The cake from our 10th anniversary party at Velo Cult.

16 years ago today we published our first post as BikePortland (if you see posts before that it’s because I’d been posting since mid-April of that same year for The Oregonian before launching my own thing here).

About 16,000 Front Page posts and 500,000 comments later here we are, still serving this community with news, information, and conversation.

When I think about our time doing this, the word that always comes up is change. Constant change. Everything about the city and the world around BikePortland has changed dramatically since 2005. [Read more…]

Mike Perham and I at a recent Timbers game.

I’m excited to share that we’ve received our first equity investment. What does that mean? It means that after 16 years, this little upstart media company you’ve helped build finally has some breathing room — and room to grow.

Believe it or not I’ve never had a business plan (shocking, I know). This business started in 2005 with a lot of long hours, love, optimism, hard work, and blind faith. And that’s pretty much been how it’s survived ever since. But everyone has a limit. And I probably would have reached mine by now if not for Mike Perham (@getajobmike on Twitter).

I’m proud to announce that Mike is a new co-owner of Pedaltown Media, Inc., the parent company of BikePortland.
[Read more…]

Shannon Johnson and her crew.
(Photo: Johnson Family)

Hi everyone.

It’s the end of another wild week here at BikePortland. Before we sign off for a bit, I wanted to share a profile from one of our supporters.

If you’re not one of our hundreds of financial supporters, subscribers, or Patreons (become one here!), you don’t get the weekly Insider Newsletter that goes out (mostly) every Friday. That’s where I share a personal note with readers, housekeeping stuff about the business, a recap of all our stories from the week, and other little tidbits I can squeeze in.

Each week I ask folks to send in a profile about themselves and why they decided to support us.

The latest one came from Shannon Johnson. I thought it was so sweet and fun that I asked if I could share it here on the Front Page as well.

So here goes: Meet BikePortlander Shannon Johnson…[Read more…]

My little girl who was just two years old when I started BikePortland will graduate from high school today. ❤️😲🥲
[Read more…]

There’s no community if no one knows where and when to show up for it.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

The rumors are true: BikePortland is growing and we’re looking to hire someone to help us cover events.

And when I say “us” I mean me. That’s because I’m currently the only staff person keeping this thing afloat. I won’t bore you with the details, but it’s hard being the writer, videographer, photographer, sales and biz dev manager, publisher, social media creator, spokesperson, and community moderator all at once. Every day. I absolutely love this job and wouldn’t trade it for the world, but I’m long overdue in building a team to help me do it.

Thankfully, a very generous BikePortland reader has stepped forward to help grow this thing into the type of community news and information resource I’ve always dreamed of. I’ll share more details about what that means in a separate post. For now, I want to focus on our need for an Events Editor.
[Read more…]

The old days when we left comments in person at Get Together events like this one in 2009.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Back in February, serious concerns from the community forced me to take a harder look at our comment section.

If you recall, the concerns were based on my moderating style that let too many mean and inappropriate comments get through. I’d known for years that some folks had stopped reading the comments because of the tenor of BikePortland commenters, but I didn’t take those concerns as seriously as I should have. It took getting called-out on Twitter and some pointed private messages and conversations for me to finally understand why our comment section wasn’t just disliked by some people, but in need of immediate intervention. [Read more…]

We are looking for the best route forward.

Hi everyone.

As we near our 17th spring together, I cannot think of a better time to learn more about who follows our work and how we can do it better. [Read more…]

On Saturday, Tony Jordan, a parking reform advocate I’ve known and respected for years and who’s written stories for BikePortland, posted something on Twitter about a BikePortland comment. The conversations and concerns triggered by his Tweet (which I’m still responding to, three days later) have made me think deeply about our comment section.

Here’s Tony’s tweet:[Read more…]

I haven’t posted mugshots here on the Front Page for many years now. I don’t recall the exact date but I remember it being an intentional decision.

More recently, major newsrooms around the country have also started to question the practice. I can’t speak for anyone else, but my reason for not posting these arrestee photos was because it just didn’t feel right. People sometimes make bad decisions, or they’re in a bad place in life and they get caught up in bad stuff. I don’t want to be a part of a culture that kicks people when they’re down or that wishes harm on someone because of a bad decision they made — especially when they’ve been caught by a system that is set up to prey on poor people, those who live on the streets, and people with dark-colored skin.

Why am I sharing this now? Because of an email I received on Saturday.[Read more…]

Screenshot of BikePortland Forums front page.

We’ve got forums!

I’ve been holding back on this announcement because I didn’t want to waste your time if they didn’t pan out. But after launching quietly at the end of March, today we’ve passed the 100-user mark on the new BikePortland Forums and that gives me the confidence to officially announce them here on the Front Page.

BikePortland has always been about fostering good conversations, sharing information, and inspiring people to go out and use it. It’s why we invest so much in our comment section and maintain daily discussions here on the blog as well as on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (not to mention old-fashioned emails and all those private messages).

So why add forums into that mix? Let me count the ways…[Read more…]