Intersection of NW Vaughn and 24th looking east toward the Fremont Bridge.
In defense of a bike-friendly street and with a goal to stop drivers from cutting through a dense residential neighborhood, the City of Portland plans to construct a median island in the middle of an intersection in northwest.
A mailer sent to nearby homes by PBOT at the end of April said, “The project will improve safety and reduce cut-through traffic on neighborhood streets in the Northwest District, creating a safer, more comfortable connection. The project will make it easier for people on foot and bike to cross NW Vaughn.” Another stated goal of the project is to lower the amount of drivers who cut-through onto the greenway and to make it easier and safer for bikers and walkers to cross Vaughn.
(Source: PBOT)
As you can see in the plan drawing above, for drivers going north on 24th toward Vaughn, only right turns will be allowed. And from Vaughn, only right turns onto 24th will be permitted. Folks coming off I-5 who want to get to destinations like the shops on NW Thurman or Forest Park won’t be able to turn left at 24th. Instead they’ll need to go a block further west to a signalized intersection at 25th.
The project will add to already completed additions of speed bumps and five recently improved crossings on 24th from Flanders to Vaughn.
As per usual, PBOT will build the new median and crossing with temporary materials, then monitor traffic changes for six months before installing permanent materials. Construction is expected to begin in July 2023.
SE Powell looking west from I-205. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
$100 million. That’s the estimated amount it would take for the City of Portland to take over control and ownership of Southeast Powell Boulevard from the State of Oregon. Throw in recommended safety upgrades and the price could rise to between $115 to $185 million. Or if we just opted for a few appetizers instead of the full meal, we could get a significant list of safety projects done for $15-30 million.
That was the menu of options delivered to members of the SE Powell Safety Workgroup on April 26th via a presentation shared by the Oregon Department of Transportation and Portland Bureau of Transportation. The presentation laid out the projects it would take to bring the urban arterial highway (a.k.a. Highway 26) up to a “state of good repair.” That’s the condition PBOT requires before they will agree to a jurisdictional transfer.
Portland advocates and officials have long wanted SE Powell Blvd to come under local control for many of the same reasons that process was recently completed for 82nd Avenue: ODOT has proven to be incapable of managing “orphan highways” in a way that centers human life and neighborhood livability. On 82nd Avenue, the transfer happened after two people were killed by drivers trying to cross the road in separate crashes less than two weeks apart. On Powell, an effort to take the road out of ODOT’s hands was sparked last October after Portlander Sarah Pliner was hit and killed by a right-turning truck driver as she attempted to bike across Powell. That incident, which happened right outside Cleveland High School and a popular park, touched off a wide-ranging effort from a group of advocates, school officials, neighborhood residents, and elected leaders that have met monthly since Pliner’s death.
Slides from ODOT/PBOT presentation.
That workgroup has been instrumental in creating the pressure and partnership needed for PBOT and ODOT to make numerous changes to the area around where Pliner was killed. On October 6th, just two days after Pliner died, then PBOT Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said, “Enough is enough. The neglect of state-owned ODOT roads within Portland is why we recently brought 82nd Avenue under local control, and we must now begin the process of transferring Southeast Powell Blvd along with funds that cover the true cost of the needed safety improvements all along the boulevard.” Hardesty then brought a resolution to City Council that initiated work with ODOT to, “determine what it would take to improve the street to city and community standards for safety and maintenance for a future jurisdictional transfer.”
Hardesty was not the only one who wanted to switch Powell from state to local control. In 2017, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill (HB 2017) that required ODOT to study the issue. That led to the 2019 State of Good Repair Study that estimated the cost to be around $31 million — less than a third of the current estimate. A report published by Metro in 2020 ranked all potential jurisdictional transfers in the region and Powell was at the top of the list. Like other ODOT highways, Powell has a disproportionate number of serious injury and fatality crashes and there’s a strong consensus that ODOT should stick to managing freeways and leave local roads to local agencies.
(Source: ODOT)
Since the push for a safer Powell began back in October, ODOT and PBOT have lowered speed limits, beefed up schools zones, improved crossings, added new signage and pavement markings, and more. But it’s not enough.
Lawmakers who are part of the Safety Workgroup — House representatives Mark Gamba, Khanh Pham, Rob Nosse and Senator Kathleen Taylor — want more. Taylor, who has children at Cleveland High School, has spearhead the effort. After hearing the presentation at the April 26th meeting, she submitted a formal letter (PDF) to the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means saying funding for this Powell transfer was one of her top priorities.
If they don’t get the funding this session, there’s a plan B already in effect. House Bill 2793 (-2 amendment) was filed just two weeks ago by Oregon House Rep. Ben Bowman, a Democrat who represents Tigard and Beaverton. The bill seeks to create a new Jurisdictional Transfer Advisory Committee within ODOT that Nosse says will, “set up a process to stage and vet jurisdictional transfers and set us up to find a source of funding for them.” Bowman is another member of the coalition of legislators who want more local control of ODOT highways and is chief sponsor of HB 2756, a bill that would transfer SW Hall Blvd (OR-141) to the City of Tigard.
For their part, ODOT and PBOT say there are some disadvantages to jurisdictional transfer — especially when it comes to Powell Blvd. In their presentation to the Workgroup they said the transfer could slow down the delivery of “most urgent” safety projects because the required and “less urgent” state of good repair projects would focus initially on pavement maintenance and repair projects instead of things like safer bike crossings and speed enforcement. They also issued a warning: “With the City’s current capacity constraints and large capital program, projects on Powell would likely not be delivered until 2030,” the presentation stated. Another point to consider is that once the road is transferred it would no longer be eligible for funding through ODOT’s Great Streets grant program which is only for state-owned highways.
Instead of going straight for the transfer, PBOT and ODOT recommend starting with $15-30 million in safety projects that would include:
Enhanced pedestrian crossing at SE 36th Ave – $500,000
Add enhanced pedestrian crossings at existing marked crossings – $3M each (Potential locations include 45th Ave, 54th Ave, between 57th/58th Ave, 61st Ave, 75th Ave, 84th Ave)
School zone + safe route improvements in Creston area – $3M
School zone + safe route improvements in Kellogg area – $3M
Signal timing and ITS improvements – $6M
School speed zones and safe routes improvements on other state-owned arterials – $3.5M per school for 10 schools located on / adjacent to state highways in Portland
With the budget picture at PBOT abysmal right now and with Senator Taylor and her colleagues’ influence at the legislature, it seems the best bet is that this coalition comes away from the session with funding to get started on these immediate safety projects. Stay tuned.
Purple line is the bike route. Business is in upper left. Columbia River is just north of Marine Drive.
Note: This story is just a heads-up at something that is changing next to a popular bike route. I am not “against the business” or casting aspersions at their decisions. Thank you. – Jonathan.
At Portland City Council this week, a business owner be formally granted ownership of what is currently public right-of-way as part of an expansion and development of their lot on the southwest corner of Northeast Marine Drive and 33rd Avenue.
Those of you who ride bikes in the area will recognize the location as the spot where the Marine Drive bike path begins to head eastward toward Mt. Hood. This move comes as the business owner plans significant changes on the site could have impacts on the bicycling environment.
The owner of the four acre parcel, WPC Marine, LLC wants to add services to its existing Herc Rentals business. According to city land use filings, changes coming to the lot include a new vehicle washing station and a diesel and gas refueling station. 15-22 new parking spaces will also be added (some developments to this lot have already been made). The reason this came to City Council is because the business owner wants the City of Portland to “vacate” an existing public right-of-way that bisects the property. Turns out that city plans at one time included a slip lane to be built through the property between Marine Drive and 33rd. That lane was never built, but with these changes, the business owner wants to make it official and has asked the city for a street vacation — a process wherein the city gives up its rights to public right-of-way.
As part of giving this business owner permission to make requested changes, the City of Portland will require them to close the northern driveway entrance off Marine Drive and to have only one driveway entering the site. That driveway will be only about 80 feet from the entrance to the bike path. Given that this business is adding new uses and services at this location, it’s possible bicycle riders could experience more motor vehicle traffic on this frontage road that connects to the path. In city filings, PBOT said since Herc Rentals focuses primarily on business-to-business sales, “few clients will visit the site, and the parking area is primarily expected to serve employees and a small number of potential clients visiting the site for informational purposes.” However, since the company rents trucks and other equipment that will arrive on trucks, PBOT also notes that, “It will have a much higher share of large freight vehicles loading and unloading on-site.”
Here’s more from PBOT’s traffic impact analysis:
PBOT’s review results in closures of existing driveways at NE Marine and NE 33rd Drives, and reconfiguring of the site’s main driveway entrance at NE 33rd Drive. These required physical improvements to the vehicle circulation on and off the site will improve safety for drivers as well as bicyclists and pedestrians who use the public trail east of the site.
I’m still unclear how directing all traffic to and from the business to the southern driveway off the same NE 33rd Ave frontage road used by the bicycle riders to access the path makes it safer. As you can see in the drawing below (lower right of image), large trucks are shown using the same short section of road that bicycle riders will be on to access the path.
The gold line is the bike path easement through the property.
Another interesting aspect of this project is that the new footprint of Herc Rentals will be solidly over the existing eastment for a future extension of the bike path. 40-Mile Loop plans call for the path to continue west of its current termination at 33rd Avenue. As you can see in the plan drawings, the gold line shows a 30-foot wide bike path easement on the southern edge of the property right underneath where the business owner plans to store trucks, trailers and other equipment. “This alignment will maintain the intent of having a trail connection while also minimizing potential conflicts between future trail users and the industrial and commercial services of the property,” the city states.
So, in exchange for extinguishing rights to the old slip lane right-of-way, the City of Portland has reaffirmed that when the time comes to build this new section of path, WPC Marine will be required to grant public access to the property. “The public shall have the right to use the Easement Area as a public recreational trail,” reads the trail easement agreement. “The City may permit the public to access the trail for recreational and transportation purposes, including, without limitation, walking, running, cycling, and skating.”
Looking north on SW Marquam Hill Rd as it turns into Gibbs St.
*** Update, 5/16/2023:The SW Gibbs Street closure has been extended another week until May 19th according to a sign posted at the site.***
Cyclists and pedestrians scrambled to find alternate routes to the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) on Monday, the first day of a two-week road closure at the western entrance to the Marquam Hill campus.
SW Gibbs Street is the only direct access to OHSU from the west and its closure has left OHSU employees and students who walk and cycle to work in a lurch. Although the closure is marked with detour signs, the detour is only practical for drivers.
Early this morning, I followed the marked detour from the east end of the Gibbs closure down the hill to the city center, and then back up Marquam Hill along SW Broadway Dr, and then took the Fairmount loop to campus. That’s right, this two-block Gibbs closure has been assigned a four and a half-mile detour, involving elevation changes of several hundred feet. And as the sign says, cyclists and pedestrians should take this route too!
Marquam Hill Trail between Marquam Hill Rd and SW 12 Ave.Looking west on SW Gibbs St at 11th Ave. Detour takes you down to city center.
As a service to the community, allow me to suggest an alternate detour for sure-footed cyclists (below). This involves taking one of the Marquam Nature Park trails from near the water tank on SW Marquam Hill Rd to SW 12th Ave. It’s a short trail, not flat, but you can walk it with a bicycle.
I’ve learned that some pedestrians are also taking the “Whitaker easement,” which you can reach from Marquam Hill Rd by going up the staircase near the pump house of the same water facilities.
If you don’t want to dismount, and are OK with adding about a half hour to your commute, a scenic (and safer) alternative to the official detour is shown along Fairmount Blvd to Terwilliger.
Marquam Nature Park trailWhitaker easementRoute south toward Hillsdale and back north on Terwilliger.
That gets the practical matter of how to get to work out of the way. Now I can focus on how poorly this has been handled. Gibbs Street is closed directly in front of the new apartment building BikePortland has been covering, the one with the frontage on which the city will not allow the developer to build a sidewalk. The closure is most certainly for utility hookups and shoulder widening.
The city, for its part, has gone from treating people who don’t commute by car as an after-thought, to not considering them at all. Maybe it is not possible to keep open a four-foot wide path through the utility hookups. Maybe. But a group of city reviewers who did not see the need for a protected sidewalk on the dangerous curve at the building’s frontage, might also not have given much thought to what pedestrians and cyclists might need during the road closure.
In case you were wondering, Portland’s bike racing scene is alive and well. Turnout at early season races has everyone buzzing and last night’s huge crowds at the Monday Night PIR race will continue that narrative.
Portland International Raceway (PIR) is built on a place that used to be known as Vanport, a city built around public housing for shipbuilders that thrived in the 1940s before it was wiped out by a flood. By the 1960s, car enthusiasts discovered its flat paved roads and several acres of the land were developed into a racetrack. On Monday nights in spring that racetrack and its perfectly paved roads are filled with bicycle riders. Last night was the second of seven weeks where the loud motors of car engines are replaced by the whir of freewheels and gasoline is replaced by water as the main fuel of racers.
I love being out at PIR. It’s more of a natural area than most people realize. The land west of I-5 between Marine Drive and the Columbia Slough is dotted with lakes and wetlands, many of which are still thriving thanks to most of the land still being relatively undeveloped. It’s a beautiful backdrop for a bicycle race. The fact that cars usually dominate the track, makes it all the more sweet to watch human-powered racing machines fly over the roads.
For bike racers, it’s a very hard course because there’s nowhere to hide from the wind. The wide open land, long straightaways, and lack of sharp turns, means that survival is only guaranteed if you are well tucked into the pack. The loud “whooosh” the pack makes is a reminder of how much wind it breaks for those inside. Despite the race’s unforgiving elements, I saw a huge range of people giving it a go. On any given Monday night, you’ll see some folks at their first-ever race and others who’ve ridden at elite levels. One thing they all have in common when the whistle blows and the lap cards fly is the pain they feel and the dedication they have to push through it and reach the finish. This experience creates a natural bond between everyone that has shared it, and there’s a strong local community of bike racers as a result.
These folks take part in a beautiful sport. The colors of their uniforms and wind-cheating bicycles cut through the landscape, propelled by nothing other than their own power pushing forward a simple drivetrain of gears and a chain. Floating through space, often on free energy supplied by the peloton, racers escape the ordinary. At PIR on Mondays you can almost do that one thing so many of us have dreamed about since we were kids. You can actually fly!
Do you thrive on connections and fostering relationships? Listen carefully to what your customers are asking for in terms of expections and meeting their budget? Project confidence and competence with all things bike?
Backpedal Cycleworks, a favorite local SE Portland bike shop around since 2009, is seeking a people focused skilled wrench for a 20+ hour/week sale/mechanic position.
Must have:
Bike shop mechanic experience
Able to wrestle heavy and awkward non-traditional and electric assist bikes into a repair stand
People skills
Bike shop repair traffic juggling skills
Organizitional talents
Bonus points for:
Working knowledge of Lightspeed Retail POS
Basic IT skills
Sense of humor
The authors of both books will be in Portland this week.
In 2003 I was busy building my media relations and marketing business when I was contacted by Paula Holmes-Eber and Lorenz Eber: They had cycled tandems around the world with their 11 and 13-year-old daughters and they wanted me to help them get on the news in every town they cycled through on the last leg of the journey in North America. Even back then, before I raised two daughters of my own, it seemed like an amazing project. So I said, “yes!”. Suffice it to say they were one of my favorite clients.
And this Sunday (May 7th) they’ll speak at the REI store in the Pearl District. If you’re looking for bike adventure inspiration, you should put this event on your calendar. Not only did Paula and Lorenz survive this trip with their young daughters, they lived to write about it! They have loads of family biking and camping advice to share and many stories to tell. They also completed their journey to raise awareness of asthma and funds for their nonprofit World Bike For Breath.
Learn more about the REI event here. And follow the Ebers on their website or via Instagram at @Bike4Breath.
And there’s another book event this week: On Wednesday, former reporter for The Oregonian, George Rede, will have a conversation with author David Goodrich at Powell’s City of Books. They’ll talk about Goodrich’s new book, On Freedom Road: Bicycle Explorations and Reckonings on the Underground Railroad. Here’s the blurb on what sounds like a fascinating book and a great event:
The traces of the Underground Railroad hide in plain sight: a great church in Philadelphia; a humble old house backing up to the New Jersey Turnpike; an industrial outbuilding in Ohio. Over the course of four years, climate scientist David Goodrich rode his bicycle 3,000 miles east of the Mississippi to travel the routes of the Underground Railroad and delve into the history and stories in the places where they happened. He followed the most famous of conductors, Harriet Tubman, from where she was enslaved in Maryland, on the eastern shore, all the way to her family sanctuary at a tiny chapel in Ontario, Canada. Travelling South, he rode from New Orleans, where the enslaved were bought and sold, through Mississippi and the heart of the Delta Blues. As we pedal along with him, Goodrich brings us to the Borderland along the Ohio River, a kind of no-mans-land between North and South in the years before the Civil War. Here, slave hunters roamed both banks of the river, trying to catch people as they fled for freedom. We travel to Oberlin, Ohio, a town that staunchly defended freedom seekers, embodied in the life of Lewis Leary, who was lost in the fires of Harpers Ferry, but his spirit was reborn in the Harlem Renaissance. On Freedom Road (Pegasus) enables us to see familiar places in a very different light: from the vantage point of desperate people seeking to outrun the reach of slavery. Join in this journey to find the heroes and stories, both known and hidden, of the Underground Railroad. Goodrich will be joined in conversation by George Rede, veteran Oregon journalist and retired adjunct instructor.
In other book news, Seattle Bike Blog founder Tom Fucoloro has written a book! Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from behind the Handlebars is due out this August from University of Washington Press and you can pre-order it here.
Welcome to the Comment of the Week, where we highlight good comments in order to inspire more of them. You can help us choose our next one by replying with “comment of the week” to any comment you think deserves recognition.Please note: These selections are not endorsements.
I like comments which make me work and David Hampsten delivered again. This time with historical insight on Taylor’s recent transportation funding woes post.
David served on the Transportation Budget Advisory Committee (TBAC) over a decade ago (now called the Bureau Budget Advisory Committee) and he has a deep knowledge of Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) funding difficulties. Nevertheless, I decided to minimally fact check his comment and ended up spending a wonderful couple of hours reading of decades-old policy debates and looming transportation budget crises.
Unfortunately, this 2011 warning from the TBAC to the Mayor and City Council still holds: “The challenges facing PBOT in the development of a multi-modal transportation system in the City are significant. The resources available are extremely limited.”
Here’s what David had to say about the hapless history of transportation funding in Portland:
I was on the TBAC [Transportation Budget Advisory Committee] when the street fee was discussed in 2013. The reason it completely failed to gain any traction was the Utility License Fee. The ULF was passed by City Council in 1988 to fund street repairs – any utility company that cuts into the street, both public and private, pays for the cost of repaving that cut, but the repaving is delayed to accumulate enough fees to pay for a street repave or even a rebuild. The rate was set high enough to keep Portland’s city streets constantly repaired for pretty much forever.
But guess what happened to the accumulated revenue? Since these funds are not required by law to be used for streets or their intended purpose, City Council then took the funds and spent them on parks, police, housing, fire, and so on – at first it was 20% of the ULF, then 40%, and now it’s 97% – less than 3% actually goes to PBOT.
The basic lesson is that any revenue raised by the city for street maintenance has to be in a form that city council cannot legally take away the funds under any circumstances – if they can, then ultimately they will do so, usually sooner rather than later – and so raising the gas tax was the only reasonable and viable alternative given council’s long-term misbehavior.
Interestingly, Washington County currently is finding itself in a similar situation to what David describes above, although through a different funding mechanism. Still, his warning and advice applies.
Last Friday afternoon, Portland bike advocacy nonprofit BikeLoud PDX held their first big rally in more than three years. The message? Although a recent report shows bike use is down in the city, bikes are still the future in Portland. And advocates will keep spreading the word until people at City Hall listen.
Friday was unseasonably sweltering, with temperatures getting up to 90 degrees in some parts of the city. But after months of seemingly-endless winter, it’s clear that people are raring to get outside. I saw lots of other people riding bikes on my way down to the Salmon Street Springs to meet the group, and as I pulled up to the meeting spot, I saw several dozen people already there. This number grew to about 100 for the ride to City Hall.
Before we left for City Hall, BikeLoud board members Nic Cota and Kiel Johnson spoke to the crowd.
“We’re here to hold the city accountable… It feels like a statement to ride a bike in Portland. It shouldn’t feel that way.”
– Nic Cota, BikeLoud PDX
“We’re here to hold the city accountable and get people from all walks of life biking in this city,” Cota said, as leader of the rally the day after he was named BikeLoud chair. “It feels like a statement to ride a bike in Portland. It shouldn’t feel that way.”
Johnson, BikeLoud’s former chair, was initially hesitant about the idea of holding this kind of event. But once he was there, his mood shifted.
“We’re gonna keep on being loud until everybody in Portland has access to protected bike lanes like Better Naito,” Johnson said to the group, gesturing to Portland’s marquee protected bikeway behind him.
When we headed off to City Hall, the group of people on bikes filled up SW Jefferson Street. A few people in cars honked approvingly and were met with cheers in return. Once we arrived at City Hall, a few other speakers got up in front of the group to share why they wanted to come to the rally.
First, Serenity Ebert, BikeLoud’s Vice Chair, took the megaphone. Ebert rides a recumbent tricycle to accommodate her disability, and she said she wants everyone to be able to get around the city safely.
“You have a friend in City Hall. My boss is listening to you.”
“Biking has given me a lot of freedom to do whatever I want,” Ebert said. “I would like everyone here to be able to ride a bike if they want to.”
We then heard from Shannon Carney, Commissioner Mingus Mapps’ liaison to the Portland Bureau of Transportation. Carney said she’s a longtime cyclist who currently commutes by bike to City Hall the majority of the time, and she said she and Mapps both support the work BikeLoud is doing.
“There are so many challenges that our city faces that transportation can help solve,” Carney said. “You have a friend in City Hall. My boss is listening to you.”
Some people weren’t happy about Carney’s invite: one person booed when she took the stage, calling Mapps out for his recent controversial attempt to divert money away from a Black-led organization.
Depending on how and if Portland officials move into action on this issue, it’ seem’s possible splits could emerge among activists who want to take different approaches to how they deal with institutional power. But ultimately, many are simply trying to use the relationships they do have in City Hall in order to get their ideas implemented.
Overall, organizers deemed the rally a success. The event garnered TV news coverage, which inevitably led to some trolling commentary from people with no involvement in the situation, but also added more legitimacy and publicity to the gathering.
As I biked away from the last event I’d cover as a BikePortland reporter, I felt hopeful. There were tons of people riding their bikes around the city who hadn’t come to the rally, and while their support would’ve been appreciated, it was also kind of cool to me that these people were out there doing their own thing, regardless of what bike count reports say. The Portland bike scene takes all types: the rally organizers, the Pedalpalooza fanatics, the prolific BikePortland commenters and the people who’ve never heard of this website before. It’s bittersweet to leave BikePortland right as I feel a spark in the air, but I look forward to seeing what happens next.
A very meaningful bicycle has been stolen and its owner is pleading for help to get it back.
Portland artist Matt Hall posted to his Instagram page on Sunday that someone broke into his studio in St. Johns and stole a bicycle that once belonged to Brett Jarolimek. Jarolimek was just 31 years old when he was riding on North Interstate Avenue and was killed in a collision with a truck driver on October 22nd, 2007. He was very well-known and loved in our community as a friend, a bike racer, and an employee at Bike Gallery. Jarolimek’s death, came less than two weeks after another young bicycle rider was killed in a right-hook collision just a few miles away. It was a watershed moment in Portland bike history that led to an emergency meeting in city hall, the right-turn ban at Interstate and Greeley and the implementation of bike boxes citywide.
Jarolimek was a dedicated bike racer who participated in a cyclocross race just weeks before his death. Matt Hall raced alongside Jarolimek and has kept his friend’s old bike on a shelf in his studio as a memorial. The bike is a red frame with the name “Cardinal” on the down tube and seat tube (it was hand made by former Portland framebuilder and close friend of Hall and Jarolimek, Matt Cardinal). “Jarolimez” is written in white letters across the top tube.
“The most precious object was stolen,” Hall wrote on Instagram. “My dear departed friend, Brett’s bike. I am utterly heartbroken. Please, please, please keep your eyes out for around town. I don’t care about possessions but this is an irreplaceable totem, and I’m crushed that it’s gone.”
Portland has a strong community that has recovered thousands of bikes over the years. Please keep your eyes open for this one.
Or perhaps word will spread to the thieves that this bike has tremendous sentimental value. That’s what happened in February 2008 when a thief stole Jarolimek’s ghost bike. In that case, the bike was returned with a letter written by the thief: “I sincerely apologize for what I have done- I did not realize what it was until after the fact.”
Welcome to the week. Here are the most notable stories our writers and readers have come across in the past seven days…
E-bike incentives: The Washington legislature has passed a law that will devote $7 million to e-bike rebates and to promote e-bike lending libraries. (Bicycle Retailer & Industry News)
Reversing course: Very interesting debate playing out in this city near Los Angeles whose city council voted to remove dedicated bus and bike lanes to appease people concerned about auto traffic congestion. (Fox LA)
Secretary Pete on a pod: Don’t miss a solid interview about transportation policy and traffic safety with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. (Vox)
Cycling and grief: An 84-year old woman plans to ride 1,000 miles across Scotland to help cope with the “unbearable” grief of outliving her three children. (BBC)
Sending a signal: You will be more grateful for Portland’s very bike-friendly traffic signals after reading this op-ed about how signals in Los Angeles are (still) tilted toward drivers. (LA Times)
Sleeping with the enemy: Washington’s nonprofit Cascade Bicycle Club has entered into a financial partnership with Honda where the automaker helps sponsors their programs and gives the bike advocacy group a free truck. (Bicycle Retailer & Industry News)
Auto industry doesn’t care about you or the planet: The fact that a moderately priced, popular, small electric car will be discontinued while massive ones proliferate is just the latest evidence that the auto industry is out of control and needs more regulation. (CNBC)
Race to zero: The stats around who dies and who lives around the most dangerous streets show a troubling and unacceptable connection to America’s legacy of systemic racism. (NY Times Opinion)
Buttons are best: Touchscreens on car displays are a huge safety risk so it’s great to see automakers responding to criticisms and returning to more buttons and dials. (Slate)
Me reporting from the Pedalpalooza kickoff last June.
Way back in November 2021, I was sitting in the waiting room before a doctor appointment scrolling through Twitter when I saw a job listing posted by BikePortland. I remember immediately becoming very nervous that someone would apply for the job before I would be able to do it, so I started drafting an email to Jonathan on my phone right then and there. A few weeks later, elated, I began my journey writing for this site. Now, as I prepare to move onto a new opportunity, I want to reflect on my time at BikePortland and thank everyone who has so graciously read and engaged with my work.
I had lofty goals for what I would include in this “goodbye post.” I wanted it to be robust and meaningful and serve as some kind of representation of my experience at BikePortland over the last year and a half. But this is proving to be much more difficult than I thought it would be. BikePortland is a living blog — no story is ever the definitive post on any given subject, and there’s always room for a follow-up. The idea of writing some kind of capstone piece that can stand on its own is too daunting, and not really in the nature of this site anyway.
Here’s what I will say: I have changed so much on a personal and professional level since the fateful day in fall 2021. I looked back in my sent folder at that first email I sent Jonathan, where I wrote that “I’m always happy to stretch out of my comfort zone and try new things.” I don’t think I anticipated all the new things I’d try!
I’ve met amazing, brilliant people and fallen deeply in love with Portland by spending so much time biking its streets. I’ve been able to travel near (Multnomah Falls) and far (Europe), documenting these journeys for the site. And I am so impressed by the passion and dedication from BikePortland readers and commenters. We don’t always agree, but I have never experienced a more knowledgable group of people. And I am very grateful for the warm embrace I received when I first started out, even though thinking back now I’m embarrassed about how little I knew at the beginning.
I’m not leaving Portland or the journalism industry — starting next week, you’ll be able to read my work at the Portland Mercury. I’m very excited for this new opportunity, which wouldn’t have been possible without all the freedom I had here at BikePortland to cover such a range of topics and get to know this city so well.
So thank you again, all of you wonderful readers. Please continue to support BikePortland — it’s abundantly clear that this website is an invaluable archive of information that may be lost to the wind if Jonathan wasn’t so good at tracking everything happening in this city. It has been a true honor to get to be a part of it.
And it’s not quite over. My final assignment is to cover today’s big bike rally. Hope to see you out there!
