BikePortland

Comment of the Week: The hidden political cost of neighborhood greenways

Michigan Avenue in North Portland.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

In the parts of Portland where neighborhood greenways exist, they’re the most pleasant way to get around. Installing them is cheap, fast and politically popular because (other than the occasional traffic diverter) they basically bother nobody.

After its biking advocates spent much of the 2000s trying and failing to build meaningful networks of protected bike lanes on commercial streets, Portland rolled out 40 miles of comfortable connected neighborhood greenways and (as we shared in Monday’s roundup) rightly earned them a spot among Streetfilms’ 10 global best practices for street design.

But, as reader CarsAreFunToo showed in a comment on Thursday’s post about speed enforcement on high-crash corridors, they also seem to come with a big indirect political cost.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

(Photo: car2go)

After a member survey found huge overlap between car2go users and bicycle users in Portland, the carsharing service car2go has now added rear bike racks to half of its 500-car local fleet.

Portland is the first city to get the racks, which are set up in such a way that the rear tailgate of the car2go can’t open on cars that have the racks. (The rear window, however, can still be opened.)

This decision was announced in December, following a successful trial and pilot period with 30 racks scattered through the fleet, car2go announced that it was moving up to 50 percent of its cars.

(Image: Clackamas County)

Even if you carry a smartphone, there are still a few times when paper does some jobs best. One of those times is the middle of a bike trip.

Clackamas County is updating their Bike It! map and has launched a web survey this month to get advice on what the new version should offer.

Last year, we wrote about the county’s virtual open house to gather information about the best routes through the county to bike in. In this related effort, the county is working to figure out how best to convey route and destination information.

The City of Portland’s 10 high-crash corridors: Barbur, Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway, Burnside, Sandy, Marine, 82nd, 122nd, Powell, Foster and Division.
(Image: City of Portland)

Portland’s 10 high-crash corridors would be dotted with radar cameras that automatically detect excessive speeding, under a proposed law due for its first public hearing on Monday.

House Bill 2621 would apply only to the City of Portland, and only on streets with crash rates more than 25 percent higher than other streets with the same speed limit.

River View Natural Area, looking north.
(Photo: City of Portland)

The City of Portland’s defensive legal move to ban mountain biking in Southwest Portland’s River View Natural Area is an unfair breach of trust with mountain bikers, according to The Oregonian’s editorial board.

“River View, where cycling has occurred for years, remained the best city option for serious, if limited, mountain bike trails,” the newspaper wrote in a scathing editorial published online Wednesday. “To that end, cyclists attended meetings, participated enthusiastically in the public process upon which Portland places so much emphasis and trusted the city to act in good faith. The city did not.”

Greenwood Avenue Cottages (Ross Chapin).
(Photos courtesy Eli Spevak)

This is a guest post by Eli Spevak of Orange Splot. Spevak, who the Portland Mercury once described as “the coolest condo developer ever,” develops small, often freestanding homes in single-family neighborhoods with a goal of increasing the city’s supply of housing that’s both affordable and environmentally low-impact.

Neighbors bemoan the demolition of older homes and the scale of new ones – and worry for the character of their neighborhoods.

Demographers see the trend toward more and smaller households – and wonder where they’ll be able to find enough right-sized and affordable homes.

Planners recognize that we can’t rely only on high density centers and corridors to accommodate all expected new residents; neighborhoods will need to play a role too.

Job Title
Bike Mechanic

Company/Organization
Athletes Lounge

Job Description
Athletes Lounge is looking for a full time Experienced Bicycle Mechanic. This position includes Medical and payed time off. Experience with Di2 a plus!

How to Apply
Send resume and cover letter to Gary@athleteslounge.co

Job: Everything – Seven Corners Cycles

Job Title
Everything…

Company/Organization
Seven Corners Cycles!

Job Description
Seven Corners Cycles has one opening for a full-time, seasonal sales/mechanic/phone-answering superhero. You MUST be client-focused. Not in the corporate buzzword kind of way, but in the “this is my natural self” kind of way. Seriously. You also need to possess a general mechanical aptitude that you can apply directly to bicycles. We expect that you can do bicycle work efficiently and happily. Finally, we expect you to ride bikes and love Taylor Swift. This makes you much more interesting to talk to.

We will require you to work a split schedule. You will probably have Monday and Wednesday off. Employment is guaranteed through the end of September, with the possibility of extension.

In return, you will be receive the following- free beer (21+), free soda (20-), free coffee, probably a bunch of free lunches, wholesale pricing on bike parts as long as we still like you, AND a competitive-ish hourly wage. Oh, AND you get to work next to Trevor Spahr all day, which requires no further explanation.

How to Apply
EMAIL your resume to 7cornerscycles@gmail.com. Please resist the urge to call!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST!

Path under construction will link Springwater system to central Gresham (photos)

The new two-mile trail is funded mostly by regional flexible funds allocated by Metro at the request of east Multnomah County governments.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

Though it’s possible to get between central Gresham and the Springwater Corridor by bike lane, there’s never been a truly comfortable link between the two, or first-rate bike connection between Gresham’s central business district and the dense Rockwood area. That’s about to change.

Gresham is building a wide new paved path alongside the MAX tracks between the Cleveland Avenue station, at the eastern end of the Blue Line, and the Ruby Junction station where many TriMet trains stop their runs to go out of service.

Why look back?
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

The Great Recession has left plenty of marks on the Portland area. Here’s one of the happier ones: so far, at least, a lot of the cars aren’t coming back.

The number of registered passenger vehicles in Multnomah County peaked in 2007, a review of 16 years of state records shows. After the economy began shrinking in early 2008, passenger vehicles per resident started a rapid slide, landing 9 percent lower by 2012. Finally, in 2013 and 2014, the local economy began a relatively rapid rebound out of one of the sharpest local downturns in the country.

But in those two years, the number of vehicles the average Multnomah County resident registers has edged back up just 1 percent.

The New Columbia Bike Hub opens in 2012, offering basic bike repair tools, assistance and equipment loans in the North Portland development.
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)

In 2008, Portland’s nonprofit bike shop kicked off an initiative to be known for more than reliable used bikes and Christmastime giveaways. And it succeeded.

The Community Cycling Center‘s 2010 report Understanding Barriers to Bicycling, based on interviews with dozens of residents of the New Columbia and Hacienda low- and mixed-income housing developments, is regularly cited around the country as a key piece of research about the ways bicycling decisions vary by race and ethnicity.

Riding and working at Riverview property-1

Allowed until March 16th.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

A memo released today by Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish, laid out a new future for River View Natural Area.

And that future, we’re sorry to report, does not include mountain biking.

The City of Portland does not think that mountain bike riding is compatible with their conservation goals and says all biking at River View must cease on March 16th. This is a stunning blow to off-road bicycling advocates who had set their sights on River View as a key trail-riding area that would also feature a family-friendly skills course.

The memo references several environmental concerns that led to the decision, including endangered fish species that rely on the 146-acre parcel’s seven streams that flow into the Willamette River.

Here are the key parts of the memo:

Comment of the Week: The hidden political cost of neighborhood greenways

Half of Portland car2go vehicles now have rear bike racks

Clackamas County launches survey to guide their new bike map

Bill in Salem would let safety cameras nab speeders on high-crash streets

Oregonian editorial calls on city to ‘reconsider its bike ban’ in River View

Guest post: A progressive Portland developer’s plan for an affordable infill policy

Job: Bike Mechanic – Athletes Lounge

Job: Everything – Seven Corners Cycles

Path under construction will link Springwater system to central Gresham (photos)

Multnomah County car registration is down 8% since 2007, and isn’t rebounding

Community Cycling Center vows to continue New Columbia, Cully programs despite grant cuts

Citing environmental concerns, City says no to mountain biking at River View Natural Area

Latest Headlines

PBOT staffer brought to tears after questioning from city councilors

Feds pitch in $250,000 for Cesar Chavez road diet

Oregon House Rep Travis Nelson airs concerns about North Willamette Blvd project

City Council cold on robotaxi bill as lawmakers set vote for next week

From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike