🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
Tactical urbanism is about to make another imprint on Portland’s downtown streetscape. Tomorrow morning, a trio of planning and place-making groups are planning to create a temporary protected bike lane on one block of Southwest Broadway.
The local street planner who created the “protected intersection” concept has come up with six sketches of where it could be done in Portland.
Portland is one of 77 cities around the country that have put in for a one-time federal ‘Smart City’ grant that’s looking to promote big ideas about urban mobility.
An award is a long shot — only one city will get the $50 million prize — but the city’s application (which wraps together a wide variety of concepts for improving and integrating digital transportation data) is an education in itself, offering various details about the city’s vision that we haven’t seen publicly until now.
Welcome to this week’s roundup!
We have a mixed batch of videos this week, but I had to start this week with the Cycle Oregon announcement. The video shows the entire 45 minutes of the Cycle Oregon announcement party. If you want to see the highlights, go to 15:15 for Joyride, 19:45 for the weekend ride, 24:20 for the route descriptions of the big ride, and 43:55 for the full route summary.
https://vimeo.com/154219602
The City of Portland will return to Southeast Clinton street for more traffic law enforcement tomorrow morning — one month after installing diverters aimed in calming down traffic. The last time they sent police officers to this area it was to deal with complaints about unsafe driving on what is supposed to be a neighborhood street that prioritizes cycling and walking.
They ended up pulling over 60 people and writing 35 citations for a variety of offenses. We heard several complaints from the community that the police officers assigned to the mission weren’t positioned in a way that allowed them to see the unsafe passing many people are concerned about. Now a lot has changed on Clinton since the Bureau of Transportation installed two new traffic diverters last month: one at SE 32nd and the other at 17th. While we’ve heard reports that biking conditions have improved on the street since the diverters went in, we have also heard that some people still drive dangerously through the diverter at 32nd, which is only a semi-diverter and leaves open the possibility of driving in a zig-zag through it.
Former Oregon Treasurer Ted Wheeler has reported raising almost 15 times as much money as his closest competitor in the race to be Portland’s next mayor.
Among his donors are a wide variety of real estate businesses and Paul Romain, the oil and gas station lobbyist who’s threatened to kill the 10-cent local gas tax increase that Wheeler supports.
Multnomah County Commissioner Jules Bailey, the second-biggest draw for donors, has brought in $26,886 since just before declaring his candidacy, compared to Wheeler’s $398,509.
The race’s newest candidate, Portland State University scholar Sarah Iannarone, has brought on a campaign manager, so presumably aims to raise money. But she hasn’t been in the race long enough to hit a 30-day fundraising report deadline.
Of the other three registered candidates, only David Schor has reported any campaign finances at all, mostly loans from himself. Bim Ditson and Philip Davis haven’t reported anything.
Part of the reason for Wheeler’s lead is that he’s had longer to raise money. But Wheeler has reported $74,542 raised in 2016 alone, triple Bailey’s four-month total.
Wonk Night is back.
Our first event of 2016 will trade the downtown office lobby of Lancaster Engineering (our wonderful Wonk Night sponsors) for a location a bit further east: SE Division and 82nd to be exact.
The theme of the night is “To 82nd, and Beyond!” (which I like to say in my Buzz Lightyear voice.) Our mission for the evening is to inform and inspire each other about all the big, small, scary and exciting things happening in this part of Portland. And there’s a lot to talk about.
A con-man named “Ian” who we exposed for the first time back in 2012 is still at it. And while I don’t support the way he supports himself, I have to admit I’m envious of his lifestyle.
More than any time since I’ve been here, it seems as if Portland is opening its arms and ears to good ideas from elsewhere.
In the coming days and weeks we’ll be welcoming a bunch of nationally known experts on transportation for some timely talks. Delightfully, all of them are free.
With some, we’ll be doing more extensive previews based on advance interviews. With others, we’ll attend and report what they say.
A man’s decision to make a dangerous left turn in front of Alistair Corkett back in May led to a horrific outcome. The 22 year-old’s leg was severed from his body. Barry Allen, the man who was at fault for Corkett’s life-changing injury, was only given a traffic ticket.
If Corkett had died in the collision, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office would have pursued criminal charges which would not only have provided some level of justice for the community but would have allowed Corkett’s family to seek restitution from the state. However, because Corkett “only” suffered an injury, the DA did not pursue criminal charges.
Back in October at a BikePortland event that was inspired by Corkett’s case, Multnomah County DA Rod Underhill did not mince words when expressing his frustration. “It pissed me off. I’m angry. It just doesn’t seem right. We need to change the law.”
In case you hadn’t realized it yet fat bikes are not just a passing fad. Their popularity has spread all over the country, and the Portland region — with its proximity to lots of sand and snow — is well-poised to be a hotbed (if it isn’t already).
Confirming the trend locally is a new event at Mt. Hood Meadows that just popped into my inbox: a Fat Bike Festival.
