BikePortland

Democratic Senate victories set the stage for a 2015 transportation bill

In the balance.
(Photo:J.Maus/BikePortland)

This post has been updated after the release of results.

The key question in the Oregon legislature tonight wasn’t whether the most powerful woman in the state Senate would be reelected. Sen. Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) was — she wasn’t even opposed by a Republican.

The question was whether Johnson would still wake up tomorrow as the most powerful woman in the Senate.

It’s looking as though she won’t.

Johnson’s power has come from her brains (they’re sharp) and from the fact that she’s the body’s most conservative Democrat by a country mile. The Columbia County legislator has been the swing vote on many issues, transportation and otherwise, for years.

But with Democrats victorious in at least two of six potentially close Senate races, it looks as if they’ll have at least 17 votes to Republicans’ 13 — enough to proceed with or without Johnson’s approval. This could make the difference on transportation-related issues like a gas tax hike (which we’re told is likely to be a major focus of the 2015 legislature) and inclusionary zoning (which would let cities build income diversity requirements into their zoning code).

It’s back! I found my bike and am happy to report it’s right here next to me in my office.

Let’s rewind…

The tallest of the proposed new towers would be 32 stories tall, by far Portland’s tallest east of the Willamette River.
(Image: BikePortland from PortlandMaps.com)

It looks as if the mother of all Portland’s low-car apartment projects is likely to get a sibling — maybe an even bigger one.

Across the MAX line from the 657-apartment, 44,000-square-foot-retail Hassalo on Eighth complex opening next year that also happens to be the biggest bike parking project in North America, the same company is proposing a separate block of towers with 1,030 apartments and another 36,000 square feet of retail.

If approved and completed, it’d bring another huge burst of pressure — and, potentially, of development fees — to improve north-south biking connections through the Lloyd, including a much-discussed biking-walking bridge over Interstate 84 to create a 7th/9th Avenue neighborhood greenway linking inner Northeast and Southeast.

If you see this bike, please contact me at 503-706-8804. Note that it has fenders and different tires than shown in this photo.

UPDATE, 3:15pm: Found my bike. Stole it back. Here’s the story.

My Cielo is gone. Someone grabbed it from outside my office building at the corner of SW 4th and Stark this morning around 9:00 am. Please help me find it.

I was not thinking straight and left it unlocked. I know it sounds crazy. But it happened. I feel horrible. I had ghost-ridden it to work this morning alongside my city bike (like I usually do at the beginning of the week, so it can stay in my office for lunch rides) and I set it against the rack next to my other bike. I locked my city bike and then walked up to the fourth floor, only to realize — several hours later — that I left it just sitting there. (I’ve had lots of heavy stuff on my mind lately and was just not thinking clearly.)

Talia Jacobson.

The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has a new voice on its transportation team. The agency announced last week that Talia Jacobson would be the new “ODOT Active Transportation Policy Lead.”

Jacobson has been with ODOT as a transportation planner since 2008. In that time she’s worked on major projects like the Southwest Corridor Plan, the Congestion Pricing Pilot Program, the Columbia River Crossing, the Sellwood Bridge and others. Jacobson is a graduate of the urban and regional planning program at Portland State University and she also has a degree in psychology (Whitman College) and a professional background in mental health and social services. At ODOT, she’s used that background to lead internal trainings about diversity and cultural competency.

Asked about what she’ll be working on at the 5,000-employee agency that holds many powerful cards in local and regional transportation decisions, Jacobson said that, “The Bicycle and Pedestrian Mode Plan is at the top of my list right now.” (ODOT began an update to that plan back in April.)

Racks could help Portlanders get
to far-away trails.
(Photo: Car2go)

International car-sharing service Car2go has announced that Portland will be its testing ground for bike racks on their vehicles. In an email statement to Portland-area members, the company said the move comes after numerous requests from customers.

Here’s a snip from the announcement:

“Since our launch in Portland back in 2012, we’ve consistently heard one specific request from our valued members – installing bike racks. As bicycling is such an integral part of daily life here in Portland, it’s no surprise that we’ve been very eager to find a solution that incorporates bike racks onto our blue and white car2go vehicles, allowing our members, who love bicycling all the same, to combine the two transportation options in a simple, safe, and durable way.”

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Líder del paseo, Elizabeth Quiroz de Mujeres en Movimiento y Bicycle Transportation Alliance.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

To read this post in English, see below. Le pedimos disculpas por cualquier error de traducción. Por favor nos dice acerca de ellos y vamos a solucionarlos.

Con la cantante oaxaqueña Lila Downs canturreando desde un equipo de música de remolque, 35 Portlanders de varias edades se reunieron domingo en Cully para un viaje para celebrar el Día de los Muertos.

Bikes and the Blazers go great together.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Last night’s Blazers Bike Night was a lot of fun and — despite the weather and the score not turning out like we hoped — we managed to boost the biking spirit at the Moda Center.

The new bridge figures prominently
in official Bridge Pedal logo.

You know you want to ride it.

The Tilikum Crossing bridge has been seducing your eyes for months now with its elegant lines that span the Willamette, its carfree promise, and its 14-foot wide bike/walk path.

When Bridge Pedal registration opens today at noon, you can reserve your spot to be one of the first people to ride a bicycle across it. Well, you and 20,000 others.

My kind of town.
(Rendering of Bell Street in Seattle, a model
for Chicago’s project, by SvR Design Company)

Here are the great bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:

Shared street: Early next year, four blocks of Chicago’s Argyle Street will be rebuilt in a “radical experiment” with no sidewalks, crosswalks, curbs, lane markings, or signals and almost no signs.

The birth of ‘cross: Could this French biking newsletter from 1901 have the report of the very first cyclocross race?

A police raid on allegedly stolen bikes in Old Town in July 2012.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

It’s one of the maddening paradoxes of the bike world: biking is so cheap and efficient that it’s a blip on almost every chart.

Biking infrastructure is so easy to build that there’s no army of contractors to lobby for it. Biking education is difficult because it’s so easy to just buy a bike and start riding. And bike theft doesn’t get penalized because a bike can be the most important object in someone’s life even though it’s only worth $50.

Reader Todd Hudson captured an aspect of this problem in a comment beneath this week’s post about a Portland cop who’s leading the fight against bike theft from the front lines.

Would you stop?
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

It might be peer pressure. It might be geometry. It’s almost certainly some of each.

But following up on a study that found that (as we reported last year) 94 percent of observed bike users in Oregon stopped for red lights, a Portland State University civil engineering student has also found that every additional person waiting next to you on a bike makes you 78 percent less likely to run the light on your own bike.

Democratic Senate victories set the stage for a 2015 transportation bill

How I stole my bike back

Lloyd developer proposes 1,000 more low-car apartments including 32-story tower

Please help me find my bike – UPDATED!

ODOT names Talia Jacobson Active Transportation policy lead

Car2Go considers bike rack pilot program in Portland

Portlanders celebran ‘Dia de los Muertos’ con paseo en bicicleta

Blazers Bike Night recap and photos

Bridge Pedal registration opens today, with promise of first ride over Tilikum Crossing

The Monday Roundup: A shared-street test in Chicago, the birth of ‘cross and more

Comment of the week: Courts, not cops, as the core of bike theft neglect

What makes people stop at red lights? Other people, study finds

Latest Headlines

Video: Good bike infrastructure vs bad drivers

Merry Christmas! Portland’s upgraded automated speed cameras are ticketing drivers once again

Monday Roundup: Golden gravel route, too bad for Rad, Uber is sad, and more

Video: Meet a nursing student who received one of Portland’s first e-bike rebates

From the Archives

Portland’s invisible machine: Behind the scenes at the World Naked Bike Ride