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The Monday Roundup

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Lots of local news; Cash for Clunkers excites some, nauseates others; BikeSnob to reveal identity; roadblocks to getting to school by bike; taking the Sierra Club to task; rickshaws deprioritized in Dhaka; and much, much more.

Here’s a selection of the stories that caught our eye in the last week:

– It’s not looking good for a timely reauthorization of the federal transportation bill, or for the Obama administration’s support for innovations in transportation funding.

– Through the Cash for Clunkers program, the federal government is now helping Americans trade in their old cars for new ones, to the tune of up to $4,500. And the effects are becoming apparent as local car dealerships get a boost.

– Maureen Dowd makes a comparison between driving while distracted by our phones and a dangerous drug habit.

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blue red white trek 5200 usps 02

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Year: 02
Brand: trek
Model: 5200 usps
Color:blue red white
Size:56 cm
Serial: WL1213978
Stolen in laconner, WA
Stolen:2009-07-13
Stolen From: s.e. bethesda pl. gresham
Owner: wood weiss
OwnerEmail: chirowood@wavecable.com
Reward: 350
Description: postal, speedplay pedals,small clip attached under seat.red and black Terry saddle
Police record with: gresham police
Police reference#: 099102
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Black with red lettering, detail, handlebar tape Schwinn Super Le Toure 1978?

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Year: 1978?
Brand: Schwinn
Model: Super Le Toure
Color:Black with red lettering, detail, handlebar tape
Size:~52 cm
Photo: http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs028.snc1/4286_81486653475_534528475_1768242_3817039_n.jpg; http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs182.snc1/6060_104293638475_534528475_2108291_6852473_n.jpg
Stolen in Portland, OR 97211
Stolen:2009-07-21
Stolen From: right out of my back yard at about 11 p.m. NE 13th and Wygant, just south of Alberta.
Owner: Kathe Steck
OwnerEmail: kathe.yvonne@gmail.com
Reward: YES!
Description: Black body with red lettering, cable casings, and handlebar tape. Paint a little dinged up here and there, with rust, especially around the top tube where “super le toure” is written (from my bike lock). Wheels are fairly new with good tread, new brake pads and cable housings. One rear Planet Bike fender. At the time it was stolen, front brake cable and front derailleur loose, and derailleurs a little out of alignment.
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Gold and Black Specialized 2003?

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Year: 2003?
Brand: Specialized
Color:Gold and Black
Stolen in Portland, OR 97215
Stolen:2009-07-24
Stolen From: SE 45th Ave and Hawthorne Blvd.
Neighborhood: SE Hawthorne
Owner: Alyssa Hursh
OwnerEmail: alyssa.hursh@gmail.com
Description: Gold and black Specialized hybrid-ish bike. 24-speed, with unhappy gears (#2 and 3) on the rear gear set. Specialized foam seat with several rips and tears. Seat is worn down to the yellow foam on the very front, left side. Black bike bell on left side handlebar. Standard planet bike front and rear lights. Black fenders, front and rear. Black rack over rear wheel. Gray rubber handles are slightly sticky from use. Front brake screeches pretty badly. Front bike fork has shock absorbers. The ends of the brake handles have been scratched at the tip, so the little ball ends are now mostly silver (instead of black). The water bottle holder is positioned on the underside of the frame so that it points toward the front wheel.
Police record with: 09-065837
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

blue cannondale r800 1996

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Year: 1996
Brand: cannondale
Model: r800
Color:blue
Size:56
Photo: http://www.aracnet.com/~dclark/cannondale.html
Stolen in portland, OR 97212
Stolen:2009-07-25
Stolen From: NE 14th/NE Klickitat
Neighborhood: irvington/sabin
Owner: Melanie Clark
OwnerEmail: mclark@aracnet.com
Reward: 100
Description: blue canondale (mens) with shamano pedals, racing rims, full handle bars, panier, bike and front bike lights
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Metallic Blue Cannondale CAAD4 2004

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Year: 2004
Brand: Cannondale
Model: CAAD4
Color:Metallic Blue
Stolen in Portland, OR 97213
Stolen:2009-07-25
Stolen From: 49th & Brazee, in front of the house
Neighborhood: NE, near Hollywood
Owner: Rebecca Roberts
OwnerEmail: rroberts@k12.com
Description: Women’s road bike, has some blue/silver spirally design on the frame, Speedplay pedals, Conti tire in front (I think), new Bontrager tire on back
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Yellow Lightspeed 98ish

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Year: 98ish
Brand: Lightspeed
Color:Yellow
Size:55cm
Stolen in Portland, OR 97213
Stolen:2009-07-25
Stolen From: In front of my house
Neighborhood: NE near Hollywood
Owner: Frank Charron
OwnerEmail: frank_oh@hotmail.com
Description: Ti road bike painted screaming yellow, the lightspeed badge on front has fallen off, blue sidewalls on tires, Look pedals
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

Weekend Open Thread

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Have a great weekend!

Use this post to discuss your hot-weather riding this weekend.

Not sure yet what you’ll be doing? Check out the featured events on our Weekend Guide, or for more bike fun see the always well-populated Shift calendar.

I’ve already begun my weekend, taking a chunk of time off in the middle of the day to haul some found boards by bike — hopefully within the next week they’ll become a bookshelf.

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Inner SE Get Together recap and photos

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Get Together - Inner SE-16

The crowd listens to PBOT’s Ellen
Vanderslice for an update on the
bike master plan.
(Photos © J. Maus)

We had another great Get Together in inner Southeast last night. A very solid turnout of readers, local bike business owners, event promoters, advocates and planners showed up to learn, network, and drink some very good beer.

Each one of our Get Togethers (this is the fifth) has taken on a different feel. Last night we didn’t talk much about road conditions and bikeway highs and lows. Instead, with the amazing amount of active bike people in Southeast, the night turned into a great opportunity for business-to-business networking and for people to put faces to the names and projects they read about everyday here on BikePortland.

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Clark County announces two open houses for bike/ped plan

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If you live/ride/work in and around Vancouver, Washington, you need to get involved with this very important project to create a new bike and pedestrian plan for Clark County.

Here’s the latest word from a Clark County press release:

Open houses to gather public input on planning for biking, walking

Vancouver, WA – Planning to improve conditions for riding bikes and walking over the next 20 years will be the focus for a pair of open houses on the evenings of July 28 and 30. Both sessions will run from 6 to 8 p.m. and cover the same topics.

The first open house will be at the Fishers Landing Transit Center, at Southeast 164th Avenue and State Route 14, Vancouver. The second will be in the sixth-floor hearing room at the Clark County Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver.

Project Manager Laurie Nicholson said the public will have an opportunity to ask questions and learn the status of this Community Planning project. In addition, she said anyone interested may provide input on these three topics:

– Potential updates to the Clark County Bicycle Commute Plan adopted in 1996.
– How to enhance planning reflected in the Regional Trail & Bikeway Systems Plan adopted by Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation in 2006.
– Broader concerns about how to make the county more “walkable” to promote health and safety for pedestrians both in urban and rural areas.

Nicholson said a draft plan should be ready for additional review and comment in the fall, before it is forwarded to the Planning Commission and Board of Clark County Commissioners for hearings and formal consideration in 2010.

More information is available on the project Web site at www.clark.wa.gov/bikeandped. People interested in learning more may also contact Nicholson directly at (360) 397-2280 ext. 4544, or e-mail laurie.nicholson@clark.wa.gov.

CRC update: Planning price tag in the news, opposition matures, tolling on the table

Sunday Parkways Northeast 2009-51

Grassroots activists at Sunday Parkways explained
why they want to stop a
12-lane I-5 bridge.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Columbia River Crossing (CRC) project watchers are buzzing after a front page story in The Oregonian yesterday detailed its planning costs.

According to reporter Dylan Rivera, the planning effort for the new I-5 bridge has cost taxpayers $65 million. Here’s more from his opening paragraph:

“A new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River has so far cost taxpayers $65 million, without a spade of dirt turned. By this time next year, the tab will hit $100 million — burning though cash at a rate of more than $1 million a month.

The result: mainly an environmental impact statement and thousands of pages of reports.”

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Stolen Bike Listings success: Bike thief foiled by technology, community

The bike, before a thief took
it for a two-week joyride.
(Photo: James Selman)

It’s been about a month since the re-launch of our Stolen Bike Listings. And it’s a good thing we did. So far in July, we’ve had 63 stolen bikes listed.

Today, I get to a share a story of how technology and the community came together to get one of them back and put its thief behind bars.

James Selman, the founder and creative director at branding agency Weights&Pulleys, listed his one-of-a-kind, custom black Seven Cycles Tsunami singlespeed (with estimated value of $4,600) on June 29th.

According to Selman, someone threw a baseball-sized rock through the glass door of his office in Northwest Portland. The smash-and-grabbers grabbed his Apple laptop and rode off on his bike.

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