Housing regulatory relief, bike parking, and a blow to transparency?

I am so proud of Portlanders. Tuesday night’s Planning Commission work session was a three-hour marathon of public testimony—I know, I know, that might be a special ring of hell for many of you—but at some point during the first hour I just kicked back and said to myself, “Portland benefits immensely from such an engaged and informed public.”

How did we get that way? Well, we have a culture of volunteerism in this town—all the government advisory committees, the neighborhood associations, the advocacy groups, the PSU/PBOT Transportation class … I know that some BikePortland readers have strong feelings about various groups, but you can’t deny that they contribute to Portland having an engaged community.

Tuesday’s testimony was about the draft package of Housing Regulatory Relief (HRR) amendments to city building code being proposed by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS). The proposal targets numerous regulations for amendment (the document is 187 pages long) in an attempt to close the gap between the number of new housing units Portland is projected to need in the coming decades, and the rate at which they are actually being produced. Some changes call for a five-year suspension of the regulation, others permanently strike the regulation from code. The commission will consider the amendments and vote in November to forward a recommendation to the Portland City Council about adopting them.

But this is not an easy decision or political lift. Many of those regulations come with committed supporters and are the product of years of study and outreach. An engaged community is not only a resilient community, it also creates resilient city code. A lot of the public testimony was technical and was from informed people who have worked on their issue for decades.

Several critics of the rollbacks found them to be short on the data and analysis needed to show they would effectively boost housing production, and HRR proponents did not make a strong case why the code modifications would promote affordable rather than market-rate housing increases.

Let’s dive into the issue and what went down Tuesday night.

Portland’s housing problem

Jill Chen, the Portland Housing Bureau’s (PHB), Housing Investments & Portfolio Preservation Manager, presented a slide which showed that the city will need 120,000 new units over the next 20+ years, which averages to 5,200 new units a year. Chen continued,

PHB, or the city, needs to produce about half of that as affordable. As a benchmark, so far, even with the housing bonds—the Portland housing bonds, and the Metro bonds—PHB, on average, has produced under 1,000 housing units. So there is a huge amount that is still needed.

She pointed out that costs to build have increase 50% since 2016, but that incomes have only increased 29%, and rent rates 24%, during that same period. Rent rates are significant because they “pay for your debt.”

Chen ended by talking about the levers the city has to influence housing production. Although PHB is focused on building affordable housing, regulatory changes are an important tool because they “impact every income bucket” of housing needs. She called for more flexibility in ground floor activation and bike parking. In particular, she said that units for the elderly or disabled do not have the bike parking needs for which current code mandates they build.

Sandra Wood, from the Portland Bureau of Sustainability (PBS), spoke next, and reminded the commissioners of why the HRR effort was undertaken. “We are trying to influence what we can at this time to close the development feasibility gap.” In other words, lessening the regulatory costs of building to make it “pencil out” as being attractive to more developers.

The public response

A woman had too much to say to fit into her allocated 2 minutes. So she wore a sign.

The Planning Commission received a whopping 200 written testimonies, two thirds of which were about the proposed rollbacks to bird-protective glazing on windows and also eco-roof requirements. The Audubon Society and other environmental groups did an impressive job turning out their supporters. Those commenters were well-informed and persuasive, and several had technical knowledge that called into question the framing of eco-friendly building as being in tension with housing affordability.

Regulations covering Bike Parking and Neighborhood Contact also received sizeable public response. I’ll summarize those comments further below.

Developer comment

Developers did an admirable job of presenting why they need regulatory relief. One woman in particular, Stephanie Kondor, Senior Vice-President of development at Related Northwest, was allowed to speak at length. Her company has been active in developing affordable housing, with 1,200 units completed or in construction/design.

I’ve experienced the impacts of code and policies that are diminishing the delivery of housing, and in my opinion the recommendations before you are largely fair, balanced steps that are necessary to get housing production back on line.

I appreciate everyone’s testimony here and their perspectives. I do however feel that our housing and homelessness crisis has been an ongoing and desperate problem, so we need to prioritize housing our people.

Housing in the Portland area has all but stopped. I’m getting calls weekly from market-rate developers who are selling their permitted projects because they can’t make their deals work under current conditions and policy.”

Those current conditions include rising interest rates and cost escalations that are beyond Portland’s control.

Bike Parking

Transportation advocate Chris Smith testifies.

Chris Smith (former Planning commissioner and key author of existing bike parking codes), Victor Duong (board member of The Street Trust), Nic Cota (chair of BikeLoud PDX) and Paul Buchanan (board member of The Street Trust) spoke in defense of bike parking.

These advocates acknowledged that bike parking regulations could be adjusted, while also emphasizing that affordable housing and affordable transportation go hand in hand. Housing availability and affordability was in crisis, but they viewed cycling as part of the solution and secure parking as being a requirement for getting people to use bicycles for transportation.

Paul Buchanan was a new voice for me, and he described himself as having “the rare distinction of being a bike parking professional. Every day I work with Portland code, as well as code in cities from Los Angeles to Bellingham to Astoria on the design and implementation of bike rooms.”

He went on to assert that there are a number of code aspects that can be adjusted to “maintain functionality [and] reduce friction in the review process.” He mentioned removing the alcove requirement entirely, eliminating the 50% in-unit cap for buildings of 20-units or less, as well as the 15 ft rule. Those changes would “eliminate over 75% of conflicts.”

Chris Smith pointed out that progressive housing and cycling organizations are on the same page and he referenced the joint letter from Bike Loud and Portland Neighbors Welcome. He joined those groups in recommending that the commission move ahead with the bike parking provisions in the HRR, but then to

follow up with a more nuanced process. We believe there are two benefits to that. One is to find additional space-savings … but also to make sure that the parking being produced is usable. The policy you are dispensing with was literally six years in the making with PBOT …

I want to particularly focus on the in-unit parking standard. In removing the alcove standard, you are reverting to a standard which was in place from 2009 to 2019 and which we know did not produce a lot of usable bike parking. I really want to see a followup group go back and see if we can keep looking for ways to make that in-unit standard work … before the current code we ended up with units with hooks over the bed where you could never actually put a bicycle.

Neighborhood contact and transparency

If you were playing a game of “which one of these does not fit with the others,” the correct choice would be the Neighborhood Contact changes.

Keep in mind that the purpose of the BDS survey which informed this regulatory relief effort was to identify “the top five requirements the City of Portland should consider suspending or modifying to support increased housing production.” “Neighborhood contact” ranked 16th of the 25 code requirements surveyed. It was not near the top of anyone’s list.

This issue gets even deeper into the insider baseball of code change, but it matters for transportation. Neighborhood associations are often the loudest voices advocating for bike lanes and sidewalks in the parts of town which are not fully built out. Having timely access to information about proposed developments is crucial for them to join the process early enough to be effective advocates. The Neighborhood Contact requirements ensure that developers inform adjacent neighbors and neighborhood associations of their plans early in the review process.

But the HRR code modifications exempt residential development from notification requirements for five years, “Development that includes a residential use is exempt from the neighborhood contact requirements until January 1, 2029.” This five-year notification holiday is being proposed without any evidence that it would result in more housing.

As a reporter, however, I was most concerned by the strikethrough of this code, about putting information online. This amendment would be permanent:

The Bureau of Development Services must make the information required by Subparagraph A.3.a available in an accessible online format and as an open data set. The bureau will also provide a way for community members to subscribe to get proactive notification of new information.

I rely on online development information, including architectural and infrastructure plans, for my reporting. Maybe I don’t fully understand the ramifications of this, but it looks like it might make my job more difficult. (It would be helpful to have an independent land use lawyer look at some of the amendments to explain their impact.)

Both code changes strike me as being blows to transparency.

What’s next?

One can imagine a rush to get approvals during the five-year exemptions HRR proposes to many regulatory requirements. This could be a bonanza of regulatory relief. But as one man testified Tuesday night, if we are going to have a building boom, isn’t that when you most want your regulations to be in play?

It is not obvious if the Planning Commission will recommend the Housing Regulatory Relief plan to the City Council unaltered, but the excellent public testimony in opposition to the HRR amendments will hopefully encourage the Commission to think carefully.

— Watch the full commission meeting on YouTube.

Community on edge after repeated, graphic threats of gun violence

Instagram stories posted by Shift and John Russell in the past 24 hours.

(Warning: At the bottom of this story I’ve posted text of violent threats and slurs, including threats of gun violence and death.)

Yesterday, before I went to Bike Happy Hour, I called the Portland Police Bureau non-emergency line. I wanted to let them know that someone who has made multiple threats of lethal violence against specific people in our community was going to be there.

That person, Royal Johnson, did show up. As did many people who say they’ve been victimized by his abusive behavior over the years.

These folks came to Happy Hour specifically as a show of support for each other after Portland resident John Russell posted a message to Instagram that stated, “Sadly, this is not a drill. Inexcusable violent threats have been made in person and online targeting me and many of our friends, particularly women of color, and even threatening mass casualty events at group bike rides.”

I have seen videos of these threats made by Johnson and they are extremely disturbing. I want to be very clear: Regardless of the context, the threats made by Johnson are beyond the pale and are unacceptable in every way.

The nature and tenor of the threats, that I viewed in the form of an 8-minute compilation of videos posted to the Thursday Night Ride group chat (text of some of the threats and a link to the video can be found at end of this story story), led me to take the extraordinary step of a proactive call to the police. I wanted them to be able to respond as quickly as possible if needed.

Thankfully, another call wasn’t necessary. Johnson showed up, and so did people accusing him of serious crimes. One of them, someone holding a sign that read, “Royal is a Transphobe” told me she was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Johnson said a lot of words at the event, in what felt like attempts to call people out and goad them into a conflict, but no one engaged with the words and nothing much escalated beyond that.

What’s going on with Johnson and our community is not about me. But I think my relationship and experience with him is helpful for bringing us up to speed on where things are right now.

I’ve known Johnson for at least a year. In October 2022 I wrote a story about his work as leader of a grassroots group that tracks down and recovers stolen bikes. Then in March of this year I published a story about a theft recovery in the South Waterfront area that Johnson was involved in. It was a messy story with witnesses claiming things about Johnson that he told me simply never happened. After talking to Johnson and others, I wrote a follow-up story four days later that attempted to clarify things further.

One week later, I invited Johnson over to the BikePortland Shed to record an interview for our podcast where he was able to share his version of the story in his own words.

It was around that time when people began to confide in me their experiences with Johnson. I heard that on more than one occasion, he touched someone on a large group ride in a way they felt was inappropriate. And when called out on it, reacted with anger and claimed he was the victim of racism. Another person said that after he was told he was banned from one Portland-based cycling club, he rode down the block and broke several car windows in a fit of anger. I kept my ears open, and the stories continued to come in.

Meanwhile, I maintained a loose friendship with Johnson and gave him the benefit of the doubt. I’m aware that racism exists in our community and Johnson is one of the only Black men who participates regularly in rides and events. He is also very loud and demonstrative in both his general vibe and fashion sense — so suffice it to say he’s an easy target of attention in a comparatively staid and very white Portland bike scene.

As I heard more and more accusations against Johnson, I would also ask him directly about them and he would share explanations for everything. I felt comfortable enough with my judgment of him, and his side of the story, to remain his acquaintance. But as time went by, and I talked to more people, I decided to no longer associate with him.

Then in August, I heard from several people they uncomfortable with him being at Happy Hour, so I took the unprecedented step of asking him to not attend. He showed up anyways. That was a red flag for me because it illustrated that Johnson didn’t care about my request, even though — up until that time — we had been cool with each other. At that Happy Hour, we ended up getting into several very animated verbal exchanges that left us on the verge of a physical confrontation. After that event, someone texted us both to say how disappointed they were at our behavior toward each other. When Johnson responded to those texts in a way I felt was inappropriate, I cut all interaction with him and have not spoken to or messaged him since.

Also since August, the situation between Johnson and the people who’ve been threatened by him and/or have been subjects of his alleged dangerous and inappropriate behaviors, has escalated considerably. Johnson says he’s tired of being targeted because he’s Black and says the community is conspiring against him. His accusers fear for their lives.

Last week at the Thursday Night Ride, some people protested Johnson’s presence. One person, a Black woman who has called Johnson the n-word online several times, held a sign that said, “Royal is a transphobe.” I wasn’t there and have only seen a video posted to Instagram; but it’s clear Johnson and another person (who is white) got into a heated argument. One person shoved Johnson first, then Johnson returned the shove a few minutes later.

For his part, Johnson says he has been targeted and “dehumanized” and taunted by groups and individuals in the community. After the confrontation at TNR last week, Johnson told me in a message today that, “I simply just could not take it anymore.”

The release of Johnson’s threats this week, his presence at Happy Hour last night, and the heightened fears of people he has targeted, has led to a feeling of unease at the Thursday Night Ride (Note: This post originally stated tonight’s ride was cancelled, but that was not the case and the ride still happened). Shift has taken the ride off its community calendar and posted a message to Instagram today that states, “We are advising everyone not to attend… We hope these are just threats, but we are erring on the side of caution.”

There’s a lot of history between the many people involved in this complex and multi-layered situation. So far, it does not look like people on either side are able to agree on enough, to forgive one another, or respect each other enough, to make amends. If nothing changes, this situation will remain unresolved and will cause stress for many people for the foreseeable future.

I realize this is not a satisfying conclusion. I don’t have the answers and I don’t know all the facts of what has transpired thus far. I only hope this post adds some clarity to what’s been going on and helps our community talk and move forward in a healthier way.

My DMs are always open on social media and I’m happy to answer questions either in the comments below or via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com.

— Link to video of Johnson’s recent threats. Warning: His words are extremely graphic. (Link)

— Below the banner ad below is the text from some of the threats Johnson made in aforementioned videos. Warning: They are very graphic and might be disturbing to some people:

Text of some of the threats made by Royal Johnson in videos posted to the Thursday Night Ride group chat.

Opinion: Mapps’ version of Broadway ‘debacle’ is a disservice to the city he wants to lead

“I feel like the press coverage in BikePortland… was not consistent with what I experienced as the commissioner of public transportation, which is kind of a problem because I very much am the guy in charge.”
– Mingus Mapps, Portland city commissioner

Commissioner Mingus Mapps was asked about the “Broadway bike debacle” (a term he said he embraces) at his town hall event this past Sunday. His response left out key details and did not accurately reflect what happened. If the only thing someone heard about it was what Mapps said at that event, they would be misinformed and confused. They would also be likely to make incorrect assumptions about the nature of community concerns, the quality of reporting on BikePortland, and the nature of the commissioner’s own involvement in the scandal.

Despite clear facts available to the public in our detailed reporting that no one at the Portland Bureau of Transportation or Mapps’ office has offered to correct (even after given the opportunity), Mapps is misrepresenting what happened. He’s gaslighting the community by presenting a version of the story that is incomplete, he’s implying that what was reported on BikePortland isn’t accurate, and he’s telling the story in a way that absolves him of responsibility — despite the fact that, after facing tremendous pressure from the community, his bureau director was forced to scuttle plans she said he signed off on and she ultimately apologized for how it all went down.

I’ve let this story die down in recent weeks because I want PBOT and its Director Millicent Williams to have the opportunity to turn over a new leaf, learn from the mistakes, and move forward with their important work. But when Commissioner Mapps, in a public forum, represents the story in such a troubling way — and when he mentions BikePortland specifically — I feel compelled to set the record straight and share more information about what happened.

In his response to someone’s question at the town hall at Alberta Abbey in northeast Portland on Sunday, Mapps said, “I feel like the press coverage in BikePortland… what I saw printed there, was not consistent with what I experienced as the commissioner of public transportation, which is kind of a problem because I very much am the guy in charge.”

I agree with Mapps that this is a “problem.” If he’s the “guy in charge” then he should have known exactly what Director Williams was doing (he says he didn’t) and he should take responsibility for her actions — actions she said in an email he had signed off on.

It’s not clear if he’s saying BikePortland’s reporting was the problem or the actions of Director Williams were the problem (or both?). Regardless, if he’s going to mention a media outlet and say the words, “not consistent with what I experienced,” he should be much more clear what he’s talking about. And after saying that, he could have pivoted toward an embrace of the mistakes made by himself and/or Director Williams; but he didn’t do that.

He then laid out his version of what happened with the “debacle.” He made it seem like there was a big, public “conversation” going on around the design of the Broadway bike lane. That’s not true. The only conversation was between Mapps, Director Williams, and several downtown hotel owners and influential business interests.

Emails from Jim Mark to Commissioner Mapps office obtained by BikePortland through a public records request.

We know from a public records request that Melvin Mark Investments (MMI) CEO Jim Mark was leading a campaign against the bike lane for months before Mapps gave Williams the order to make something happen. Mark is a former president of the Portland Metro Chamber and was recently named to Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s Portland Central City Task Force. The Portland Metro Chamber (formerly Portland Business Alliance) is a group that endorsed Mapps’ city council bid, has donated to his campaign, and whose current president was opposed to the protected bike lanes on Broadway.

In October 2022, just one month before PBOT installed the parking protected bike lane on Broadway, Mark’s company purchased the Alderway Building on the northwest corner of SW Alder and Broadway. Commissioner Mapps was given PBOT leadership in January 2023. In May of 2023, Mark spoke strongly against the bike lane in a meeting where Mapps was present. A source who was at that meeting and asked to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation, said Mark “just went off on the bike lane” and lambasted PBOT for spending money on them because he feels bike lanes are bad for business.

We also know from emails received in a public records request, that on August 4th, Mark emailed Commissioner Mapps about a proposed remodel of the Alderway Building (see above). “We are attempting to do a significant remodel to the exterior of the building to attract new retailers,” Mark said. “As you know we struggle with street issues in this area and the investment is tenuous at best at this point. The costs are significant, and we potentially might have to cancel the renovation if we can’t work through the cost issues.” Mark then laid out a list of things PBOT was requiring MMI to do as part of the remodel. “We need the City of Portland to work with us to eliminate and help with the fees,” Mark wrote.

That same day, Mapps’ former Chief of Staff Katie Meyer (who left his office at the end of September) emailed PBOT Director Williams and referred to a meeting with “Downtown stakeholders (led by Jim), the Commissioner and PBOT.” The “Jim” in that email was Jim Mark.

That meeting happened on August 14th. A source told BikePortland that a high-ranking PBOT staffer left that meeting saying, “Jim Mark’s got all the mics,” which they understood as a reference to Marks’ prominent role in pushing for changes on Broadway.

And one day after that meeting PBOT Director Williams emailed staff to say, “We need to meet about Broadway. Doing nothing is not an option.”

What we know is this: Mapps was aware of Mark’s dislike of the bike lane; Mapps had been pressured by Mark and his group of “downtown stakeholders” to help with his Alderway Building renovation project; the Broadway bike lane was discussed at at least one meeting; and that Mapps gave his PBOT Director clear orders to make changes happen quickly.

Given all this, Commissioner Mapps should be honest with the public: The changes he wanted to make on Broadway came as a direct result — not of a general “conversation” or concerns from the community made up of various road users — but from pressure and complaints from business interests.

At the town hall, Mapps then said, after having this “conversation,” he looked at a set of plans he felt would “both make the bike lanes safer, and at the same time, make that space work better for local businesses.”

The plan Mapps refers to here is the second (and much better) plan, the one that was revised after the first one caused such uproar and concerns from the community. Glossing over that detail is revisionist history and conveniently allows Mapps to portray himself as a much more reasonable actor in the story. It’s also notable that Mapps had no problem recalling the details of this plan; but vociferously and repeatedly denied ever even being aware of the first, more controversial, one.

“I know it’s very challenging and triggering when the Commissioner of Transportation goes in and tries to fine tune transportation projects,” Mapps continued. “But this is part of my responsibility as the guy in charge of our transportation system.”

To be clear: No one was triggered because Mapps wanted to “fine-tune” a project. Saying that within the context of his revisionist comments at the town hall makes is appear as if safe street advocates (and BikePortland) were simply overreacting to a small tweak. That’s gaslighting.

What Mapps’ leadership caused Director Williams to do was rip out 16 blocks of a major, high-profile protected bike lane that PBOT staff and advocates worked years to implement, and that was paid for by a federal grant (despite the director’s misleading statements to the contrary). What triggered so many people was that their city leaders were about to sacrifice their safety and reverse the design to an older, more dangerous version, and were ready to spend up to $500,000 of funding the agency doesn’t have to make it happen. And now we know they planned to do it “within the next 30 days” — according to an email from Director Williams to Mapps’ office on September 14th — without any public input and over the strong warnings of PBOT staff.

Then, when their plan was exposed, they gave the community PR spin instead of the truth. That’s why so many people were “triggered.”

Mapps wants to be mayor of Portland. He owes it to our city to be forthright and to carry out the policies of his bureaus — even if it goes against the wishes of powerful people who have his ear.

— For a video version of this op-ed, see this video on our YouTube channel or on Instagram.

Man killed by drunk driver in Montavilla was beloved artist

(Left: Self portrait collage by James Brian Fenimore. Right: Fenimore in his studio. Photo courtesy Sarah Gerhardt)

— This story is by Jacob Loeb. It was first published by Montavilla News on October 25th.

James Brian Fenimore was killed by a speeding Minivan this week while walking on a SE 82nd Avenue sidewalk near E Burnside Street. He was an artist who had lived in Montavilla’s Milepost 5 Studios for years and created art under the name Jimi Rockola. Portland Police cited the suspected driver for manslaughter in the first degree, Driving Under the Influence (DUI), and reckless driving. Members of the non-profit Milepost 5 Studios Artists’ Collective and residents of his former apartment building are mourning the loss of their fellow creator and friend, who had left them for a quick errand that he never returned from.

Fenimore moved into the neighborhood affordable housing complex after his boss, who was also the manager at the time, recommended it. As a musician, he fit in with the predominantly artist residents at Milepost 5 and soon formed a band. Fenimore loved his second-floor apartment overlooking Montavilla Park and his new community. As COVID locked everyone indoors, he continued to make music with his newfound friends. Later, after a band member died and others needed a break, Fenimore began concentrating on his artwork created from discarded items. “I’ve always been appalled at how much waste there is in the world and how easy it is to repurpose everyday items,” wrote Fenimore in a September 19th open letter to the Milepost 5 community.

James Fenimore’s art from an April 2023 show.

James Fenimore taught art classes and hosted open-mic events at Milepost 5, joining the Milepost 5 Studios Artists’ Collective when it was formed. Despite his commitment to the art community in the building, he lost his apartment. Fenimore had difficulties establishing his rental support eligibility paperwork with the building management, according to his friend and Milepost 5 Studios Artists’ Collective founder, Sarah Gerhardt. Despite losing his housing, he kept involved with art and his community, holding onto the support he received from his fellow artists.

“Even though I lost my Apt. I still had something I never had in 65 years. I felt love and compassion and hope in a violent, angry world,” wrote Fenimore.

The night of his death, James Fenimore left his friends on his way to exchange collected cans for their deposit money. He was living on the street, waiting to get into other affordable housing. Although his death will add to the disproportionately high percentage of homeless people killed in traffic crashes, this tragedy had nothing to do with his current living situation. Security footage of the wreck shows Fenimore walking north on the sidewalk towards the E Burnside crosswalk. Another pedestrian walking south passes Fenimore before jumping out of the way of the speeding minivan as it careens off the street. The other person barely reaches safety before the vehicle collides with Fenimore and the signal equipment. Both people on the sidewalk were well-lit and walking in what should have been a safe area; only chance spared one of them. Police attribute the crash to speed and alcohol.

The driver of the vehicle is in the hospital with significant injuries. Police have accused them of being criminally reckless with their actions, costing the community an artist and depriving many people of a friend.

Hawthorne Blvd projects are working well, PBOT says

In a new analysis of traffic data by the Portland Bureau of Transportation, they say recent changes to Southeast Hawthorne Blvd that included a bus priority lane, protected bike lanes, enhanced crossings, and other lane striping changes — have met the city’s goals for biking, walking, and transit users. And the benefits have come with very minor impacts on driving times through the corridor.

PBOT’s SE Hawthorne Boulevard Evaluation Report took a closer look at two projects that were completed in 2021. The first one added a bus lane and protected bike lanes to Hawthorne from the Hawthorne Bridge viaduct to SE 13th. The second was the infamous “Pave and Paint” project that reconfigured the lanes, added median-protected crossings, and improved ADA ramps from SE 24th to 50th (this is the project where many people pushed for bike lanes, but PBOT chose to not install them).

So, how are things working now that the dust has settled? I’ll cut right to the conclusion of PBOT’s 17-page evaluation report:

“The findings in this report point to a safer and more accessible SE Hawthorne Boulevard. Vehicle speeds, especially top-end speeding, have significantly decreased. Accessibility, comfort, and safety has improved for everyone, especially pedestrians, people biking, and people taking transit. Meanwhile transit travel time improved, and travel time increases for people driving were relatively small and in-line with expected travel time increases when driving speed is reduced.”

PBOT backs up these claims with data on driver speeds, crossing availability, bus trip times and reliability, and more.

Speeds

The reduction in speeding (which has a direct impact on bikers, walkers, and transit users) is perhaps the biggest success PBOT can claim as a result of these projects. They measured speeds at three locations — SE 6th, 31st and 37th — before and after the changes. Speeds are down across the board; but top-end speeders saw the greatest reduction. See chart below:

On the inner portion of Hawthorne, lower speeds are no surprise since the bureau effectively narrowed the driving space. On the outer portion however, PBOT actually increased lane widths, which led to concern from some safe streets activists.

Transit

Bus speeds stayed mostly the same throughout the day, PBOT said. But during peak periods, buses were quicker by about 45-60 seconds through the corridor. Keep in mind that with the Pave and Paint (on the more densely commercial section of Hawthorne east of 24th), PBOT said the main reason they opted against bike lanes was because of delays it would cause for bus users.

In their evaluation, PBOT says the project has led to a 10% reduction in bus delays in the Pave and Paint section and was shortened by almost a full minute in the inner section of Hawthorne (west of 12th).

Driving times

PBOT also measured the time it took to drive through the corridor before and after the changes. Despite all the changes to the road design, PBOT’s analysis found that median travel time for car and truck drivers did not change significantly between SE Grand and 20th avenues. And between SE 20th and César E Chávez Boulevard, median travel times increased 20-30 seconds, and 40-60 seconds in the directional peaks.

“This is less than half of the travel time increases PBOT expected based on pre-project modeling,” the bureau said in their report.

The city’s critique of their own work is one thing, but what do Portlanders think? We asked that question of Hawthorne users one year ago and wrote, “Though opinions differed, the general consensus was that the new Hawthorne is better than the old one – but it could be a lot better.”

And it’s important to note that this evaluation included to very different projects when it comes to bicycling infrastructure. One of them (from the bridge to 12th) led to a significant improvement in bicycling, the other did relatively little.

And when we asked BikePortland commenters to share their opinions, this comment was one that stood out to me: “I live on SE Madison just off of Hawthorne in the zone where the improvements were made and I was very active in the public participation process leading up to the changes and had advocated for bike lanes,” shared jrenfro. “I was disappointed to not have dedicated bike lanes, but for my neighbors and I this has been a huge improvement… Cars are going slower and most seem to be following the rules. I haven’t noticed any increase in traffic on side streets. I still want bike lanes at some point but this has been a massive improvement.”

— PBOT SE Hawthorne Evaluation Report (PDF)

Here’s what’s on tap at Bike Happy Hour tonight

Can’t wait to see everyone at Bike Happy Hour this afternoon. I’m back from New York City and in need of some Portlandness.

As always, meet on SE Ankeny between 27th and 28th from 3:00 pm until later to hang with bike-minded people in a fun and inclusive space where everyone is welcome. We’ll either be on the patio, or across the street at Ankeny Tap & Table if the weather is wet and/or terrible (note that we’ll start downstairs this time to try that space out — instead of upstairs which isn’t ADA accessible).

So what’s on tap tonight (besides great beers from Gorges and other yummy drinks and food from Ankeny Tap)?

— The mic will be open all night. Feel free to step up and share your project, a call for volunteers, a poem, a song, a question about BikePortland, Whatever!

— Around 5:15 or so, I’ll hand it over to another city council candidate who wants to meet the Happy Hour crowd. Chris Olson wants to represent District 2 and currently works in communications for a local healthcare nonprofit that reaches underserved populations. I have never met him, but in keeping with tradition, I’m offering any candidate for local elected office the opportunity to share a short stump speech. Learn more about Chris on his website.

— I’ll be happy to share impressions from riding in NYC for a week. Ask me anything!

— Bike Loud PDX will launch their new Bike Loud Action Mix event at Happy Hour (starts at 6:00). This is a spot for folks who are sick of complaining on the internet and want to take concrete steps to make biking better and streets safer in Portland. Tap into the Bike Loud brain trust and see your ideas and projects come to life; or join an existing campaign and add your skills and voice to the movement. More details here.

— A Bike Happy Hour regular and active member of the local bike community will hold a safe space and supportive circle for victims of verbal, physical, and mental abuse by others people in the community. See graphic he posted today (below) for more information.

— And who knows what else?! Feel free to come in costume since this is our last meet-up before Halloween! And, and in case you were wondering, dogs and families are always welcome.

I can’t wait to see everyone. See you on the street!

— https://bikeportland.org/bikehappyhour

Step inside an Oonee Pod, New York City’s exciting solution to the bike parking problem

Standing inside an Oonee Pod in Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan on Sunday. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

“I don’t think you’re going to find an outdoor facility that’s as advanced as this anywhere in the world.”
– Shabazz Stuart, Oonee

— This story is from my recent trip to New York City. See more coverage here.

48 hours ago I stood in the middle of Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan as hundreds of drivers crammed into the Holland Tunnel, and set my gaze on an Oonee pod for the first time. I’ve heard about these and followed their co-founder Shabazz Stuart online for years, but until Saturday had never seen one in person.

The appeal of this concept is that it can help us solve one of the biggest problems many cities, including Portland, face when trying to encourage cycling: give people confidence to park without worrying about theft.

I had no idea how an Oonee worked before I walked up on one for the first time in Brooklyn Saturday. All I did was download the app, get verified through a quick process (by uploading my driver’s license), and then I was a member. To get in, all you do is tap “open door” in the app. It’s a free system that allows any verified person to open the doors, walk in and park a bike.

It worked beautifully. And it looked even better.

The Hudson Square pod (above) is one of 13 currently deployed. Oonee is a private “social impact startup” company run by Stuart and what he calls a “motley crew.” It was founded in 2018 and, after weathering the pandemic, is poised for growth.

Stuart has a grand vision. He’s not looking to place one pod here or there. “We seek to deploy vast networks of secure bike parking and charging facilities,” he told me in a FaceTime interview while I stood in the Hudson Square pod. “Citi Bike has 1,700 [docking] facilities across the city. We have to match that density pattern in order to be efficacious.” It may sound ambitious, but when you hear Stuart’s pitch, you start to believe it’s possible.

What sets Oonee apart is that they are a one-stop-shop.

“The thesis behind Oonee was, what if we just remove all the barriers? What if we did the planning? What if we did the finance? What if we did the community relations? What if we did the manufacturing, design, and operations? So all an agency had to do was say, ‘Yes, you can put it over there,'” he said, quite convincingly.

Oonee’s success in New York City thus far hasn’t gone unnoticed. They just signed a 30-pod contract with the City of Jersey City across the Hudson River and have a contract with the New York City Port Authority.

Back to the pod in Hudson Square. “I don’t think you’re going to find an outdoor facility that’s as advanced as this anywhere in the world,” Stuart said. He spoke confidently, but it didn’t come off as boasting because, well, from what I know, he was absolutely right.

Oonee Co-Founder and CEO Shabazz Stuart.

Standing inside the pod you can tell the materials and finish are of the highest-quality. The automatic door, the thick glass, the ramp leading to the metal floor, all the design cues — it felt like a premium consumer product. Sort of like the iPhone of bike parking perhaps?

And the high quality design isn’t just a nice-to-have. Any urban planner will tell you that when a piece of infrastructure looks and feels world-class, it’s more likely to be treated with respect. I saw two Oonee pods while in New York City. Both were in very busy downtown locations (Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn and this one) and both were in pristine condition. No graffiti. No vandalism of any kind.

The racks themselves come in two varieties. The pod holds 20 bikes. One one side are 10 hanging hook racks built by Saris. On the other are a lift-assisted racks created by Oonee that can lift bikes weighing up to 75 pounds.

Is it really secure? “There’s no bike parking system in the world that’s like Fort Knox,” Stuart said. “I’ve never said we are theft-proof. We’re not. What we will say is you’re 99% less likely to experience theft, if it’s a high quality, securitized space.” Each pod comes equipped with two video cameras, the aforementioned ID verification system (“We know every single person who walks inside a facility,” Stuart said), self-locking chains on the racks, and users can also use their own locks.

Every year, Stuart said there are an average of two thefts across the system. And every verified parking customer has insurance. So if your bike does get stolen, they’ll send you a check to help buy a new one.

The Oonee Pod at Atlantic Terminal (across the street from Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn) is several years old and you can see the vast progression in design compared to the newer generation model.

How can they offer this for free? Their model relies on advertising, not customer fees, to pay the bills. Stuart said the Hudson Square pod costs about $350,000 to build and deploy. Because of its prime Manhattan location, it makes almost all of that back in advertising revenue in a year thanks to its slick digital billboards on all sides. The high cost of advertising at locations like this help subsidize other pods.

To keep the ball rolling, Stuart and Oonee need to raise millions of dollars to build their team and deploy their vision of pods blanketing every major city in America. The money is there, he says, it’s just being spent on the wrong things.

“In 2017 there were billions of dollars being spent on scooter programs,” he said. “There are some good scooter companies out there… But venture capitalists were wasting so much money on ideas that weren’t producing ROI for society. I just think that we should be deploying capital in ways that that actually solves real problems.”

Oonee seems to be on the right path. Getting anything bike-related installed in such high-profile public places as Oonee has done — without massive bike-lash or a NIMBY war — is a massive feat in and of itself. Solving the problem of secure urban bike parking at a large scale, is just icing on the cake.

— Oonee.us

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PBOT joins the fight against big trucks and SUVs

The massive size and aggressive design of many trucks and SUVs are making traffic crashes deadlier than ever. The issue has been around for years, but has gained considerable momentum of late. In 2019 we covered a talk in downtown Portland by author and activist Angie Schmitt where she said truck size is one of the major culprits for the rise in pedestrian deaths and then illustrated the problem with a photo of her 4-year-old son standing in front of a Ford truck. The boy’s head came up to the license plate.

As research and awareness have grown, the issue is now common in large national media outlets and has turned the corner into an issue that’s even safe enough even for government agencies to address head-on. One of those agencies is the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

Oversized trucks and SUVs are now a key part of PBOT’s “Safe Systems” approach to road safety. In their latest Vision Zero newsletter, PBOT draws a clear line from a rise in traffic deaths to “increasing vehicle size trends.” “More large vehicles are on our streets despite their disproportionate likelihood to kill and seriously injure people,” PBOT wrote in the newsletter, under a provocative photo of an adult woman staring into the grill of a jacked-up pick-up.

On Monday, they elevated the issue further, with posts to their social media accounts. With 153,000 views and counting on X (formerly Twitter) alone, PBOT is now fully engaged with this issue. But beyond the internet, what does all this mean for Portland and PBOT?

So far, when it comes to taking action, PBOT says they’ve joined a national campaign (led by the National Association of City Transportation Officials, or NACTO) to pressure the US Department of Transportation to update new car safety ratings to include crash risks for people outside of the vehicle. This is the same campaign I mentioned in coverage of this issue from the Vision Zero Cities Conference in New York City last week.

The other step PBOT has taken is to specifically call out a need for “safe vehicles” as one of the four elements central to their Safe Systems approach.

Identifying and embracing the issue as a priority are a necessary first step. But there’s much more PBOT can and should do to put actions behind their words. If PBOT understands the clear and present danger of these large vehicles, they have an even greater responsibility to design streets in a way that can withstand their impacts. This means less paint and plastic flex-posts, and more concrete separators, metal bollards, and so on.

It also means taking every opportunity possible to separate vulnerable road users from car and truck drivers — and not going in reverse by taking protection away just to satisfy complaints from business owners.

In their recent newsletter, PBOT gives us a hint about one step they could take: They could work with Multnomah County to increase vehicle registration fees for some SUVs and trucks. PBOT linked to an NBC News story about a new policy in Washington DC that would raise fees for vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds from $155 to $500. Given the desperate state of the PBOT budget, any reference to raising revenue — especially one backed by a safety goal — is notable.

The other place where PBOT can show us how committed they are is in how they handle their own fleet of vehicles and the vehicles used by contractors.

NYC DOT Deputy Fleet Management Officer Eric Richardson at a panel on “mega-trucks” in Manhattan Friday. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortand)

At a panel I attended at the Vision Zero Cities conference on Friday, New York City DOT Deputy Chief Fleet Management Officer Eric Richardson didn’t just speak passionately about the need for safer vehicle designs, he shared several concrete steps his agency has taken:

“We require telematics on all of our vehicles, we require high-vision truck cabs, we require pedestrian alerting and collision warning, we are working with manufacturers to try to redesign the vehicles so that when we are making vehicles heavier by electrifying them, we’re also trying to make them also safer…”

Richardson also said all 4,200 trucks in the NYC fleet have truck side underrun guards and that, thanks to a new city law, all contracted fleets will be required to have them too. On this front, PBOT has a good record. They currently say side guards are standard on all new heavy trucks purchased by the City of Portland since 2019. And all garbage and recycling contractors were required to have them by 2022.

The next step after truck design is speed management. Richardson said his current top priority issue is intelligent speed assist. New York City began a pilot program with the technology last year. PBOT has done great work on speed-related issues over the years; but to my knowledge, they have not delved into any speed limiting technology (I’ll update this post if I learn differently),

Asked at Friday’s panel to share one last word with the audience, Richardson chose to talk about speed limiting technology and how larger vehicles make it an even more important tool:

“Bring back from me to where you live, intelligent speed assist — ways to slow vehicles down so that they cannot go above the speed limit. One of my concerns is all the information that we have on speeds is based on current vehicle weight, and we need to make sure we’re keeping vehicles at or below the speed limit, because as they get bigger and become more dangerous, we’re going to see more fatalities at lower speeds. And so getting people down to the speed limit is really, really important.”

New Yorkers on Bikes: A photo gallery

— This story is from my recent trip to New York City. See more coverage here.

I’m still going through photos, videos and notes from my trip to New York City last week. Still to come, I’ve got a story about Oonee, a very interesting company that builds and deploys modular bike parking pods. I also want to share videos and photos of the bewildering array of bike infrastructure I experienced. I might also share a story about e-bikes and “deliveristas” that I got from the Vision Zero Conference.

But before I get to that, I wanted to introduce you to a few more of my favorite characters. You met some of them on my first post; but I photographed so many more in the following three days. Call me strange, or whatever else you want, but I’ve developed an undeniable love for documenting people riding bikes in different cities and cultures. I’ve done this for years, and it hasn’t gotten old (hence my use of the word “love”).

Photographing people on their bikes in New York City was an absolute joy. I hope you love enjoy these images as much as I do. I’ve numbered them to make it easier to refer to specific folks in the comments. I’ve shared the location and other thoughts when possible in the caption. (Note: This doesn’t include delivery riders because I plan to share those in a separate post.)

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I chased this kid and his crew many blocks to get this shot. And I was biking the wrong way on a sidewalk when I took this! W 125th and Frederick Douglass Blvd in Harlem.

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This guy was having trouble getting his bike rolling when I came across him on 3rd Avenue in Spanish Harlem.

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1st Ave and E 14th, Gramercy Park area (I think).

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Somewhere on the east side of Manhattan. Honestly cannot recall.

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I didn’t plan this, but the colors make me so happy (he was riding in the same crew as the kid above him).

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Barclay’s Center on Atlantic in Brooklyn.

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Hudson River Greenway. He’s trying to calm his dog down. It was barking like crazy!

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Greenwich Village near Washington Square Park.

If you like these, check out more of them on this post. And stay tuned for my ode to delivery riders.

Adults learning to ride, and the allure of becoming a ‘cyclist’ in New York

— This story is from my recent trip to New York City. See more coverage here.

New York City (Manhattan in particular) is a place where the freedom bicycles bring is instant and often transformative. Unlike in Portland (where the opposite is true), the least efficient and most stressful vehicle to use is a car. Add the high cost and storage challenges, and cars are not a viable option for many Manhattanites. Walking is great, but one can cover only so much ground at 2-4 miles per hour. Buses? They get caught in traffic too. And subways can be efficient, but also unpleasant and — people-watching aside — the views are terrible.

That leaves bikes. For everyone fortunate enough to be able to ride one, bicycles unlock New York City’s potential. And with nearly 30,000 Citi Bikes and over 1,700 docking stations citywide, these two-wheeled marvels and their undeniable utility beckon on every block.

Given all this, it’s easy to see why there’s such demand for teaching adults how to ride. On Sunday I pedaled up the Hudson River Greenway to a park just south of the George Washington Bridge to meet up with True Sims. Sims, 66, a former Portlander who moved to Manhattan in 1980, is a bicycle instructor with nonprofit Bike New York.

When I rolled up to Riverside Park, Sims was with another instructor and a half-dozen students who braved the suddenly chilly and windy morning to become bike riders.

“I just love watching them go through the process and get past the fear,” Sims shared as she kept one eye on her wobbly students. Sims agrees that bike share has planted the cycling seed within every New Yorker. “Citi Bikes has really opened the world to a lot of people who see the opportunity and think, ‘Oh, I can do this, I can try it.’ People practice on them,” she said.

24-year-old Christina George doesn’t look like she’ll need much practice. While she couldn’t ride a bike at all prior to Sunday morning, she zipped along with confidence after just one hour of class (turns out being a skateboarder is a huge advantage). A self-described “bookey” child, George spent a lot of time inside and was never taught how to ride. Now she looks forward to joining the masses. “First the park and more practice, then the streets. One thing at a time,” she said, confidently.

That approach suits Yancy Coby, the 37-year-old Bike New York staffer who was leading the class with Sims. He didn’t learn to ride until he was 13, so he can relate to late-learners. “I tell them, practice first. Find a nice park and practice, practice, practice before you even dare go out there.”

43-year-old Wei Hsu was doing just that when I caught up with her during a break. On the bike, she was very focused and all-business. Off of it, she brightened up. “It’s not as easy as I thought it might be… it’s taking a bit more time than I thought it would,” she admitted, saying she is probably overthinking it. For Hsu, riding will help her stay closer to friends. “I have tons of friends who ride bikes and are, like, ‘cyclists’. Being able to ride with them would be great.”

Hsu still had some work to do when I left; but she’s committed to doing what it takes to become a ‘cyclist’.

Bike New York offers hundreds of free classes for adults. The sheer demand for the service is another sign that New York has become a true cycling city.

“Learning how to bike can really change lives here,” Sims said. “You don’t really need a car here anyway, but a bike really expands possibilities.”

Comment of the Week: Carrots, sticks, and carmakers

Today’s Comment of the Week is by SurlyOgre in response to a post Jonathan wrote from NYC after listening to Astoria, Queens Assembly member Zohran K. Mamdani on a panel titled Supersized SUVs, Mega Trucks, and Regulatory Failure.

My choice is personal. I recognized Mamdani’s name as being the representative whose office is within a couple of blocks from where a friend of mine was run over by a cement truck earlier this year. Tammy Kao was right-hooked while riding a Citi Bike east on 24th Ave, the driver turned right onto 29th St and crushed her. I lived a few blocks from the crash site for several years in the 1990s.

I hadn’t been in touch with Tammy since leaving NYC, but her death still came as a shock to me.

Although Tammy wasn’t mentioned in Jonathan’s post, it surely has been on Mamdani’s mind, as well as mine. SurlyOgre captured my feelings:

it’s about time an elected official is calling for regulation of an industry that manufactures missiles with 4 wheels. it is super bad news when an airplane crashes and hundreds of people die. Imagine if Tesla, GM, Ford, all had to pay 1% of their quarterly revenue every time a serious crash occurred. Reducing Crashes and Safety would become their focus, not luxury and speed. There was a time when people did not wear seat belts and look where we are now, nearly everyone wears seat belts. People used to smoke inside and look where we are now, smoking is not allowed in restaurants or airplanes. Culture changes when government realizes there is danger and/or financial loss. People can change when there are carrots and sticks. TAX LARGE VEHICLES NOW. TAX LARGE TIRES NOW. TAX LARGE ENGINES NOW. TAX VEHICLES THAT CAN EXCEED SPEED LIMITS NOW.

Sometimes my sessions of sweet, silent thought turn to all of the people I know, and their families, who have been severely injured or killed by cars. The injuries especially can affect generations of a family. My personal catalogue is long.

Thank you SurleyOgre for putting into words what many have been thinking for years. Read the comment in its original thread here.

A studio apartment in two parking spaces in Brooklyn (New York)

— This story is from my recent trip to New York City. See more coverage here.

“We’ve taken over two parking spaces and built a fully-furnished and usable studio apartment.”
– Sara Lind, Open Plans

You’ve read a lot about the connection between cities, auto parking, and housing over the years here on BikePortland. In fact, we launched our Real Estate Beat column 10 years ago with a tenet of, “housing that doesn’t require on-site parking is far more space-efficient.” Since then, Oregon has approved the largest rollback of parking mandates (rules that require developers to build car parking spaces, even when it’s not needed) in modern US history.

“House people, not cars,” was the mantra that seemed to sum it up best.

But even with all the amazing local activism to fix these outdated and harmful parking policies, something that happened in an underground parking garage in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday made the case in most compelling and visceral way I’d ever seen.

“We are in a parking garage of a residential building in Williamsburg that is one block from two train lines, but was required to build parking,” said Sara Lind, a co-executive director of Open Plans (a nonprofit and sister organization to Streetsblog). “So we’ve taken over two of those parking spaces and built a fully-furnished and usable studio apartment inside.”

Sara Lind (facing camera) and Chelsea Dowell

Lind and a few other Open Plans volunteers and staffers milled around a couch, TV, dining table, microwave — and there was even a box of Cheerios and a copy of Jane Jacobs’ seminal book The Death and Life of Great American Cities on the nightstand beside the bed. A BMW the size of the quaint living room sat parked on the other side of the garage.

Although the project was conceived to demonstrate the trade-offs between housing cars and people that many cities face, and no one was expected to live in the cold, concrete garage, Lind added, “Frankly, I think it’s a pretty nice sized space. You know, college me would have loved it.”

The installation was part of Open Plans’ campaign to lift parking mandates, which they believe are outdated, costly policies that force developers to hand over valuable space to storing private cars. In addition to the furnishings, a series of signs scattered around the room explained how parking mandates perpetuate a cycle of car dependence, make housing less affordable, suppress housing development, and so on. There’s a public comment period open now where New Yorkers can encourage the Mayor’s office to follow through with what city staff have already recommended. That is, a complete elimination of parking mandates citywide.

“If they change the zoning code, this parking garage wouldn’t have been required to be built,” said Open Plans Director of Communications Chelsea Dowell.

Open Plans doesn’t work on housing policy as a matter of course, but Dowell says they focus on things that affect the way streets, sidewalks, and public space feel. “And encouraging car ownership through things like parking mandates does impact the way that your streets and your public space feels.”

In a more practical sense, the installation helped drive pocketbook issues home in a fun new way. In a Streetfilms video from the event, one of the interviewees said, “I live in Midtown and I pay $500 for a parking space when my rent is way more than that and for the same same size as two parking spaces, so it’s pretty cool to see an apartment my size can be what I pay for my car.”

With the Portland Bureau of Transportation closing a major downtown parking garage indefinitely back in August, this kind of creative activism to show what’s possible in the future is needed now more than ever.

Portland’s housing problem

The public response

Developer comment

Bike Parking

Neighborhood contact and transparency

What’s next?

Speeds

Transit

Driving times

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From the Archives