BikePortland

What are all these unauthorized orange traffic cones telling us?

Cones placed on 3rd by anonymous street activists.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

PDX Transformation has struck again.

The upstart and anonymous group of tactical urbanists that’s taking street safety into their own hands has deployed 14 large orange traffic cones on Southwest 3rd Avenue between Burnside and Stark. The cones have been placed inside the buffer zones of the bike lanes that were just striped back in October. It’s the largest single deployment of cones since the group began four months ago.

I tagged along with the Kidical Mass crowd on Sunday. There was a hailstorm and a rainstorm in the 30 minutes before the ride started, but the crowd massed at Overlook Park. We then rode as a group to Arbor Lodge Park. That’s a few miles, which is a lot for small tots who are happily pedaling along.

Being my first Kidical Mass, I got to see neighborhood parkways from a new point of view. Not only did I notice impatient car drivers more than otherwise, but a few of the road crossings (like crossing Greeley at Williams) seemed insurmountable.

Anyhow, it was a fun event, I’m especially proud of the above shot- capturing the uninhibited glee of the kids.

Average apartment building costs fell sharply during no-parking apartment boom

Southeast Ankeny Street.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

In 2013, when the Portland City Council began requiring most new apartment buildings of 30 or more units to include on-site parking garages, housing watchdogs warned that this would drive up the prices of newly built apartments.

Because the city still lets anyone park for free on public streets, they predicted, landlords wouldn’t be able to charge car owners for the actual cost of building parking spaces, which can come to $100 to $200 per month. So the cost of the garages would be built into the price of every new bedroom instead, further skewing new construction toward luxury units.

Three years later, rough data suggests that this could be exactly what happened.

The expressway to be removed.
(Image: City of Niagara Falls)

Here are the bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Highway removal: New York State will remove Robert Moses Parkway from the waterfront that overlooks Niagara Falls to create a park and walking trails.

11-year-old activist for safe streets: Los Angeles resident Matlock Grossman has wisdom beyond his years. He sees the benefits of bicycling on his rides to orchestra practice.

Victim blamed: The NYC police department says a 61-year-old Spanish teacher is to blame for his own death because he walked into a crosswalk right before an on-duty police officer who was reportedly on her cell phone turned her police van into him.

Earl Blumenauer and Janette Sadik-Khan in Portland yesterday.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Former New York City transportation chief Janette Sadik-Khan has made the most of her few days in Portland this week. She’s done two official events (a talk at the Mission Theater we reported on Wednesday and an event at Powell’s Books yesterday) and two unofficial events (a media training with Portland Bureau of Transportation and Metro staff and at least one happy hour gathering).

Then on Thursday morning Sadik-Khan and her “Streetfight” co-author Seth Solomonow joined U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer and a handful of local advocates and transportation experts for a tour of Portland.

How to get people’s attention?
(Photo: Blink Ofanaye)

Want to end traffic deaths? Try hitting people in the wallet.

That was the crazy-like-a-fox idea Pat Franz shared in a comment on Wednesday’s post about the known dangerous crossing of Cully Boulevard at Mason, where Patrick Curry died Saturday night as he tried to walk across the street.

Here’s Franz’s modest proposal:

How about we increase the gas tax by $0.01 for every vulnerable road user death? I know it sounds crass, a penny per life, but it would point out the incredible crassness of how we don’t pay for things, even when there is a clear need. The tax might eventually get so high that there could be effective social scorn for the killers, who knows?

Outside CalPortland’s rock yard on NW Front Avenue.
(Image: Google Street View)

If you want to understand the behind-the-scenes fundraising battle over a proposed 10-cent local gas tax in Portland, start on the 5000 block of Front Avenue in the Northwest Portland industrial area.

That’s where you’ll find two companies operating on adjacent lots: CalPortland, a pavement supplier whose local vice president gave $5,000 to the “yes” campaign, and McCall Oil and Chemical, a fuel and asphalt distributor that has given $1,800 this year to the PAC running the “no” campaign.

Donors to local campaigns are often driven by financial self-interest, but it doesn’t get much clearer than this.

Based on public records filed so far, a coalition of construction and development firms backing the four-year gas tax is easily outfundraising opponents, almost all of which are companies that sell gasoline.

(Photo: Moda Center)

The City of Portland’s Bureau of Transportation issued a traffic advisory for a big event coming to the Rose Quarter tomorrow: a rally for presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.

The rally is expected to draw thousands of people and the city is warning people to avoid the area entirely between 7:00 am and 3:00 pm. That is, unless you’re showing up to rally for Bernie. And if you do that, PBOT is encouraging everyone to walk, bike, or take transit.

Highland Drive and the Springwater path.

Gresham police have arrested a man suspected in the sexual assault that happened on the Springwater path last week. 50-year-old Thomas Peacock, a Portland resident, was brought into custody today near the entrance of the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge (adjacent to the Springwater path in Sellwood).

The Gresham PD said they were acting on tips they received from the public. Detectives found Peacock had an outstanding arrest warrant for a homicide charge.

The incident struck home with BikePortland readers because the woman was cycling prior to the assault and had stopped to change a flat. Peacock approached the woman under the guise of helping her with the repair.

(Photo: PDX Transformation)

The anonymous street-safety activists at PDX Transformation are following the lead of successful campaigns in New York City and the United Kingdom to spread the idea of driving at nonlethal speeds.

The group took responsibility last weekend for hanging a set of signs that look like legal speed-limit signs but aren’t.

KATU-TV’s Reed Andrews reported Wednesday that the signs were “donated by someone who works for a sign-making company.”

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

The reclassification of NE 7th as a major city bikeway and future greenway is at risk! Currently, most Transportation System Plan comments favor bumpy, hilly, and indirect NE 9th. If you support making NE 7th a major city bikeway and greenway (with diversion) please email psc@portlandoregon.gov (cc: tsp@portlandoregon.gov) and specifically ask that NE 7th be classified as a major city bikeway from NE LLoyd to NE Sumner.

It would also help to add that do you not support NE 9th as a major city bikeway (and future greenway).

For more background on this issue see this Bikeportland story.

Janette Sadik-Khan replays her ‘Streetfights’ to a sold-out crowd

Sadik-Khan during her talk last night.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Janette Sadik-Khan brought her Streetfight book tour to Portland last night and provided her throngs of fans with a dose of transportation inspiration. The venue (McMenamin’s Mission Theater) was packed. Organizers from Metro said there was a line around the corner before they even opened the doors and when I rolled up the bike racks were at full capacity.

Sadik-Khan’s popularity isn’t surprising. She’s a rare figure in the transportation world with an equal mix of wonky credentials, street cred, political know-how, an unprecedented track record of successful projects, and the ability to market both her work and herself. “JSK” as she known to her fans, has managed to enthrall an amazing range of transportation reformers — from street-level activists to city hall power brokers.

What are all these unauthorized orange traffic cones telling us?

Tagging along with the Kidical Mass Easter Ride

Average apartment building costs fell sharply during no-parking apartment boom

The Monday Roundup: Bike share parking wars, Niagara Falls highway removal and more

Janette Sadik-Khan tours Portland with Congressman Earl Blumenauer (photos)

Comment of the Week: Raise the gas tax one penny per fatality

Surprise! Gasoline sellers dominate funding of campaign to stop Portland gas tax

City preps for Bernie Sanders rally with extra bike parking

Arrest made in Springwater path sexual assault case

Portland ‘Transformation’ bureau unveils a new trick: ’20 is Plenty’ signs

NE 7th’s future as a greenway is in danger!

Janette Sadik-Khan replays her ‘Streetfights’ to a sold-out crowd

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