(Photos from Silvan Yang and Robert Volz courtesy Ted Buehler)
— This post was submitted by Ted Buehler.
The forecast is for dark skies and rain on Thursday. Consider brightening up your day by coming to see two slideshows about travel by bicycle. I’m hosting presentations from two local adventurers at 6:00 pm this Thursday (12/18) at Migration Brewing on North Williams Avenue.
The first is Robert Volz, who traveled to Cuba in 2024 to participate in a week-long vintage bicycle ride on backroads of western Cuba. He restored a bike, brought it to Cuba, enjoyed it for a week, then gave it away before returning to Portland. The event he participated in, L’Eroica Cuba, is based on a similar event in Italy. The concept is “riding for joy” – not a competition, just an excuse to go out and ride through beautiful roads. Read Robert’s recap of his here and come meet him in person tomorrow. At the event you can hear what the trip was like, ask questions, and get inspired for upcoming adventures of your own.
Our second presenter will be Silvan Yang, a Portland native who left town for a grand journey on two wheels in November 2022. Silvan headed east to the desert, then south to Mexico, Central America, western South America — then to Ushuaia, Chile, the southernmost city in the world.
Silvan meandered around South America a bit, visiting Brazil and Uruguay. But before returning to Oregon, he flew to South Africa and bicycled north to Ethiopia. Read more about Silvan’s adventures bikepacking from Oregon to Patagonia and come meet him tomorrow night.
These adventurers want to share their experiences with you! Being on the road for years requires a different mindset than riding for a week or a month. And it provides a wholly different level of immersion.
Come brave the rain on your bike, or drive or take the #44 bus to Migration Brewing (3947 N Williams Ave) on Thursday night to hear about bicycling in far flung parts of the world.
This is the first event in a three-part series at Migration’s back patio. They are free and informal. Come and go as you’d like. Enjoy Nicaraguan food from Papa’s Frita Chef Rene. And the beer and other drinks are good too! See the facebook invite page for more details.
PBOT will use $234,000 in local gas tax revenues to build a concrete median, new curb ramps, and add a streetlight to this crossing on SE Division next to Mt. Tabor Park. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
The Portland Bureau of Transportation just announced the upcoming construction of two neighborhood greenway crossings of Southeast Division. Using just over $630,000 from the “Fixing Our Streets” program (Portland’s local gas tax), they plan to upgrade the existing crossing at SE 64th in the South Tabor neighborhood and to build a new crossing at SE 77th in Montavilla.
The crossing at 64th leads directly in the new carfree path into Mt. Tabor that opened in spring 2024. PBOT built the 60s greenway to connect to that path late last year and installed a temporary crossing at this location using plastic curbs and wands. This new project is an example of PBOT going back and “hardening” existing infrastructure with something of higher quality that uses more permanent materials. The plan is to install a concrete median island on the east side of the intersection. The project will also build two new ADA-compliant curb ramps in the southeast corner (that connects to the crossing) and install a new streetlight to improve visibility. In March 2022, 46 year-old Patrick Bishop was hit and killed by a driver (who was later arrested for hit-and-run) just one block east of this intersection.
SE Division at 77th. A new crossing will be built here next year.
At 77th, PBOT wants to improve the safety of the 70s Greenway, a key route that runs parallel to the 82nd Avenue corridor. The plan is to build a concrete median island on the west side of the intersection, build four new ADA ramps and install new pavement markings and signage. There isn’t a new streetlight planned, but PBOT has ordered a lighting assessment to see if more lighting is needed.
On their project website, PBOT says both of these crossings were originally designed by TriMet as part of their Division Transit Project. The original plan was to have bus stops at these intersections, but when those were relocated, TriMet shelved the crossings. PBOT leaned on those initial TriMet designs to construct these crossings.
Both crossings are expected to be built next year.
A sign on SE 136th just before Powell Blvd. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
This article was written by Portlander Robert Pineda, author of the Peek Portland Substack.
When I began a Substack about Portland, I wanted my essays to be all hunky dory. I wanted to use publicly available data to tell positive stories. But life is more complicated than that, isn’t it? How can I talk about data that shows the city’s decreasing traffic deaths—which is objectively a good thing—without also talking about the people behind the statistics, the people whose lives were lost because we aren’t quite there yet with some of these road safety improvements? So, bare with me on this one. My goal is to show you how things are getting better, but first, we have to acknowledge where we’re starting from.
All these deaths happened just a few minutes from my house in Southeast Portland. And those are just some of the ones that made the news. This is a real problem in Portland, and if you think I’m cherry-picking facts or exaggerating, trip out on this: a little over a month ago, three people died in traffic crashes on the same night within just two hours of each other and within just two miles of each other. That’s crazy. A walker, a biker, and a person in a wheelchair. Poof! Gone! In the blink of an eye.
PBOT High Crash Network map
Did you know our city government publishes data on the deadliest and most dangerous roads and intersections in Portland? It’s published as part of the work they do around the High Crash Network and Vision Zero. I’ll say more about those a little later.
This data is important, especially for people who walk, bike, and roll through this city — or if you love someone who does any of those things. Regardless of how you get around town, I want to help you understand where the risks are, who’s to blame, and what’s being done about it. And, if you ever decide to yell at local or state government to do something about these dangerous areas, after you read this, you’ll have data to back you up.
What’s the High Crash Network (HCN)?
The High Crash Network is the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s (PBOT) way of saying, “Here are the places where things are most likely to go wrong for you.”
It’s basically a list of the 20 worst streets for driving, the 20 worst for pedestrians, and the 20 worst for cyclists. And after you account for where these overlap, it adds up to 30 intersections PBOT considers “high crash.”
Before I go any further, I want to talk about the elephant in the room: who is responsible for all these crashes and deaths? The easy answer is the people doing the crashing, right? But the easy answer isn’t always the right one. I’m a firm believer in personal responsibility, but I also acknowledge most of the choices we get to make are from a predetermined list our government has approved. Yes, it’s true that people could be a lot more careful. But, like Tupac’s mom, drivers are just “workin’ with the scraps [they were] given.” And in this case, they were given poorly constructed intersections that, at best, don’t do enough to discourage dangerous driving, and at worst, promote it.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that the government created these intersections, and the government need to fix them. Government decides how streets are built, regulated, and maintained. These intersections are dangerous because they’re poorly designed, neglected, and overburdened. For years, city planning decisions have put cars over people. This data is proof that those decisions have deadly consequences. And this is obvious, but I want to say it anyway: this isn’t just a Portland problem. Nearly every city in the world prioritizes cars over people.
Why does this data focus on intersections?
Because intersections are where 71% of pedestrian crashes happen. Because drivers making left turns forget or ignore crosswalks. Because half of crashes happen in low light, which is a big problem at High Crash Network sites. Because East Portland, where I live with my baby son and superhuman wife, has almost double the pedestrian deaths as the other half of the city. Because communities scoring high on PBOT’s Equity Matrix have three times the pedestrian deaths. And because every pedestrian death is a whole life—beautiful and complicated and unique—just disappearing.
The data
When you stare at this data long enough, you see the patterns, especially if you’ve spent time in different pockets of Portland.
The first thing you notice is how often you see Powell. Every few rows in the data, there it is again, reminding you that this is a state highway pretending to be a neighborhood street. It’s the kind of road where you walk your kid to school and all of a sudden you wonder if people should even be allowed on that road because it feels like you’re in the middle of a race track. The one good thing about Powell is that it’s a great example to use when you’re trying to explain to City Council how dangerous some Portland streets are.
The next two things that jump out are 82nd and 122nd. Those two roads pop up again and again because they’re wide and fast, with long blocks and bad lighting. Plus, it’s no secret that historically the city hasn’t invested as much in the adjacent neighborhoods. That’s a recipe for bad outcomes.
Another thing you’ll notice in the data are the intersections next to freeway ramps. I’m not sure how to resolve that, but drivers coming off or turning onto the freeway are in high gear. It’s like they forget they’re now driving by sidewalks, bus stops, and human beings. Is it their fault? Yes, but the design doesn’t help. It makes fast turns and last second lane changes too easy.
And underneath all of this, the bigger theme is that East Portlanders are more likely to die in traffic than West Portlanders. About 90 percent of traffic deaths across the city happened in Districts 1, 2, and 3. (Thanks to BikePortland for publishing crash locations and their corresponding City Council districts.)
With 36 of 41 traffic deaths happening in East Portland, it seems to me this isn’t about individual choices or bad drivers, it’s about infrastructure, policy decisions, and decades of knowing exactly where the danger is but not doing anything about it. The data makes that pretty damn clear. East Portland doesn’t have as many safe crossings or sidewalks, the walks to transit are longer, and the streets are dimmer.
Good-ish news
The good news is that traffic deaths are actually going down. The city is on track to have its fewest traffic deaths in a year since before COVID, with 44 this year, 58 last year, and 69 the year before that. Still, every single traffic death is one too many.
While traffic deaths go down overall, if you dig into the data a little, you see drivers are dying less, cyclist deaths are about the same, and pedestrians now make up half of all traffic deaths. That means the people with the least physical protection are the ones most likely to be mowed down in the streets.
What is our local government doing about it?
PBOT’s Vision Zero program is:
Breaking ground on High Crash Network fixes every year
Adding lighting, especially in underinvested areas
Tightening left-turn movements
Rolling out “No Turn on Red” pilots
Redesigning traffic signals to reduce pedestrian risk
Fixing crossing gaps across the city
Prioritizing fixes in high-equity-need areas
Will these efforts reduce traffic deaths to zero? I don’t think so, but I guarantee you they will save lives. I think they’ve already begun to save lives. And with more strategic planning and financial investment, I believe it’s possible to get this number into the single digits.
Four ways you can use this data
Plan safer routes – I’m not telling you to avoid certain neighborhoods, but I am telling you to avoid certain streets, especially if you’re walking, biking, or using a wheelchair. A little planning could save you from an accident or even death. If you know what streets are the most likely to ruin your day (or your life), why use them? Especially during morning and evening work commutes and school dropoff and pickup hours.
Support road maintenance and infrastructure projects even though they slow you down – I’m guilty of this, so please know I’m not saying this from my high horse like I’m perfect and you’re not: drive slow in construction zones and be patient when traffic backs up due to a public works project. Don’t get all crazy and try to pass people by going into the oncoming traffic lane. I’ve done it. I’ve seen others do it. But we can do better.
Push the mayor, your City Councilors, and PBOT to keep the heat on Powell, 82nd, and 122nd – People are dying on these streets, and they’re dying mostly preventable deaths. That’s unacceptable. Show up at a City Council meeting to tell them you want speed reductions, more lighting, and safer crossings. You should also ask for better public transit in these areas. If you can’t show up in person or virtually to a City Council meeting, email Mayor Wilson, your City Councilors, and PBOT. They all have staff whose job it is to listen to community member concerns. If you don’t know who to reach out to or how to get ahold of any of them, ask me and I’ll point you in the right direction.
Share this data with your people – Knowledge is a small but real kind of protection. The information in this article might be obvious to some of you, but people are busy and caught up in their own lives. It’s possible that people you love dearly haven’t had the chance to stop and think about the fact they take a dangerous route to work or school or lunch every day. If you share this with them and they switch to a different route, you are directly lowering the chances they get in an accident or worse. That’s love.
If you work or play in Portland, or just visit, or love someone who does those things here, then this data is for you. It’s not sexy, it’s not fun, but it can save lives. Maybe even yours.
District 4 City Councilor Olivia Clark. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
For Portland City Councilor Olivia Clark, it’s all about the potholes.
Today, Clark will become the latest Portland politician to put their face on an effort to boost transportation spending when the City Council Transportation and Infrastructure Committee discusses the Alternative Transportation Funding Report for the first time. With roads in disrepair and a bleak city budget, Clark is doing this not because the timing is right, but because she feels there is no other choice.
“I am nervous,” Clark shared in an interview with me in City Hall last week. “It’s not a great environment for talking about money at all. I’m nervous about asking for anything… Is this the right time? I don’t know. But we, we just have to have this conversation.”
One of Clark’s first moves as Chair of the T & I Committee was to order the Portland Bureau of Transportation to create a report on new ways to raise revenue. The result is a 42-page conversation starter that lays out the case about the need for more funding and puts forward four recommendations for where to find it.
The top four recommendations in the report are: a transportation utility fee, a street damage restoration fee, a retail delivery fee and a third-party food delivery fee (see more about each of them below). The report includes a detailed breakdown on the pros and cons of each of those approaches, along with insights on 20 other fees that could be part of the mix.
Clark ordered this report with the expectation that the legislature would pass an adequate funding package. What ended up making it through a brutal legislative process was what Clark called a “humble little package.” And now even that package is going to be referred and voters will be able to choose whether or not they want to pay more for transportation. “I’ll just be honest with you, it’ll go down,” Clark shared with me on Thursday. “So it was sort of prescient that we now have this report.”
“Is this the right time? I don’t know. But we… we just have to have this conversation.”
— Olivia Clark
Clark, who brings over two decades of executive-level experience at TriMet to the table, believes doing nothing is not an option and she understands that PBOT is in dire straits as their entire funding model has been turned upside-down. With the Trump Administration playing politics and the Oregon Legislature incapable of securing even a modest funding package, she understands that no one is coming to PBOT’s rescue. “We’re not getting any help from the federal government,” she said. “And we have so many other crises — but if we don’t do something about the potholes and the streets, it’s going to cost us so much more in the future.”
Below is a brief description (taken from the report) of the four funding mechanisms that show the most promise via PBOT’s initial analysis:
Cover of the report
Transportation utility fee:
Who pays: Utility billpayers
A Transportation Utility Fee (sometimes called a “TUF” or “Street Fee”) is a fee for maintenance and improvement of the transportation system paid for by a broad base of users, typically collected using existing public utility billing systems. This broad collection base allows for substantial revenue generation at relatively low cost for rate payers. Implementation is low-cost because of the ability to use existing billing systems and leverage existing low-income discount programs. Fees are not tied to fossil fuel consumption or driving single-occupancy vehicles and thus do not create cross-incentives for City revenue and policy goals. The premise of the Transportation Utility Fee is that the transportation system is a utility, like the electric or water system, that benefits everybody and should be supported to some extent by everybody; even a person who never leaves their residence benefits from the goods and services that travel on the transportation system. A Transportation Utility Fee provides stable, robust support for the transportation system that does not shift with user behavior changes. This fee can be partially connected to system use through trip generation by use. For example, rates for single family and multi-family residences, and businesses can be calculated based on estimated trips generated by property type for residential properties, and property type and size for non-residential properties.
Street damage restoration fee:
Who pays: Utilities that cut into the public streets
Transportation maintenance experts have identified that when streets are cut open for utility work, the “trenching” damages the integrity of the street and accelerates deterioration. Cutting into a street, even when the cut is patched, can shorten its life by up to 65%, meaning the city needs to repair it about 10 years sooner than expected. A Street Damage Restoration Fee (SDRF) can ensure that when utilities cut into streets to reach water, sewer, gas, or telecom lines, they share in the cost of the wear and tear that work creates. The existence of this fee also incentivizes utilities to better coordinate cuts with scheduled street work in order to avoid duplicative work, minimize disruption to the transportation system, and avoid incurring the fees. Portland already charges a fee in the Utility Street Opening permit process, but it is intended to pay for staff time to process the permit, not to address the future maintenance costs resulting from the cut.
Third-party food delivery fee:
Who pays: Consumers who use third party food delivery apps
The growth of third-party app-based food delivery has dramatically increased vehicle trips on city streets, particularly in high-demand commercial and residential districts. These services generate thousands of short, high-frequency trips every day, contributing to congestion, double-parking, emissions, curbside conflicts, wear and tear on roads. A small per-order fee on prepared food deliveries would generate meaningful new revenue and
Retail delivery fee:
Who pays: Consumers receiving retail goods delivered to Portland addresses
As e-commerce and home delivery have grown, so too have the number of delivery trucks and vans traveling on Portland’s streets each day. These trips contribute to congestion, emissions, and street wear, while placing increasing demands on curb space. Several cities are exploring potential delivery fees, but no city has yet implemented them. Two states – Colorado and Minnesota – have implemented fees on delivery of retail purchases. A Retail Delivery Fee would ensure that customers who choose delivery share in the cost of maintaining and improving the transportation system that supports these services. The fee would apply to most retail goods delivered to a Portland address. A small, pertransaction amount would appear at point of sale and be remitted to the City by qualified retailers. Exemptions could also be considered for specific goods and to reduce administrative burdens of collection for businesses below certain revenue thresholds. Revenue from a Retail Delivery Fee could support a broad array of investments that address the growing impacts of delivery and e-commerce activity. Stakeholder engagement with residents and businesses will be critical to understanding the opportunities and challenges of this fee.
PBOT staff say today’s T & I committee meeting is just the first of many steps. From here, there will be public open houses and surveys and a lot more conversations.
I asked Councilor Clark how she’d react to Portlanders who reject the idea of more new fees and taxes outright. How would she convince them to get on board? “All I can do is show them the numbers and show them the facts,” she said. “And if you don’t want to believe it, fine, live with the potholes.”
Clark kept coming back to potholes throughout our interview. When a PBOT staffer who sat in said new taxes and fees are necessary to “stabilize revenue,” Clark interjected: “That’s not what it is for me. What it is for me is filling the potholes, you know, and fixing the streets… I start with damn potholes. It’s killing me.” When I pressed her on how she’d respond to a person who opposes paying more, she said. “I would say, personally, I’m sick of potholes. How about you? I mean, are you tired of this? Are you tired of having to get your car realigned, or you’re falling on your nose on your bike when you go into a pothole? It’s not safe.”
In 2008 former Portland Mayor Sam Adams attempted to pass a street fee that crashed-and-burned when public sentiment turned and gas station lobbyists rose up. In 2014 Councilor Steve Novick infamously attempted again, only to blame his eventual election loss on the effort. Portland has been more successful since 2016 when the first of three local gas tax measures were passed by voters by comfortable margins. Clark will hope those recent successes carry this new initiative forward.
And unlike Novick (who has since won re-election to council and will undoubtedly have some interesting perspectives on this latest revenue attempt), who has said it was worth losing votes to push the idea of funding forward, Clark made it clear to me that she will drop this effort it proves unpopular.
“If there’s not public support, I’m not going to do anything that the public doesn’t want to do. I’m going to scream about potholes until I’m blue in the face. But if the support to do this isn’t there, then I’m not going to, you know, commit Harakiri.”
“My whole message when getting elected was that I want this form of government to work. That’s why I’m here… This is what the public expects us to do is to take care of what we have, take care of the streets. And if they don’t make the connection, then so be it. You know, I’m not going to push where there’s no support.”
Welcome to the week. We are just three days away from the return of BikeCraft. It’s 3:00 to 8:00 pm on Wednesday, December 17th at Migration Brewing on N Williams Ave. I hope you can make it, and I hope you’ve told all your friends to come too. Our vendors have been working hard to offer lots of wonderful things. See you there!
And now for the weekly roundup of the most notable stories from around the web in the past seven days…
Traffic violence: A man (a noted musician) was walking his dog when he was hit and killed by a woman who has had over 100 previous arrests — 82 court warrants and 40 traffic citations. (CBS News)
Tariff trouble: Ex-Portlander Gabe Tiller figured he’d pay $300-$400 in fees to get his new MTB frame from a European brand. But the fee was over $4,000 and now he’s stuck in UPS/USA tariff policy hell. (Singletracks)
Hit and run organizing: There’s a new nonprofit whose mission is to raise awareness of, and battle the scourge of, hit-and-runs. They also have a fantastic name: Fighting HARD (Hit and Run Driving). I learned about them via Streetsblog. (FightingHard.org)
Price of admission: There’s an interesting conversation about whether or not there should be an admission fee to line the roads to cheer riders on major races like the Tour De France. (NY Times)
Overreach: This is what can happen if you let e-bike narratives and anti-bike discrimination run amok: A bill in New Jersey would require all e-bikes to be licensed and registered. (NJ.com)
Playing politics with roads: A Republican-led effort to defund ODOT took a major step forward when organizers turned in over 200,000 signatures to the Secretary of State. (Oregon Capitol Chronicle)
History lesson: Sit back and enjoy this tale of what cycling was like in and around the Montavilla area over 120 years ago! (Montavilla News)
Tale as old as time: Nearly half of the members of the board that oversees transit in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area don’t even use the service. (Star Tribune)
Carfree research: Surprising results from a nationwide survey presented in published research reveals that way more Americans than you probably thought — nearly one fifth! — are interested in living carfree and an additional 40% are open to the idea (Human Transit)
TriMet Board Member Tyler Frisbee speaking at Wednesday’s Trimet board meeting.
UPDATE, 12:30 on Sunday 12/14: Sorry for such a brief post folks. It was end of a long week and I barely finished this video before I had to quit and get to my son’s basketball game. I posted it in the car on the way to his game! Anyways, Judging from comments a lot of you figured out what it was about.
Quick context: Tyler Frisbee (longtime former policy advisory to U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer, former Deputy Direcrtor of Government Affairs and Policy Development at Metro, now Director of the Institute of Metropolitan Studies at PSU) weighed in on the 82nd Ave Transit Project at the TriMet Board Meeting on 12/10.
Below are her comments (which I’ve edited for brevity):
“We actually have two very different visions of 82nd that are finally clashing with each other in this moment. We literally had someone get up and say, ’82nd is a highway, stop treating it like it’s a neighborhood.’ And then we had people get up and say, ’82nd is my neighborhood. We’ve been asking for it to be a neighborhood street and serve the neighborhood for 30 years.’ That, to me, is the question, right? This is the moment: is 82nd a highway? Or is it a community? Is it a street that serves the community that it’s in?
And it is correct that it was built as a highway over 100 years ago. It is an incredibly different landscape and neighborhood than it was when it was built. And I would argue that the decision has actually already been made. It is no longer a highway. That [decision] was made with the transfer of 82nd to the City of Portland, and it was made when we started this project, right? You don’t run frequent service down a highway. If that is what we intend that road to be, then we shouldn’t be building sidewalks on it. We shouldn’t be building bus improvements on it. But in response to what we heard from the community, they’ve been organizing for that to be a different kind of street.
I understand people’s attachment to the way a road was built over 100 years ago, but I think there has been really clear discussion that that community looks really different now, particularly in the last 30 to 40 years, it has changed dramatically. And there have been a series of decisions that say we need to change the road to reflect the community and the landscape that it’s in now. And to me, the most ambitious transit project on our busiest bus line in the entire region that will only grow, right? That is a part of our city that is only growing, and more people are moving there, and we are seeing more transit need along that space. That is a very clear answer about where that community is going and what that community needs from us in the future. That does not disregard the fact that change is hard, and that does not disregard the fact that there are folks who have built up entire approaches to their business based on the way that street was.
But we are building a project that’s not meeting the next five years of need. We’re building a project that needs to meet the next 20,30, 40,50, years of need.
Big picture, I think that’s where we are. And you know, Michael [Kiser, TriMet Interim Director of Major Projects], I’ve heard you talk about being a community builder and a city builder — that is what this project needs to do. And some extent, actually, the community is built, right? They went ahead and built without the transportation service, without the transit service, and we’re just trying to catch up. [Bless you, baby. Good job (to her baby with her on the dais!)] This is where things get interesting, right? And it is where you can say, ‘You know, yes, I hear you have a concern around the Left turn lanes here. Here are different ways we can mitigate that. Let’s look at some of these options. Is it going to be perfect? No? Is your clientele going to change? Right?’ Each of those stores has an individual proportion in terms of who gets there by bus, who gets there walking, and who gets there by driving. That is going to change after this project, but our goal is that we are bringing enough new ridership there by the bus, and you know, PBOT is working to make it possible by foot, that they are actually seeing more folks visiting.
And that is my sort of second big picture comment. I have heard a lot from folks asking for we want more data on business impact. And my response has been, ‘You know what? When we look at BAT [Business Access & Transit] implementation across the country, much less internationally, it shows almost uniformly an increase in foot traffic and in support for the businesses that rely and depend on that foot traffic, and frankly, even businesses that are that think of themselves as car dependent, actually often see a much more significant increase in their foot traffic and folks coming off the bus that ends up being more than making up for any potential car loss.
What I have had said to me is, ‘Well, we don’t believe that,’ basically, or ‘It’s different here,’ and it is hard for me to then get to the next stage of a conversation, because it’s like, well, what are we going to turn around for you, that you’re going to believe if your answer is always just that data doesn’t meet my needs, that data is not what I want. When we look at the best data we have across the country, real life, BAT implementation and its impact on businesses, to me, it is very heartening. And what it says it’s a story of resiliency. It’s a story of these projects. They change the way that folks get there, but overall they’re bringing more folks to the door of your business.
So I guess I’m using this as a little bit of a soapbox to kind of push back, because I don’t know how to keep having the conversation of just like, ‘I don’t believe that.’ And I think the question that we have that we want to work with folks on is, ‘How can we help make this work so that it’s not about preserving the way that people get to you right now. It is about what does this look like in the future?’ What do your next 10, 20, 30 years as a business look like around 82nd because let me tell you, that community is changing, and you’re going to have folks getting there differently no matter what. And frankly, sometimes just having the same conversation six different times doesn’t actually change the conversation.
And so I would encourage us to think about how we can have the important conversations and the effective conversations with people that understand their needs and try to help find a good path forward. If they don’t want to participate in that, having that conversation six times is not useful, and so I want to find a way to work with all of our folks, with all the community folks who live along there and make sure everyone’s voice is heard, to find a way to meet needs and address needs when we can and acknowledge that this community has changed and is changing, and we need to meet that.”
Since I last checked in, my co-organizer Max and I have been hard at work on BikeCraft: We’ve added great vendors and have confirmed fun details that are sure to make this a memorable event. This post will get you all caught up, so buckle in. But if you read no further, just remember it all goes down this Wednesday, 12/17 from 3:00 to 8:00 pm at Migration Brewing on North Williams Ave.
Before I share more about the vendors, below are some fun details to keep in mind:
You’re encouraged to dress in festive attire (you know, holiday sweaters and such).
Migration is brewing up hot, mulled, non-alcoholic apple cider just for us!
If you’d like to sing or share music or read a holiday poem, just let me know and I’ll give you the mic!
We’re working with mutual aid group, Holding Hearts Bloc to help them build up a “Cycle Closet” for unhoused folks that ride bicycles. We’ll have a bin where you can donate your new or gently used items like: inner tubes, patch kits, lights, saddles, multi-tools, bottle cages, lube, gloves, and so on. Note: If you work at a local bike shop or bike company and want to stoke our bin with a few new items, please contact me (or just show up!).
And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Announcing our 2025 BikeCraft vendors:
Nando creates convenient and unique accessories for the everyday cyclist. Check out the Adjustable Can/Coffee Holder with Lid, no more splash! @chronic.carry on Instagram / website
Misia Pitkin / Double Darn
Misia offers an assortment of hand-sewn cycling caps — from lightweight to winter wool. Her other small goods (musettes, fanny packs, simple wallets, and small pouches) make great gifts as well! @double_darn on Instagram / website
Gigi Lascurettes / Gigi’s Handy Work / Helmuffs
Gigi Lascurettes makes handmade helmet earmuffs from up cycled wool or fleece. Keeps your ears covered and cozy. Website
Shawn Granton / Urban Adventure League
Shawn is an author, photographer, illustrator, and urban historian who creates zines, postcards, books, and other works of art inspired by cycling in Portland. Shawn plans to bring: the Stark Street Mileposts zine, a self-guided bike tour of SE’s curious stone markers; along with the Cycle Touring Primer and other publications. @urbanadventureleaguepdx on Instagram / website
Richelle / UpTassels
Richelle upcycles mylar party streamers into joy-inducing handlebar tassels. Grab a pair of UpTassels for yourself or as a sparkly stocking stuffer! @uptassels on Instagram
Joe will offer BikeLoud pennants (hand-screened by Rendered in Southeast Portland) to raise funds for local bike advocacy. Joe will also have blank pennants, blank bandanas stencils and markers for you, or your kids, to make your own! @bikeloudpdx on Instagram / website
Andrew Shaw-Kitch / Bikes for Humanity PDX
Andrew, from the craft department at this local nonprofit that specializes in reconditioning used bikes, grabs cute bike doohickeys out of the wastestream and makes arty little knickknacks out of them. @b4hpdx on Instagram / website
We are lucky to have these three accomplished, local stained glass artists join us. They’ll share unique, bike-inspired pieces from their collection and are making several works just for BikeCraft! Tamara Goldsmith transforms bike parts into adornment for the home, tree and body. She’s turning bicycle cogs and wheels into sun catchers made just BikeCraft! @magichourglass on Instagram / website. Kathie Wise is with Marvelous Mosaics (Instagram / website).
Samples of stained glass pieces that will be for sale at the event.
Eric Ivy / Squid Prints
Eric has made some silly and affordable items for you or your friends: including 12 oz can holders that use bottle cage mounts or cable ties, mini milk crates, earrings, and tree ornaments. He is also selling “I Love Bike Happy Hour” stickers with all all proceeds going to BikePortland.
Iris makes really cool, reflective items like shoelaces, bandannas, pins, and more. I have a pair of their shoelaces and absolutely love them! If you want to add a splash of visibility to your biking wardrobe, stop by this table! @reflectivesociety on Instagram / website
Ryde Safe
This brand is new to Portland, so let’s give them and their cool, reflective and fun safety products a warm, BikeCraft welcome! @ryde.safe on Instagram / website
Shift
Shift board members will be on hand to sell stickers and to answer your questions about the resources they provide our community, and how you can get involved by becoming a Shift board member. @shift2bikes on Instagram / website
I am loving the energy around BikeCraft and just so happy that it’s coming back to its roots. Please help us promote the event by sharing our flyer on social media and/or printing it out and posting it around town. This is grassroots, community endeavor that will only be as cool and special as we all make it. Thanks to everyone helping out. Can’t wait to see everyone on Wednesday!
A TriMet MAX train is on the home page of a Saudi Arabian transportation conference. Inset: A graphic shared by Director Williams on her Linkedin page.
Portland Bureau of Transportation Director Millicent Williams attended a conference in Saudi Arabia from December 7 – 9.
Williams participated in a panel at CoMotion Global ’25, an event held in the city of Riyadh that, “connects the brightest minds, cities, and companies shaping the next chapter of transportation — globally.” Her panel was titled, “Managing Cities in the New Age of Data” (you can watch it here). The front page of the event website features a TriMet MAX train in downtown Portland.
According to an official press release, CoMotion Global is supported by, “key Saudi government partners shaping the Kingdom’s mobility future.”
Traveling to Saudi Arabia as a representative of the City of Portland is likely to give many Portlanders pause. The country’s government has an abysmal human rights record and they use major conferences, along with sports and entertainment events to whitewash their actions.
In 2018, men working for the Saudi government murdered a Washington Post journalist who had been critical of the ruling family. Cracking down on free media is just one black mark against Saudi Arabia. Amnesty International’s list of 10 ways Saudi Arabia violates human rights includes mass executions, discrimination against women, unfair trials, lack of free speech, and a law against public protests.
But the first thing I thought about when I learned Williams was helping Saudi Arabia burnish their international reputation, was the killing of Fallon Smart.
In August of 2016, 20-year old Abdulrahman Noorah drove recklessly down the center lane of Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard at a speed police estimated at 55-60 mph. As he approached SE 43rd Ave, he ran into 15-year-old Fallon Smart. She died in the street. Smart’s death sparked widespread outcry and sadness in our community. I recall crying in the street as I tried to cover a memorial event with Smart’s family.
Two weeks before Noorah would face justice at a court trial, men working for the Saudi government helped him escape the country and he’s never been seen or heard from since. That episode remains a very deep open wound for many in our community, and Williams’ attendance at this event does nothing to help with the healing.
According to PBOT Communications Director Hannah Schafer, “The conference paid for Director Williams’ travel and accommodations, and her travel was reviewed and approved by City Administrator Michael Jordan.”
UPDATE, 12/11 at 7:00 pm: A post on Williams’ personal LinkedIn page that said she was “excited” to attend the conference was deleted following the publication of this article.
Albina Vision Trust Executive Director Winta Yohannes (left) and AVT Government Affairs Director JT Flowers at the OTC meeting today.
The I-5 Rose Quarter project received a stay of execution today thanks to last-minute maneuvering from leaders of Albina Vision Trust, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and three Metro councilors.
As I reported last month, the beleaguered, $2 billion project that aims to expand I-5 between I-84 and the Fremont Bridge and build highway caps and other surface street improvements, faced the possibility of being defunded by the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC). After years of delays due to lawsuits, a skyrocketing price tag, and a political roller coaster ride, the project is at a low point. Desperate to maintain inertia, the Oregon Department of Transportation asked the OTC how to spend the remaining $167 million in the project’s construction coffers. Option 1 would use the money to begin an early phase of construction, Option 2 would use the funds to finish design and make it shovel-ready for full construction later on, and Option 3 would pause funding and re-allocate it to other projects (note that ODOT claims the funds could only be used on other regional highway expansion projects).
ODOT Rose Quarter Program Director Monica Blanchard poked serious holes in Option 3, saying that, in addition to ODOT staff and project advisory committees being against it (big surprise), “Portland’s Black community would see this as walking back on commitments, and cancelling the project would be further eroding their trust in ODOT.”
The three options on the table.
Even facing steep odds, the fact that a defund option was even on the table was a huge development.
No More Freeways (NMF), a nonprofit that’s filed multiple lawsuits against the project, put out a call to action among its members that resulted in over 200 comments in favor of Option 3 filed with the OTC before today’s meeting. NMF sensed an opportunity to strike a mortal blow to the project. But Albina Vision Trust, a nonprofit that supports the project and wants to rebuild a neighborhood on top of the highway caps, also sensed an opportunity — not just to save the funding, but to bend the project even closer to their vision.
And they called in some influential partners to make it happen.
In a letter to the OTC dated December 10th, AVT Executive Director Winta Yohannes — along with Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, Metro President Lynn Peterson, Metro Councilor and Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation Chair Juan Carlos Gonzalez, and Metro Councilor Ashton Simpson — said all three options proposed by ODOT, “fail to adequately balance investment that would concurrently advance I-5 mainline (freeway widening) and highway cover related improvements.”
These influential partners proposed a fourth option, one that wasn’t known to the public until the meeting was already underway. Their Option 4 sought to use the $167 million to move the project forward, but to spend that money on project elements identified, “in collaboration with regional partners,” and “to ensure parity of mainline and highway cover improvements.”
Yohannes, speaking at the OTC meeting today, said, “We need to make sure that what’s [constructed] at each stage maintains the coalition that is ultimately supporting this project… we’re saying, ‘We want to work with you.'” “At a time when this project is facing so many threats,” Yohannes continued. “We think that our power is working together… we believe we can come to a thoughtful phased approach that everybody supports and that ultimately contributes to the overall success of the project.”
“I find your comments very persuasive,” responded Commissioner Lee Beyer (a former state legislator and one of the architects of the 2017 transportation bill that funded the Rose Quarter project). And so too did the other three commissioners present at today’s meeting. They all voted to support Option 4. The plan now is to bring this issue back to the OTC in February or March with a more detailed preliminary construction plan — a plan that is shaped by project partners and not just ODOT staff.
So the I-5 Rose Quarter project lives on, and AVT — the group that has held the keys to the project for years now — found a way to assert even more influence over its future.
In the end, Option 4 is much better than Option 1 (which was a very likely choice going into the meeting). It’s not the defunding some project skeptics wanted, but Option 4 introduces a bit more delay and more accountability about what gets built first from AVT, the City of Portland, and Metro. That should provide some checks on ODOT’s worst impulses and make it more likely that the agency won’t build the wider freeway first and value-engineer the caps out of the project down the line.
What about those 200-plus folks who sent in comments hoping to defund the project? Commissioner Jeff Baker acknowledged them at the end of the meeting.
“There were a lot of impassioned comments that come into us on Option 3, and I would encourage those that have a real strong feeling on Option 3 to do what I did: to learn about this project, go take a walk with Mr. [JT] Flowers… I think an understanding of this project and what it all means, not only the public investment, the private investment from Mr. [Phil] Knight, the [Portland] Trailblazers, and what this project means to the community — it’s very enlightening. And by walking it and seeing it, and hearing from somebody who grew up in the neighborhood, I think it would be really good to at least understand what it’s all about. It may harden their feelings, but I have a feeling that once they really understand and walk through it, it might be very enlightening.”
— See ODOT’s press release about the decision here.
Raymond Lee seated next to Mayor Keith Wilson at a press conference following his confirmation Wednesday. (Photos and video: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
On Wednesday, Raymond Lee became Portland’s first full-time and permanent city administrator. When Mayor Keith Wilson announced his nominee for the role in front of City Council yesterday, he described Lee’s job as, “a role that will oversee day-to-day operations across more than two dozen bureaus and departments, ensuring accountability, alignment, and service to our residents.”
Lee earned unanimous support from council and never faltered or flinched during nearly two hours of questioning from city councilors and the media. During his opening remarks, Lee shared that he comes from a family of public servants. His mother was a city manager and his father spent 30 years in the Dallas Fire Department. After leaving his hometown of Dallas, Lee earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Henderson State University in Arkansas. According to his resume, Lee has also completed leadership and financial certification programs at Cornell, Harvard, and Yale.
Lee faces the daunting task of realizing the (sometimes competing) visions of Mayor Wilson and the 12 councilors. And whether or not he should even have an opinion about specific legislation and policy ideas is still up for debate. During his questioning of Lee, Councilor Eric Zimmerman said, “The city administration has to have a spine. [Council] will come up with good ideas, but we will also come up with some bad ideas. It doesn’t work if the city administration does not have an opinion on our legislation… It requires you to enter the knowledge void and get into the mix with us about what is good and what is bad policy.”
But during a press conference that followed his confirmation, Lee was asked by Willamette Week reporter Sophie Peel about that exchange. “Do you think you should have an opinion?” she asked.
“No,” Lee clarified. “My role is just to provide our professional expertise and call in knowledge.”
Biking and transportation-related issues weren’t discussed during the confirmation hearing (except for Councilor Jamie Dunphy saying to Lee, “Portland is a weird place, and it’s weird in that we have naked bike rides and Voodoo Donuts and things like that.”). However, I was able to ask Lee a question at the press conference.
After inviting him to an interview-by-bike, I asked:
“Can you share your personal experience with mobility and getting around? Do you ever take the bus? Do you mostly drive? Do you walk? Do you have a bike? Do you ride it? And how will those experiences inform the way you look at transportation issues in Portland?”
To which he responded:
“You know, I’ve done it all. I’ve walked to work when I actually lived downtown in Dallas. I’ve driven to work, so I understand how much time residents and people who work in the downtown area may waste time of their life just in traffic as a whole. And I want to make sure we’re getting people to point A to point B in the safest, securest way possible, in the fastest way possible, ensuring that’s happening at a rate that is adding life back to people — instead of taking away time from their loved ones and the work that they enjoy doing every day.
And that’s looking at, how do we address transportation overall? Not just for today, but also for tomorrow, and ensuring that the plans that we have, that we’re partners with other entities and quasi-governmental entities that partner with us in Portland, to ensure that all of our plans are integrated to help move traffic and transportation forward as a whole.
A good portion of my career has been spent in transportation and ensuring it’s done in an efficient, effective and economical manner. And that’s always been a proponent of my philosophy, ensuring that people are being able to get to their destinations in a safe and secure manner.”
You can watch our exchange in the video below:
Lee faces a daunting task. Our city government and Portlanders in general are restless and desperate for an injection of confidence and civic victories. Mayor Wilson cultivated broad council support for Lee and that effort provides Lee with solid footing to begin his work. But there’s likely to be a big adjustment coming from the relatively small city of Greeley to the much larger, and at times almost ungovernable, Portland.
At one point during his confirmation discussion, Lee referred to Dallas, Texas as a progressive city. That led Councilor Sameer Kanal to say, “If you think Dallas is progressive, buckle up.”
Lee appears to be fully strapped-in and seems undeterred by the challenge. “I’m excited about what the future has in store for this great city,” he told councilors. “And I’m excited about the opportunity to be able to partner with the city council and the mayor to shape what the future will be for Portland.”
This article is from Portlander and veteran group ride leader, Tom Howe.
Portland has Peacock Lane and Starkwood, but just to our south, the cities of Gladstone and Milwaukie also offer some incredible holiday displays in December. There are three that really stand out – the entire street of Ridgewood Drive, Schilling Lights on Lark, and Mitchells Land of Misfit Toys & Frosty’s Magical Land.
Last week, after the holiday tree lighting ceremony in downtown Milwaukie, I rode down the Trolley Trail to visit all three of these venues by following a seven-mile loop route starting at the municipal holiday tree in downtown Gladstone. This tree is conveniently located right at the southern end of the Trolley Trail. And the Trolley Trail can be linked with the 17th Avenue Bike Path and the Springwater Corridor for a ride almost entirely on separated bike paths from central Portland all the way to Gladstone.
Starting at the Gladstone holiday tree the route takes you through the adjacent neighborhood over to the sharrowed bike lanes on Webster Road. From there it’s a right hand turn onto Ridgewood Drive where nearly all the houses are decorated. This street is similar to Starkwood in East Portland, consisting of a dead-end street and three cul-de-sacs on the west side. I rode all the way to the end of Ridgewood, then looped through the cul-de-sacs on the way out. It is worth noting that directly across Webster from Ridgewood Drive is Clayton Way where most of the houses are likewise holiday decorated.
Leaving Ridgewood Drive and continuing on Webster Road takes you out of Gladstone and into Milwaukie on the way to Schilling Lights on Lark. The route skirts around Lake Leona and Johnson City, which is nestled right next to the lake. At just 0.07 square miles in size, the residential Johnson City has the highest population density of any city in Oregon.
Turning left on SE Lark Avenue, the route takes you to Schilling Lights on Lark, one of most impressive animated light displays in the entire Portland region. The house and large yard are covered with programmed lights that dance in patterns with scenes from holiday classics like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Home Alone.” Those scenes are displayed on a giant pixel screen that completely covers the double garage doors. During my visit the song “Let It Go” from the movie “Frozen” was played along with spectacular dancing lights throughout the yard.
Just a couple blocks away is Mitchells Land of Misfit Toys & Frosty’s Magical Land. This is quite the contrast to Schilling, as there are no animated lights, and the illuminated lands have many cutout character displays from the 1960s holiday specials “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.”
I rode the I-205 path to complete the loop back to downtown Gladstone. This is a quick, 1.5-mile ride along the path with no stop signs encountered until reaching the southern end. The route concludes with a few blocks of riding through downtown Gladstone, where the street is adorned with holiday stars.
Since this route uses a portion of the I-205 path, you might wonder why not use that path to get down to the area rather than the Trolley Trail. I prefer the Trolley Trail as it is quiet and there are some holiday decorated houses along the way. But more importantly, it avoids the notorious one-mile gap on the path. This gap routes cyclists onto SE 82nd Drive near where the Sunrise Expressway was completed back in 2016. Now 82nd Drive is not to be confused with 82nd Avenue. Unlike 82nd Avenue, the gap on 82ndDrive is a two-lane road with substandard bike lanes on both sides. The most difficult part is linking up with the orphan section of the I-205 path, as it requires going over the bridge where I-205 connects with Highway 212. If you do this route, ride the sidewalk over the bridge and use the three pedestrian signals when crossing the freeway ramps. Government officials are well aware of the I-205 gap, and plans are in place to eventually refine it with separated bike paths on both sides of SE 82nd Drive.
I really enjoyed visiting these sites in Gladstone and Milwaukie, and hope others can visit them as well during the holiday season, by bike of course!
Raymond Lee and a street in his former city. (Inset photo: City of Greeley)
On Wednesday morning, Portland City Council will vote on Mayor Keith Wilson’s pick for City Administrator: former city manager of Greeley, Colorado, Raymond Lee. Lee, 41, was announced as Wilson’s choice on December 2nd. If confirmed he would become the first (non interim) person to ever hold the position of city administrator in Portland’s history.
The city administrator plays a very important and powerful role in our new form of government. It will be Lee’s job (along with his team of deputy administrators) to execute the mayor’s visions and city council’s legislative actions. Among his powers will be the ability appoint, reassign, discipline, and remove bureau directors. According to Rose City Reform, the city administrator will be the, “mayor’s trusted advisor.” and is likely to function as a bridge between the executive (Mayor’s Office) and legislative (City Council) branches.
What’s he likely to do with that power when it comes to shaping our transportation system? I honestly couldn’t tell you. I don’t know enough yet. But I spent a few hours looking at Greeley and Lee’s past work experience to find out what we might expect when it comes to his mobility-related mindset. Let’s dive in….
Lee’s former town is much smaller than Portland. While he made it clear in just about every video I watched that, “Greeley is one of the fastest growing cities in the state,” it still has a population of about 116,000. That’s one-sixth the size of Portland (pop. 630,000). It’s represented by Democrats in the U.S. Senate, but the county it’s located in (Weld County) voted 61% for Trump and only 39% for Harris in the 2024 presidential election and several residents on Reddit described it as “conservative.” Greeley is on the plains just east of the Rocky Mountains and about an hour drive north of Denver. It’s home to a large meat-packing plant, a mid-sized public university and a community college.
Typical street near downtownA block in the main part of downtown.Typical neighborhood collector.
From a bicycling perspective, there’s not a lot to write about. The League of American Bicyclist gave Greeley a Bronze award for its bicycle friendliness, but from what I can tell the city’s 85 miles of bike lanes are most just standard, painted lanes — often next to high-speed car traffic. To Lee’s credit, Greeley has recently made more noise for transportation reform: They launched a bike share system in October 2024 and by the following spring they’d deployed 250 bikes along with 80 shared electric scooters (about 25% of all bike share use is on the local college campus).
Greeley declared a goal in January of this year to reach zero traffic deaths by 2045 — and kicked off their effort with a $9.9 million federal safe streets grant. The city had 11 total traffic deaths in 2024, and they even hosted a World Day of Remembrance event to raise awareness about it.
Greeley is currently rebuilding a major downtown corridor into a more human-centric environment with public art, roundabouts, less driving space, and wide sidewalks. In the concept drawings I saw however, there was no dedicated space for bicycling.
Lee will have had some experience with free bus service, an idea that pops up in Portland from time-to-time and is getting a life lately because it’s an idea championed by New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Greeley’s transit system has implemented a free transit pilot for two months in the summer through a state program to improve air quality.
Greeley transit system mapGreeley on Google Maps with the “Bicycling” layer turned onGreeley’s heatmap on RideWithGPS shows almost all its bike trips are on trails at the edges of town.
When it comes to Lee’s professional experience, he doesn’t talk about transportation much. In his 12-page resume, Lee shares a long bullet list of accomplishments, yet none of them are transportation-related. The largest transportation project he’s overseen is a $132 million investment into Greeley’s biggest highway — US 34 — which bisects the city. The Mobility Enhancements for Regional Growth & Equity (MERGE) Project will build two interchanges for the freeway in order to reduce crashes and will develop transit hubs where folks can safely connect to transit and other modes.
The highest profile project Lee has been involved in is a major redevelopment project known as Catalyst (or Cascadia), a public-private partnership estimated to cost around $1 billion that would build an arena and related amenities for a local hockey team. According to the Greeley Tribune, a community group that’s skeptical about the project ran a successful petition campaign that will put a repeal of the zoning for the project in front of voters. A public vote is coming in late February.
Here’s more from the Tribune:
Residents who oppose the project have remained doubtful the project will deliver the promised economic boom. More concerns arose once the city issued certificates of participation, one of the primary funding mechanisms for the early stages of the project, which temporarily leased city buildings to secure a loan.
Another group, Greeley Deserves Better, petitioned to put the city council’s approval of the certificates of participation issuance on November’s ballot. After a city-appointed arbiter ruled that such an action was not within the residents’ power, Greeley Demands Better gathered more than 5,000 signatures in an effort to repeal zoning for the project that was approved in September.
Before his tenure in Greeley, Lee served a four-year stint as public works director for the city of Amarillo, Texas.
I’ve reached out to a few transportation advocates in Greeley to see if they have anything to add about Lee, but I’ve yet to hear back. If you know anything about his views on transportation, please share them in the comments. I’ll get to see and hear from Lee in person on Wednesday morning, so stay tuned for more about this man who will play a pivotal role in the future of Portland.
UPDATE, 12/10: After posting this story, I learned that Greeley’s Public Works Director Paul Trombino (their point person for major transportation projects) also resigned shortly after Lee did. I’m trying to learn more. For now, check out the stories about this from local blogger Jack Bogdanski.
UPDATE, 12/10: I asked the City of Greeley Mobility Manager Michelle Johnson to tell me more about Lee’s work/position on transportation. Here’s what Johnson shared:
“During his time here, City Manager Lee supported several projects that helped move Greeley forward on mobility. He backed the work on our Mobility Development plan, which focused on improving safety and connections for people walking, biking, driving and using transit. You can see an overview of that work here: speakupgreeley.com/mobility-development-plan.
We are currently working on year 1 activities based on this plan, which will include route improvements, the introduction of a transit app, and expanding regional transportation with a new line between Loveland and Greeley.
Also under his leadership, we launched our first micromobility pilot, which gave residents more short-trip options and helped us learn how shared scooters and similar tools could fit into our system. Details on that pilot are here: speakupgreeley.com/micromobility-pilot.
Overall, we have worked hard to expand mobility options, trying new (to us) approaches to give people more ways to get around our city.“
Update, 12/10: Jim Riesberg, founder of nonprofit advocacy group Greeley Walks and organizer of events like Week Without Driving and World Day of Remembrance for Traffic Victims, said he thinks Greeley is on a solid trajectory when it comes to transportation reform. “I think Greeley is way ahead of many other cities, particularly of its size and the attention that they’re paying to transportation, mobility, safe streets, improving public transportation and making it easier for people to get around,” Riesberg shared with me in an interview this morning.
During Lee’s tenure as city manager, the Greeley Public Works Department has been busy with traffic calming initiatives, Riesberg says. “A number of what were four-lane streets have now been reduced to two-lane streets by painting medians and things in them.” Riesberg also added that Lee hasn’t attended any meetings or forums he has hosted and he’s never seen Lee at a meeting of the city’s Citizens Transportation Advisory Board.
As for the quality of bike infrastructure? Riesberg said Greeley has 27 miles of bike lanes and the majority of them are of the unprotected, door zone variety.
“The city has increased the number of bike lanes getting into the downtown area,” Riesberg shared, “But we don’t have any good bike parking stations in downtown yet. We’re working on that.”
Riesberg also said he was “shocked” by the resignation of former Public Works Director Paul Trombino, who left his post shortly after Lee resigned. “I had high praise for [Trombineo],” Riesberg shared. “And [his resignation] really shocked me because I thought he was just moving Greeley in a very important direction — and quite rapidly. So I’m not sure what happened there.”
When Riesberg asked city council members about why Trombino resigned, they didn’t tell. “They won’t share anything,” he says. “They just said, ‘I can’t get into that.'”
