🚨 Please note that BikePortland slows down during this time of year as I have family in town and just need a break! Please don't expect typical volume of news stories and content. I'll be back in regular form after the new year. Thanks. - Jonathan 🙏
In what they’re calling a “major milestone,” and for the first time since the program began in 2006, the City of Portland has identified and published a list of Safe Routes to School projects that are funded and queued up for construction.
[Publisher’s note: I’m happy to introduce a new column — Adventures in Activism — to highlight more of the vital, in-the-trenches work of grassroots activists. The column will be edited by BikeLoudPDX volunteers Emily Guise and Catie Gould; but they won’t be the only writers. If you’re working to make streets better, please get in touch so we can share your voice. In this first post, Emily and Catie share how they got involved. Stay tuned and thanks for reading. – Jonathan]
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➤ by Emily Guise
My bike advocacy career started on North Williams Avenue. In 2011, I was living in inner north Portland, had just started a new job downtown, and was going to school in Gresham. I rarely rode during rush-hour before; but now I was part of the pack going in-and-out of the central city. I began to hate my bike commute: people behaved dangerously, traffic was noisy, and I felt scared riding in skinny bike lanes. Riding up Williams was the worst. Its thin bike lane was sandwiched between impatient rush-hour commuters in big SUVs and parked cars whose drivers obliviously flung their doors open. Having to be on high-alert just to get home safely was exhausting. I disliked how angry I felt while biking and I knew I couldn’t continue this way.
Posted 4 days ago Shop Assistant with Bike Mechanic Skills
Pedal Bike Tours
Job Description
At Pedal our mission is to create joyful and memorable experiences by bicycle.
We encourage exploration of our world through fun, safe and easy bike riding experiences, guided by friendly experts and supported by professional customer service and well maintained, quality bikes.
Our guided tours help people learn to comfortably and safely explore by bicycle, while encouraging a deeper understanding of the history and culture of each place we visit.
Our bike rentals are suited to families and people of all ages and fitness levels, and allow guests to create their own experiences using our high quality and well maintained bikes, helmets and equipment.
Our knowledgeable staff are always happy to give insider tips on things to do, places to eat and visit, and must-sees while exploring the area.
General
Assist with running the day to day operations of the store
Be the main point of contact for customers as they phone and walk through the door. Be personable and friendly- provide the highest level of customer service
Answer a broad range of questions on Portland/Oregon/NW history and culture, local restaurants, sights, shops.
Ensure the store is clean, well organized, and properly merchandised
Open and close shop
Service
Intake repair bikes, analyze issues, quote repair, fill out repair tag
Brake Adjustments and pad replacement
Shifter adjustments
Tire replacement
Flat fix and tube replacement
True wheels
Fender adjustments and installation
Experience as a bike shop mechanic is desirable
Help build demand for service through quality customer service
Bike Tours
Schedule tours, rentals in online reservation software
Monitor email inbox and process emails
Manage the front counter- Sign tour guests in, ring up orders
Rental
Outfit bicycle rental customers with bike, helmet and accessories
Receive bikes back, check for damage, missing equipment
Give advice and directions using a map.
How to Apply
If interested, email resume with cover letter and references.
Just yards away from the horrific hit-and-run last month, and in a society where we are building walls around each other instead of breaking them down, a group of Portlanders plans to reboot a 50-year-old idea: A free, “inclusive Portland picnic”.
“In the wake of intense discord, we’re gathering to connect,” reads a media alert sent out by organizers. “In recent weeks we’ve seen a spate of incidents that have deeply affected our community, including the shooting of John Elifritz; the suspicious circumstances around PSU student Aaron Salazar’s injuries; the vehicular assault of three women on PSU campus; and just this weekend, the conflict between alt-right and anti-fascist factions.”
The plan is to reclaim one block of SW Montgomery (an idea that really isn’t that radical) street between Broadway and 6th from 11:00 to 1:00 pm today. Organizers say they want to create a positive event. There will be invited guests to “collectively imagine what an inclusive Portland might look like and feel like.” There will also be an open mic.
Showroom and Retail Store Lead
Cart Logic
The Showroom and Retail Store Lead at Velotech is a full time position including full benefits and PTO.
JOB OVERVIEW: This position is responsible for the day ¬to¬ day operation of the BikeTiresDirect showroom, in addition to assisting in the essential functions of the Customer Service Department. This includes responding to customer emails, and working directly with customers in our store. The Showroom Lead provides product information, advice and order assistance, and is responsible for product selection, merchandising, and upkeep of the showroom. A qualified Showroom Lead also reviews orders and price match requests and assists with site content, including product reviews, photos and descriptions.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:
• Answer product questions & assist with the order process
• Operate store Point of Sale equipment
• Prepare the retail store for normal operations at opening time (lights, signage, setup PCs, etc) and handle End of Day procedures
• Work on receiving, placing product on the floor, and maintaining store cleanliness
• Work with Purchasing to maintain pricing on closeout product featured in the store
• Manage and facilitate the selling of closeout items on our eBay account
• Analyze customer questions, troubleshoot, and provide clear answers in an efficient and professional manner
• Develop trust and loyalty with consumers and build value in our brands
• Navigate a sophisticated order processing system
• Generate performance reports and recommend improvements
• Coordinate with Returns to assist customers with returns and exchanges
• Assist walk-¬in customers with product questions and purchases
• Retrieve products from the warehouse to assist walk¬-in customers
• Facilitate the rental of wetsuits that will include disinfecting, drying and organizing
MINIMUM JOB REQUIREMENTS:
• Basic computer skills
• Strong knowledge of cycling
• Previous customer service experience is a plus, as is sales, service and mechanical experience in the cycling industry
Please apply by clicking on link below:
https://www.paycomonline.net/v4/ats/index.php?/job/apply&clientkey=4C6D7027145254251F7D24DAA9BDF3F7&job=21241&jpt=
Saturday’s inaugural Gateway Green MTB Festival confirmed what many advocates have known for a long time: When the right trails are put in the right place, off-road cycling can reach people with a very wide range of ages, cycling abilities, and backgrounds.
As I said in October 2013 and on and more recently on May 22nd; the intersection of NW Broadway and Hoyt is dangerous by design and if the City of Portland doesn’t do something to make it safer for vulnerable road users, I’m afraid the next post I’ll write will be about a fatality.
On May 30th, just eight days after our previous story about this intersection, I received an email from reader NH about yet another right-hook.
Here’s his version of what happened:
The bike lane was very crowded with two lines of bicycles coming down the ramp from the Broadway Bridge near the post office. A white pick-up with Oregon plates travelling next to the cyclists flipped on her right-hook blinker but seemed to be going just a bit too fast to stop and yield before turning. She tried to thread the needle between two groups of cyclists by speeding up a bit. A guy on an e-bike had to slam on his breaks to avoid getting smashed but still crashed into the bed of the truck.
Join Us June 5th from 11-1pm @ SW Broadway and Montgomery for Portland Inclusivity Picnic
In his 2008 inauguration speech, then Mayor Sam Adams laid out a vision for Portland to become the “most sustainable city in the world”. It was an optimistic vision and one that called on everyone in Portland to work together to achieve. Today that narrative seems overrun by, as Tim Davis put it, “people in towers opposing towers”, homeowners fighting against people without homes, people with immense privilege excluding people without much, and even motorists trying to reserve as much space as possible for their private automobiles. It would be hard to claim that ten years later Portland has lived up to Mayor Adam’s vision.
The desire to claim your exclusive rights to common space is tempting in a world that seems run more off of social media than face-to-face contact, but exclusivity will not help us solve the most pressing problems we face as a society. Bicycles can be a tool to help us see each other and efficiently include people in a growing city. But as Denmark’s recent ban on religious face wear shows, we will need more than nice bikeways. We need to embrace a culture of including as many people as possible and understand that by doing so we will all be more wealthy, happy, and healthier.
In the summer of 1969, Portlanders hosted several “conscious raising picnics” in the small grassy area between the lanes of what was then the Harbor Drive highway. They ambitiously called for transforming the highway into a park. Today, it is impossible to imagine our city without Tom McCall Waterfront Park..
It is time for Portlanders to bring out their picnic blankets again.
Tomorrow, we are taking over a small section of Portland’s expansive public space dedicated to cars before people. We are reclaiming it to make a place where people can feel included and differences are celebrated. This inclusivity picnic will last for two hours and we will will host an open mic with several invited guest speakers to collectively imagine what an inclusive Portland might look and feel like.
Please join us tomorrow, June 5th, from 11-1pm on SW Montgomery between Broadway and 6th for a picnic to raise our consciousness about inclusivity and resist the pulls at our society to hide behind the shields of our car windows and single family zoned lots. Bring your own blanket and meal or join someone else on their blanket. Everyone is welcome.
Five years of process and planning is finally starting to yield some fruit tangible fruit. We now have lines on the map and can begin to visualize a network of protected, family-friendly bikeways in the central city.
Welcome to the week. Here are the best stories we came across in the past seven days.
But wait! Here’s a brief word from our sponsor… This week’s Monday Roundup is brought to you by the Whiskey Run MTB Festival, happening June 9th on freshly-built singletrack in the forests of Oregon’s southern coast.
And now, on with the news…
Planning, privilege, and new voices: A fascinating read (and listen) from Streetsblog LA about “accidental planner” Monique López who went from front lines of environmental justice activism to the pearly gates of the planning field — all while being a queer, low-income person of color.
Just stop building them!: Fascinating (and quite unfortunate) to see state leaders in Texas stress out about how to pay for $32 billion in freeway megaprojects as if that’s the only way to solve their growth and congestion problems.