🚨 Please note that BikePortland slows down during this time of year as I have family in town and just need a break! Please don't expect typical volume of news stories and content. I'll be back in regular form after the new year. Thanks. - Jonathan 🙏
If Andy Clarke has had a single mission in more than a decade at the League of American Bicyclists, it’s this: turning the U.S. bicycling movement from what he calls “a narrow special-interest group that by and large people don’t like” into “a public-interest group.”
A bill that would have let Oregon cities require some condominiums in some new housing projects to be sold for below-market prices reportedly died in the state Senate on Wednesday.
One leading advocate for inclusionary zoning, as such policies are known, said late Wednesday that Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem) and Senate Majority Leader Diane Rosenbaum (D-Southeast Portland) had “opted against a final caucus on the bill, claiming that the votes aren’t there.”
“We believe otherwise,” added the advocate, Jonathan Ostar of Portland-based OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon, in an email to supporters of House Bill 2564. “It’s beyond frustrating that the caucus won’t get to discuss this last amendment.”
The bill’s backers include the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, 1000 Friends of Oregon, Upstream Public Health and other groups looking for ways to keep Portland’s decade-long housing shortage from making it impossible for most people to afford homes in Portland’s bikeable, walkable neighborhoods.
I have some bad news, some good news, and some very good news.
First, the bad news…
As of today (July 1st), timber company Weyerhaeuser Columbia Timberlands has started a new program that requires all users of their tree farms and other land in Columbia and Washington counties to have an official permit. This new “recreational access program” is something Weyerhauser has done on their land in other parts of the United States but it’s a first here in our region. The company owns about 126,000 acres in dozens of parcels between Portland, Longview and the Oregon Coast.
As you can from the lead photo, new signs have already been posted.
Job Title *
Valet bike parking 7/3-5
Company/Organization *
Portland Craft Beer Festival
Job Description *
Volunteer to valet park bikes at the Portland Craft Beer Festival and get entrance, tshirt, 10 drink tickets and a mug for free.
There are shifts available Friday 7/3, Saturday 7/4 and Sunday 7/5.
Go to http://vols.pt/XrusTA and use Volunteer Spot to sign up for a 3.5 hour shift.
How to Apply *
Go to Volunteer Spot at http://vols.pt/XrusTA
and sign up for a time slot.
Show up 10 minutes before your shift at the Portland Craft Beer Festival at Fields Neighborhood Park, 1099 NW Overton St.
— This post was made possible by Portland Design Works, a local company that designs beautiful and functional parts and accessories for everyday cycling. Kimberlee is one of three winners of our Ride Along Contest held last March.
From neighborhood highways to neighborhood greenways, from bike paths that double as both wildlife corridors and homes to families with nowhere else to go, Kimberlee Chambers’ 12-mile work commute offers a stunning diversity of riding experiences.
Metro is running a contest all this month to promote the new edition of the Bike There! map.
We didn’t either.
Neither did Ray Thomas, the man who literally wrote the book on Oregon bike law (and has personally written and/or lobbied for many of them). Neither did Rob Sadowsky, the executive director of the largest bicycle advocacy organization in the state, or Noel Mickelberry, the leader of Oregon Walks.
“It caught us totally off guard,” Sadowsky shared with me this morning, “And it points to a lack of collaboration.”
This is a big deal because the 84-page Oregon Driver’s Manual impacts how people learn to behave on the road. It’s probably the one source of traffic law nearly every driver has consulted at least once and it’s used in court to justify behaviors both right and wrong. Making sure the driver’s manual presents information accurately and from a variety of perspectives — especially the most vulnerable road users — is a key component of the gradual march toward Vision Zero.
San Francisco-based Timbuk2, a bag brand with deep ties into the bicycle industry, will open a retail store in Portland next month. This is the company’s eighth flagship store in North America (they also have stores in Toronto, Venice Beach, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, and Chicago).
The new store is on SW Stark between 11th and 12th, across the street from West End Bikes (and just around the corner from Chrome, another national brand in the same product niche). Bike-centric highlights of the new Timbuk2 store include a repair station with loaner tools and an air pump and a free bikeshare program for customers who need some wheels.
A launch party happens on July 11th and will feature food, music, and a raffle to benefit the Bicycle Transportation Alliance.
Learn more in the press release below:
“Austin Crenshaw, adventurer, animal lover, cyclist, and all around amazing gentleman died during a bike ride in the Columbia River Gorge at the age of 37. He was doing an activity he loved and surrounded by people who loved him.”
Austin Crenshaw wasn’t a Portland native, but his presence and way of living inspired a lot of deep friendships — many of them forged on long bike rides and on the race course.
Austin was on one of those rides this past Saturday morning. With friends at his side, the very skilled rider leaned into a corner and reportedly lost control of his bike. As he overshot the curve, someone was driving a car in the opposite direction and a collision ensued. Despite attempts to save his life, he passed away minutes later.
Austin’s friend Erin Playman was on that ride. Now she’s encouraging anyone who knew Austin and who was touched by his good nature, sportsmanship, and love of life, to attend a funeral service tomorrow in southeast Portland.
It’s looking likelier that Oregon’s legislature will give Portland the right to gradually install 20 well-marked but unmanned anti-speeding cameras on its 10 deadliest streets.
House Bill 2621 was approved by the Joint Ways and Means committee in a nearly party-line vote Monday afternoon, sending the bill to the House and Senate floors.
Fourteen Democrats plus Salem Republican Jackie Winters voted for the bill to move ahead with a “do pass” recommendation. Nine Republicans voted against it.
Portland leaders including Mayor Charlie Hales and Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick have urged traffic safety activists to help them push for the bill. At the recent BikeLoudPDX safe streets rally, Hales told the crowd to “Put pressure on the legislature” to pass HB 2621, and said it would, “Let us use technology to make our streets safer.”
“Our cities have minimum bedroom requirements for cars but not minimum housing requirements for people.”
— Jeffrey Tumlin
If anyone needed evidence that parking policy matters to Portlanders, it arrived at the Portland Building Monday in the form of 130 people, many armed with pen and paper, to attend a five-hour “symposium” on the subject.
The event organized by the Portland Bureau of Transportation drew a who’s-who of neighborhood association and city transportation officials. One was Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick, who said that parking was the transportation issue he hears about more than any other.