Southwest uber-advocate pushes new approach in city’s ‘hardening’ strategy

Section of Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy PBOT plans to harden with concrete curbs and fewer plastic posts. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

When longtime southwest Portland cycling advocate Keith Liden told me he was going to present his reasons for not wanting the plastic delineator posts on Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway “hardened”, the first thing that came to my mind was David Stein. The former chair of the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC), where Liden presented Tuesday evening, is a bouncing figure at the BAC Zoom meetings (he attends them on a treadmill), and he has been vocal for years about not liking the plastic posts.

As BikePortland reported last month, the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is planning to replace some of its plastic delineator posts along bike lanes with more concrete curbs — it is going to “harden” them. And isn’t that what cyclists, including Stein, have been clamoring for?

The reason I thought of Stein was because I remember vividly the 2019 City Council session in which the Southwest in Motion (SWIM) plan was presented. Stein was one of the first persons to testify, and he brought a prop with him to the hot seat in front of the council dais — a broken plastic post he had retrieved from Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy. Waving it before the Commissioners, he testified, “We need to do better than this!”

Five years later, enter Liden, with his usual thoughtful, well-researched and persuasive arguments. Here’s what he told the BAC on Tuesday night.

Liden’s case against Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy hardening

(Source: Keith Liden)

The main thrust of Liden’s criticism is that the hardening project is premature. Calling B-H Hwy “the strongest link in the chain” of a poor network, Liden told the BAC Tuesday night, “most of the streets that you connect to are hostile bike environments.” “It’s not even that they don’t have facilities, it’s that they are actually hostile.”

The problem is that connectivity is so poor in southwest Portland that a cyclist doesn’t have a safe route to reach B-H Hwy. I think it helps to think of B-H Hwy as a river, and to view the few streets which cross it as very infrequent bridges. Those crossings are used by all modes—cars, pedestrians, cyclists—and except for Terwilliger Blvd, they don’t have sidewalks or bike lanes.

The blue bars show the streets which fully cross Beaverton-Hillsday Hwy. Yellow arc is area of proposed hardening of plastic delineator posts.

Shattuck Rd, where the proposed development of the Alpenrose Dairy is located, is a good example of this. Shattuck Rd lies at the center of PBOT’s proposed B-H Hwy post hardening project (between 39th and 65th Avenuess). Shattuck doesn’t have sidewalks or bike lanes either to the south of B-H Hwy, or to the north. Yet adding walking and biking facilities to Shattuck has been part of the Transportation System (TSP) and Southwest in Motion (SWIM) plans for years. The most recent controversy involves the Alpenrose neighbors who, to no avail, have been asking the city to extend the multi-use path on the proposed Alpenrose development’s frontage all the way to B-H Hwy.

This lack of coordination between the Alpenrose development and the B-H Hwy hardening project is another example of the city’s bureaus not rowing together. And these close-but-no-cigar gaps that arise from repeated missed opportunities are frustrating for residents to watch.

Liden went on to make the case that any money the city had for improving bike facilities would be better spent on Terwilliger Blvd, mainly because the ridership is so much higher—between 360 and 515 trips at various locations on Terwilliger, versus 70 trips per day at B-H Hwy/Shattuck. Or, as Liden summed up, “PBOT needs to think beyond making a bike facility segment really good and ask, ‘Will it do any good?'”

The project selection gripe

The notorious bike lane gap on SW Terwilliger near SW 6th. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

In addition to the Terwilliger having the greatest southwest ridership numbers outside of downtown, projects for filling the gaps in the Terwilliger route have been on the books since the 1990s. And that gets to the heart of Liden’s frustration, one shared by many southwest transportation advocates.

Advocates have spent hours and years working on project prioritization lists with the city. The SWIM project has spreadsheets of prioritized project lists, put together by an advisory committee. Hardening the posts on B-H Hwy is not on any of those lists, nor is it on the TSP. But Terwilliger is. This top-down project selection, outside of existing project lists and without community input, is an ongoing issue.

The colors of money

In response, City Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller pointed out that PBOT has heard, “including from this committee, in written communications” that the plastic wands “don’t provide the level of comfort that we desire.” “And we are hearing very clearly messages about ‘make something permanent, use concrete rather than plastic.’ ”

Here’s more from Geller at the BAC meeting in response to Liden’s presentation:

This was also driven by the maintenance burden the posts were putting on our crews. Especially B-H Hwy, that’s probably one of our highest offenders. Those posts disappear with great rapidity, David Stein brings it up in almost every meeting…

We have a limited amount of money available to us, about half a million a year, which we are putting toward delineated bike lanes. Focusing on those that are putting the highest maintenance burden on us, or that are causing perception issues, I guess because of their aesthetics, particularly in commercial areas. Broadway and downtown is an example of that… Keith is saying , ‘Shift that money to Terwilliger,’… there are many colors of money. The work on Terwilliger, on Duniway Park is being funded as a risk-mitigation associated with a large BES sewer project… We’ve tried to get federal money for southwest Portland, and that’s money that is administered through the regional government, Metro. The southwest projects typically have not scored well with the criteria that Metro set for using those funds. Other than Capitol Hwy.

And then David Stein jumped in with some questions:

David Stein and his plastic post at Council in December 2019.

Stein: About projects in SW not scoring well with some of the regional and federal money, that’s because of equity scoring, correct? Or is that something else?

Geller: Equity is becoming more of a consideration in recent years, but, in the past a lot of the scoring was based on how well the facilities we would build would connect to regional and town centers. And so some of the southwest facilities didn’t score well relative to facilities elsewhere in the region.

Stein: Because there’s no stormwater management, so there’s no existing facilities, so if you want to build any facility and it doesn’t connect…

Geller: Well it was just the expense of building facilities in southwest relative to how well they connected into dense, commercial areas, which is how the criteria has often been set.

Then Liden interjected…

Liden: So it’s a little of a cost/benefit. How many people are you benefitting with the amount of money? And I guess that’s partly what I’m arguing with these two projects.

My takeaway

It was a revealing conversation, I left the meeting thinking that, in the southwest at least, projects are built, not according to a list of priorities, but rather in the order that funding sources are identified. That, or when a project can piggy-back on work happening with another bureau.

So implementation of southwest projects ends up being an excruciatingly slow bingo game, where the rows never seem to quite get filled. Keith Liden has been playing funding bingo for three decades, and his Terwilliger row still has a lot of empty spots.

Weekend Event Guide: Close-in ‘cross, Crown Z, fall colors, and more

All the feels at the PIR Heron Lakes finish line. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

There’s a wide range of things to to by bike this weekend. Don’t miss these dry and delightful fall days!

This week’s guide is made possible by The E-Bike Store, Portland’s original all-electric bike shop that offers top brands and top service.

Saturday, October 12th

Banks-Vernonia Fall Colors Ride – 8:30 am in Downtown Hillsboro (West Side)
Ride Westside invites you on an excursion into the countryside where you’ll experience eye-popping fall vistas along one of the best carfree paths in Oregon (once you get onto it from Hillsboro). More info here.

Deaf Look Club Ride – 10:00 am at Woodstock ASL Cafe (SE)
Trouble hearing? Join other riders with communication barriers and folks who are into sign language on this bi-monthly group ride. More info here.

Measure 117 Bike Ride – 12:30 pm at Rosewood Initiative (SE)
Curious about the effort to expand ranked choice voting statewide? Come join folks who support the measure for a presentation and ride. Check out the Bike Works by P:ear shop right next door while you’re there. More info here.

Explore the IBR Project – 1:00 pm on Hayden Island/Jantzen Beach Center (N)
Join The Street Trust, Oregon Walks and 40-Mile Loop to get a first-hand look at the changes being proposed for bicycling by the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBR). This is a great opportunity to learn about this project and inform your comments that you can submit until November 18th. More info here.

Sunday, October 13th

Cyclocross Crusade – All day at Portland International Raceway (N)
It’s race two of the Crusade series and it’s right in our backyard! The Heron Lakes course is a classic featuring a very spectator-friendly course that includes fast flats, a challenging run-up and more. More info here.

Explore Overlook Neighborhood – 9:30 am at Stacks Coffeehouse (N)
The transportation chair of the Overlook Neighborhood Association has extended you a personal invite to roll around this beautiful neighborhood, learning its strengths and weaknesses from a cycling perspective. More info here.

Crown Z Backroads – 10:00 am at Ruley Trailhead in Scappoose (Columbia County)
If unpaved adventure is your thing, this is your ride. Seltzer Cycling Club will lead you on the Crown Z to Vernonia, then onto logging roads along the Nehalem River and then back toward Highway 30 via the historic Pittsburgh logging town. I can vouch that this is an extremely fun and gorgeous route! More info here.

Ride to Tweed Party – 2:00 pm at Cartopia Food Carts (SE)
Don your finest tweed outfits for a civilized cycle to the 10th anniversary party at local Wildwood & Company clothing store. Consider this a tune-up for the official Tweed Ride coming this spring! More info here.

— Did I miss your event? Please let me know by filling out our contact form, or just email me at maus.jonathan@gmail.com.

Catching up on the Interstate Bridge freeway project with Je Amaechi (Video)

The project to expand five miles of Interstate 5 between Portland and Vancouver and replace the Interstate Bridge reached a big milestone last month with the release of the federally-mandated Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

The Interstate Bridge Replacement Program DEIS (actually the SDEIS in this case because it’s a “supplemental” EIS that builds on the old EIS from the Columbia River Crossing project which was the precursor to the IBR) reveals key details about what we’ll get for the estimated $7.5 billion price tag and it opens a public comment period that runs through November 18th.

I plan to dive into the weeds of the active transportation infrastructure and other salient elements of the DEIS in future days and weeks, but to re-ignite our coverage of this megaproject, I interviewed someone who’s deep in the activism trenches. Je Amaechi (“Jay A-may-chee”) is a community organizer with Just Crossing Alliance, a coalition of dozens of environmental, transportation, and social justice nonprofits working to influence the project. Among the partner organizations is BikeLoud PDX, The Street Trust, No More Freeways, Oregon Trails Coalition, Oregon Walks, and others.

“One thing all the members have in common is this urgent need to mitigate and adapt to climate change and the need to balance all the fiscal needs with all the other infrastructure priorities,” Amaechi said during our video interview on Wednesday.

Amaechi and her crew are working hard to educate our community about the project. Given the dizzying amount of information to get a handle on, Just Crossing Alliance has put together a helpful list of links to official public hearings and other events. Amaechi also wants to help log as many official comments as possible. Why? “These public comments are important is because it’s building a record for potential future actions,” she shared. “Public comments become part of the official record… so they can’t say, ‘Well, we didn’t know this,’ or, ‘We weren’t aware.'”

“The assumption that we have to build it in a Robert Moses-style freeway expansion way and the prioritization of car infrastructure: That’s the thing that fundamentally we don’t agree with and we say that there are better ways that we can design this bridge for a future that like more Portlanders want to see.”

– Je Amaechi, Just Crossing Alliance

The way I see it, comments like, “Don’t build this bridge!” probably won’t be very influential because at this point it doesn’t look like anything can stop the project’s inertia. So far Oregon and Washington departments of transportation have raised over $4 billion (split between federal grants and state allocations). Barring some unforeseen opposition or glitch, it will likely move forward eventually.

Even Just Crossing Alliance isn’t trying to stop the project. Their goal is to right-size it and bend project leaders — and the elected officials who hold the pursestrings — toward new perspectives and possibilities.

Height of design options.
Not just a “bridge replacement”!

When it comes to the DEIS, Amaechi said the over-arching concern is its “defeatist way of thinking.” In other words, she thinks it assumes the status quo of car and truck-centric transportation will exist well into the future (projects and models in the DEIS are based on 2045). “This way of thinking limits the possibilities for this bridge and how it could serve a lot of different populations,” she said.

Amaechi says many folks are worried about the financial commitment this bridge demands — both from our state coffers and from the pockets of everyday folks. Tolls will be a big part of the revenue picture, and those tolls are likely to hit some groups much harder than others if carveouts and subsidies aren’t well-crafted.

Then there’s the simple fact that this is a massive expansion of freeway lanes and driving capacity.

“The assumption that we have to build it in a Robert Moses-style freeway expansion way and the prioritization of car infrastructure: That’s the thing that fundamentally we don’t agree with and we say that there are better ways that we can design this bridge for a future that like more Portlanders want to see,” Amaechi said.

“This idea that we’re alleviating congestion by adding lanes is something that has been disproven many, many times,” she added. “And in fact, the opposite has been proven to be true. Induced demand is slightly mentioned [in the DEIS], but it’s not addressed in a realistic way.”

Amaechi believes the modeling and design options laid out in the DEIS make it clear that DOTs on both sides of the river are planning for a future many Just Crossing Alliance partners and their supporters simply don’t want. She acknowledges that people will continue to drive and need goods delivered by trucks in the future, but if our projects tilt too much toward serving those needs, we’ll be locked into the same earth and community-destroying ways of life that have hastened climate catastrophe across the globe.

With an investment of this size, we should build infrastructure that truly moves the needle for biking, walking and transit. Current plans for the bikeways begin on N Expo Road by Delta Park dog park, where the IBR will create a bike lane toward Expo Center to connect to new paths and bridges over the Columbia River. While the DEIS talks about shared-use paths and protected bikeways, Amaechi says it will take work to make sure the project builds excellent and safe bike infrastructure that is welcoming too all riders and skill levels.

The new bridge is likely to be much higher than the existing one, requiring bike riders to scale some sort of long spiral ramp to reach the top. “For people who are new to biking, just looking at one of those spirals is very scary — especially if they’re talking about these things being 100 feet in the air.”

If you’re curious how changes proposed in this project will connect (or not) to the existing bike network, sign up for “Riding Toward the Future: Exploring IBR’s Impact on Active Transportation in Oregon.” The ride is Saturday (10/12) at 3:00 pm and will be co-hosted by Oregon Walks, 40-Mile Loop, and The Street Trust.

And stay tuned to BikePortland, the JCA’s work and the official IBR website to stay engaged on this important project.

Oregon State Parks e-bike rule change takes key step forward

(Photo: Oregon Department of Transportation)

The State of Oregon has taken an important step toward what could be a big change to where electric bikes can ridden. On Wednesday, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) announced that the official rulemaking process has begun for where e-bikes can be used in state park properties and the Oregon Coast.

It’s the latest move as the State grapples with a boom in popularity of bicycles with motors. As we reported in 2017, e-bikes were technically illegal on any paved path within the state parks system until the rule was clarified in 2018. Currently, products that fit the legal definition of electric-assisted bicycle (ORS 801.258) are allowed on state park trails that are over eight feed wide (unless otherwise posted) and anywhere cars and trucks are allowed on the ocean shore.

According to OPRD’s statement this week, “The proposed changes would update definitions for electric-assisted bicycles and determine new locations where they are allowed and restricted.”

The OPRD Rules Advisory Committee will meet to discuss the changes at a meeting October 17th. The meeting agenda will include, “discussions on the impacts the proposed rules would have on visitor safety, recreational uses and conflicts, operational best practices and accessibility,” OPRD says. “The committee will also discuss the potential economic and fiscal impact of proposed changes.”

This move comes in response to a bill passed in the 2023 legislative session (HB 42013) that becomes law on January 1, 2025. That law will add more detailed e-bike definitions into the Oregon Revised Statutes: Class 1 (20 mph max speed with no throttle), Class 2 (20 mph max speed with throttle) and Class 3 (28 mph max with no throttle).

OPRD sought public comment on this issue last summer, so the rules committee will already have something to work with. After their initial meeting next week, three more meetings to discuss the rule will be announced. A public comment period will open in early 2025 once the newly proposed rule has been crafted and polished by the rules committee and OPRD staff.

Cycling advocates and e-bike users should watch this process very closely. Given that riding e-bikes is a relatively new and very widespread activity in state parks — and the fact that what many people consider “e-bikes” are often not — this new rule must strike a balance between access for and encouragement of e-bicycling, and keeping parks safe.

Learn more about the rule change and how the process will go from here on OPRD’s website.

After collision and negative feedback, County will roll back Hawthorne Bridge bike lane changes

If you know this intersection, you can immediately see why this striping design is problematic. These two bike lanes are connected and riders go straight here while drivers cross from left to right on an off-ramp. (Photo sent in by a reader.)

(UPDATE, 3:30 pm: County has completed changes and it works much better now. Watch video below for current conditions.)

A Multnomah County redesign of the eastbound bike lane on the Hawthorne Bridge viaduct will be rolled back after negative feedback. One BikePortland reader said the design contributed to being hit by a car on Monday.

The focus of concern is the offramp from Hawthorne to SE Clay/Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd — a section of the bike lane that has been known for close calls and high stress for many years. Bicycle users continue straight at the off-ramp while many drivers turn right. This creates the need for safe decisions by both parties. Riders have to look far over their left shoulder to make sure either no one is coming or the person in the car sees them and will stop. It’s a delicate and often dangerous dance.

As part of a $9.5 million repaving and maintenance project, the County made several changes to the viaduct in both directions. BikePortland covered the project back in April, but I was unaware anything would be done to the off-ramp location. I’ve heard several bits of grumbling in recent weeks about the changes, but chalked it up mostly to folks just getting used to something new. Then I heard from a reader Monday.

“I was hit by a car while riding eastbound on the Hawthorne Bridge this afternoon,” they wrote. “A driver was turning right onto the ramp for MLK and sideswiped me. She stopped and claimed she didn’t see me.”

Fortunately the rider suffered only road rash and a bruised foot, but it set of alarm bells when I learned the design was recently changed. “That intersection has always been dangerous but I think the county has made it worse with the recent redesign,” the reader shared with me.

I shared the reader’s photo and message on Instagram yesterday and heard more negative feedback:

“A guy and kid were almost hit right in front of me Saturday night by a speeding pickup. Definitely the closest call I’ve seen in a long time—it is so bad.”

“It’s AWFUL what were they thinking!?”

“It’s horrible and dangerous.”

“Almost got creamed here on my bike on Sunday with hella families on scooters after Portland marathon.”

This reaction made it clear something was very wrong with the design. I fired off emails to the City of Portland and the County but haven’t heard back from either. That reader who was hit also reached out to the County and heard back from an engineer in the bridge division yesterday.

Original design (left) and new design that will be rolled back (right). (Photos: Multnomah County)

The County engineer said, “The original configuration [above left] had cyclists going into the intersection at an approximately 45° angle in which they would slow down to cross. The current configuration (installed according to plan) was intended to have cyclists actually slow down more or even stop in order to avoid situations like this.”

The plan the engineer refers to was shown to the Multnomah County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee in October 2023 (see image below).

(Source: Multnomah County)

The County staffer went on to say they’ve received “a lot” of feedback about the new design, so they plan to alter the design, “to be similar to what was previously in place.” The final striping changes should already be installed and final markings should there by the end of this week.

It’s unfortunate that someone at the County felt making such a harsh angle in the bike lane — and then hoping it would slow riders down — was a good idea. Not only do designs like that usually make things worse because people don’t want to slow down, but it shows how drivers are held harmless while bike riders have to shift behavior and use irregular designs in deference to them. That is the opposite of how we should design streets. Why not alter the driving lane in a way that forces drivers to slow down and be safe?

Road authorities should never experiment on bike lanes. As we saw with this person who got hit, it only takes a bad design in place for a few hours for something serious to happen. These are people! Not a petri dish!

If anyone has an updated photo or wants to share how it looks now, please do.

The County advisory committee meets again tonight and I expect this topic to come up. I’ll report back any updates or details I learn.

UPDATE, 3:30 pm: The County has made changes to the design. See video below for current conditions. Note that green cross markings are still to come.

A transit ‘fetish,’ transportation ‘dogma’, and more at last night’s mayoral debate

Candidates on stage as moderator Jeff Mapes asked a question about transportation.

Leave it to Jeff Mapes to seize his opportunity as moderator of last night’s mayoral debate to ask the top candidates a transportation question.

Mapes notched over 40 years as a reporter for The Oregonian and Oregon Public Broadcasting and in 2009 wrote Pedaling Revolution, a critically-acclaimed book that chronicled the rise of bicycling in America at a time when Portland was riding very high as a cycling city. I recall hanging out with Jeff at the National Bike Summit in 2007, which he attended as part of his research for the book. Mapes also once labeled Portland’s cycling advocates as a “micro-constituency” and the “bicycling base” of former mayor Sam Adams.

His question to mayoral candidates Liv Osthus, Carmen Rubio, Rene Gonzalez, Mingus Mapps and Keith Wilson came at the very end of last night’s debate hosted by City Club of Portland. And based on the way he asked it, it was clearly a bonus question Mapes had up his sleeve. “We’re not on live TV, so you know what?” Mapes said, “I’m just going to ask one more question.”

We’re lucky he did, because the responses were interesting and relatively meaty given that campaigns have been focused heavily on homelessness and public safety. Below is Mapes’ question and answers from each candidate in the same order as last night (answers edited for clarity), followed by my takeaways.

Mapes

“Traffic congestion is worse than it was before the pandemic, transit is struggling, the road maintenance backlog is humongous, and we’re far from meeting safe street goals. How do you have a positive vision for how we can better move ourselves around the city?”

Mingus Mapps

“As the former commissioner in charge of PBOT [Portland Bureau of Transportation], this is a space I know well. Here a couple things every Oregonian and every Portlander needs to know: The systems that we use to fund our transportation system are fundamentally broken. It’s a sad truth. The funds that we use to fill potholes and to build bike lanes basically come from parking meter revenues and gas taxes. Our parking meter revenues are down because lots of people are working from home one or two days a week, and gas taxes are going down because cars are much more efficient. Frankly, this is one of the questions we’ll be dealing with in the next legislative session, and that’s also why it’s very important that you have a mayor who’s tuned into transportation issues. In the next year we need to work with our state legislature to develop a new system for funding our transportation system. Ultimately, I believe that’s going to be a vehicle miles traveled tax. I don’t think there’s a lot of controversy around that. There’s a lot of work that we need to do between here and there, and we need our state partners in order to implement that, but I think that’s the way forward. The other thing that we really need to continue to focus on is to build a multimodal transportation system so that you can get where you want to go, how you want to get there. As your commissioner in charge of PBOT, those are the values I brought to this work, and when I’m your mayor, those are also the values I’ll bring to leading the city.”

Liv Osthus (who, by the way, I will interview next week)

“So here’s the confluence of all my favorite ideas. I love public transit. I know that TriMet is Metro, but I whenever I travel, I just I have a fetish for public transportation. So I envision our TriMet being the biggest public art project on the West Coast. Let’s partner with our communities to connect them with TriMet. The Frog Ferry, I love that too… but partner with artists to make TriMet so vibrant, make it free. Everyone will ride if it’s free! The public safety aspect, it will be safer if it’s free and everyone rides and it and it’s a very wholesome place. It will be inspiring for our people suffering from addiction, even they’ll be like, ‘Gosh, I want to get sober for that!’ And then PBOT needs help because not as many people are driving, there’s more cycling because not as many people are driving and it’s safer. That’s my vision. So please next mayor, whomever you may be, take it and run.”

Carmen Rubio

“I absolutely agree with Liv, I 100% support free transit. We need to really focus on multimodal transportation, because this is a new way, and climate change is here people, and we need to start acting like it. I also think that we can think about how we increase the greening of our public transit as well. And I think there are multiple new opportunities to figure out how we cross investments in funds like PCEF [Portland Clean Energy Fund], with with transportation and TriMet, and some of those things are discussions that are already happening. So it’s very exciting. And we do need to explore other ways to address revenue challenges and our declining revenue for transportation, so we do need to push and work with the state for the solutions and for those partnerships so that we can continue to do our basic services that we’re required to do as a local jurisdiction, and also make sure that we’re putting safety infrastructure in so that we can maintain our safe streets.”

Keith Wilson

“I’ll tackle it from the congestion standpoint. So congestion has increased 250% since about the mid-90s for all the so we’re spending more and more time in a car. The unfortunate thing is, is that we led the nation just a matter of seven, eight years ago with walking, biking and transit. We’ve lost that. It’s gone down by half. So the TriMet goal for 2030, is for 120 million riders. Today, it’s 60 million riders. That’s their goal, and they have to achieve that, because if they don’t, all of us just are suffering more and more delay and frustrations. So we have to make sure that we have a public safety system and a transit system that are tied together. When we use our transit for a cooling shelter or a warming shelter without providing basic shelter for those, we’re misusing that very important transit system, and then it feels and or is unsafe. On our multi-use paths, when we’re trying to bike to the Gateway parking garage, and we’re going through a humanitarian crisis, and we don’t bike anymore. These are things that I’m hearing from people that used to bike to the transit system to use it in a multimodal situation. We’re forcing families to then drive their kids to school. We’re forcing bus drivers that are uncomfortable or feel unsafe in a job that they should have as a routine and caring for their customers, which is you and me. We need a safer system in Portland. We need to improve livability, and then we need to invest in walking, biking and transit and protected systems so we can move from our cars and move faster to work.”

Rene Gonzalez

“When I chose to start my professional career in Portland, I thought of it as the most European city in 2000. A place where you could walk, where you cycle, where you took public transit. It is, and certainly was, a central part of our identity as a city that we embrace all those various components. I will say, in recent years, at times, that’s also become dogmatic. It was never a ‘war on cars.’ It was walk, cycle and take public transit because it was healthy, because it was social. And so I just want to maybe observe in recent years that it’s become a little bit more brutal. And I would also submit when you’re talking about in east Portland of your single mom with two kids, and you get to a doctor, you’re still going to use your car; and if you’re working in the outer suburbs and you work downtown, you’re likely still going to need to use a car to get to work. So I think we have to acknowledge sometimes the classism in public transit discussion can go too far. I echo Commissioner Mapps’ points on stabilizing funding for transportation our region. This is a really tough nut to crack, and we’re just going to have to partner with various government parties going forward on that. I also want to call out that I think a lot of the congestion in our region is in the suburban areas. We do have some in the city, but we’ve got to get I-5 expansion done. We’ve got to get the Interstate Bridge project done. That is a major congestion point on the West Coast. It’s frankly an embarrassment for us, and we’re not protecting the climate when cars are idling on I-5.”

Thank you Jeff Mapes!

These were the most substantive comments on transportation we’ve heard from leading mayoral candidates to date. Here are some of my takeaways…

Mapps didn’t really answer the question. Instead of sharing his vision, he went into the same spiel about funding he mentions whenever transportation comes up. Yes that’s an important element of the conversation, but I think people want to hear a more decisive answer, some new ideas, and/or something closer to a true vision beyond a milquetoast, “we really need to continue to focus on is to build a multimodal transportation system.” And the fact that Mapps still hasn’t explained why PBOT planned to redesign a downtown bike lane and make it less safe, despite warnings from experts on the agency’s staff, doesn’t give anyone a reason to trust him on this issue.

The answer from Osthus should be turned into a t-shirt and advocacy slogan. I’d certainly buy a sticker that says, “I have a fetish for public transit!” I also noted her enthusiastic tone and it was clear she sees streets with more bike and transit riders as being an important part of Portland regaining its mojo.

Rubio was likely relieved that her problem with parking tickets and license suspensions never came up. Her answer to Mapes’ question was interesting for its full-throated support of free transit. But it made me think: If she believes in free transit, what has she done in her past four years in office to support that? This is the first time I’ve heard her mention that policy. I know she wasn’t in charge of PBOT, but I’m not aware of anything she did to advocate for PBOT transit programs like the Rose Lane Project and I haven’t heard anything about her working with advocacy groups that work of free transit or fight for lower fares such as OPAL’s Bus Riders Unite.

Wilson’s answer had solid scope and clarity. I was glad he didn’t connect the entire answer to ending unsheltered homelessness, the issue that defines his campaign, but that I think he often talks about too much at the expense of other important issues. In his answer, Wilson deftly made the very important connection between the quality of transit and bike path experiences and whether people will choose those modes. He’s been to Bike Happy Hour several times in the past year and his conversations and time spent in our community shone through in his answer. His ending plea to “invest in biking and walking and transit and protected systems” was strong and needed.

The answer shared by Gonzalez was also very clear. His idea that encouragement to walk, bike and take transit more being, “dogmatic” and “a little more brutal” in recent years was very interesting. These choices are a key part of how Portland can solve our transportation problems and they are main elements of our climate and transportation plans, so of course that’s the messaging folks hear from the City of Portland. And by his own admission, Portland has a strong legacy of being “the most European city” and a push to not drive is just baked into this city’s DNA to some degree.

Gonzalez is a regular bike rider and transit user, but he’s also the best politician in the race. By far. He’s a confident speaker, he has a distinct vision, and he knows exactly what his supporters and donors want to hear. That’s why he mentioned expanding freeways (which, by the way, when you create more room to drive and if there’s less idling in the short-term, there will eventually be more cars and more idling in the long-term) and marched out the classic “some people need to drive” strawman. It was also unfortunate that he doubled-down on the same unhelpful class framing that his friend and ally, District 1 City Council candidate Terrence Hayes, likes to make.

Except for Osthus, who likely earned some rankings with her optimism and passion for Portland, I don’t think last night’s debate moved the needle much for any candidate. Gonzalez is still a strong favorite, but I think Wilson is a legit dark horse at this point. Since many Gonzalez and Rubio fans won’t rank either as their second choice (or might not rank them at all), Wilson will likely receive a ton of second-place votes. Add those to his likely large haul of first-place votes and he could surprise everyone.

Stay tuned.

How wheel lights helped my kids pedal past night riding fears

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Kids are almost universally afraid of the dark. Even in their safe spaces, with their own comfort items and the safety of being at home with their family, the darkness of night can still feel scary to a child. They can’t see. They don’t know what is lurking in the darkness. Monsters and imagination fill the corners of the night. Kids move tensely, nervously, until the space is lit.

Knowing this, I’m not surprised my children complained about riding bikes in the dark. They are afraid and they don’t like it. Can’t we just drive instead? They ask. I try not to force my children to do something that makes them uncomfortable. When it comes to night biking, the danger of darkness has more reality than the ubiquitous monster-under-the-bed: they’re afraid that cars won’t see them. And that’s a very legitimate worry.

Last year we tried to mitigate this fear by picking up my son from swim practice. He rode his bike to practice in the daylight, but by the end of practice, winter darkness fell thickly round. My husband or I would ride out to meet him, accompanying him home so that he didn’t have to ride home alone at night. Still, he didn’t like riding at night, even with a parent along. Our presence wasn’t enough to make him feel safe.

All my children share these fears. But if we give up on night biking, we’ll have to drive most everywhere come fall/winter. It gets dark early. And I really don’t want the coming of the night to force us into our minivan, especially for our short-distance trips (many of which are less than a mile). 

This fall, I’ve been trying to troubleshoot the various scenarios that push us to drive, to see if I can find solutions that will get us out biking more often. For example, biking often takes more time, and when we’re worried we’ll be late, or when we are simply feeling overwhelmed with all of our “to dos,” we drive to save time. To address this, I’ve been trying to do a better job with advance planning and preparation.

They were so excited, they begged me to take them for a night time bike ride. 

We are trying to get ready-to-go earlier, and leave earlier, so that we aren’t tempted to drive at the last moments. I have also begun to do big-batch-bulk cooking, which doesn’t sound “bike related” — but it is! I have a garage freezer full of dinners, lots of soups, chilis, and pasta-bakes. I have dinners that are ready to just warm up and eat, which means I am not feeling stressed about getting home and cooking–which would otherwise have been a reason to drive and not-bike, because I wanted to save a few minutes and the energy expenditure of pedaling. With dinner already made (on the weekend or slow days when time is plentiful), I can enjoy an evening bike ride home, without feeling stressed about the cooking.

As for that night biking problem, the solution I’ve found are wheel spoke lights. I don’t know why it took me years to finally invest in these! My children love them. They were won over immediately. As soon as the first set was installed, the kids were captivated and all begging for their bike to be next. They were so excited, they begged me to take them for a night time bike ride. 

So out into the night we’ve gone, and the lights are brilliant. My husband has laughed at how incredibly bright and visible we are — like our own, lit-up bike parade. Cars have stopped and stared at us, and noticeably slowed down when passing us. The change in driver behavior has been striking. My kids recognize they are brightly visible, and they feel confident and empowered to ride at night.

On a particularly late ride, my daughter exclaimed, “That was so much fun! We were the only ones on the road!” With the low traffic and bright lights, I might even feel safer to night-time bike with the kids than in daylight during rush hour. With the bright flashing lights, my kids are visible even when behind a parked car. The lights alert drivers they’re coming, before their body or bike is visible around an obstruction. 

These wheel spoke lights have turned night biking from a scary dread to a favorite activity. 

My son said he was the talk of swim team practice and everyone thought his wheel lights were so cool! And for the first time, he decided to make the night-time ride home on his own, wheel lights blazing.

— Some local bike shops carry lights like this. But I’d call before heading over. You can also find all sorts of wheel lights for sale online by searching for “wheel lights.”

How’d it go for local candidates who tried a ‘Week Without Driving’?

Council candidates from every district participated in the Week Without Driving. L to R: Timur Ender (D1), Marnie Glickman (D2), Rex Burkholder (D3), Chad Lykins (D4). (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

The emergence of Week Without Driving on a national scale is one of the most promising developments in low-car/no-car activism in years. Launched for the first time in 2021 by Washington-based disability rights and transportation advocate Anna Zivarts, the annual observance is an excellent excuse for politicians, policymakers, or just regular folks to drive less.

As our planet and our local election heats up, and transportation emerges as a campaign issue, there was no question some Portland candidates would give it a try last week (the official dates of the challenge were September 30 to October 6th). And if it wasn’t on their radar, The Street Trust Action Fund put it there by asking them to participate as part of their endorsement process.

I’m aware of nine city council candidates who participated. Eight of those replied to my queries about it and seven sent me their responses in time for this post. I asked each candidate the same three questions (plus an open-ended one): 1) Why did you do it? 2) What two experiences would you like to share?, and 3) Did it change how you see transportation in Portland?

Below are reflections about Week Without Driving from seven Portland city council candidates…

Timur Ender, District 1 (East)

Timur Ender (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

I participated in Week Without Driving because how we view our streets shapes public policy. I think this campaign presents an opportunity for people to have different experiences and to see their neighborhood from a different perspective. It also pushes people to plan and execute on what their multimodal choices would be if they needed to use them.

One memorable experience I had occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. My day started at 6:30 am taking our foster child to school and ended at 10:30 pm biking back from a soccer game. As I was biking in between different events, I heard my oldest child playing at their friend’s house before school. I wasn’t aware they were going to be there. I biked over to her, wished them a great day, and gave her a hug and a kiss. It was the only time we saw each other that day. In the middle of a hectic day within the midst of a 15-month long city council campaign where I’ve sacrificed hours away from my kids and family, that moment meant a lot. Had I been in a car, I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t have heard them playing— nor would I have been driving on that local street in the first place.

I don’t think it changed how I view transportation issues as we frequently use transit, biking, and walking as a family but I did appreciate the opportunity to participate.  (Learn more about Ender here.)

Marnie Glickman, District 2 (N/NE)

Marnie Glickman (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

I decided to participate because I want to learn firsthand what it is like for one-third of Portlanders who do not drive or cannot afford to drive a car.

It was harder than I thought it would be. As a person living with multiple sclerosis, there were two days when I felt too weak to ride even my electric trike. I also discovered that it was easier for me to stay home (even during the final stretch of my campaign) than venture out into the city. Carrying my lawn signs onto the line 24 bus was too challenging for me.

The experience changed how I see transportation because I discovered how much more difficult and time-consuming transit was without a car and the ability to cycle in Portland. I can imagine a little more easily what life is like for so many Portlanders who are struggling to get from one place to another safely.

Portland’s transportation system should facilitate the safe movement of humans of all shapes, sizes, and abilities. Our transportation system needs to connect people together and build resilient, thriving communities without harming the environment and wildlife. (Learn more about Glickman here.)

Nat West, District 2 (N/NE)

Nat West (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

For most weeks in a given year, I don’t drive. So this wasn’t so much a challenge for me as an opportunity to highlight alternative modes of transportation and participate in a bigger conversation. I really like the timing of this week as the seasons are changing. There are a lot of people who use more active modes when the weather is nicer but retreat to their cars when the rains come. So this week was hopefully an opportunity for people to experience a few chilly mornings on their commutes. As a daily cyclist, I really enjoyed seeing so many other people getting around via other modes like transit and walking. 

On Friday morning, I got hit from someone running a stop sign on SE 7th. That’s the second time I was hit on that stretch of road this year. There is clearly work to be done, not just there but in many places of Portland. I also want to share that I went to a conference on Friday with a few hundred attendees and only saw two bikes there. So despite the publicity of the week, I don’t think the message got around to a lot of people.

I’ve been campaigning on transportation policy, and specifically safe streets for the last eight months, so I can’t say this week changed my perspective. But I’ll take every opportunity to talk to voters about larger bigger community efforts to engage more actively with transportation. It’s easy to ignore a single person riding a bike every day, but harder when you see many people talking about not driving.

I noticed quite a few other City Council candidates participating in Week Without Driving using various modes, but I didn’t see any mayoral candidates talking about it. Considering the bad driving records of Carmen Rubio and Rene Gonzalez, this dichotomy may be a sign of differences in vision in the new government come January. We may end up with some elected officials who clearly think the rules of the road don’t apply to them, and others who feel the impact of those bad behaviors. (Learn more about West here.)

Jesse Cornett, District 3 (SE)

Jesse Cornett (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

I rarely drive any longer. For health and for lowered expenses, I enjoy my pedal-powered alternatives. This past week I was vexed by flats, which lead to unanticipated car trips. I finally got new tires and rim tape yesterday, so I hope the deflating trend is over!

I would estimate that 95% of my trips since June have been by bike, including to Council Crest (for fun) and Edgefield (for music!).

I feel as if I see the strides that have been made in the past decade for bicycle safety and better understand our transportation system because of my shift back to two wheels.

I’ve had one minor crash and surprised how easily I’ve been able to make minor repairs on. (Learn more about Cornett here.)

Rex Burkholder, District 3 (SE)

It was great to have an excuse to break out the trailer and do some serious shopping without a car.

Rex Burkholder (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

I try to make every week a week without driving, but sometimes, when the rain is pouring or I have many destinations to get to and I’m tired, having a goal of not driving — for all the very good reasons not to drive a car — gets me over the hump and back on my bike. 

First, I got a lot more mileage in on my bike, with having to canvass voters in a large geographic area as well as attending voters forums, I was going from one end of town to the other more than usual.

Second, is that I did drive a car one day to take my partner, Lydia, to Kaiser to get a cast on her broken wrist. She has not been able to ride a bike (and is very frustrated) after breaking her wrist when she tripped hiking. She also has difficulty driving so I was her willing driver that day. Transit would have been an hour trip with two transfers to get to Kaiser, a taxi trip, or a 10 minute drive. We make choices.

As a regular bicycle user and walker, my experiences weren’t that much different. 

I think that we should require all City of Portland employees, at least those working in transportation, and our future councilors and mayor as well, to experience a week without driving to understand what many Portlanders experience everyday — those who have no choice but to walk, take transit, or cycle due to income, age, disability or other situation that makes driving a car impossible.  (Learn more about Burkholder here.)

Chad Lykins, District 4 (West/Sellwood)

Chad Lykins (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

I did the week without driving both because I’m a big supporter of active transportation and because I wanted to show solidarity with those for whom driving is not an option. To make it work, I had to rig my bike up for more carrying capacity for delivering yard signs. I was able to do some tasks on a bike that had previously been more challenging. Also, I finally got to ride my bike to a Timbers game at Providence Park. The bike parking there is amazing!

I already knew a lot of the challenges and joys to be found on Portland roads, partly from the ride-along Jonathan and I did together.

I would point out that the Week Without Driving isn’t just about bikes. I thought a lot about people who have various disabilities that prevent them from walking, riding, or driving. Our city needs to be a place where all people are able to get around. (Learn more about Lykins here.)

Mitch Green, District 4 (West/Sellwood)

Driving less is important to me, and I realize I’m still car-dependent for accomplishing certain things during the week out of convenience or necessity. A Week Without Driving felt like any other week because I’ve always challenged myself to use other ways of getting around like the bus or biking even when I’m privileged to own a car. I put in extra effort to bike everywhere first, then took transit when biking for the entire day wasn’t feasible. I still rode 6 out of 7 days, with the exception of Thursday when I had multiple interviews nearly back-to-back. 

Mitch Green (Photo: Mitch Green campaign)

What I didn’t expect when I took the pledge was experiencing a health issue that made walking painful for a few days and required bedrest per doctor’s orders. I thought I could still bike easily when the pain subsided, but it wasn’t. My campaign manager also got her bike stolen the previous week, and these events amplified just how much more planning, coordination, and effort it took to get around when we depend on biking and walking as our primary modes of transportation. Campaigning involves traveling to several locations throughout the day back-to-back, while transporting ourselves and materials.

A Week Without Driving amplified a lot ot the experiences my southwest Portland neighbors have told me when talking to them at doors –hundreds of them – over the past few weeks. In West Portland Park, Hayhurst and Maplewood, walking to school or a bus stop can be long and treacherous with hills and without sidewalks. Trip-chaining or going from one location to another, especially for families with young children or family members with disabilities, can be much easier with a car. For people who are bike and transit-dependent, they have to negotiate schedules, consequences for lateness, decisions about safety and comfort, and costs in a way that aren’t as relevant to people who can easily drive around. (Learn more about Green here.)

Celebration at Gateway Green marks ‘wild idea’ that became off-road cycling destination

Nearly twenty years ago, a commercial real estate investor named Ted Gilbert had an idea: What if we turned a vacant lot between two freeways into a park that would give east Portland a marquee destination?

On Saturday, Gilbert was on hand as the vision he had in 2005 could finally be experienced. It was made even sweeter with the addition of a new path and bridge recently completed by TriMet that connects the park’s south end directly to Gateway Transit Center.

“If you hate Gateway Green, blame me because it was my wild idea,” Gilbert shared in a short interview with me just before he walked on stage to share remarks at the big celebration hosted by Portland Parks & Recreation, TriMet, and nonprofit Northwest Trail Alliance.

“I didn’t know anything about mountain biking when we started, but it was this vision as a bike park that grabbed everybody’s attention.”

– Ted Gilbert
Ted Gilbert, the commercial real estate investor who hatched the plan.
Linda Robinson, the parks advocate who shepherded the idea.
Lisa Olivares, current leader of cycling nonprofit partner.

Gilbert began the project in 2005 as away to give the Gateway area a civic rebranding and more green space. The area was the most parks-deficient in the entire city and its economic reputation needed a boost. His time on an urban renewal committee wasn’t going anywhere, so he made a cold call to the former Oregon Department of Transportation Region 1 Director Jason Tell (ODOT owned the land). “I asked him if he’d be willing to put this underutilized piece of land to a higher community purpose,” Gilbert shared.

As it turned out, that higher purpose was a bike park.

“I didn’t know anything about mountain biking when we started, but it was this vision as a bike park that really grabbed everybody’s attention. It really resonated with people,” said Gilbert. Aided by dozens of enthusiastic cycling advocates organized by NW Trail Alliance and his “partner in crime,” Linda Robinson, who would later head the nonprofit Friends of Gateway Green, the park opened its first phase in 2017.

Robinson formed the friends group in 2009 and spearheaded early fundraising efforts. In her remarks Saturday, she said now that construction is complete, Friends of Gateway Green will become a different kind of organization. “We’re transitioning into an organization that helps activate the park. We hope to work with partners to hold all kinds of events here — not just bicycle events, but music events, walking events all kinds of things,” she said while making a pitch for new board members who want to be involved in the park’s next era.

The park needs more leaders and volunteers. It also needs dirt.

Portland Parks Capital Project Manager Ross Swanson has overseen the city’s work on Gateway Green for the last 10 years. He said the type of clay dirt needed to make great bike trails isn’t in great supply at the site, so they need to import most of it. “I have feelers out into the construction industry about where to find clay soils. If they’re looking for a place to dump it, we have a spot.”

Several people I spoke to Saturday love the dirt at Gateway Green. One young girl and her mom said they do laps of the single track and then race each other on different tracks in the skills park area. Asked if she likes to jump, the girl said she has started doing the gravity line trails that begin atop the highest point in the park’s southern end, and one time she accidentally defied gravity and launched into the air. “She was super nervous,” he mom said. “But now she’s found inner strength.”

“That line is probably my favorite now. So yeah, just follow your heart,” the girl added.

Helping kids gain confidence on two wheels is exactly what NW Trail Alliance dreamed of when they got involved with the project in 2008. The group’s Executive Director Lisa Olivares said they’ve organized thousands of volunteer hours as the official trail steward of the park. “They’re out there with shovels, they’re brushing back the trails, just doing all the work that’s necessary on a weekly basis.”

In addition to being, “the place” to ride off-road in Portland, Olivares said Gateway Green has a political function as well because the success and popularity of the park proves the demand. “We are excited for more spaces like this and more trails that we’ll be able to get our bikes on throughout the city,” Olivares said.

While NWTA works on more off-road trails citywide, Gilbert wants someone to pick up the torch he and Robinson lit. In his speech Saturday, Gilbert said, “We’re not finished with wild ideas yet,” and then he raised his arm and pointed west from the stage toward towering hills of Rocky Butte just on the other side of I-205.

Gilbert revealed that when he made that first call to ODOT in 2005, the former regional director said, “By the way, we have some acreage on top of Rocky Butte. Would you like that too?” “So we did some research,” Gilbert continued. “We found out that in addition to ODOT, there were total of five public agencies that owned a total of 80 acres contiguous land [on and around Rocky Butte]… Can you imagine if we combined that 80 acres of land connected… on the west side of I-205 with the east side? We would have a one-of-a-kind project anywhere in the country.”

“Perhaps someone here today, one generation or another, will be inspired by those ideas. I hope so, because I sincerely believe if a good idea can happen anywhere, it can happen here.”

— See action from the celebration, including interviews with Gilbert, Olivares, Swanson, and others in the video player above or watch it on YouTube.

Comment of the Week: Preference falsification and bicycles

I liked this week’s comment because it comes from the reader every writer wants — a person at the receiving end who puts some work into it. Charley read a wonky article (The Alpenrose hearing: Nollan and Dolan), clicked into an even wonkier critique by Keith Liden, and then made all that information his own and thought about it.

He collected his ideas (which went beyond Nollan/Dolan or Liden’s Alpenrose critique) and took the discussion to a different level.

Here’s the big picture from Charley:

Keith Liden’s prepared testimony was very readable, and seemed convincing. Impressive work.

One comment (about the City wondering why more people don’t ride bikes) made me think of both the City’s elected leaders and the City’s voters in a new light: I think *both* the elected leaders and voters are overstating their support for policies related to bicycle safety, pedestrian safety and CO2 reductions.

I’d argue that we have a lot of preference falsification around these issues.

The way I see it, the elected leaders are representing voters’ preferences pretty well: most voters like the sound of “let’s fight climate change,” and like the sound of “pro-bike,” but aren’t personally invested in either cause.

I mean that literally. What amount of their own money would voters be willing to spend on climate mitigation? Voters are more enthusiastic about taxing “rich people” or “corporations” to fight climate change, but directly taxing the middle class is clearly unpopular.

Similarly, many local people like bikes and want safety for riders… but clearly there’s a good bit of local pushback against new bike lanes, or other safety treatments.

Surely, some of these are not the same people! I mean, many people who oppose bike lanes also don’t give a hoot about bike riders’ safety.

However, I think there’s some overlap: how often do we hear someone say “I’m a bike rider, too, but bike lanes are not a good fit for my street because we need on-street parking.”

As regards elected leaders, I’ve never gotten the sense that any are *particularly* invested in cycling as a solution to our problems.

Many are of course happy to sign off on some amount of funding for safety improvements, and some have even gone to bat on controversial issues (Sam Adams over BES funding, iirc; Hales on off-road cycling). But more often we have examples of public support and behind-the-scenes disinterest or opposition (Hardesty, Mapps, Fritz).

Perhaps I’m being too cynical about this. Even if it’s not as strong as preference falsification, I’d still argue that politicians and voters overstate their support for cycling and climate mitigation. Most local voters want to think of themselves as environmentally-minded citizens, so candidates flatter us by adopting “pro-bike” positions, etc. That’s the mechanism by which the transportation safety hierarchy adopted by the full City Council, but is ignored (as Liden expertly points out) when it comes to accommodating the housing development at Alpenrose.

I do not mean this as some kind of denunciation of rank hypocrisy! I think bike/pedestrian safety and climate mitigation are hard and expensive nuts to crack. There are differences in impact that create entrenched opposition to change, and fully funded solutions would require enormous sums of money.

It’s no surprise that some people feel hopeless, or conversely, that some people maintain a kind of blissful ignorance as to the true costs of either project. Most of us feel “on edge” to one degree or another. Who really feels economically secure? Secure enough to devote a substantial part of our income to climate mitigations? Few people feel physically secure enough to risk commuting by bike, much less give up owning a car.

Even then, we’d still like to see positive change… just as long as it doesn’t cost us too much.

Thank you Charley. You can read Charley’s comment, under the original post.

Monday Roundup: Airport parking, cost of cars, fireflies, and more

It’s Monday! Time to round up the best news and stories from the past week…

**Sponsored by VVolt E-Mobility**

Tech won’t save us or them: Don’t be fooled by the charm offensive from Big Auto that wants to convince Americans that the path toward safer cars is better technology. Just design safer and smaller cars, damnit! (Slate)

Rad goes big box: Ubiquitous e-bike brand Rad Power Bikes has signed a deal to sell into Best Buy, and some bike industry insiders see it as a sign of desperation. (Bicycle Retailer & Industry News)

Firefly activism: A cycling advocacy group in Manila has grown into a force after one person stood up with a provocative question: Can you see the fireflies? (Christian Science Monitor)

What the bleep? California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required new cars to have audible speed warning devices. (Politico)

Cost of transit: A report done to boost support of a major investment into public transit in Vancouver, BC found that current service costs the region about $1 billion every year — or around $1,000 per household — in added transportation costs. (Metro Magazine)

Cost of driving: Cars are just so bad, man. Even if the cost of lives or cost to our planet don’t make you sick, consider that a recent study found about one-third of all drivers who financed their vehicles owe more than their car is worth. (Jalopnik)

A lot of pedaling, indeed: Cyclist Lachlan Morton rode all the way around Australia, a distance of 8,800 miles, at an average of 280 miles per day for 30 days. Damn. (The Guardian)

Bike to fly: Portland Airport officials need to do some research and consider doing something similar to what they’re doing at Washington National with secure bike parking stalls so folks feel comfortable not just biking to the airport for work, but to fly as well. (Fast Company)

Thanks to everyone who sent in links this week. The Monday Roundup is a community effort, so please feel free to send us any great stories you come across.

Podcast: In the Shed with Eva and Jonathan

Hope you’ve had a great week. Eva just rolled away and we had a good ol’ time chatting it up for this week’s In The Shed episode. Check (mostly) all the fun stuff we mentioned in the links below.

Thanks for listening! And we appreciate all the paid subscribers and BP advertisers that continue to make this podcast — and all the things BikePortland does — possible. Please become a paying supporter today at BikePortland.org/support.

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From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike