4/25: Hello readers and friends. I'm still recovering from a surgery I had on 4/11, so I'm unable to attend events and do typical coverage. See this post for the latest update. I'll work as I can and I'm improving every day! Thanks for all your support 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor
Crowded Willamette at 3:25 pm on a Monday. (Photo: Becky Jo)
The insurance post regarding cars, uninsured motorists, and cyclists was fine and all, but what about a kayak? Yes. A kayak.
The husbeast hits the loop around Smith & Bybee Lakes on weekends. He’s pulling even longer days now that we’re all in an economic slide, trying to keep his team employed. So he heads out on long rides on the weekends. He gets back, and tells me, “There’s this asshole talking on his phone while carrying a kayak to the parking lot, trips on the curb, lands in the bike lane, and two cyclists crash into him.”
NW Bicycle Safety Council founder Bruce Buffington fitting a helmet at the Hillsboro Tour de Parks in 2008. (Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
In 1995 Bruce Buffington organized the first-ever Beaverton Bicycle Safety Fair, an event inspired by his own fall where his un-helmeted head hit the pavement. That first year the fair lasted a week and included a criterium race, group rides, a bike safety rodeo for the kids, free bike registrations, a legal clinic, and more. That event would eventually morph into the nonprofit Northwest Bicycle Safety Council, which Buffington launched just before he retired in 2005.
NWBSC became a mainstay on the west side in recent years by participating in annual events like the Hillsboro Tour de Parks, Beaverton, Banks, & Beyond, Bike Beaverton, and Cycology Today, a local cable access television show*. The organization was primarily known for fitting free helmets to anyone who needed one. NWBSC President Ann Morrow estimates they’ve placed over 17,000 helmets on the heads of bike riders region-wide.
This week the organization announced it had reached the end of the road and would dissolve.”While we still believe adamantly in our cause of bicycle safety and particularly helmets properly fitted on heads, we have struggled to find volunteers to continue this passion,” Morrow wrote in a letter to supporters.
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Morrow is also on the executive board for the Portland Bicycling Club, the oldest and largest bike club in the region. NWBSC and Portland Bicycling Club have been partners on helmet-related initiatives since 1995.
Long time volunteer Gary Brannan said the impact of the organization went far beyond bicycling and to any activity where a head injury could occur. Brannan credits NWBSC with “extending the range of bicycle safety consciousness” through their helmet giveaways and partnerships with local schools, Legacy Emanuel Hospital and the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program. “Our greater community will continue to benefit from the ‘seeds’ that Buffington and his organization planted,” Brannan shared in an email Sunday.
The NWBSC has donated all their remaining assets to Bike Clark County, a nonprofit that serves southwest Washington. Bike Clark County Executive Director Peter Van Tilburg said they were “humbled and honored” to receive the donation of supplies, a utility van (which they didn’t need, so they donated it to a Portland area nonprofit), and some funds.
*The Cycology Today TV show will continue to tape new episodes.
Locked in a heated race against incumbent City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and former Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Mingus Mapps has jumped into the Covid-19 open streets discussion.
Mapps’ campaign announced this morning that he wants to “reclaim our streets” and has a “constructive compromise” to offer.
“Mingus Mapps calls on the City of Portland to publicly encourage neighborhoods to apply for block party permits to close down streets in their own neighborhoods,” the announcement reads. “Mingus supports this ‘bottom up’ approach that empowers Portlanders to build social capital and bring neighbors and children outside while also maintaining social distancing. He encourages the City to allow permits to last for up to one week.”
Proposed cross-section with parked cars next to a curbside bike lane. (Graphic made with Streetmix)
“With just cones and a touch of paint, we can quickly and cheaply build a much safer, healthier, and happier Hawthorne,” reads the text of a website at HealthierHawthorne.com that just launched yesterday.
Sellwood Cycle Repair is seeking a full-time bike mechanic. The ideal candidate has at least 3 years of professional experience working on all styles of bikes with a focus on high-quality repairs. Bicycle and merchandise sales are required as needed, although this is not a primary role. We emphasize a commitment to excellent customer service and positive communication with an ability to work with anyone, co-workers and customers alike. Availability on Saturdays is a must. Pay rate is competitive and is based on experience. Benefits include medical, vision and dental insurance.
How to Apply
Please send a cover letter and resume to shop@sellwoodcycle.com
Sarah Iannarone at a rally for the 2030 Bike Plan in February. (Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
If Sarah Iannarone gets elected to be Portland’s next mayor our streets will probably look and feel a lot different.
A strong transportation reform activist who gets around via e-bike and sits on the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s bicycle and budget advisory committees, Iannarone would very likely oversee PBOT if given the opportunity.
That might be why many of Portland’s grassroots transportation activists support her campaign. That might also be why her recently released Recovery and Resiliency Plan calls for things like more investments in bikeways, free transit, and an e-bike ownership incentive program. She’d also created “zero emissions thrive zones” and “pedestrian streets”.
I recently asked Iannarone to weigh in on the open streets debate. That is, what (if anything) should Portland do to take advantage of major changes in how people are getting around during the Covid-19 outbreak?
