🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

A suspected drunk driver has hit and killed a man who was walking across Division Street

The intersection of Division at SE 124th near where Damon Burton was killed.
The intersection of Division at SE 124th near where Damon Burton was killed.

A man was arrested yesterday morning for recklessly driving his car into a person who was trying to cross the street in southeast Portland.

40-year-old Clifford Eugene Perry Jr. faces charges of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII) and Reckless Driving. Perry will be arraigned in Multnomah County Court today.

On Sunday evening Perry was driving westbound on Division near 124th (map) “at a high rate of speed” (according to Portland Police investigators) prior to coming into contact with 61-year-old Damon Patrick Burton. Perry, who the police suspect was drunk, then continued driving on Division until crashing into a gas station at 122nd. Burton lived in the neighborhood and was trying to cross Division from south to north prior to being hit.

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The Monday Roundup: Buzzbikes, rolling coal, Tamika Butler & more

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This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Hassalo on Eighth, now leasing in the Lloyd District.

Hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend. Now it’s time to put your thinking caps back on. Here are the stories that caught our eyes this past week:

New twist on bike share: Two business partners have launched a novel new bike promotion scheme in London: Riders can get a free ‘Buzzbike’ only if they agree to ride to work at least 12 days per month and park the bike in a public place.

Rolling coal goes primetime: Regular BP readers know all about the “rolling coal” menace; now people all over the world are just finding out about it thanks to a front page story in the NY Times.

Road rage across the pond: A road rage video posted online by British journalist Jeremy Vine has the UK talking. Guardian reporter Peter Walker explains why it’s not a surprise to everyday riders.

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Weekly Video Roundup: Ultraendurance, bikefishing, cows, and more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2AQBe1uZSg
Welcome to the weekly video roundup! I’m getting this out before I leave for a big bike adventure this weekend. The above video is 45 minutes on this year’s RAAM, which includes Juliana Buhring, the hero of Inspired To Ride (which is about the “self-supported RAAM” though not affiliated with RAAM). Such an amazing ultraendurance race; I love the humanity that comes from showing the riders.

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Weekend Picks: 24-hour ‘Velo Vulture’ alleycat and cyclocross!

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Cyclocross race at David Douglas Park-21

Yes. It is time for ‘cross. And David Douglas Park is a great place to kick off the season.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

It’s Labor Day weekend so you know what that means (besides celebrating the labor movement): extra time for bike adventuring!

While we be rolling into the Willamette Valley with friends to pick up some beer-making ingredients for Base Camp Brewing on the third annual Fresh Hop Century, we also want to highlight two big events on our calendar for this Saturday: the 24 Hour Velo Vulture Alley Cat and the first race in the Gran Prix Brad Ross cyclocross series.

These events will get your heart pumping whether you prefer to pedal through the urban jungle or the cyclocross battlefield.

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Pleas to drive more safely echo at ‘Rally to end unsafe streets’

BTA Rally to End Unsafe Streets-3.jpg

Oregon Walks Executive Director Noel Mickelberry pushed back tears as she said the recent spate of deaths and injuries have been “debilitating” for her organization.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

No matter what Portland does to address the fatalities and injuries on our roads, in the end safety comes down to one major factor: personal behavior. That was the predominant opinion of the speakers at a rally “To end unsafe streets” held in downtown Portland this morning.

The event was organized by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (soon to be called the Street Trust). That organization’s Executive Director Rob Sadowsky reminded the few dozen people and handful of media crews that showed up that Portland has had 30 road deaths so far this year. An “enormous amount,” he said.

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Northeast community embraces bike safety fiesta hosted by Portland Police

Assistant Chief Chris Uehara was one of several officers who attended the annual bike safety fiesta.(Photos: Portland Police Bureau)
Assistant Chief Chris Uehara was one of several officers who attended the annual bike safety fiesta.
(Photos: Portland Police Bureau)

The power of bicycles to bring people together and break down barriers is truly awe-inspiring. We’ve seen this take many forms over the years and now we can add a recent event hosted by the Portland Police Bureau to the list.

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The Street Trust (formerly the BTA) is planning a rally tomorrow to “End unsafe streets”

“It is all of our responsibility to drive, bike, and walk as if it is our own child, grandchild, or grandparent who will be crossing the road at the next intersection. Simply put, we must slow down and we must be vigilant.”
— Rob Sadowsky, executive director of the Street Trust

The Street Trust (formerly the Bicycle Transportation Alliance) has made a public statement about the death of young Fallon Smart and the serious collision yesterday that left 15-year-old Bradley Fortner with a brain injury.

“We need action now,” says Street Trust Executive Director Rob Sadowsky. “I am deeply saddened each time I hear about another road death. It is all of our responsibility to drive, bike, and walk as if it is our own child, grandchild, or grandparent who will be crossing the road at the next intersection. Simply put, we must slow down and we must be vigilant.”

The statement comes with an announcement of a rally that will be held tomorrow (Thursday, September 1st) at the north end of the North Park Blocks. The rally is being coordinated with — and will include representatives from — Oregon Walks, Oregon and SW Washington Families for Safe Streets, the Portland Bureau of Transportation, and the Oregon Department of Transportation.

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Here’s the latest on the Central City Multimodal Project

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This stuff is coming folks. PBOT included this sketch in a presentation to city council today.

Today at Portland city council our transportation bureau took another step forward in a project that will finally build separated bikeways and other street upgrades in the central city.

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‘Black Williams Project’ will honor street’s past

From BlackWilliamsProject.com.
From BlackWilliamsProject.com.

North Williams Avenue, Portland’s busiest biking street that’s full of new shops and housing, was once the heart of our city’s black community.

But due to the negative impacts of systemic racism, city policies that hurt people of color, and recent demographic shifts, Williams has changed dramatically. Some of that original culture still thrives, but it’s a shadow of its former self.

Now a public art project wants to help Portlanders remember what was lost and celebrate what exists today.

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Collision Chronicles: Road assault on MLK near Everett (8/30/16)

fee-quoteThis story was sent to us as a Subscriber Post by BikePortland reader Glenn Fee.

I Can’t Believe I’m Writing This

I’m not entirely sure where to begin, but I feel like I need to write it.

It’s been an understandably difficult few months for pedestrians and cyclists in Portland. As a committed cyclist and someone who simply enjoys being engaged in community issues, I’ve paid close attention to the collisions and near collisions that seem to be an all-too-common occurrence on our streets. Having two young children in North Portland, I was particularly upset yesterday when I heard about the young man who was hit on his way to Roosevelt High School. I used one of Bike Portland’s Tweets to ask Ted Wheeler about his commitment to Vision Zero, and I was pleased with the unqualified support for the policy.

On my way in to work this morning, it seemed that bike traffic coming down Vancouver was as heavy as it’s been all summer. I was thinking quite a bit about yesterday’s collision, and about how great it was to be among so many cyclists (strength in numbers, etc.). Then I had the scariest single experience in my five years of bicycle commuting in Portland.

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Oregon DOT launches ‘Safétymon Go’ campaign

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Safetywhirl is one of 11 characters created by ODOT to encourage road safety.
Safetywhirl is one of 11 characters created by ODOT to encourage road safety.

The Oregon Department of Transportation has a response to the uptick of fatal and serious injury crashes on their roads: a new safety campaign that piggy-backs on the popularity of the Pokémon Go game and is timed to coincide with back-to-school season.

It’s called Safétymon Go and it comes with the tagline: “Safety is nothing to poké fun at!”

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