The Oregon Department of Transportation is seeking feedback on a project that will add bike lanes to North Lombard between Newman and Wilbur avenues.
High schooler clings to life after collision at notorious 82nd Avenue intersection
2019 is off to a harrowing start in Portland when it comes to the safety of people who are not driving cars on our streets.
As of this weekend we have had five fatal traffic crashes. Four of the victims were walking, one of them was someone on a bicycle. All of them were struck by someone driving a car. There are also two other victims struck by drivers who are still clinging to life at area hospitals.
One of them is 16-year-old Juana Jiménez Francisco, known to family and friends as Juanita. Francisco is a 10th grader at Madison High School who immigrated from Guatemala to Portland in March 2017. According to a GoFundMe page she was returning home from a weekend job at McDonalds when she was hit on February 24th.
Just like the person hit and seriously injured that same night on North Fessenden and the man killed back in January while trying to cross SW Salmon, this tragic incident occurred on a stretch of road — NE 82nd and Jonesmore — that is very well known for its unsafe conditions and where plans to make it safer have been in the works for many years.
We must expedite these projects in a way that matches the urgency of the safety crises they aim to address.
The Monday Roundup: Beto bikes, open streets, e-bike takeover, and more
Welcome to the week. Here are the most noteworthy items our editors and readers came across in the past seven days…
But first, a word from our sponsor…
Job: Mechanic / Customer Service – Citybikes Workers' Cooperative
Job Title
Mechanic / Customer Service
Company / Organization
Citybikes Workers' Cooperative
Job Description
Citybikes is hiring for the 2019 season!
Individuals who identify as people of color, women, trans, and/or non-binary are strongly encouraged to apply.
Qualifications:
Excellent customer service skills
2 years of shop experience preferred (sales/service)
Willingness to learn new and old technologies & share knowledge
Willingness to accept guidance and feedback related to job duties
Ability to work weekends
Preferred skills:
Desire to be a part of a worker owner cooperative
Strong interpersonal skills and engagement in co-op structure
Marketing and design skills a plus
Social media skills a plus
Flexible schedule
Desire for cooperative ownership
Proficiency in Spanish language
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
Contribute to a warm and welcoming atmosphere for workers and customers
Intake, assess, repair, and check over bicycles
Assist in daily shop operations
Attend cooperative meetings and learn the cooperative process
Strong attention to detail and follow thru
Hours: Flexible
Benefits:
Competitive wages based on experience
Generous employee rates on purchases
Health stipend and sick leave
No traditional bosses
Ownership track options/off-season potential
Ability to learn different areas of a bike shop rather than stick to one role
Citybikes strives to have an environment in which any cooperator can work in a safe and accepting environment, free from prejudice and/or discrimination of a person’s race, color, ancestry, place of origin, political beliefs, religion, martial status, family status, physical disability including HIV and AIDS, mental disability, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or age, or otherwise.
How to Apply
If you are interested in a possible future position feel free to drop off your resume with references at our shop (1914 SE Ankeny St) or email to customerservice@citybikes.coop.
Please include a brief cover letter.
Bicycle rider struck and killed on NE Killingsworth
A bicycle rider has died as the result of a collision with an automobile user.
According to the Portland Police Bureau, the crash happened in the westbound lanes of the 9100 block of NE Killingsworth Street around 10:15 pm last night (Friday, 3/1).
Here’s more from the PPB statement released this morning:
Comment of the Week: Slow Skyline Boulevard down, don’t widen it
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
We’re long overdue to put the spotlight on a great comment.
Our Comment of the Week goes to noted local activist and lawyer (and BikePortland supporter) Scott Kocher.
On Wednesday he shared insights about a road he knows very well: NW Skyline Blvd. His comment came on our story about Multnomah County’s online open house that seeks feedback on their 20 Year Road Plan. One project on that list would consider “augmenting shoulders” and possibly providing, “enhanced shoulder bikeways.”
Here’s Scott’s comment:
Look what just came out of The Vanilla Workshop
(Photos: The Vanilla Workshop)
Portland’s framebuilder scene has changed a lot since its heyday more than a decade ago. At one point it felt like a new builder would arrive on the scene every month. Builders were the toast of the town and were invited to display their creations everywhere from City Hall to City Club and even the Portland Airport.
The boom has passed and the number of local framebuilders has shrunk back to just a handful. The builders that remain are mostly the ones that seemed to have always been here. Sacha White is one of them.
White’s Vanilla Bicycles were some of the most coveted bicycles on the planet. “What Tiffany is to pearls, Sacha White is to bicycle frames,” was how he was introduced to a group of business leaders at an event in 2007. Now known as The Vanilla Workshop, a collaborative approach to business White launched in 2015, he and his team of bicycle artisans continue to set standards in the industry.
The Vanilla Workshop’s Richard Pool recently got in touch to share their latest “Ready Made” offering from the Speedvagen family. White stopped making only one-off, custom bikes long ago. Like other builders, he realized it’s impossible to scale-up and get more of your bikes on the road when you make everything by yourself with your own two hands. White found a niche doing small-batch builds. Vanilla’s Ready Made bikes are semi-custom. They start with a stock geometry and design and build a run of sizes. Customers can then choose a parts kit, paint and which braze-ons (attachment points for racks, pump, bottles, fenders) they’d like.
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Their latest Speedvagen Ready Made model is the Disc OG. Here’s more from the company:
“The Speedvagen Disc OG is presented without preciousness. There are no frills, the Disc OG is a dedicated hand crafted tool for road riding and racing. It’s a workhorse. Following our Speedvagen method of stripping away all that isn’t necessary we landed on a bike that is ready to rip and easy to work on, or upgrade later. The frame design uses our own Speedvagen tubing, signature seat mast, hour glass seat stays, head tube and race ready stock geometry, perfect for long days in the saddle or sprints to the line.”
The bike comes with a standard build kit that can be upgraded and customized to your wishes. The base price for a complete bike is $5995 and it takes $500 to reserve one. Wait time is just 2-3 months, a relative blink of the eye compared to the 3-4 year wait back in Vanilla’s custom days.
More details on their website.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Jobs of the Week: Community Cycling Center, Breadwinner, Bike Clark County, Rapha
Spring must be approaching because we’ve had five new job listings come in this week. If you’re looking for a new position or want to get your foot in the door of our local bike industry, we’ve got some excellent opportunities for you.
Learn more about each one via the links below…
–> Bike Camp Supervisor (seasonal, May – Sept.) – Community Cycling Center
–> Bike Camp Instructor (seasonal, summer) – Community Cycling Center
–> Customer Service Advisor – Rapha Racing
–> Customer Service and Sales Manager – Breadwinner Cycles
Wonk Night Wednesday (3/6): Let’s talk about the I-5 Rose Quarter project
While the fact that the Oregon Department of Transportation wants to widen I-5 through our central city gets most of the attention (reasonably so), an estimated half of the project’s $500 million price tag will be spent on surface streets and non-freeway infrastructure.
How activists and students collaborate with PBOT to get real projects on the ground
(Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Most close watchers of the Portland transportation world have heard of Better Block PDX. They’re the scrappy group of tactical urbanism activists who burst onto the scene by creating a public plaza in auto parking spaces along a block of SW Harvey Milk Street in 2013. They went on to lead successful projects on SW 3rd Avenue and Naito Parkway that led to permanent changes in our streetscape.
What you might not realize is the reason they’ve been quiet for the past few years isn’t because they’ve gone away. It’s because, instead of classic tactical urbanism that often involves rogue actions like human-protected bike lanes and the unsanctioned deployment of traffic cones to slow drivers down, they’ve been working behind-the-scenes.
County shares plans to address cycling safety during major road closure
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Last week we reported on a project that will close NW Cornelius Pass Road between Highway 30 and NW Germantown Road to through traffic for 13 weeks starting July 8th. Cornelius Pass is a major highway that connects Washington County (near Highway 26) with Scappoose and other destinations along Highway 30.
This is a big deal for bicycle riders because the project will detour thousands of people driving cars and trucks onto what are usually quiet, rural roads that happen to be on very popular cycling routes.