The Oregon Department of Transportation is about to finalize plans for a paving project on Highway 30 north of St. Johns. The project is a golden opportunity to improve this key bikeway corridor that connects Portland to the West Hills, Linnton, Sauvie Island, Scappoose, and beyond.
Plenty of folks quit their jobs in exchange for adventure, but not quite in the way as Dave Hoch and Jen Sotolongo of Southeast Portland. Since May 2015, Dave and Jen have been cycle touring the world with a unique companion — their 11-year-old Australian Shepherd, Sora. Together, they call themselves the Long Haul Trekkers.
BikePortland’s bike parking coverage is sponsored by Huntco Site Furnishings.
Suburban parking lots often fail horribly at bike parking — not because it’s expensive but simply because developers weren’t thinking about it.
But as hundreds of Portland retailers can testify, decent bike parking is a big part of making a business district bike-friendly. It’s a key part of making it feel natural and normal to go out for an errand, a beer, a meeting, a movie or a daycare dropoff on a bicycle.
With low-car lifestyles getting more common in Washington County over the last few years, some people in the area are looking to upgrade the bike parking. That’s why the Westside Transportation Alliance is working on a project right now to select the best locations for new bike racks.
A local beer entrepreneur’s reach-for-the-stars campaign to name Portland’s newest bridge after Jean-Luc Picard has succeeded, at least for one day.
Google Maps currently lists the walking-biking-transit bridge as the “Jean-Luc Picard Wunder Crossing,” just as Owen Lingley suggested in a pair of billboards he put up at his own expense last year.
With dozens of different jurisdictions managing over 100 walking and bikings paths and trails in our region, the design of route signs is all over the map. There’s no consistency from one path to the next and many signs are outdated and not nearly as helpful as they should be. Thankfully Metro is working to change that. They plan to put up 400 new signs on paths and trails in 2016.
Job Title *
Head Mechanic – E-Bikes
Company/Organization *
Cynergy E-Bikes
Your Email Address (for listing confirmation) * info@cynergyebikes.com
Job Description *
We are looking for an experienced bike mechanic to lead our service area. Knowledge of electric bikes is helpful, but not required. The ideal candidate will be a team member who is excited to deliver quality service, has a knack for troubleshooting problems, and likes to engage with customers. We strive to provide fun for our customers and a workplace where you can feel great about what you do.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Perform all types of repairs on both electric and non-electric bikes.
• Assemble e-bikes and perform adjustments.
• Manage the bike builds of other team members.
• Install components and accessories – fenders, racks, integrated lighting, saddles and tires, etc.
• Install conversion kits on traditional bikes.
• Keep the department well-organized.
• Be part of the team for evaluating new bike models, new accessories, for building store traffic and generating sales.
• An occasional delivery of an e-bike to a customer.
• Assist on the sales floor.
DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:
• 4+ years of bike mechanic experience.
• Experience servicing e-bikes a plus.
• Good knowledge of principles of electricity and electronics a plus.
• A team orientation towards improving the overall performance of the business.
• Enthusiasm for learning changing technology.
• An interest in getting more people out of their cars and into cleaner, healthier transportation.
• Driver’s license a plus.
• A genuine fondness for pizza.
LOCATION: Southeast Portland, OR
We offer a very competitive wage and bonuses based on the overall performance of the team.
How to Apply *
Forward resume or an explanation of your qualifications to info@cynergyebikes.com.
2016 will be a big year for the Historic Columbia River Highway. The legendary road was a scenic precursor to Interstate 84 when it opened 100 years ago, but it fell into disrepair and was largely forgotten until the past decade or so when an effort to rebuild it as a (mostly) walking and biking path took hold. Proponents of the highway hoped to have all 73 miles of the original route from Troutdale to The Dalles completed by this year in time for a big centennial celebration. While they’re about 10 miles short of their goal, the celebration will still happen and there’s more progress this month as construction begins on a new 1.3-mile section of the trail.
This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by the Cycle & Sip ride. Hosted by Eola Hills Winery on March 13th, this event combines a beautiful ride with excellent wine and food.
Here are the bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:
National bike network: Norway just agreed to spend $1 billion to build “10 broad, two-lane, cross-country bike tracks in and near Norway’s nine largest cities.”
Uber subsidy: Altamonte Springs, Florida, will underwrite 25 percent of every Uber ride in an effort to boost transit ridership.
You might think of Cycle Oregon as that big ride that happens each fall. But did you know that proceeds from the annual ride are put into a fund that gives back to the communities it passes through?
Since 1996 the Cycle Oregon Fund has awarded 190 grants totaling $1.6 million. Earlier this week Cycle Oregon announced their list of community and safety/tourism grants for 2015 and they include awards for 11 projects worth $95,150. Nine of those grants are going to projects that will improve bicycle safety and tourism across the state. They include funds for bike trail and rack projects, improvements to the Historic Columbia River Highway, an advocacy program for women and cycling, and redevelopment aid for communities hit by last year’s forest fires.
Here’s the full list:
After years of fighting, a “grand bargain” on affordable housing passed Oregon’s legislature this week. But it won’t begin shaping Portland’s bikeable neighborhoods until after the city council takes action of its own.
Representatives for Mayor Charlie Hales and his council colleague, Housing Commissioner Dan Saltzman, say that plans to do so are already underway.
Any city plan seems certain to include some level of “inclusionary zoning,” a measure that could require that up to 20 percent of units in some new buildings be sold and/or rented at discount prices to people who make less than 80 percent of the median income. (As of 2015, that 80 percent figure means that a family of three that makes less than $52,950 would qualify for the reduced-rate units.)
What a difference four years makes.
One thing that became clear at last night’s mayoral debate: For the first time in my memory (which is admittedly not very long), all the top candidates are firmly on the left of the political spectrum. At each of the mayoral races I’ve covered in the past decade there was always a right-leaning candidate who made veiled overtures to business interests and the status quo — especially when it came to transportation and environmental issues. Even our current mayor Charlie Hales was elected after a campaign where he ran as an anti-Sam Adams who would return Portland “back to basics” (wink wink).
The three candidates at last night’s debate: Sarah Iannarone, Ted Wheeler, and Jules Bailey, are having none of that. Each one of them are proposing policies that would upend business as usual and would put Portland back at the forefront of truly progressive cities.
