Transportation Trivia is here!
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Think you know a lot about local transportation issues?

If so, don’t miss out on the seventh annual Transportation Trivia event co-hosted by the Community Cycling Center and Oregon Walks.

Here’s the lowdown, straight from CCC staffer Yashar Vasef:

Transportation Trivia is back! This Wednesday evening (September 5th), the Community Cycling Center and Oregon Walks are teaming up for the seventh annual benefit trivia event. Hosted at the Lagunitas brewing event space at Broadway and NE 3rd, your $20 admission covers dinner catered by Hale Pele, beer or wine, and three rounds of fun, competitive trivia covering an array of transportation topics. Proceeds benefit the Community Cycling Center and Oregon Walks!
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BTA head Rob Sadowsky at the member’s meeting in 2012.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

The Portland-based biking advocacy group that is transitioning into a biking-walking-transit advocacy group plans to unveil its proposed new name on Wednesday, Aug. 10.

It’ll happen at the organization’s annual members meeting, which will be 5:30 to 7:30 at Velo Cult Bike Shop, 1969 NE 42nd Avenue.

Bicycle Transportation Alliance Executive Director Rob Sadowsky said Monday that the organization’s board and staff will then ask members present for an up-or-down vote on the name proposal.

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A slice of the crowd at Velo Cult Friday.
(Photos: Margi Bradway unless noted)

Any room becomes a special place when it’s full of people you love and respect, and BikePortland’s 10th birthday party on Friday was one of the most special rooms we’ve had the honor of bringing together.

Nearly 300 people turned out. True to the spirit of the site, we welcomed citizen gadflies and academic brainiacs, bike-club party kids, family members of traffic-violence victims, indie framebuilders and a U.S. congressman.

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A new documentary looks at transportation activism in a way many of us rarely see: multinationally.

“Bikes vs. Cars,” made by Swedish director Fredrik Gertten and drawing on characters in Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Toronto and Copenhagen, will screen at the Hollywood Theater at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday, followed by a post-show discussion panel and party at the nearby Velo Cult bike shop.

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Paying homage to Portland’s unofficial Rudolph.
(Photos by M. Andersen/BikePortland)

If there was any question that “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is a TV movie for the ages, the number of generations who joined Saturday night’s mobile singalong should put it to rest.

“I’ve been watching it every year since I was a kid,” said Tom Howe, the ride’s leader. “The music is timeless.”

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Metro active transportation planner Lake McTighe, center, at Oregon Walks’ annual fundraising dinner and awards.
(Photos: Nina Johnson for Oregon Walks)

After a significant grant victory that’ll see the group partnering with biking advocates to advance street safety plans across the state, Oregon’s largest walking advocacy group had plenty to celebrate Saturday.

As it heads into the first year with a new executive director, Oregon Walks toasted its supporters, members and other advocates for ambling at the group’s annual Weston Awards.

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Click to enlarge.

A recent arrival from the Minneapolis bike-fun scene is bringing a new tradition to Portland: Cranksgiving, a combination “bike rally” and food drive that started in New York City in 1999 and has spread around the country.

Laura Recker, who moved to Portland last December, said she wants to tap into the “philanthropic spirit” and “collective love” of the holiday season while introducing more local bikers to the concept of urban bike races.

“I’ve thrown a few races,” Recker said. “I was surprised because in Minneapolis, a lot of people would turn up to them, and there isn’t as much interest in them around here. … I feel like there are a ton of urban cyclists in Portland that put down a ton of city miles and have this basic knowledge of the city and are able to get from point a to point b quickly — knowledge that we don’t get to tap into as a collective unit.”

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Good times at the 2012 Weston Awards.
(Photo: Lillian Karabaic)

Energized by a dynamic young leader with deep ties to local bike advocates, the Portland area’s lead walking advocacy group has changed dramatically in the last four years. It’s about to find out where those changes will take it.

Oregon Walks, known until last year as the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, has seen rapid changes to its board of directors and just said goodbye to its first-ever full-time executive director, Steph Routh. With its annual party and fundraiser Oct. 26, Oregon Walks will be rallying the supporters who ultimately drive its decisions — and, no doubt, feeling out its new direction.

Saturday is the last day when “early bird” tickets ($37.91 per person) will be available online.
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(Park)ing Day in San Francisco, 2010.
(Photo: Josh Jackson)

The international festival that envisions ways to repurpose the 30% of central business district land area (PDF) that U.S. cities currently devote to auto parking keeps getting more interesting.

This Friday, Sept. 20, Park(ing) Day celebrations are going down at a few spots around Portland. But the most interesting might be the plan for SW Stark Street between 10th and 11th, close to Powell’s City of Books and just outside the Ace Hotel.

“We’re taking all of the parking spaces on SW Stark between 10th and 11th and turning them into extra bike parking, ping-pong tables, public parklets and outdoor seating for the nearby restaurants,” writes Katrina Johnston, the local researcher and designer behind THINK.urban. “Ace Hotel will also be doing two spaces in front of their place and there will be an event going on at The Cleaners that will serve as an unofficial after party.”

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Quebec’s Route Verte. (click to enlarge)

Portland has a network of neighborhood greenways, and they’re great. But Jean-Francois Pronovost’s is 3,100 miles long.

That’s approximately the distance from Portland to Nicaragua.

The Greenway (Route Verte in Pronovost’s native French) is a bike route network running all over the Canadian province of Quebec. On Monday, the vice president for development and public affairs at advocacy group Vélo Québec visits Portland to share lessons from this project and others in the first annual Ann Niles Transportation Lecture, a major new series produced by Portland State University’s Institute for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation.

The event is free, though space is limited to 240. I spoke with Pronovost Thursday to learn more about his life’s work, the best parts of Quebec bike touring and how his hometown of Montreal managed to replace 320 auto parking spaces with a downtown protected lane that carries 9,000 bikes per day. (When you read his responses, be sure to imagine them in a dignified French-Canadian accent.)

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