Freight, bikes, and the Central Eastside: An interview with Peter Stark

Peter Stark at a Central City in Motion project design charrette on March 16th.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

As the City of Portland looks to create a usable, low-stress cycling network in the central city, one of the toughest places to make it a reality will be the Central Eastside Industrial District. An area hemmed in by massive freeway infrastructure with a legacy of heavy industry and freight-dependent businesses, the CEID is in many ways the lynchpin of the Central City in Motion project.

One of the people standing in the middle of discussions about how to plan for the future of this district is Peter Stark.

Stark is a licensed architect who owns his own design and planning firm. He’s also one of Portland’s most well-known activists. Stark’s many civic endeavors include a position on the board of Portland Streetcar Inc., and he’s the founder and board chair of the Cornell Road Sustainability Coalition. In the Central Eastside, Stark has been a key player for over 17 years. He’s a past president of the Central Eastside Industrial Council and currently on the board as well as being the executive director of the CEIC’s Transportation Policy Advisory Committee.

I caught up with Stark after a meeting of the Central City in Motion in project last week to ask him about how he sees the future of bikes and freight in the Central Eastside.

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Don’t forget to take ODOT’s Oregon Coast Bike Route survey

(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

As we reported back in January, the Oregon Department of Transportation is currently working on a much-needed update to the Coast Bike Route plan.

“With the changes in bicycle infrastructure standards, and the growth of bike tourism destinations and travel options both nationally and along U.S. 101,” an ODOT spokesperson told us in January, “the time was right to closely examine and identify opportunities to increase safety, accessibility and enjoyment for both local community members and travelers on the Oregon Coast Bike Route.”

As part of that work they have released a survey. If you’ve ridden the route — or if you’ve wanted to but are just too afraid (something I hear from a lot of people) — please take a few minutes and do the survey.

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Crunch time for off-road cycling plan with all eyes on Portland Parks Board meeting

An advisory committee meeting for the plan in March 2017.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

In case you haven’t read or heard yet, it’s crunch time for the City of Portland’s Off-road Cycling Master Plan.

After years of meetings and planning, advocates are making their final arguments, a draft version is being reviewed by the influential Portland Parks Board, and a date at City Council for final adoption is likely this summer.

Everyone agrees this is a plan our city needs; but it’s less clear if this is the plan our city wants.

I was at the March 12th Parks Board meeting and shared a snapshot of how Mayor Ted Wheeler and a few advocates are feeling about the plan. Earlier this week I shared a guest post from Daniel Greenstadt, an advocate who has followed the plan’s development very closely and has participated in several of the planning meetings.

Those two stories, along with a search of our archives on terms like “forest park singletrack” and “off-road cycling master plan” should give you plenty of background information to understand this issue and make an informed opinion about it. (We’ve covered every twist-and-turn of this issue for over a decade, so there’s a clear historical thread that can be easily woven by anyone with the energy and interest. If you have a question about the plan, the process, or the politics, feel free to ask in the comments!)

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Jobs of the Week: Stages, Kerr Bikes, Bike Clark County, WashCo BTC, Go By Bike

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Looking for a new place to spread you cycling wings? We’ve got five great job opportunities that just went up this week.

Learn more about each one via the links below…

–> Customer Service Representative – Stages Indoor Cycling

–> Professional Bike Mechanic for Kerr Bikes – Albertina Kerr

–> Bicycle Mechanic / Sale Associate – Part-time – Bike Clark County

–> Bike Camp Instructor – Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition (dba WashCo BTC)

–> Morning Mechanic – Go By Bike Shop

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City wants to build a parking protected bike lane on Denver north of Lombard

(Graphic: PBOT)

North Denver Avenue could be the latest street in Portland to get a parking-protected bike lane.

The Kenton Neighborhood Association says the Portland Bureau of Transportation is shopping around that idea as part of a repaving project this summer. “Last Friday, PBOT went door-to-door between N Lombard and N Watts on N Denver,” stated a KNA blog post published March 13th, “and spoke with roughly 35 people at 20 addresses, finding most neighbors enthusiastic about the project.”

We’ve since confirmed that PBOT has set aside $938,000 from their local gas tax-funded Fixing Our Streets program to pave and make ADA upgrades on Denver Avenue from Lombard to Watts. As of late February the project was at 60 percent design. According to a document available on PBOT’s website, a “final decision related to parking removal remains and relates to public involvement.”

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Job: Bike Valet/Mechanic – Go By Bike Shop

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title

Bike Valet/Mechanic

Company / Organization

Go By Bike Shop

Job Description

We are looking for a new mechanic to join our fun and passionate small team. Go By Bike operates the largest bike valet in North America under the aerial tram as well as a same day bike shop run out of a converted 20-foot cargo container. Our mission is to make it as easy as possible to ride your bike to the tram. The position is 30 hours a week. $13-$15/hour. You would be helping with the bike valet during the rush and working on bike repairs when the bike valet slows down.

One of the most important things to us is creating a positive work environment. We are looking for someone who enjoys what they do and knows how to balance work/life. Interest in working partly outdoors is a must. Must have previous customer service and bike shop experience.

Benefits include health insurance and one paid sick/vacation day accrued per month, plus paid holidays. Position starts April 10th.

How to Apply

To apply please email a resume and 1-2 paragraph cover letter explaining why you want to work at Go By Bike to gobybikeshop@gmail.com

Job: Bike Camp Instructor – Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition (dba WashCo BTC)

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title

Bike Camp Instructor

Company / Organization

Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition (dba WashCo BTC)

Job Description

The Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition (the WC BTC) will hold our youth Bike Adventure Camps again next summer, and we are seeking qualified instructors.

We are looking for people who are comfortable riding their bike in traffic, can ride 10-20 miles in a day, and have experience working with youth in these age groups. You and your co-instructor will be responsible for the day to day activities of up to 12 campers, ages 9-11, including teaching a core bike safety curriculum, so you must be self-directed and able to teach in a collaborative setting.

We plan to hold 4 to 6 camps, each 5 days long for 9-11 year olds. We strongly prefer instructors who can teach all camps, but can be flexible.
Camps will be held in Hillsboro, Tigard, Beaverton and Forest Grove. Camps will be held M-F on consecutive weeks beginning (tentatively) Monday, July 9th, and last camp and ending on August 17th.
The pay for instructors would be $12-$15 hour depending on experience.

Instructors will be required to successfully complete our “Confidence in Traffic” clinic, or show similar competency, as well as have first aid training and, hopefully, basic bike repair. You will also be required to know the material contained in our Bike Camp Instructors Manual and the safety curriculum in the Safe Routes to School manual. We will provide the training and written materials to you. You will also be required to pass a criminal background check.

If you are interested in applying or learning more, please contact us at the email link below requesting a job application or send us your resume.

e-mail: info@washcobtc.org
our website: www.washcobtc.org

How to Apply

Please send a current resume to info@washcobtc.org
If you would like to fill out an application, go to: http://washcobtc.org/bike_camp
Scroll down to the "Apply Now" button.
or you can mail it to:
WashCo BTC-Bike Camp
137 NE 3rd Ave.
Hillsboro, OR. 97124

Guest post: Candidly, TriMet (part two)

Aaron Brown.

This is the second of a two-part article by Aaron Brown, founder of No More Freeways PDX and former board president of Oregon Walks. The first part is here.

So, candidly, if freeway expansion is so obviously detrimental to the TriMet’s goals and ability to provide service to the region, why has TriMet supported it? Urban scholar Jacob Arbinder wrote in Democracy Journal last month about the bumbling, abysmal state of transportation governance in cities like New York and Boston. The piece is worth reading at length; he identifies the problem as a “broken political economy,” which is a fancy, academic way of stating that transit agencies suffer from a dearth of adequate democratic mechanisms for community input and budgetary accountability.

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Job: Bicycle Mechanic / Sale Associate – Part-time positions – Bike Clark County

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title

Bicycle Mechanic / Sale Associate – Part-time positions

Company / Organization

Bike Clark County

Job Description

Job Title: Bicycle Mechanic / Sale Associate – Part-time positions
Reports to: Shop Manager – Bike Clark County
Salary: $13/hr DOE
Terms: Bi-annual performance reviews by the Board of Directors
Schedule: Flexible / Weekend hours required

About the Organization:
Bike Clark County is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 2010. We love bicycles, and we want to help other people in our community love bicycles as much as we do. Our organization has developed a positive reputation by providing low-cost and free bicycles and helmets to the kids in our community, teaching both kids and adults basic bicycle mechanical skills, and delivering bicycle safety courses. We are the only bicycle advocacy, safety, and education organization in
SW Washington, and we want to continue to grow and do more in our community. Current programs include a refurbished bicycle and new helmet give-away, bicycle safety rodeos and summer camps, several middle school bicycle safety programs, and our high school
Bike 2 Leadership Program.

Summary of Position:
BCC’s many charitable programs are made possible, in part, by the community-oriented operations in our recently opened bike shop. Our bicycle mechanics work in our shop repairing and refurbishing bicycles, both for paying customers and to ready bikes to give away through one of our programs. We also rely on our professionally trained mechanics to support our programs by leading volunteers and acting as subject matter experts. Mechanics are responsible for all aspects of the shop operations and work directly with the Board of Directors to ensure that the organization’s needs are met.

General Responsibilities:
Safely tuning up and overhauling bikes
Customer service with sales in new and used bikes and merchandise.
Positively interacting with customers, students, volunteers, and other employees
Maintaining inventory
Showing up to work on time
Using computers
Other duties as assigned

Other Qualifications for Success:
Ability to manage his or her own time and prioritize – be a self-starter and take ownership
Clear, honest, and positive communication skills
Able to problem-solve and work in a fast-paced, fun environment with a great attitude!

How to Apply

To apply, please send resume and letter of interest in PDF format to info@bikeclarkcounty.org

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