The Facebook page for the new “subgroup”
Livable Streets Action.

A new group called Livable Streets Action is taking the tactics that have won a string of victories for local biking this spring and summer and applying them to other modes, too.

Organizer Dan Kaufman, a videographer and longtime local social justice advocate who has helped organize demonstrations for transportation activism group BikeLoudPDX and the bike-based but non-transportation-focused group Bike Swarm, referred to Livable Streets Action as a “subgroup” of those other groups.

Livable Streets Action’s first event is tomorrow, a Friday afternoon commemoration for Marlene Popps, a woman who was hit by a car and left for dead on the evening of July 4 at the corner of SE 60th and Holgate. She died of her injuries July 21.

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A man died in this collision on Saturday
on Highway 6 near Tillamook.
(Photo: Oregon State Police)

As long as roadway fatalities and injuries keep piling up, local activists plan to keep protesting.

Fresh of last week’s rally and demonstrations at City Hall, volunteers with BikeLoudPDX will continue their actions with a Death Toll Memorial event tomorrow at the headquarters of the Oregon Department of Transportation in downtown Portland.

“Several of us feel the need to publicly acknowledge that 30 people lost their lives in June on Oregon roads in preventable wrecks,” wrote event organizer Dan Kaufman. Kaufman, the same man who organized the protest on SE Powell Blvd back in May, is fed up with the loss of life and injury on our roads.
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Dan Kaufman with one of his sons in 2009.
(Photo:J.Maus/BikePortland)

Saying that traffic injuries like the ones that are common on Powell Boulevard “inexcusable and unnecessary” outside the doors of Cleveland High School, the father of two Cleveland students is organizing a protest of the speed-oriented urban highway during Monday’s rush hour.

A collision Sunday involving a pickup truck and a bicycle severed a young man’s leg. Police said the truck had been northbound on 26th and turned left onto Powell in front of two people heading southbound on bicycles.

Dan Kaufman described Monday’s event as a “super-legal slow-down,” in which people deliberately move slowly on a street in order to call attention to the fact that high speeds, and roads designed to encourage them, are inappropriate in an urban context.

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Riding U.S. 101 in North Bend, where bike and auto
traffic often mix without signs or markings.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

The Oregon Department of Transportation has put a fair amount of effort into promoting a bike route near the state’s beautiful coast.

A map of the route along U.S. Highway 101 is one of just three major biking or walking maps the agency publishes. The route has its own special sign. The state has even created a simple graphic showing how average traffic volumes on 101 very widely by month, to help travelers understand what they’re getting into.

The state’s main bike tourism agency, however, doesn’t mention the route on its website and doesn’t expect anyone to ever nominate it for Oregon’s expanding roster of scenic bikeways.

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The best cure for gloominess about the progress of active transportation in Portland is Safe Routes to School.

As the newest Streetsfilm shows, the program has been a huge success here. One in ten Portland youngsters bike to school (ten times the national average) and three in ten walk (three times the average).

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The bike vibe is strong at Velo Cult,
which makes it the perfect venue.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Last night at Velo Cult something sort of amazing happened. It was the inaugural Open Bike Night, a new event thought up by Sellwood resident Dan Kaufman. While only a handful of people showed up, Kaufman and his CrankMyChain crew put together an entertaining variety show that had a strong thread of bike love woven through it.

Open Bike Night is a play on open mic night, and the idea is the same. VeloCult Bike Shop and Tavern on NE 42nd Ave in Hollywood provides the venue and the stage, and CrankMyChain brings sound equipment and keeps the show lively. There’s time for socializing and sharing propaganda (I grabbed some cool spokecards, got a free Filmed by Bike DVD (thanks Ayleen!), a button, and some other cool stuff), and of course sampling Velo Cult’s fine (and growing) selection of beer and cider.
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Dan Kaufman brings his unique brand of
community-oriented entertainment to Velo Cult
tomorrow.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Dan Kaufman of CrankMyChain is at it again. The biking videographer, musician, songwriter, transportation activist (he in Salem right now rallying against the CRC project), talk-show host, and general renaissance man is set to debut his latest project tomorrow night: Open Bike Night.

The idea, says Dan, is an event that’s part poetry slam, part jam session, part film screening, and part social hour where a love (or curiosity) for bicycles is the common thread. Dan has been a part of the local bike scene for years, covering events from his Disco Trike and often broadcasting live to the web from the streets. He’ll bring that same technology to Open Bike Night as the entire event will be broadcast live to the CrankMyChain YouTube channel.
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Dan Kaufman on the stand last week.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

The State of Oregon has issued a judgment of “not guilty” in the trial of the “Disco Trike” and its owner, local activist and filmmaker Dan Kaufman. The trial was heard by Multnomah County District Court Judge Cheryl Albrecht last Friday and she announced her decision today (PDF).

The Portland Police Bureau arrested Kaufman and seized his video equipment and his adult tricycle on SW Main Street near the Elk statue on the evening January 25th, 2012. Kaufman was participating in the J25 Occupy protests to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Egyptian uprisings in Tahrir Square. According to court documents, Kaufman was in custody for 40 minutes and his personal property was impounded (it was released to him one month later). Ultimately, he received a violation for Unlawful Operation of Sound Producing Equipment. The police testified in court last Friday that the amplified music being played from his Disco Trike was agitating the crowd and that it could be heard beyond the legal distance of 100 feet.
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Sellwood resident Dan Kaufman is no stranger to BikePortland. The man behind Crank My Chain! CycleTV has helped us with video projects in the past like coverage of the Aerial Tram and a video ad. His most recent project is a new video about the effort to ban studded tires in Oregon. [Read more…]

Imagine: A bicycle-only trail
along the entire Oregon Coast.
(Photo © J. Maus)

I love Big Ideas. Without them we’d be stuck in the rut of merely working on what’s possible instead of peering out to new possibilities. When it comes to moving biking forward in Oregon, we’ve got to dream big.

It was with that spirit that I hosted a contest recently asking for your Big Ideas for Biking in Oregon. We got a ton of fantastic responses! Thanks to everyone for playing along (see list of winners and others below the jump).[Read more…]