Welcome to the weekend! And it’s also time for a quick social media check-in:
Year: 1994?
Brand: Bridgestone
Model: MB-1 ?
Color:Purple
Size:44cc?
Stolen in Portland, OR 97212
Stolen:2009-08-14
Stolen From: Front porch of home NE 9th ave Btwn Brazee and Knott.
Neighborhood: Irvington
Owner: Jay Hoover
OwnerEmail: jay.elaine@gmail.com
Description: Newly refurbished with a orange-colored back rim and plastic foot clips and a customized rack.
Police record with: Portland Police
Police reference#: 0972520
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike
Chalk it up as another big win for citizen activism.
Portland writer and self-described “family biking evangelist” Sarah Gilbert’s account of being denied service in the drive-thru of a local Burgerville restaurant while on her bicycle (which was then picked up by local media and Twittered all over the place) has led the company to announce a new policy.
The 39 location Burgerville chain announced today that people on bicycles are now allowed to order and pick up food through the drive-thru (which they now also refer to as a “cycle-thru”!). The company — whose major marketing hook is its earth-friendly practices — is billing this as their “latest sustainability innovation”.
“… bridge planners must examine the bicycle-pedestrian plans very closely to see how costs could be shaved… The core purpose of the project has been and, we predict, will remain getting trains, cars and trucks across the river more quickly.”
The Oregonian Editorial Board published an editorial piece today that calls the funding of a bicycle and pedestrian facility on the new I-5 bridge into question.
In the editorial, The Oregonian states their skepticism about projections of how many people will cross the bridge by bike and foot, saying the numbers being produced by project staff “deserve very close scrutiny because of another figure looming over the project: $100 million.”
(Just for perspective, $100 million is about 2% of the total cost of the project, which is estimated at upwards of $4.2 billion.)
The Oregonian points out that as CRC staffers look for places to cut spending, the bike/ped facility should not be spared the axe. They write:
On Tuesday, we shared the story of a local bike shop that created its own, Portland-style version of the Obama Administration’s Cash for Clunkers program. In a nutshell, Southeast Portland’s Joe Bike will accept an old, clunker bike, donate it to charity, and then give customers a discount on purchase of a new bike.
Now, Joe Bike owner Joe Doebele has extended the program to include car donations.
Doebele has worked out a special a deal with the American Lung Association and car-sharing company Zipcar. Here’s how it works:
Donate your old car to the American Lung Association. The ALA will tow your car (running or not) for free, and you’ll also get the tax deduction.
There’s a lot of buzz around town for the City of Portland’s third Sunday Parkways event this weekend. PBOT and scores of volunteers will create a nine-mile, people-powered festival through Southeast Portland that is sure to draw thousands to the streets. Adding to the fun this Sunday is a performance by the Ginger Ninjas, a bike-powered band led by Xtracycle co-founder Kipchoge Spencer.
The two-loop Sunday Parkways route will go through Buckman, Kerns, Laurelhurst, Richmond, and Sunnyside neibghborhoods. One of the loops is a relatively flat, and the other, more challenging one tackles Portland’s famous urban volcano, Mt. Tabor.
[This article was written by our BMX correspondent Brendan Vail. Brendan is a promoter of local BMX events and the proprietor of Your-Inn.com.]
It’s that time of year again when the nation’s top BMX riders come to Portland to compete and add their color to the local bike scene. The Wendy’s Invitational/Dew Tour began Thursday and runs through Sunday at the Rose Quarter. The traveling tour started in 2005 and features the nation’s top competitors in BMX riding (as well as skateboarding, and freestyle motocross).
There are three BMX events at the Dew Tour; BMX Vert, BMX Dirt, and BMX Park.
In BMX Vert, top pros such as Jamie Bestwick and Chad Kagy compete against one another on a 12 foot tall half-pipe ramp performing a variety of aerial tricks.
The Oregonian is reporting that 31-year old Kevin Stevenson is in serious condition after a traffic altercation resulted in him being dragged 150 feet by a vehicle near NE Couch Street and Sandy Blvd.
We have not confirmed any details of the story with the Portland Police Bureau, but according to The Oregonian the incident occured at 1:15 am Thursday morning. Here’s an excerpt from their story:
Several bicyclists were going eastbound on East Burnside near Sandy Boulevard when a vehicle seemed to be tailgating them, said Detective Mary Wheat, a police spokeswoman.
When the vehicle started to go around, one of the bicyclists started yelling at the driver. Wheat said the bicyclist leaned into the passenger window of the vehicle and tried to grab the driver, apparently upset because the car was too close to the cyclists.
In the latest sign that e-bikes are becoming more mainstream, a new retail bike shop is set to open soon in the Pearl District.
According to sources, a company named Greenlight LLC will open the shop. They are the U.S. distributors of Kalkhoff Bikes, a German brand that has been in existence since 1919 and has a full line of electric bikes.
After we learned about Greenlight a few days ago, an unemployed reader tipped us off to a job listing for their new retail store (they’re looking for a manager).
Tonight’s screening of the new movie, Freedom Riders, has local off-road riding advocates pumped up. The movie — which creators call “the Dogtown and Z Boys’ of mountain biking — chronicles the eight-year journey of a group of mountain bikers in Wyoming who established the first network of freeride trails in the lower 48 states to be officially sanctioned by the U.S. Forest Service.
Kris Schamp, local off-road advocate and communications director of the Northwest Trail Alliance, says the film is about how the culture of freeriders (riders who like jumps, and highly technical trails) is changing rapidly. “Riders and local advocacy/trail building groups nationwide have come to realize that they need to partner closely with land managers and agencies when designing, building and maintaining trails.”
If the streets feel a bit safer this week, it’s because Portland is playing host to a Law Enforcement Bicycle Association (LEBA) training conference.
The Portland Police Bureau is hosting LEBA for one of their ongoing instructor training courses. Held throughout the country, the week-long course trains the officers in the many skills specific to doing police work on a bike.
I caught up with the group as they rode down Burnside (riding two abreast, taking the full lane, and nearly running a red light at MLK Blvd.) en route to a skills training session under the Morrison Bridge this morning. According to LEBA Training Coordinator Joe Scalise of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg PD, 15 officers from around the country are in Portland to sharpen their bike patrol skills.
Well-known Portland activist Bonnie Tinker died after colliding with a dump truck on the campus of Virginia Tech last month. From initial reports, it seemed she was victim of a right-hook, but according a story published today by The Roanoke Times, Tinker lost control of her bike prior to the right turn.
Here’s an excerpt from the story: