🚨 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 🙏

Collision between driver and bike rider on Williams

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The scene.
(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)

There was a collision on N Williams this evening at around 5:30 pm.

It happened just south of Fremont right outside New Seasons market. Fire and police units responded but there were no serious injuries.

I happened to roll up on the scene about a half-hour after it happened. The driver and the bike rider were still at the scene. I spoke to both parties and they were both very shaken up by what happened.

According to the man who was driving the car, he was coming up Williams in the left lane. He works off of NE Broadway and lives in Vancouver. Just north of Cook, he noticed another driver who was “nosing out” of the New Seasons parking lot. (There is a major construction site between Cook and New Seasons that has fencing and other materials coming right up to the bike lane. In order to see around the construction zone, people in cars must nose out in order to see oncoming traffic.)

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Agenda set for the Portland Bike Theft Summit

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We’re just one week away from the first ever Portland Bike Theft Summit, sponsored by Bike Index. To refresh your memory it’s happening next Wednesday, December 10th from 6-9:00 pm at Velo Cult Bike Shop and Tavern (1969 NE 42nd Ave).

Things are coming together nicely and we’re excited to share the event agenda. We’ve worked hard to get all the key local players in the same room to inspire and inform our next steps in the effort to thwart bike theft. If you come to the summit you’ll get to meet other community advocates who are working on this issue and you’ll get to know (and learn from) key players who are in the trenches of the battle on a daily basis.

We’ve confirmed attendance from representatives from many agencies and organizations including: the Portland Police Bureau, Mayor Charlie Hales’ office, the Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement Crime Prevention program, the Bureau of Transportation, Portland Parks & Recreation, Bike Index, Project 529, the Multnomah County DA’s office, business owners, and more.

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Bike riders and bikeways loom large in Burnside Bridgehead development boom

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A 158-unit building proposed at 419 E. Burnside would feature a “bicycle lounge,” possibly with free coffee and video games.
(Images: Myhre Group Architects)

After two decades of waiting for Portland’s bike network to arrive downtown, it looks like downtown is headed for Portland’s bike network.

Now that life on the city’s eastside grid has exploded in popularity (and therefore in expense), major developers are making a lunge across the Burnside Bridge in an effort to bring 9-story living to the east side of the Willamette.

And as construction start dates approach for the first projects of the so-called “Burnside Bridgehead,” the excellent bike access is turning out to be central to their plans.

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As full waterfront loop reopens, here’s an endless GIF of riding Portland’s gem

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Keep on trucking.
(GIF by Will Vanlue)

After a year of seismic upgrade work to the firehouse just north of the Hawthorne Bridge’s east landing, Portland’s Eastbank Esplanade is fully open once again.

Though the detour was less than a city block, it’s been a long construction period for the ring that’s sometimes referred to, along with Waterfront Park, as Portland’s “inner loop.” Just south of the Hawthorne, the Esplanade was also closed near OMSI for much of the last year as part of TriMet’s work on the new Tilikum Crossing bridge.

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Metro and TriMet introduce bus rapid transit for Powell-Division corridor

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Room for bikes?
(Image: From a Metro slide presentation)

Only in Portland would a regional planning agency host a lunchtime event titled “Bus Rapid Transit 101” in a movie theater with free popcorn.

That was the setting yesterday for a meeting hosted by Metro to introduce Portlanders to their Powell-Division Transit Development Project. The planning effort is just getting started and the aim is to create the region’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) service on a 15-mile route along SE Powell and Division streets between Portland and Gresham.

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Portland is the car2go capital of North America

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Car2go’s Portland launch in spring 2012.
(Photo: M.Andersen)

Fifteen years after Portland introduced commercial carsharing to North America, Portlanders are continuing to show how businesses that enable occasional car use can fit into a modern multimodal city.

Since car2go launched in Portland in 2012, it’s steadily grown its local fleet from 250 to 530 cars, the largest in the country for any single city and the largest in North America in cars per square mile of home area — 10.2.

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Job: Customer Service Representative – Velotech.com – FILLED

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Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.

Job Title
Customer Service Representative

Company/Organization
Velotech.com

Job Description
Customer Service Rep

This position is responsible for responding to customer phone calls, emails, and for working directly with customers in our store. Customer Service Representatives provide product information, advice and order assistance. Qualified CS Reps also review orders and price match requests and assist with site content, including product reviews, photos and descriptions.

Sales & Support candidate must:
● Answer product questions & assist with the order process
● Have excellent communication and organizational skills
● Analyze customer questions, troubleshoot, and provide clear answers in an efficient and professional manner
● Help develop trust and loyalty with consumers and build value in our brands
● Be comfortable in a high volume, fast-paced environment
● Demonstrate knowledge of cycling products and the ability to help customers of all levels of experience
● Comfortably navigate a sophisticated order processing system
● Work with Marketing to assist with customer-facing content, including site maintenance, product images and descriptions
● Coordinate with Returns to assist customers with returns and exchanges
● Assist walk-in customers with product questions and purchases
● Retrieve products from the warehouse to assist walk-in customers
● Increase sales by genuinely helping customers learn about additional/alternative product options
● Maintain a professional demeanor with all customers
● Be willing to talk about bicycles all day (even the kind you don’t like, if there’s a kind out there you don’t like)

The position requires basic computer skills and a strong knowledge of cycling. Previous customer service experience is a plus, as is sales, service and mechanical experience in the cycling industry.

How to Apply
To Apply please send a Cover letter and Resume to Jobs@velotech.com

Job: Bicycle Service Technician – Athletes Lounge

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Job Title
Bicycle Service Technician

Company/Organization
Athletes Lounge

Job Description
Athletes Lounge is looking for an experienced Service Technician to work in our retail location at 2671 NW Vaughn St., in Portland. Pay is based on experience. This is a full time position and includes weekend work. If interested, please send your resume and cover letter to Gary@athleteslounge.com. Athletes Lounge is a full service bicycle shop.

How to Apply
Email resume and cover letter to gary@athleteslounge.com

Is Portland ready to start building streets for smaller trucks?

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Big trucks in busy American cities are often seen as a necessary evil. But maybe that’s only half true.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Cities can’t exist without cargo. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that cities can exist with fewer big trucks.

Two weeks ago, the day after local man Kirke Johnson was killed in a collision with a right-turning semi-trailer truck that apparently failed to yield as he passed it going straight, urbanist website CityLab published an interesting bit of news.

After years of selling 15-foot cargo vans as delivery vehicles in Europe and Japan, Nissan has found a market for them in the United States, too:

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Stolen bike leads to two arrests for package theft in Beaverton

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Stolen items recovered.
(Photo: WashCo Sheriff)

Washington County Sheriff deputies thought they’d just recovered a stolen bike; but it ended up leading them to a large cache of other stolen property.

According to a statement issued late Friday by the sheriff’s office, a $6,000 bike stolen off a car rack led them to the arrest of two prolific thieves. Here’s how it went down:

On November 26, 2014, a Washington County Deputy Sheriff took a report of a $6,000 bicycle stolen off of a vehicle rack in a parking lot at NW Murray Boulevard and NW Cornell Road. On November 27, 2014, the owner of the bicycle called the Sheriff’s Office to report they saw their bicycle advertised for sale on a website called “Offer Up“.

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Job: IT Tech Assistant – Velotech, Inc. – FILLED

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Sorry, this job has been filled. Browse more great jobs here.

Job Title
IT Tech Assistant

Company/Organization
Velotech, Inc

Job Description
Velotech, Inc is looking for a full-time IT assistant.

The Assistant to the IT/System Administrator provides support for hardware systems and software applications within our growing company. Responsibilities include installation, configuration, and maintenance of hardware and software to ensure consistent and efficient business operations. This individual installs and maintains workstations, phone systems, related peripherals, and network infrastructure. This role also installs, manages, and maintains system software, including operating systems, anti-virus programs, and graphic design software.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Assist the IT Manager with daily duties, future planning, and resolution of hardware and software issues to ensure system uptime and employee productivity

2. Install, maintain, and rebuild existing workstations and configure all business hardware, peripherals, services, settings, etc.

3. Develop and maintain installation and configuration procedures and processes

4. Research and recommend innovative, and where possible automated approaches for system administration tasks

5. Perform daily system monitoring, verify performance of hardware, systems and key processes

6. Review system and application logs, and verify successful completion of scheduled jobs such as backups

7. Perform regular security monitoring to identify any possible intrusions, and pro-actively prevent future issues

8. Create, change, and delete user accounts per request.

9. Provide technical support for all staff members

10. Work with hardware and software vendors to resolve issues, ensure proper maintenance, and plan improvements and expansion

11. Repair systems following hardware or software failures, and coordinate with staff to mitigate damages and loss and salvage data

12. Remove viruses and malware, apply OS patches and upgrades on a regular basis, upgrade tools and utilities, and configure new hardware and software as necessary

13. Perform routine performance evaluations and plan future resource allocation

14. Monitor and tune system performance, configure CPU, memory, and disk partitions as necessary.
15. This position requires some travel between our facility locations(NW Portland, Tigard, and near PDX) therefore, a clean driving record and a valid driver’s license is required.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS:

* Solid background of Windows products
* Experience building, configuring and maintaining computers and related hardware and software
* Basic understanding of office-related computing needs
* Excellent problem solving skills across a range of devices, including printers, PCs, and tablets
* Fundamental understanding of system networking; load balancing, firewalls, routers, switches
* Vonage/Avaya or other IP / digital phone system experience
* Industry certifications and previous system administration experience is an advantage

Compensation: $12.00-$14.00 per hour to start DOE. Also includes a premium health care package after 30 days employment and a generous vacation plan.

How to Apply
To apply please send a cover letter and resume to Jobs@velotech.com