The three Mark Bosworth Fund riders in 2015.
(Photo: Mark Bosworth Fund)
(Photo: Mark Bosworth Fund)
TriMet driver publishes his latest ‘Report Card’ for Portland bikers
A time for empathy in both seats.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)
Dan Christensen, a former TV writer and stand-up comedian turned TriMet bus operator, is one of the best windows Portlanders have into the emotional life of our transit system.
On his recently rebooted Roll Easy Blog, Christensen has an interesting set of perspectives about the things he feels the city’s bike users are doing well, and where they (or the streets beneath them) could improve.
Jobs of the Week: 10 great opportunities
We’ve gotten a bit behind with this post so the 10 listings below are actually from the past few weeks. Still hot and fresh though!
Learn more about each job via the links below…
- Marketing/PR Intern – ECHOS Communication
- Bike Mechanic – Go by Bike
- Senior Level Mechanic – Lakeside Bicycles
- Bicycle Mechanic – Santiam Bicycle
- Customer Sales Representative – Chris King Precision Components
- Customer Experience Specialist – Velotech, Inc.
- Mechanic – Western Bikeworks
- Shipping Specialist – Velotech, Inc.
- Sales Associate – Western Bikeworks
- Warehouse & Operations Support – Showers Pass
The old Sellwood Bridge closes for good tonight: Will you miss it?
The view of the Sellwood Bridge sidewalk from inside a car.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Tonight at 7:00 pm the old Sellwood Bridge will close for good. Then for an hour between 7:30 and 8:30 pm Multnomah County will give you one last chance to say goodbye. The question is: Will you shed tears of joy or sorrow?
Oregon will phase out ‘Share the Road’ signs
The sign on the left is being phased out in favor of the one on the right.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
What does a “Share the Road” sign mean to you?
The State of Oregon has decided that those signs mean different things to different people so they’ve taken the step of officially phasing them out. Oregon isn’t the first state to do this. Delaware banished Share the Road signs in 2013 after that state’s advocacy group (Bike Delaware) made the case that its ambiguity “invites conflicting interpretations.”
Portland-based Zen Bicycle Fabrication is closing its doors
A bicycle frame manufacturer based in north Portland has decided to call it quits. According to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News magazine, Zen Bicycle Fabrication “has discontinued operations and is in the process of vacating its premises.”
Zen launched in 2011 by company owners David and Jen Woronets. David was head of production for Vancouver Washington-based Ellsworth Cycles before going out on his own with Zen. According to BRAIN, the decision to close was based on a lack of business. “We built our facility based on maintaining a certain capacity, and we had too many months below that figure to continue… We wanted to maintain a 100-piece minimum order, but much of the interest is in runs of 10s and 20s,” Woronets told the magazine. The company had nine employees when it launched in 2011 but that number has since dwindled to five.
Five ways Vision Zero should address race and income injustice
Oregon Walks Executive Director Noel
Mickelberry.
(Photo courtesy Oregon Walks)
Mickelberry.
(Photo courtesy Oregon Walks)
This is a guest post by Noel Mickelberry, executive director of Oregon Walks and a member of the City of Portland’s Vision Zero Task Force.
Transportation advocacy doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Our city’s new goal to eliminate traffic fatalities doesn’t, either.
It’s something that shouldn’t need saying, but I feel it needs constant reiteration. It is entirely too easy, and too common, for us to look at our streets as a series of connections, people divided by mode, unattached to the other issues surrounding us or how our lives are inherently impacted by transportation decisions on a daily basis. The ease by which many of us working in transportation advocacy are able to view our streets — of course a bike lane should go here, of course a crosswalk is the answer there — is in itself a privilege.
As we develop Portland’s Vision Zero policies, I’m asking us to go further. And I’ve got five specific suggestions for how to do so.
Join us for Blazers Bike Night on April 6th!
Fun for the whole family!
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
In case you haven’t heard, the Portland Trail Blazers are one of the hottest teams in the NBA. After saying goodbye to four of their five starters in the off-season everyone had written this team off. But now they’re sitting comfortably close to the upper ecehelon of the Western Conference and are poised for a playoff run.
Job: Warehouse & Operations Support – Showers Pass – FILLED
Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.
Painted Hills Scenic Bikeway named Oregon’s 15th official route
A section of the route just east of Spray on the John Day Highway.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
A state parks advisory committee that met in Salem today voted to officially designate the Painted Hills Scenic Bikeway. The new bikeway becomes the 15th route in the scenic bikeways program which is administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.
Opinion: If we’re serious about cycling, let’s get serious about cycling infrastructure
The traffic diverter on the Rodney Neighborhood Greenway was installed 17 months ago. Now it’s an eyesore and a dumping ground. What does this say about the City of Portland’s priorities?
(Photo sent in by a reader)
(Photo sent in by a reader)
Every time we turn around we hear another city staffer or elected official tell us how serious they are about cycling. They say it’s key to our health outcomes, it’s the only way we’ll reach our climate change goals, it buoys our national reputation, and so on and so forth.
But if we’re really serious about cycling, why don’t we take our cycling infrastructure seriously?
There are too many examples in Portland where the design and implementation of our cycling infrastructure has not been completed with the care and seriousness it deserves.
Here are a few of those examples:
Why does Multnomah County allow auto parking on the Morrison Bridge bike path?
Not a parking spot. Or is it?
(Photo: Jason J.)
(Photo: Jason J.)
Have you ever noticed a car parked on the Morrison Bridge bicycling and walking path?
As one of Portland’s precious few pieces of physically protected, non-motorized travel space it sure seems like a bad place to park. It would be one thing if this was a rogue private citizen, but in this case the cars belong to Multnomah County employees.