5:00pm – 7:00pm: Car-free Happy Hour
On the second Thursday of each month, you can head to Roots Brewery (SE 7th just south of Hawthorne) to network with transportation professionals, transit and bike organizers, the carfree-curious, and folks who just like to get around without a car.
Portland Mayor Sam Adams and a host of dignitaries and bureaucrats held a groundbreaking ceremony for the East Burnside-Couch couplet project yesterday. The $17.8 million project will transform the streetscape of Burnside and Couch by turning them into one-ways, adding traffic signals, bike lanes, trees, curb extensions, and more.
The City is doing the project for several reasons: They hope it will trigger development, improve safety and traffic flow, enhance the business environmen, and in the end, make Burnside into a kinder, gentler street.
Yesterday I sat down with City of Portland Bureau of Transportation project managers Bill Hoffman and Chris Armes to learn more about how people on bikes will navigate through the couplet.
Year: 2008
Brand: specialized
Model: sequoia
Color:silver/green
Size:small woman
Serial: WUD70511831B
Stolen in Portland, OR 97211
Stolen:2009-08-7
Stolen From: NE 19th and Prescott
Neighborhood: Sabin
Owner: Kelly Rodgers
OwnerEmail: portlandkelly@gmail.com
Description: Bike rack on back.
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike
Year: 1999
Brand: DiamondBack
Model: Edgewood
Color:Blue
Stolen in Portland, OR 97232
Stolen:2009-08-13
Stolen From: Taken from my front porch, lock and helmet left behind
Neighborhood: Laurelhurst
Owner: David Power
OwnerEmail: dpower@multnomah.edu
Description: Older blue Diamondback, torn seat and right handle, distinctive Springer bracket on the seat stay as well as an indicator of its place of purchase in Illinois.
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike
Year: 70’s-80’s
Brand: Motobecane
Model: mixte
Color:white
Stolen in Portland, OR 97214
Stolen:2009-08-12
Stolen From: SE 22nd and Division
Neighborhood: SE Portland
Owner: Amanda Bishop
OwnerEmail: amandabis@gmail.com
Description: White mixte frame ten speed, original components. Brand new seat with reflective strip on back. Red grips. Gold Japanese bell. Double wire basket on rear. White fenders.
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike
Year: 2001
Brand: Trek
Model: 4300
Color:Yellow
Stolen in Portland, OR 97232
Stolen:2009-08-11
Stolen From: My house, 22nd and E. Burnside. Bike was attached to a wooden spindle on the front deck. The spindle was kicked out.
Neighborhood: Kerns
Owner: Brian Kramer
OwnerEmail: kramerb1@gmail.com
Description: Had a rear tire splash guard, street tires instead of stock mountain bike tires, 4 digit combination U-lock on top bar.
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: 0971667
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike
City planners are working to determine which projects should be funded with the new, $500,000 “Affordable Transporation Fund” included in Mayor Adam’s budget. The money — which is to be dedicated specifically to bikeway network improvements — became available on July 1st. A draft list of high-priority projects was shared at last night’s City of Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting.
City bike coordinator Roger Geller shared that some of this year’s $500,000 is already spoken for. Half of the money will pay for the upcoming cycle track on SW Broadway (will be completed by end of this month), buffered bike lanes on Stark and Oak and the 15 miles of bike boulevards PBOT is working on.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be bringing you bits and pieces of Portland’s forthcoming Bicycle Master Plan for 2030. The plan is being updated for the first time since 1995 and it will contain many important bicycle policy guidelines (and more) that will eventually be folded into Portland’s Transportation System Plan.
The plan is slated for public comment very soon and it will likely be in front of City Council toward the end of October. I’ve been reading through an internal rough draft and thought I’d share a bit of it with you.
Part One of the plan lays out PBOT’s vision of “A World-Class Bicycling City”. In addition to making the case for why the city should invest in bicycling, it explains the process of updating the plan, describes the latest thinking on “the nature of bicycling” and it explains PBOT’s “framework for bicycling policy”.
The Gateway Green project has taken a major step forward.
Friends of Gateway Green — the non-profit group working to convert an ODOT-owned, 35-acre parcel between I-205 and I-84 into a bicycle recreation area — has announced that Governor Kulongoski has selected the project to be part of the Oregon Solutions program.
Oregon Solutions is a process that grew out of Oregon’s Sustainability Act of 2001. Projects under this umbrella are seen as having a high priority for the state and they are selected because they have a strong sustainability component and bring together a wide range of community stakeholders. Oregon Solutions helps the Gateway Green project in many important ways — from bringing its staff resources (to help find funding, etc…) to being a heavyweight facilitator to help navigate the extremely complicated route from vacant land to public recreation mecca.
Local road racers Robin Moore and Jake Salcone have put together a hilarious music video called Performance that skewers the fashion and behavior of roadies and fixed gear riders.
The video is set in Portland and the song contains some stinging lines about fashion-conscious fixed gear riders by a roadie rapper named MC SpandX.
“An anodized chain, cards in your spokes… how can you ride, your pants are a joke?” goes one of the lines.
This is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time. While it’s harsh on fixed gear riders, the MC SpandX is so over the top about himself he actually ends up making just as much fun of himself.
Watch MC SpandX lay it down rap-style against the fixie set…
Year: 2009
Brand: Scott
Model: Sub 30 Classic
Color:Brown/White
Size:Large
Serial: GH891151 11080576
Stolen in Portland, OR
Stolen:2009-08-11
Stolen From: Downtown bike rake late Monday Night
Neighborhood: Downtown Portland
Owner: Arthur Moore
OwnerEmail: artiemo@gmail.com
Description: Lights front and back
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: 09071371
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike