Editorial: Portland’s irrational fear of off-road cycling

How could more of this be a bad thing for our local parks?
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

As Portland’s Off-road Cycling Master Plan (ORCMP) rolls ever closer to its big date at City Council, interest groups throughout the city are taking notice.

The usual opposition to better bike access on dirt trails in Portland is very well-known. But I’ve noticed something new in the past few weeks: Advocates for local parks who oppose parts of it based on fears that anything that attracts more off-road bikers will negatively impact the park and its current users.

I find this reflexive opposition very unfortunate.

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Job: Bike Tour Guide/ Shop Staff – Cycle Portland

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title

Bike Tour Guide/ Shop Staff

Company / Organization

Cycle Portland

Job Description

Status: Full Time, Year Round (Minimum of 35 hours/wk required during training, 30-40 hours available weekly after completed training depending w/semi flexible scheduling)

Compensation: $13/hr starting, with possibility of performance raise based on 30-day evaluation

Location: Portland, Oregon

Who We Are
Cycle Portland works to support and inspire visiting cyclists and local commuters alike though quality repairs, guided bike tours, and affordable well maintained bike rentals. We continue this mission today as we look for tour guides interested in showcasing the city we love. As part of our small team, you’ll have the opportunity to advise travelers about your favorite local attractions and hotspots, lead guests around town as part of our easy-going cycling excursions, and lend a hand a the shop as we continue our goal of providing excellent service to our community through our full-service bike shop in downtown Portland, OR.

While primarily focused on tour guiding, this position is multidisciplinary by nature. This position encompasses guiding up to two tours per day (4-5 hours of outdoor time) on our Foodie, Brewery, or City excursions. During time at the shop you’ll help guide clients through our bike rental process, answer general questions about the products and services we offer, and assist in keeping the shop running smoothly. You’ll also get the opportunity to dive deep into the history our our city in both past, present, and future as we work to keep our tours engaging, fun, and informative.

Knowledge and skill in the following areas is preferred (but not required), and represents core strengths as part of this position.
Genuine desire to work with and listen to the public both as a tour guide, and as part of our shop staff to meet client where they’re at with their needs
Excellent public speaking skills and comfortability working with and projecting to audiences of up to 12 individuals at a time
Strong verbal and written communication skills
Curiosity! We love learning about Portland, and sharing that passion with others as the stories of our city, and our region evolve
Ability to focus in and knock out smaller projects while keeping in mind larger cycles that occur throughout the course of our operations
Self motivated and comfortable asking for support when needed
Ability to lift bicycles and other objects up to 55 pounds on a regular basis, however reasonable accomodations can be made for qualified applicants
Experience in the performance arts, previous bike shops, and tour guiding while not required, is a plus

This position is suited to individuals who are objective oriented and enjoy sharing their knowledge and experience with others. Our tour guides interface directly with the public, and comfort with giving directions, route assistance, and helping clients plan their visit to Portland is highly valued. While we’re sometimes known as a tour & rental shop, we deeply appreciate our connections to our local riders, friends, and commuters formed over the last 10 years. In this position you’ll get to continue those relationships with our cycling community, while forming many new ones as we meet a host of amazing travelers looking to learn more about the city we call home.

How to Apply

Cycle Portland is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

As part of your resume please include a brief paragraph about why you'd be a good fit for this position, and your weekday availabilies. This is a full time position, however part time can be considered based on merit.

Email to: portlandbicycle@gmail.com (or)
Drop off: Cycle Portland 117 NW 2nd Ave, Portland, OR

Great news: The Portland Business Alliance has picked a new president and CEO

Andrew Hoan.
(Photo: Portland Business Alliance)

The Portland Business Alliance (PBA) will have a new leader by this summer. Andrew Hoan has been hired to take over the reins from current PBA President Sandra McDonough, who has held the position for 14 years.

Hoan is currently head of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce in New York City. He’s set to take over for McDonough in Portland effective June 18th

The departure of McDonough and the hiring of someone with a clean slate is big news for transportation reformers and safe streets advocates. The PBA under McDonough has long been a thorn in the side of progress for active transportation. Much of their influence takes place behind closed doors and never becomes public, but when they have taken stands, they have not been supportive of significant cycling-related projects.

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Why is LimeBike hiring a full-time operations manager in Portland?

Is Portland is about to get a dockless bike share system?

According to this job listing, LimeBike is hiring a full-time operations manager for Portland. The listing says the manager will oversee a team of employees “ranging from 4 to 20.”

There’s been no public announcement, and I don’t have a response from the City of Portland yet, but hiring a full-time manager sure seems like a precursor to doing business.

Either way, if LimeBike is coming to Portland it would not be a huge surprise.

As we shared back in January, Portland Bureau of Transportation staffers took a field trip up to Seattle to test dockless bikes — with LimeBike being one of them. There’s also a personal connection between Portland and LimeBike: the company’s Chief Program Officer is Scott Kubly. Kubly and PBOT Director Leah Treat are former colleagues who worked together in Chicago as deputies under Chicago DOT Director Gabe Klein. Kubly resigned from Seattle’s top transportation job in December and was hired by LimeBike earlier this month to handle business development and government relations.

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The Monday Roundup: A car vending machine, pro bike x-rays, a very strong woman, and more

Here are the most noteworthy stories we came across last week…

Uber’s epic fail: There was a ton of great reporting and hot takes on Uber’s Tempe tragedy last week. The most interesting piece we came across was this in-depth analysis from an AV expert who said, “This will set Uber’s efforts back considerably, and that may very well be the best thing.”

Car vending machine: Ford is behind a cat-themed machine in China that allows people to walk up and buy a car.

Bike summit recap: We didn’t make it to the National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. this year, so we were happy to find this short-but-sweet recap from Bicycle Times Magazine.

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Audubon Society and OPAL file FOIA request on I-5 Rose Quarter project

I-5 through the Rose Quarter as seen from the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
(Photo: Emily Guise)

The Audubon Society of Portland and OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon want to make sure the Oregon Department of Transportation doesn’t short-change the environment as they plan to add and expand lanes on Interstate 5 through the Rose Quarter.

A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request was formally made today by the Crag Law Center on behalf of both organizations.

According to the letter, Audubon Society and OPAL want to see, “all documents relating to the question of whether FHWA [Federal Highway Administration] and ODOT intend to prepare initially an environmental assessment (“EA”) as opposed to a more thorough environmental impact statement (“EIS”) for the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project. Documents subject to this request include, without limitation, electronic mail, text messages, web-based content, all writings, letters, memoranda, notes wherever they are found, summaries, working papers, schedules, draft documents, correspondence, documentation of meetings, minutes from meetings, data, graphs, charts, photos, and/or maps.”

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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