🎄🚨: BikeCraft is back! Our holiday gift bazaar happens Wednesday, 12/17 at Migration Brewing on N Williams Ave.
See full vendor list here.

Crash victims in limbo as police records backlog swells to six months

rowan

Small business owner Rowan Kimsey was seriously injured in a traffic crash over five months ago. She still doesn’t have a copy of the police report.
(Photo: M. Andersen/BikePortland)

For many traffic crash victims the difference between getting a check from the insurance company and getting nothing comes down to one document: a police report. And for an increasing number of Portlanders the time it takes to receive a copy of that report has ballooned from two weeks to up to six months.

These victims are in limbo. Without a police report they can’t get paid what they’re owed and they can’t fully heal emotionally because they often aren’t even able to find out basic information — like the first and last name — of the person who hit them.

Read more

City, state sued for unsafe road design in death of Martin Greenough

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
greenoughlawsuit

A lawsuit (PDF) has been filed in the death of Martin Greenough, the man who was killed while bicycling on NE Portland Highway (a.k.a. Lombard) on December 12th of last year.

Greenough’s family filed the lawsuit yesterday. The suit says that the City of Portland, the State of Oregon, and the man who hit Greenough, Kenneth Smith, are all at fault for his death and are asking for $3.6 million in damages.

As we covered at length here on BikePortland, Greenough was hit in a section of Lombard — where the bike lane stops and the road narrows under the NE 42nd Avenue overpass — that was a known danger spot. We reported on the exact location just one day before he was hit. Tragically however, we learned Greenough was new to town and was very likely following the route suggested on official city and regional bike maps.

In the lawsuit, Greenough’s lawyer claims both the Oregon Department of Transportation and the Portland Bureau of Transportion had been aware of the “pinch point” for at least a year before the collision and that they failed to “failed to provide for safe travel for both motor vehicles and bicycles.”

Read more

Better Block volunteers prep for Broadway and Burnside demos in May and June

3rd Avenue Better Block PDX

A protected bike lane on SE 3rd Avenue in 2014.
(Photo: Greg Raisman)

Dozens of volunteers are now meeting weekly to plan temporary human-friendly makeovers of Northeast Broadway and the Burnside Bridge this spring and summer.

Better Block PDX’s next “work party” is tonight at Pizza Schmizza at NE 7th and Broadway, from 6-7:30 p.m. Next Wednesday it’s the same time at Black Water Bar, NE 9th and Broadway.

The Broadway demo will create a protected bike lane for one week, from May 9-15.

Read more

Bike Walk Vote will host ‘meet the candidates’ event Sunday at Velo Cult

bwvevent-lead

Bob Stacey (Metro Council), Sarah Iannarone (Portland Mayor), and Sam Chase (Metro Council) have all been endorsed by Bike Walk Vote.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Bike Walk Vote, the political arm of Portland’s transportation reform movement, wants to get you some face time with this year’s city council, county commission and Metro council candidates.

Read more

On eve of vote, Metro has heard all sides of Tualatin Mountains debate

Metro council meeting-4.jpg

The council heard concerns and praise
at a public hearing last week.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

The seven-member Metro Council will decide on Thursday whether or not to approve the creation of new off-road trails near Portland.

If their North Tualatin Mountains Trail Access Plan is passed it will set into motion the development of over six miles of new off-road routes open to bicycles. This plan would be a major milestone because the first phase of trail construction (at Burlington) will happen just 10 miles north of downtown Portland and 2.25 miles of those trails will be built specifically for bicycle riding.

“Bicycle-optimized trails,” to use Metro’s term (a.k.a. singletrack) are rare and coveted for many Portlanders who don’t want to drive a minimum of 45 minutes just to ride. Forest Park only has 1/3 mile of singletrack and Powell Butte (about 13 miles east of downtown Portland) is small and offers only limited options. Off-road cycling advocates have been trying for years (without much success) to improve bike access at Forest Park and more recently at River View Natural Area in the southwest hills. Both times the Portland Parks and Recreation Bureau has pulled the rug out from under them in favor of the status quo.

Read more

How a zany race sold me on bikes and made me the woman I needed to become

kate

The author.
(Photos via K.Laudermilk)

We’re pleased to welcome new contributor Kate Laudermilk, a Portlander who’ll be sharing humor and wisdom from her biking life in the occasional column Gal by Bike over the next few months.

I know firsthand that the thought of being a “cyclist” or “bike rider” can be intimidating. Often it’s even more intimidating for women to get started and break into the biking community. And using a bike as my sole form of transportation was never my plan.

That is why I think the evolution of my life on a bike is a story worth telling.

I know that sometimes it can seem easier to just drive, walk, or take the streetcar. Just kidding, it’s never easier to take the streetcar. But as a skeptic by nature, riding a bike makes me second guess things, worry, and question my capabilities. What if I can’t ride fast enough, long enough, or what if my hair gets all messed up under the helmet? Worries aside, I have and continue to deem my decision to become an avid bike rider as one of my smartest decisions to date.

Read more

Death and Congestion

I have been thinking about death lately.

First~ there is Vision Zero; there are my patients (I work with the end of life vision care); every month there are friends and acquaintances who face an earlier demise than the rest of us; and then there is Ragnar. Ragnar is in a soap opera that I watch faithfully and he keeps wondering what day he is going to die in his Viking world. He keeps seeing the Gates of Valhalla. He like us wants to know when the Gates will welcome him. And as much as ODOT/PBOT has a list of 100+ unsafe/dangerous intersections, we still never can predict which intersection doors of Valhalla will swallow another soul.

This leads me to think how can we change the things we can change.

Read more

Job: Bike Mechanics/Bike Builders – Bike Gallery

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title *
Bike Mechanics/Bike Builders

Company/Organization *
Bike Gallery

Job Description *
The Bike Gallery is hiring now at all of our stores in Portland, Clackamas, Beaverton & Lake Oswego for experience bike mechanics and bike builders. We have both FT & PT positions available.

Bike mechanics represent the link between customers and our service department. Being able to comfortably interact with customers is a basic expectation of all service personnel. This includes being able to respond to telephone inquiries, and customers in the store who have questions, want to buy parts, drop off a bike for service, or pick up a completed service job. When not responding to customer needs, technicians will spend the balance of their shift building or repairing bicycles, installing parts, or calling customers who have completed repairs waiting to be picked up. Service technicians must be highly skilled in the maintenance and repair of a wide variety of bicycle makes, models, and component parts. It is also an expectation that service technicians will keep current with new technology and changes in equipment design.

Qualifications:
– 2 years experience
– ability to diagnose and service a wide range of performance complaints for a wide range of equipment types
– ability to complete a bicycle assembly for any product carried, to the established quality standard, and within the established time parameters for the product in question
– ability to identify and perform all aspects of replacement part installation to the established time and quality standards
– preferred UBI certification
– strong customer service skills
– ability to work as a part of a team

Both permanent and seasonal positions are available. Permanent full-time employees are offered a full benefit package that includes medical/dental/vision insurance & 401(k) with a match as well as Aflac and Flex spending accounts.

Pay based upon experience

How to Apply *
Send resume to BGResumes@bikegallery.com