of all cyclists, it was a problem of these people are starting on this path… they took more risks. And what it did is it sort of put the danger on onto someone else’s plate. When you aren’t riding defensively, you’re basically handing someone else the the gun pointed at your head. And so that was frustrating to a lot of commercial drivers because our vehicles are no joke.

I always joke that the problem is with buses is they named them wrong. They named him too nicely. “Bus” sounds nice. If they would have called it the “crush you kill you” people would treat it a little bit different… It’s no joke. It’s no joke. And people in general — not just cyclists but people walking, people in cars — take more risks around heavy buses, because they anticipate that drivers are going to account for that.

I always joke that the problem is with buses is they named them wrong. They named him too nicely. “Bus” sounds nice. If they would have called it the “crush you kill you” people would treat it a little bit different. It’s no joke.

What about Pedalpalooza? What happens in the summer with those big group rides when there are 500 bike riders rolling by?

Yeah, they’re a different animal. They behave differently and sometimes wrongly, but you know it doesn’t last long. You don’t get Pedalpalooza all day, every day. So I don’t mind waiting.

Between drivers and people on bikes, is there one that makes your job harder or easier? Which, which one is more frustrating to you to drive around?

Well, I’m a little biased now. Because the route I’m on has precious few bikes. The few people that are regular commuters out there, I know and have nicknames for them. I got “yellow top” and “speedo”, and all sorts of them. I’ve kind of got used to the handful of regular riders.

To keep my head in the game, I pretend everybody’s at the lower-end and worse. That way, I’m driving defensively. I’m anticipating, I’m leaving space for everyone. I assume that it’s this person’s first day on the road or the first time they’ve been on a bike. And I am pleasantly surprised when that’s not the case. I tend to get not get into grouping [road users together]. Because then you’re lowering your guard right? And you shouldn’t do that you should always say, ‘I’m here. I’m focused. These people I’m going to assume they don’t know,’ right? And when they do, I’m the first one to wave or at a light stop and say thank you. I love it.

If there’s something you could tell bike riders out there to, you know, do a better job at or just keep in mind or is there anything you want them to hear?

I’d say the secret is that we all get home safe. Not laws, not rules, that you get home safe. That’s above all. I think a lot of cyclists have that feeling like, ‘Oh, of course I do that, I’m the most at risk.’ But you got to drive like that. You got to ride like that. You got to walk like that. You’ve got to be defensive at all times. And just make sure that it’s not a matter of speed. It’s a matter of life. That’s the only thing I focus on is life and safety on the bus… And that’s what really matters.

… It’s life. That’s very precious. And get out to it. You know, we’re getting into the summer times where people really get out and enjoy Portland. That’s great. Yeah, knock yourself out!

Okay, last question: Do you care if people say ‘thank you’ when they get off?

Yes and no. When they say ‘thank you,’ I always say, ‘thank you, my pleasure.’ That’s my tagline. But there is a test. And this has a horrible name. It’s called the backdoor test. We as social beings don’t like to draw attention to ourselves. People will walk by me and go ‘thank you’ upfront, right? That’s fine. It’s quiet. No one hears it.

The person leaving from the back door that yells ‘thank you driver!’ and breaks all the social barriers and says it loud enough for everyone to hear — that person is sending a different message. That’s what I count. I count the backdoor thank-yous. I like all thank-yous of course. It’s pleasant. It’s beautiful. But that backdoor thank-you, when you get the same amount of men thanking you as women, the same amount of Asian people, Russian people, Black people, white people, everybody’s saying ‘thank you’ from the backdoor, you’re doing something right. They’re breaking that taboo and being outspoken in public in front of people they don’t know, to thank the driver as they leave. I literally have counts of those. It’s like, I know I’m doing well, when those counts are high. Then I’m impacting people, because they’re breaking those barriers to say thank you.

This was an edited version of our conversation. Listen to the entire interview in the player above or wherever you get your podcasts. View a full text transcript below.

The BikePortland is a production of Pedaltown Media, Inc. If you liked this episode, subscribe and browse our archives for past shows, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, and tell your friends about it. BikePortland is a community media source that relies on individual subscribers to stay in business. Please sign up today if you aren’t a subscriber already.

pod-dan-christensen (1)Download

A cartoon frog wants to help stoke cycling in Portland

Dr. Fraug on one of Portland’s greenways. (Photo: Mike Bennett)

With bike ridership in Portland going down, some point to the city’s “hidden” neighborhood greenway system as a reason more people aren’t cycling. Since many of the city’s most popular bike routes — residential streets that feature diverters and traffic calming measures to reduce rider stress — are out of sight, not everyone is aware they even exist.

Perhaps, the thinking goes, more signage on the greenways could help turn the tide. For that, we turn to north Portland artist and “public joy creator” Mike Bennett, who recently released some new designs to his roster of “Bennett Buddies” that we’d love to see taking up residence all over our greenways.

Bennett is the mastermind behind the iconic “slow down” street signs that feature famously slow animals like snails and sloths telling drivers to take their foot off the gas and get on their level. When these signs started to proliferate on Portland’s streets a couple years ago, we drew the connection between their popularity and the increase in driver speeding/lack of enforcement during the pandemic.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mike Bennett! (@mikebennettart)

Unfortunately, the conditions on Portland’s streets haven’t improved much in that time, and people are still relying on yard signs to serve as de facto traffic enforcers. Even the City of Portland knows the value of signage to create an identity for greenways and has an aggressive yard sign program. At an informal gathering of bike activists Friday in the Lents neighborhood, BikeLoud PDX Board Member Aaron Kuehn shared draft designs of a new large sticker he’s creating for the group. It would be emblazoned with “Bike Loud” and the idea would be to stick it on traffic poles along good cycling routes to help others find their way.

Now Bennett and his new character Dr. Thadeus Fraug, a “self-diagnosed bicycle believer” who wants to keep his fellow “spoke-folk safe”, will add to that mix.

“With his highly visible ‘Bicycle Zone’ sign at his side, he’s a ribbeting reminder for drivers and an adorable addition to your neighborhood,” Dr. Fraug’s description reads. We envision him making his mark on greenways from NE Klickitat to NW Pettygrove as soon as possible.

Current signage on Portland’s neighborhood greenways is lacking, though it’s better on some routes than others. SE Clinton Street, for instance, features many orange bike street sign toppers and yard signs letting people know they’re on a greenway. But other greenway streets could really use a boost.

BikeLoud stickers and Bennett’s buddies won’t be able to fix Portland’s declining bike ridership on their own, but more awareness of where bike routes are certainly can’t hurt.

You can check out all the Bennett Buddies for sale here, and be sure to check out our 2021 Q&A with the artist where he talks more about his creative process behind making these critters.

Beg, borrow, and deal: Lawmakers float $1 billion I-5 freeway expansion funding plan

How will Oregon pay for a major expansion of the I-5 freeway between Portland and Vancouver (also known as the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program)? We’ve known for a while that the magic number for Oregon’s share would be $1 billion — that’s the amount the state of Washington has already pledged, and with a project estimated to cost as much as $7.5 billion, the federal government needs to see cooperation and a local match before they’re willing to award coveted infrastructure grants.

With the clock ticking and all eyes on Oregon, we finally know how our state plans to come up with the money: they want to borrow it.

Last Wednesday the Oregon Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation revealed a plan to bond against $700 million in Oregon Department of Transportation state highway fund tax revenue (which comes from gas taxes, vehicle registration fees, and fees from freight trucks). The remaining $300 million would come from bond sales from the state’s general fund. The state would be on the hook to pay back these debts beginning in 2026.

The payback would hit ODOT funding in particular starting in 2032, when they estimate it would carve $50 million per year out of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program. To put that debt into perspective, it’s almost the same amount ODOT spends on public transit statewide each year ($60 million). It would also add to ODOT’s already heavy debt load. Of the $782 million ODOT receives from the state highway fund each year, just over 20% of it — $163 million — goes directly to debt service.

Another element of the funding plan is that lawmakers would set a hard cap for the total cost of the project so that it may not exceed $6.3 billion. It’s worth noting that when ODOT released their updated cost estimate back in December, they gave a range of $5 to 7.5 billion and settled on $6 billion as the most likely number; so while that cap is right in line with ODOT’s own estimates, it at least puts up some guardrails about runaway costs and it could be seen as a small overture from lawmakers that they don’t trust ODOT with a blank check.

The funding plan reveals desperation from lawmakers as tensions continue to rise about how ODOT will stay solvent in light of an ever-expanding portfolio of megaprojects and an ever-shrinking pot of money to pay for them. ODOT is obligated by the legislature start a tolling program to help pay for projects like this one, but that process will be anything but easy as they navigate skeptics across the public and political spectrum.

The Joint Committee on Transportation will have to take up a bill this session to initiate their plan. According to stories from The Oregonian and OPB last week, that will happen in April. If it all goes according to plan, ODOT would issue the bonds in 2025 — the same year the Oregon Legislature plans to pass its next large transportation funding package.

While this funding plan hasn’t been scheduled for a public hearing yet, it will very likely be discussed tomorrow (Tuesday, March 28th) when ODOT leaders return to the Joint Committee on Transportation to brief lawmakers on their budget. The informational session is being continued from March 7th when lawmakers grilled ODOT about their spending priorities and left several questions unanswered.

Speaking of unanswered questions, the I-5 expansion and bridge replacement project has been dogged by them. Earlier this month the U.S. Coast Guard forced the project team to analyze a lift-span design, a move the project team hoped to avoid and that could sow further doubt and delays.

Adding to the cauldron of concern, lawmakers will also soon hear from activists who plan to descend on the capitol building on April 13th for what’s being billed as the Transportation Future Day of Action. The event is co-organized by the Just Crossing Alliance and is part of the “Right Size, Right Now!” campaign that seeks to convince legislators to re-think their approach to the IBRP project.

“We can’t let this behemoth bankrupt our state and our children’s climate future,” reads a statement about the event. “The current design is oversized and will suck up our state’s transportation funds for the next couple of decades and leave us without dollars to fill potholes, invest in safe streets and routes to school, or prioritize active transportation and public transportation. The current design is a five-mile freeway expansion that far outreaches the need for a safe, earthquake proof bridge and will increase traffic and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Monday Roundup: More e-car skepticism, parental sprawl, and more

Welcome to the week. Here are the most notable stories our writers and readers have come across in the past seven days…

King too green: Portland bike parts manufacturer Chris King Precision Components has left the B Corp certification program because their factory waste and emissions are so low the certification process has failed to establish a fair baseline to demonstrate improvement. (Bicycle Retailer)

Cars are the problem: It has taken way too long for major environmental advocacy groups to jump on the e-bike bandwagon; but hopefully now they are ready to move beyond their car-centric positions. (Slate)

E-BIKE Act, II: The support mentioned above comes just in time for the return of a new and improved e-bike rebate bill that has been re-introduced by Congress. (The Verge)

Second thoughts on EV cars: I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but new research makes it clear that we risk great peril if we simply switch our gas-powered car system for an electric-powered car system. (Energy Research & Social Science)

Raising kids without cars: Nice to see a national publication draw a direct line between sprawl and how it limits our ability to choose transportation modes other than driving cars (and the cameo from Sam “Coach” Balto was a nice surprise). (Romper)

Good idea: The thing I love most about this article that makes the case for regulating big SUVs out of existence is the publication it appeared in. (Financial Times)

‘Train daddy’ on the inside: Seems like great news that a guy who’s beloved by passenger rail enthusiasts just got a top job at Amtrak. (NY Times)

Public spaces and bureaucracy: Portland is way behind when it comes to being flexible with the activation of public spaces, so maybe it’s time to send a delegation of city planners to Viet Nam to see how they manage alleys. (SF Chronicle)

Remarkable feat: 310 miles every day for seven days: that’s what it took for Belgian Matthieu Bonne to break the official world record for the most miles ridden in a week. (Escape Collective)

Thanks to everyone who shared links this week.

Portlander seeks to inspire with new book on 18,000 mile bike ride

“When you’re on a bike, you’re going the perfect speed…you don’t really experience a place until you’ve traveled through it on a bicycle.”
-Kristen Jokinen

A week before heading off on an 18,000 mile bike ride spanning the Western Hemisphere, Kristen and Ville Jokinen didn’t know how to adjust a derailleur. This is just how the Jokinens are: they’re the type of people who will decide on a whim to backpack the Pacific Crest Trail during a year of historic snowfall in the Sierra Nevadas, having never spent a night together in a tent before. (If the Donner Party had extended an invitation to them along the way, they’d probably say yes, and manage to get out of their clutches right in the nick of time.)

Despite starting off so green, Kristen and Ville did what they set out to do: bike from the top of Alaska to the southernmost point of South America. In the upcoming Joy Ride: A Bike Odyssey from Alaska to Argentina (Hawthorne Books), Kristen chronicles their epic adventure. Yesterday, I had a Zoom chat with Kristen — a native Oregonian from Bend who is currently based in Portland — about the book and the adventurous ethos she and her husband want to share with the world.

Kristen and Ville, who is Finnish, met in 2008 while scuba diving in Vietnam, and have been adventuring ever since. Kristen said the idea for the bike trip came during their aforementioned stint on the PCT, when they realized they would like a slightly faster mode of transportation than their legs.

“We said, ‘You know what might be cool is to go a little bit faster than this, to be able to cover more distance’,” Kristen said. “Yeah, maybe we should try a bike trip.”

So, obviously, their next course of action was to buy two bikes and fly to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, a town on the Arctic Sea known for oilfields (and not for having paved, bikeable roads).

“If you think this was a very thorough discussion, it wasn’t,” Kristen said. “It wasn’t until I looked out the window of the plane from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay that I realized, ‘Oh shit, this is probably pretty dang remote.’ There were no roads, no houses, we were really going into nowhere.”

Some photos from their trip. (Photos: Kristen Jokinen)

The epic bike route. (Source: Kristen Jokinen)

They pedaled through this wilderness, heading south through Alaska and down the west coast of North and South America through some of the most gorgeous scenery in the world. Throughout the journey — which took place over two years, from 2016-2018 — they realized how great biking is as a mode of transportation.

“When you’re on a bike, you’re going the perfect speed,” Kristen said. “You’re not separated from your environment like you are in a car or bus or plane. You don’t really experience a place until you’ve traveled through it on a bicycle.”

Kristen said a big reason she wanted to write this book is to encourage other people to take exciting chances in their lives, even if they’re not quite as much of an undertaking as this one.

“I feel like what we do is extreme and kind of crazy, but I’ve told a lot of people they don’t have to look at the big picture,” she told me. “You shouldn’t make a huge plan because you’ll see it as too big of a thing for you to handle. So if you want to do a bike ride or a hike, you don’t have to start with the whole PCT. Start by walking around the block or walking to the grocery store, and add to it.”

I asked Kristen if she thinks there’s a cost to seeing the world when it requires emitting carbon via so much air and car travel.

“If we did these things that we’re passionate about and don’t share it, we’ve done a disservice to everybody who’s helped us along the way.”

“Yes, I hear you…one thing you get from doing these bike trips is that you just start despising cars…you see all the dead animals on the roadside, people are just decimating these wild animals so they can get themselves as fast as possible from point A to point B,” Kristen told me. “And we can’t wash our hands of it, because we fly to be able to start and finish a bike ride somewhere. Ideally, we would like to figure out how to sail [to our destinations]. That’s our ultimate goal, because we plan to continue this life.”

She added that she thinks most people can start making change just within their daily habits, and she and Ville would like to be able to encourage them to do so.

“I think the most important thing is the daily commute,” she said. “If we could get more people commuting daily on a bicycle or walking or alternative modes of transport that isn’t getting in your car, maybe we’d be getting somewhere with the environment.”

How do people with as much wanderlust as Kristen and Ville have adapt to a global pandemic that prevents them from traveling outside their home? The Jokinens decided to move to Portland and work on some projects: a documentary for Ville, and this book for Kristen. And now that the world has opened up again, she wants to share their story.

On May 12th, Kristen will kick off a book tour with a reading at Powell’s City of Books (1005 W Burnside). Ville will be there as well to present some footage from his upcoming documentary about the trip. Kristen said she’d love to see some of Portland’s aficionados at the event, and hopes to make bike enthusiasts out of some new people, too.

“My goal with the whole book was to inspire other people cycling, bring the cycling fanatics together,” she told me. “If we did these things that we’re passionate about and don’t share it, we’ve done a disservice to everybody who’s helped us along the way of this adventure. We need to share it and keep it going, and inspire others to do these things.”

You can find out more about the Powell’s event and preorder the book here.

Cop turned lawmaker makes case for removing ‘vehicle accident’ from Oregon statutes

“Behaviors and are not accidents. You cannot prevent an accident. You can prevent a crash.”
Jeff Helfrich, Oregon House Rep

As a Portland Police Bureau sergeant for 25 years, Jeff Helfrich has responded to hundreds of traffic collisions. He has seen first-hand the tragic consequences of the choices people make when they drive. Now as a member of the Oregon House of Representatives, he wants to pass a law that would help Oregonians take more responsibility for their actions — and more importantly, to the conditions that lead up to them.

Rep. Helfrich (R-52) is the chief sponsor behind House Bill 3347, that would strike every reference to “vehicle accident” in Oregon statute and replace it with “vehicle crash.” There are so many edits to make, the bill is 91 pages long.

At its first public hearing at the legislature Thursday, Helfrich testified in front of the Joint Committee on Transportation (which he’s also a member of). “This is a simple bill,” he said in his opening remarks. “Historically, the leading cause of traffic crashes that result in death or serious injury is speeding, followed by alcohol drug use, riding without a seatbelt or car seat, distracted driving, or a combination of these factors,” he continued. “The change from this bill reinforces that most crashes are due to preventable human behaviors. Behaviors and are not accidents. You cannot prevent an accident. You can prevent a crash.”

While Helfrich wanted to frame this as a simple, technical fix. Two members of the committee weren’t so sure.

Representative Paul Evans (D-20) was first to question him. “Your dog runs out into the street. You can’t move. I don’t know that that’s violence [referring to an earlier comment from committee member Rep. Khanh Pham who said, “I think it’s critical we rewrite our legislation to reflect that traffic violence isn’t just an inevitable accident”]. I think that’s an accident.”

“That is an unforeseen event,” Helfrich quickly replied. “But it’s still a crash. And who would be responsible for that would probably be the dog owner who was unable to secure their pet.”

Much of the discomfort from people who don’t think this change is necessary comes from an assumption that it’s based in assigning more blame to vehicle operators. Helfrich dispelled that idea. “This wouldn’t lay fault to somebody, but if a person was driving and the dog ran in front of them, we still know the crash happened, but it wasn’t their fault. Somebody else was responsible for that event.”

Cate Duke, who was there to represent Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), also said the effort to change “accident” to “crash” isn’t about finding fault. “It simply changes that definition to be ‘two things collided.’ It takes out any reflection as to whose fault it is and leaves that up to the investigation.”

Another lawmaker, Senator Lynn Findley (R-30), felt the change isn’t necessary given the cost and labor it would take to enact. “It’s going to cost thousands of dollars and I just don’t get it,” he exclaimed. “I guess I’m a little too practical.”

Sen. Findley then posted a hypothetical: “You’re driving down the road. You hit a patch of ice and you slide off the road. It’s not an accident? It’s a crash?”

Rep. Helfrich seemed to enjoy the challenge. Through a wide grin he replied, “It’s preventable if it happens. Because if you’re driving too fast for conditions and you were aware of the conditions, the fault lies upon the driver.” After a few more exchanges, Findley was satisfied and had no further questions.

The bill hasn’t been voted on yet, but Thursday night’s hearing gave it momentum. Duke from MADD offered the final bit of testimony:

“I think we can all agree that today we we live in a society where words matter…

I work with victims of impaired driving who have lost family members, loved ones, or they’ve been injured. Their lives have been catastrophically impacted by somebody else’s choice. And when you talk to a family who’s lost two of their three teenage children, or their only child was killed in an impaired driving crash. And you say ‘Well, you know, it was an accident.’ It causes a visceral reaction in somebody who has had that kind of loss.

It is not an accident. Spilling your glass of wine is an accident. But consuming that wine or consuming another impairing substance and then making the choice to get behind the wheel of a car and then drive and a crash occurs. That’s a predictable consequence of driving impaired.”

ODOT wants to make SE McLoughlin safer for bikes

The Oregon Department of Transportation is planning changes to a nearly five mile stretch of SE McLoughlin Boulevard through Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge (south of Milwaukie) that would make it safer for biking, walking, and busing. And we hear from sources that they need more feedback about bicycle facilities and other elements of the project in order to queue up the best possible projects for future funding.

ODOT’s McLoughlin Boulevard Investments Strategy is a $250,000 planning process that aims to, “identify and prioritize equitable and impactful transportation safety improvements for all users who depend on walking, biking, rolling and accessing transit along the corridor.” (Seems similar to the approach the Portland Bureau of Transportation takes with its “In Motion” plans.) There’s no capital funding yet, but projects that get on the list that comes out of this plan will be more shovel-ready and more likely to get built in the near term.

Crossing SE McLoughlin in 2019. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Crashes involving vulnerable road users on SE McLoughlin, 2016 – 2020. (Source: ODOT)

Currently, this section of McLoughlin is a typical ODOT urban highway (99E) with a very wide cross-section, lots of commercial driveways, incomplete sidewalks, unprotected bikeways, relatively high speeds, and an overall feeling that only car users are welcome. We rode briefly on McLoughlin during the 2019 policymakers ride and it was jarring to leave the quiet calm of the Trolley Trail path and enter the loud, stressful highway environment.

According to ODOT, this corridor of McLoughlin between Sellwood and Oregon City is a top 10 priority statewide and ranks in the 99th percentile for bicycle and pedestrian needs prioritization (as per their Active Transportation Needs Inventory). Between 2016 and 2020 there were a beastly 666 reported crashes — seven of which were fatal and 23 led to severe injuries. And of the seven people killed in those five years, all of them were vulnerable users (walkers, wheelchair users, or bike riders). That’s a striking statistic given how few non-drivers actually use this road. Adding even more urgency to this effort is the fact that neighborhoods along the corridor score in the top 20th percentile statewide for disadvantaged community metrics.

ODOT staff working on the plan say adding more protection to the existing bike lanes and striping new sections of bikeways is definitely on the table. They also recommend bus queue jumps at four intersections, a new crossing specifically for Trolley Trail users (at Jennings Road), and improvements to the bridge over the Clackamas River.

Key to making the safety changes stick will be to tame drivers and lower speeds. The current average speed is just over 40 mph. That’s way too high given that ODOT’s Blueprint for Urban Design (which is now fully integrated into their Highway Design Manual) calls for commercial corridors like this one to have speeds of 30 – 35 mph. The good news is the community advisory committee for the project has been unanimous in calls to reduce speeding, but ODOT needs to hear more support for this in their newly launched online open house.

We’re also watching closely to see what type of recommendation comes out of this process for bike facilities. Right now, ODOT says the plan is to first bring the entire corridor up to a basic standard of painted, buffered bike lanes without vertical protection. Once that happens, they’d add more protection (like plastic wands) at specific locations. But some folks we’ve talked to say that second step — some sort of physical protection for the bike lane — should happen without having to wait for buffered bike lanes on the entire corridor.

Then there’s the conversation about whether bicycle riders would even use McLoughlin at all — especially given the nearby (and carfree) Trolley Trail path. Because of the unfortunate idea that bike riders don’t want or need main street access, there could be a lack of urgency from ODOT to create quality bikeways on McLoughlin.

As for the Trolley Trail, the current plan is to install a diagonal, bike-only crossing of McLoughlin at Jennings to help path users make a connection. This would be a step forward from the two-stage crossing most people do now (taking the lane here is pretty scary!).

For the bridge over the Clackamas, ODOT says widening the current path isn’t being considered, but other treatments like; more lighting, a new paved trail/shared use path connection to the intersection of McLoughlin and Arlington Street, and flashing beacons indicating when a bicyclist is sharing the general travel lanes, are being considered.

If we want ODOT to do more of the right things, they need to hear from more bicycle riders. Their online open house is open now through April 5th and there’s an in-person event on March 29th (4-7:00 pm) at Oak Lodge Public Library (16201 SE McLoughlin) where you can learn more and talk to project staff.

Check out the project website to learn more.

Ask BikePortland: Are those EV charging cords on the sidewalk legal?

Cords on the sidewalk in Portland. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Curbside charging with a cord is now allowed without a permit, but only if certain conditions are met.

As electric cars become more and more popular, you may have the experience of walking along a Portland sidewalk and stumbling upon (maybe literally) a cord running from someone’s Tesla or Chevy Bolt to an outlet on their porch.

This situation might strike some walkers as irritating: isn’t there enough to worry about tripping over on Portland’s sidewalks, what with the pavement cracks and those little toy ponies some people tie to the metal rings outside their homes? (Hey, I’m just kidding. I love those horses.) And let’s not forget that for many people, bicycling on the sidewalk is the safest option.

Irritating as it may be, city policy does allow electric vehicle (EV) charging cords in the sidewalk right-of-way in certain circumstances. In 2021, Portland City Council approved an amendment to the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Encroachment Manual to allow people who meet some requirements to charge their cars curbside, as long as the cords have an ADA compliant cord cover and “do not become nuisances.”

We’ve seen these cords popping up more often lately so let’s learn a bit more about the rules that govern them…

Prior to this amendment, the Encroachment Manual only allowed for landscaping and planter boxes to enter into the right-of-way, and people were required to seek a permit from the city in order to utilize this area. Curbside charging with a cord cover is now allowed by right (no permit is required) if residents meet all the following requirements:

The residence must be located in a Single-Dwelling Residential Zone. Information and maps on zoning designations can be found at Portland Zoning.

The residence must be located on a street classified a a Local Service Traffic Street. Information and maps on street classifications and the Portland Transportation System Plan can be found at PBOT TSP Classifications.

The sidewalk area adjacent to the residence must have a running grade of ten percent (10%) or less. Information about Portland topography may be referenced to determine compliance with running grade requirement and is available online at ArcGIS.

The residence must not have any off-street parking, such as a driveway or garage.

People who don’t have garages or other off-street parking facilities on their property would have a difficult time charging their electric cars if this policy weren’t in place. Still, the obstruction may be unpleasant for sidewalk users — especially people who use wheelchairs or other mobility devices to get around.

Earlier this month, Portland City Council directed PBOT to create rules to allow installation of electric car chargers in the public right-of-way to make it easier for people to use electric vehicles if they don’t have charging capacity at home. This is particularly meant to assist people who live in multi-unit dwellings by creating a reliable affordable public charging network. According to the rules of this ordinance, the EV charging stations in the right of way must not “present impediments to safe and efficient pedestrian passage, nor hinder ADA access.” The ordinance requires a minimum of a three-foot pedestrian through zone to be maintained, but a six-foot through zone is preferred.

“The installation of EV chargers shall minimize impacts and not conflict with other right-of-way users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, public transit riders, and others,” the ordinance states.

This is different from the encroachment rules, which enable EV cords to run across the pedestrian through zone without providing a passage.

In my opinion, it’s good to allow more people to charge their electric vehicles — if city and state policies are going full speed ahead with the EV embrace, at least they shouldn’t be restricted to people who have garages to charge them in.

On the other hand, Portland dedicates so much space to car storage, and this rule just allows them to cut in even more. I am excited about local programs hoping to take back curb zone space from cars and plant trees there instead, and if the city would do more of this — a la Amsterdam, where thousands of street car parking spaces have been overhauled and replaced with bike parking and playgrounds — EV cords in the pedestrian right-of-ways wouldn’t be such a big deal.

What do you think of this policy? Have you ever been bothered by an EV cord on the sidewalk? Let us know.