WATCH – Portland Police officers knock a protester off of his bicycle and arrest him outside of Lownsdale Square Park near the Federal Courthouse downtown #LiveOnK2 pic.twitter.com/tow0GzeyzW
— Dan McCarthy (@DanMcKATU) July 16, 2020
(NOTE: Written by Community Cycling Center Cesar Chavez Safe Routes to School Coordinator William Francis.)
Local bike businesses were among the hundreds of thousands of U.S. companies that asked the federal government for assistance to weather the coronavirus storm.
Data released from the Small Business Administration last week revealed that at least four Portland bike shops and two other bike-related businesses received loans through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
Here’s the list (company name, loan amount, number of jobs retained (if available)):
Fat Tire Farm
$150,000-350,000
14 jobsBike Gallery
$350,000-1 millionRiver City Bicycles
54 jobs
$350,000-1 million
A $206 million project that will improve service on TriMet’s Red light rail line will also come with significant benefits to bicycle riders.
The “Better Red” project will extend the Red Line further west in Washington County; but what we’re watching closely is how the improvements will impact the I-205 path in east Portland.
According to TriMet, the project will add a second track on two sections of existing single track between Gateway Transit Center and the Portland Airport. Adjacent to these new tracks and stations, TriMet plans to build multi-use paths. The project will also re-align the existing path.
After launching with a bang in early May, we haven’t heard much about the “Slow Streets” portion of the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Safe Streets Initiative. These are the 120 intersections where PBOT has installed “Local Access Only” and “Go Slow” signs along with barricades in a bid to reduce driving and improve conditions for people who need more space to walk and roll while maintaining a safe distance from each other.
Today a new volunteer program launched that wants to raise the profile of these streets and strengthen the impact of the program.
