BikePortland

Some good news from City Hall (it’s not about the mayor)

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Amanda Mansfield has a
mission from Commissioner
Fritz: Learn about bikes.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Last week during a meeting of the Bicycle Advisory Committee, there was one person around the table who I’d never seen before.

When she introduced herself as Amanda Mansfield from the staff of newly elected Commissioner Amanda Fritz, I was pleasantly surprised. After watching her listen attentively and fill several pages of notes (on what was a rather wonky meeting), I tracked her down to find out more.

It turns out that Ms. Mansfield was sent by order of Commissioner Fritz in order to learn more about bike issues. When I asked Mansfield why, she said, “to educate myself and Commissioner Fritz about what’s on the agenda for bikes. I plan to report back to her so we can keep abreast of the issues and help out whenever possible.”

Before heading out for lunch with Livable Streets Network editor Sarah Goodyear, we took a couple of quick detours to check out some of the more interesting livable streets initiatives in the West Village.

This is my favorite moment on the 9th Ave cycle track — this didn’t make it into my other post about the track and its many uses. (Photos: Elly Blue)

This Weekend: Freaks, MUPs and trees

[Publisher’s note: We are trying to do a better job about sharing ride info. In the future, we’ll try and publish “This Weekend”, with a list of rides we’ve heard about, on Thursdays.]

Cliff and Dutch of North Freak.
(Photo © J. Maus)

It might be the dead of winter and chilly as heck outside, but that hasn’t stopped Portlanders from planning fun bike rides and events. And, given the heaviness of this week, having fun on a bike sounds like just what the doctor ordered.

Here are a few rides coming up (starting tonight) that have caught my eye.

Tonight (Friday, 1/23)
Freaky Friday
This is a monthly night ride hosted by the fine folks of North Freak Bike Club. The ride meets at 10:30 pm at Irving Park (NE 7th Ave and Fargo St) and then everyone will ride to a mystery location for freak bike jousting and assorted antics. In case you’re wondering, North Freak is “a collective for people who love freak bicycles, such as tall bikes, choppers, swing bikes, minibikes and anything else fun and creative you can think of.”
— MORE INFO HERE —

Stop by this afternoon:
833 SE Main, Ste 102.
[Google Map]

It’s Day 4 of the Mayor Adams situation and the topic still weighs heavily on our minds here at BikePortland headquarters. Also, given the many comments on the few stories I’ve done about it, it’s clear the topic is also very important to many of you.

I’ve read thousands of comments and myriad news articles these past few days. But, at this pivotal moment in Portland’s future, I thought it might be helpful for us to get together in person to share our thoughts.

Below is the statement released by the Vancouver Police Department last night. For more coverage, read this story in the Columbian.

(emphasis mine)

Posted: January 21st, 2009 8:30 PM

At approximately 2:35pm today, Vancouver Police were dispatched to an injury collision involving a bicyclist and a vehicle on SE 136th Avenue at SE 7th Street. When officers arrived, they found a teenage bicyclist had been struck by a vehicle in the intersection.

Read more

Rally tomorrow for “most pro-bike mayor we’ve had in Portland”

(Photo © J. Maus)

There’s a rally in support of Mayor Adams planned for 5:30 pm tomorrow at City Hall.

Here’s an email I received from a reader about it:

“As you know, Sam has stepped up to the plate for the bikers of Portland many times, and risked his political neck for us just as many. Are we, as a community, then going to leave him to the wolves for a thank you? No, I say we need to take a stand. Now, he is the one that needs our support. Now is not the time for liberal hand wringing. We need to take up the fight to support someone who has supported us, even when it was politically unpopular to do so. This is absolutely relevant to the bike community. His politics are why we elected him, not his private sex life. I hope you will join us in taking a stand for the most pro-bike mayor we’ve had in Portland, and put an announcement on your website about this rally.”

The CCC’s retail shop at
NE Alberta and 17th.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Bikes Belong Foundation has awarded the Northeast Portland based Community Cycling Center (CCC) a $10,000 grant.

The grant has been made through Bikes Belong’s Paul David Clark Best Practices Grants program. That program — which was established in honor of avid cyclist Paul Clark who was killed by a vehicle while riding his bike in 2005 — makes awards to “exemplary organizations that are supporting their communities through bicycling, establishing innovative bike programs for young riders, and setting—and raising—the bicycle-advocacy bar.”

Massachusetts is working overtime to become a bike-friendly state.

In Boston, they’ve gone from “Worst” to “Future Best” Bike City in Bicycling Magazine and former Olympian turned bike czar Nicole Freedman was recently named a “Bostonian of the Year” by the Boston Globe.

With a press release that exclaims, “The Portland “Snowpocalypse” can’t keep us from getting kids on bikes!”, the Community Cycling Center (CCC) has announced plans to hold a sequel to their annual Holiday Bike Drive this weekend.

The event will hope to bring biking’s goodness to more than 350 kids who couldn’t attend the original Bike Drive on December 14th, which was cut short by a snow storm. The CCC promises it will be “the same great event, just a little over a month later.”

Blumenauer presents the
coveted ticket.
(Photos: James Koski)

Back in December, Los Angeleno Ryan Bowen and an energetic band of friends and followers left L.A. for D.C. on their bikes to be a part of the Inaugural event. They dubbed their journey “Biking for Obama” and kept up a great blog about their adventure.

And, showing a bit of hopeful audacity, they didn’t even have tickets to the Inaugural when they left.

Fortunately, D.C.’s highest-profile bike-lover (and Portland resident), Congressman Earl Blumenauer answered their plea for tickets on their website and presented them to Bowen and a friend on behalf of the Congressional Bike Caucus and Bowen’s hometown Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.).

Air quality, access to parks, good public transit, and bike facilities were some of the reasons Portland got #1.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Some good news from City Hall (it’s not about the mayor)

A sampling of New York’s new livable streets infrastructure

CRC Hearing at Portland City Council

This Weekend: Freaks, MUPs and trees

Office hours today: Let’s talk about Sam

Teen critically injured in collision with SUV in Vancouver

Rally tomorrow for “most pro-bike mayor we’ve had in Portland”

Community Cycling Center wins $10,000 grant

Massachusetts passes landmark bike bill: How does Oregon compare?

366 kids will fulfill belated bike dreams this weekend

Blumenauer lends a hand to Obama bikers

Yahoo: Portland #1 green city; a “role model for the nation”

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