BikePortland

Meet the people on the City’s most powerful transportation committee

Portland city government is not lacking in advisory committees. It’s the butt of frequent jokes among local insiders that once an issue gets controversial or politically difficult, the response is to just form a committee while things calm down.

Joking aside, not all committees are created equally. Their influence on policy and projects varies greatly and some have more teeth than others. Some have teeth that belong to smart and engaged citizens and agency staffers who know where to find the levers of power — and more importantly — are not afraid to pull them.

Portland-based lawyer and bicycle law specialist Charley Gee needs our help.

Gee represents a man who was struck by someone driving a car as he biked in the bike lane on North Interstate Avenue on August 15th. The person driving the car didn’t render aid or wait around for help to arrive at the scene. The victim needs information about the suspect to help his case.

Here’s more about the incident from Gee:

“After being struck and knocked to the ground, the car driver stopped, rolled down his window and laughed at the injured man before leaving the scene.

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Weekend Event Guide: ‘Cross corn maze, Sandy Ridge, Sunday Parkways & more

Ever wondered what these paintings were all about? Want to create one in your neighborhood? Join the Intersection Repair Mural Tour on Saturday to find out.
(Photo: J Maus/BikePortland)

This weekend offers a first and a last: the first-ever Sandy Ridge EFI Ride (see below to find out what that means), and the final Sunday Parkways of the year. Whether you choose to point your bars toward Mt. Hood or Milwaukie, you can keep your wheels spinning with our handy guide…

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

A marking on southbound North Greeley at Bryant to commemorate the death of Stanley Grochowski.(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland) — A marking on southbound North Greeley at Bryant to commemorate the death of Stanley Grochowski.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

People who live in the neighborhood where Stanley Grochowski was hit (and later died) on August 30th have placed a white marking on the pavement in the shape of a human. Similar to a ghost bike, this is a ghost walker.

I’ve noticed two trails up on powell butte have been closed to bikes. One trail has been closed to bikes for about 30 days. I just saw another trail close last night. Does anyone know if any other trails will be closed also. The trails aren’t closed to anyone else.

Letter to the Editor: Why won’t the City work with us on Hawthorne memorial?

A man swerved around a stopped car and was speeding in this center turn lane on Hawthorne Boulevard prior to hitting Fallon Smart. The City of Portland plans to clear out the makeshift memorial that has prohibited people from driving in the lane for the past month.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

This post was written by Katherine White as a letter to the community in response to news that the City of Portland plans to clear out the memorial where Fallon Smart died sometime this week. White is the program coordinator at One With Heart, a martial arts studio located adjacent to the 43rd and Hawthorne intersection.

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Screen Shot 2020-03-13 at 1.04.18 PM — A zoning code change proposal that will be subject to a City Council hearing next month would require all businesses to serve bicycle riders when other entrances are closed.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The City of Portland is not a fan of drive-through windows. For decades Portland has adopted regulations that limit how and where drive-throughs can be built.

City planners believe drive-throughs don’t serve the community’s best interests and that they lead to auto-oriented development that’s directly counter to adopted policy goals and dangerous for people on foot, on bike, and on mobility devices.

Now the city’s Planning and Sustainability Commission wants to ban new drive-throughs east of 80th Avenue and require all establishments that already have them to serve all customers, not just those using cars.

The Portland Independent Chamber of Commerce (PICOC) has turned their influential attention to an issue near and dear to our hearts: the struggle for safer streets.

Launched early this year by a relatively young cadre of tech industry leaders as an antidote to the Portland Business Alliance, PICOC wants more Portland businesses to step up and support “the Vision Zero movement.”

Their latest campaign hit inboxes and social media feeds today. It’s timed to influence City Council’s upcoming vote on the Vision Zero Action Plan released by the Portland Bureau of Transportation earlier this month. Council is slated to formally adopt the plan on October 12th.

It all started on the evening of March 30th.

Brian Duncan, the former chair of the Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association, was hit while trying to bike across North Rosa Parks Way at Greeley. He’s now paralyzed from the neck down. Then at the same intersection just three months later, Diana Miller-Dixon died after someone ran a red light and crashed into her car. Then two months after that on August 30th, and just two blocks away, Stanley Grochowski was walking in a crosswalk when he was hit by someone driving a car. Grochowski died from his injuries 10 days later on September 9th and police are still looking for the person that ran into him.

These tragic and violent acts committed by people driving dangerously on neighborhood streets have forever altered the lives of Brian Duncan and the families that Diana Miller-Dixon and Stanley Grochowski left behind.

Seattle transportation reform advocates are celebrating a major milestone this morning: last night Seattle City Council unanimously approved a measure that sets a default speed limit on some central city arterials of 25 miles per hour (instead of 30) and 20 miles per hour on all residential streets (instead of 25).

This is a big deal. Joshua Cohen reports on Next City that the new policy will effect a whopping 2,400 miles of neighborhood streets.

Today’s question (actually it’s more of a statement in need of clarification) comes from reader Douglas K.:

Zidell says they’ll be building just one more barge. That could clear one of the last major obstacles to completing the Willamette Greenway trail sooner than expected.

Could it? Many of you have contacted about this in the past few days. Here’s the lowdown and background on the issue:

The Portland Police Bureau has nabbed another big-time thief who has a taste for high-end bicycles.

The PPB worked with officers from the Bike Theft Task Force and task force partner BikeIndex.org to arrest Joshua Dutcherson last Thursday. The 32-year-old suspect is being held in connection with three burglaries of apartment complex garages where he’s accused of lifting “numerous bicycles.”

Here’s how it went down, via the official police statement about the case:

The Bike Index website (https://bikeindex.org/) was instrumental in identifying some of the stolen bikes. An off-duty detective saw a suspicious van with three high end racing bikes the week prior and took note of the plate and the driver. While officers were investigating some new bike thefts the detective recognized the suspect and the vehicle as the same one he had seen a week prior…

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Meet the people on the City’s most powerful transportation committee

Lawyer seeks info on hit-and-run at Interstate near Steel Bridge

Weekend Event Guide: ‘Cross corn maze, Sandy Ridge, Sunday Parkways & more

Ghost walker appears where man was hit crossing North Greeley

Powell butte no bike signs

Letter to the Editor: Why won’t the City work with us on Hawthorne memorial?

New drive-through proposals come with east Portland ban and bicycle access requirement

Portland’s new chamber of commerce wants more business support for Vision Zero

Enough is enough: Arbor Lodge neighbors to hold vigil after spate of tragedies

Seattle just passed a citywide 20 mph speed limit, and Portland could be next

Ask BikePortland: What’s up with Zidell and the future of South Waterfront greenway path?

Bike Theft Task Force helps nab ‘prolific’ garage burglar

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From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland