4/25: Hello readers and friends. I'm still recovering from a surgery I had on 4/11, so I'm unable to attend events and do typical coverage. See this post for the latest update. I'll work as I can and I'm improving every day! Thanks for all your support 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor

‘Lost Oregon’ blog unearths rare footage of Yellow Bike program

Still from video of Portland’s Yellow Bike program.
(Via LostOregon.org)

John Chilson, the local urban history buff behind the Lost Oregon blog, has shared some excellent and rare footage of Portland’s Yellow Bike program.

The Yellow Bike program (Wikipedia) was Portland’s innovative experiment in community bike sharing that was launched in 1994. These days it’s often brought up in the same breath with our more modern attempt at bike-sharing; but as you can see in the short video below, the Yellow Bike program was decidedly low-tech and had almost nothing in common with today’s systems.

With the help of volunteers at the Community Cycling Center, the Yellow Bike program consisted of hundreds of cheap city bikes that were simply painted yellow and set out for public use along with a sign that read: “Free community bike. Please return to a major street for others to reuse. Use at your own risk.” It was a classic example of what The New York Times referred to in December 1994 as Portland’s “urban whimsy.”

Read more

Job: Warehouse Worker – Portland Design Works – FILLED

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

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

Job Title
Warehouse Worker

Company/Organization
Portland Design Works

Job Description
Portland Design Works (PDW) designs and develops simple, beautiful gear for everyday cycling. Located in Portland, Oregon, we are a fast-growing passion-driven company looking for the newest member of our close-knit team. We are on the lookout for our new seasonal part time Warehouse Worker to take care of picking, packing, shipping, receiving, etc in our NE Portland warehouse. This person will be detail oriented, positive, and possess the personality to complement our current team.

Responsibilities:
• Picking orders correctly and efficiently
• Packing and shipping orders using UPS, FedEx, USPS, and LTL
• Putting away incoming product shipments
• Keeping warehouse clean and orderly
• Use forklift to move pallets on/off pallet racking and load/unload trucks
• Monitor warehouse supplies to make sure they do not run out
• Other duties as assigned

Skills and Experience:
• Very detail oriented and organized
• Ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing
• Basic math skills
• Knowledge of bicycle components and accessories
• Able to lift up to 45 pounds and perform physical tasks including pushing, pulling, and grasping
• Able to be on feet for up to 5 hours
• Forklift certification a plus
• Basic computer skills (Windows, Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader)

Hours
• Monday – Friday, 3-5 hours per day
• Seasonal position March-October, possibility of winter hours if needed

Compensation
• $12.50 per hour

How to Apply
Email resume and cover letter to Erik Olson, General Manager at erik@ridepdw.com

How bike polo is making Portland better

Bike polo at Peninsula Park-10

Skill on wheels in Peninsula Park, 2010.
(Photos by J.Maus/BikePortland)

America's Next Bicycle Capital

Part of our new series of guest posts: America’s Next Bicycle Capital. This week’s guest writer is Pete Abram of Portland Bike Polo.

I have been a bike commuter since I was able to pedal. But I didn’t really understand how you can connect yourself to a bike, how it can be an extension of your will, and how tasks that seem difficult or dangerous on a bicycle to some can be exhilarating and easy to an experienced rider, until I found bike polo, in 2009, in Columbia, Mo.

Read more

PBOT endures testy town hall for non-residential street fee plan

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward
Street Fee Town Hall - non residential fee-6

Mayor Charlie Hales, Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick, and PBOT Director Leah Treat faced a tough crowd during their street fee town hall this morning at the Oregon Convention Center.
(Photos J. Maus/BikePortland)

The town hall meeting this morning on PBOT’s proposal for a non-residential “transportation users fee” had all the markings of a potential debacle for Mayor Charlie Hales and PBOT Commissioner Steve Novick: A delayed council vote after getting push-back from business groups; huge demand forced the meeting to be moved into a ballroom at the Oregon Convention Center; a large majority of the 200 or so that showed up were in opposition to the plan; there were two private security guards in the room; a third-party company was hired to facilitate the meeting; and there were several outbursts of yelling at the outset of the event.

But — despite a few ugly moments of anger — the meeting eventually settled down and PBOT and Mayor Hales emerged relatively unscathed, if not stronger, as they continued their march toward finding a mechanism to raise new local transportation revenue.

Read more

City proposes $30,000 project to preserve on-street parking next to unused parking lot

overhead map annotated

The Portland Bureau of Transportation has proposed to narrow a sidewalk by four feet in order to make room both for bike lanes and for some of the free on-street parking spaces that currently serve Katie O’Brien’s bar at NE 28th Avenue and Sandy.
(Graphic: BikePortland)

There’s one section of 28th Avenue’s commercial strip, at the heart of the planned 20s Bikeway, where it’s not possible for bike traffic to divert onto a side street: the one block between Sandy Boulevard and Interstate 84.

Read more

Wolf-tracking documentary team will share their Oregon bike adventure tonight

or-7 logo

Two members of the six-person team that set out this spring to trace the trail of the wolf OR-7 by bike through Oregon’s wilderness will discuss what they found in a free presentation Tuesday.

Their 1200-mile trip followed the first confirmed wild wolf in western Oregon since 1947 and was coordinated by Rachael Pecore-Valdez, whose longest bike trip until last month had been from her southeast Portland home to Sauvie Island.

Read more

PBOT hosts two key town halls for ‘street fee’ this week

Street fee press conference-1

PBOT Commissioner Steve Novick at
a street fee press conference in April.
(Photo J. Maus/BikePortland)

The City of Portland’s effort to raise new revenue for transportation via a “Transportation Users Fee” (a.k.a. street fee) will likely face its toughest crowd ever at a town hall tomorrow morning.

The event, one of two town halls set for this week, will focus only on the business/non-residential side of the fee, which has emerged over the past month as the most controversial aspect of Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick’s proposal. Skepticism and concern from business groups (like Venture Portland) about how the fee will be calculated was raised at the City Council hearing late last month and it has gained steam since.

Read more

The Monday Roundup: Road rage shooting, Amtrak’s bike upgrade and more

Site of an extreme road-rage incident.
(Image by Google Street View)

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

Worst road rage ever: After a man on a bike confronted a man in a car who he felt had buzzed him, the man in the car allegedly pulled a semiautomatic handgun on him and opened fire as he drove away. Yes, this was in Florida.

Bikes on trains: Amtrak is testing a new baggage car that can secure unboxed bicycles.

Read more

Latest Headlines

Advocate for nondrivers, Anna Zivarts, will speak in Portland Wednesday

Police team up with park rangers to patrol paths

Tow truck driver hops onto I-5 bike path to skirt traffic

Peer into future of I-5 freeway covers at community work session

From the Archives

More biking = better driving. So why isn’t this said more often?