🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
Over the past few months, the Forums have finally started to gain some momentum. I have been thrilled to see people connect with riding partners, share route recommendations, have lively discussions on important issues and much more.
Unfortunately, spam has forced me to temporarily close them down. For many weeks I was manually deleting the spam as it came in, but the volume steadily increased and I could no longer keep up.
I just love it that when someone opposes a recreational path in Portland it’s considered front page news.
This morning the Oregonian splashed the SK Northwest story on their front page.
This coverage will add fuel what is becoming a growing fire. Let’s just hope we can figure this mess out. Regardless of what happens with this case, we need a vastly improved detour around the property than what currently exists.
There is a lot of buzz in Portland right now about the local bicycle industry. In recent weeks, spurred on by Transportation Commissioner Sam Adams, we have created our first-ever economic survey of Portland’s bicycle industry, held a bike business forum at our city-wide Bike Summit, passed an official City resolution to target the bicycle industry and held a successful show of local bicycle builders at City Hall.
All that being said, I was surprised to find out that the Portland Development Commission (PDC) has had the bicycle industry on their radar for over a decade already.
Last Friday over 100 bigwigs assembled at PDX Airport for the second annual “policymakers ride”. Organized by Cycle Oregon, the idea behind this invite-only affair was to bring together a high-powered group of bureaucrats, planners, advocates, and politicians to experience the highs and lows of our regional bikeway network first-hand.
Why is Cycle Oregon behind a ride like this?
Besides putting on their famous week-long tour each year, Cycle Oregon is working to create a statewide system of scenic bikeways. What better way to create awareness for gaps in the network (and do some lobbying) than to get all the decision makers on a beautiful ride, feed them, and give them free stuff (we got jerseys, gloves and socks from Pearl Izumi, which is owned by Vancouver-based Nautilus Inc.)?
Tomorrow (7/13) Portland Open Studios and Weir’s Cyclery are having a special party to roll out the 2006 ArtBike.
The ArtBike is part of a unique cycling and art event created four years ago by Portland Open Studios’ organizer and artist Bonnie Meltzer and Weir’s Cyclery.
Portland Open Studios is non-profit that puts on an annual tour of artists’ studios in the Portland Metro area each October.
Portland bike lawyer Ray Thomas, a tireless defender of cyclist’s rights, is at it again.
His latest initiative is a grassroots project to bring accountability to the court system from the consumers of the system, those who appear in traffic court with bicycle related cases.
According to Thomas, the impetus of this initiative comes from accounts he has heard from citizens that judges are routinely impolite, disrespectful and have even blocked cyclists from submitting evidence in their own defense at trial. Here’s more from Thomas:
[Submitted by baamin]
A green Gary Fisher Tassajara was taken from the southeast corner of NW 10th and Couch on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 5, 2006. The bike was locked to a post with cable (U-lock malfunctioned), but that was taken too, so I’m assuming the cord was clipped. Body Geometry seat, new inset-tread uber tires, two water bottle mounts and discernable scratch along the top of the frame at time of theft. Handlebar hub is red and inscribed with “ALL WORK AND NO PLAY IS NO GOOD AT ALL” along the circumference. Please write or call with any information: baamin@yahoo.com, 5zero3-4zero7-7318.
Thanks.
The Bicycle Transportation Alliance is in the midst of a two-year bicycle boulevard campaign. They’re trying to figure out where to put them, how to educate other advocates about them and most importantly, they’re trying to come up with a clear vision for what these boulevards will actually look like.
To that end, they’re on a bike boulevard tour that has already taken them to Davis and Berkeley California in recent weeks and they have future trips planned to Vancouver, BC among other places.
On Monday I joined the BTA Bike Boulevard Team on a trip to Eugene to see what planners in that city are doing to create low-traffic bikeways.
There’s a new bike shop in Southeast Portland called Atomic Sprockets. They’re nestled in an old building at 627 SE Morrison (between 6th and 7th).
They’ve got a fun mix of new and vintage cruisers including bikes from classic brands like Schwinn, Monarch, Hawthorne, JC Higgins, and Western Flyer and new cruisers from Nirve, Manhattan, Dyno and Schwinn. They also do custom bikes, restoration, bike motors, painting and repair.
The SK Northwest case is getting messier by the week. There has just been a second appeal (links to PDF) filed against the Bureau of Development Services (BDS) decision to not allow their permit. SK Northwest is seeking to build their business on a key section of the Springwater Corridor Trail and not grant the city any trail access across the property.
This Wednesday The 700 Club – a 40 year-old news program produced by the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) – will feature a segment on bike commuting that was filmed entirely in Portland.
*Given the CBN’s extremely conservative (and sometimes controversial) stance on many social and political issues, the fact that they’re devoting time on The 700 Club to focus on bike commuting in one of the country’s bluest states is yet another sign that bike commuting is reaching a Tipping Point of acceptance into many new segments of the U.S. population.