Rep. Power’s Twitter profile pic.

A former southeast Portland resident who publicly opined about what downtown would be like if we tore out Interstate 5 has been named to two key state legislative committees that oversee transportation.

Representative Karin Power — a Democrat whose district (41) includes the City of Milwaukie and Oak Grove, as well as the Sellwood, Eastmoreland, Westmoreland and Brentwood-Darlington neighborhoods — is now a member of the Joint Interstate 5 Bridge and Joint Transportation committees. She was appointed by Speaker of the House Tina Kotek in a memo finalized this morning (PDF).

The Joint Transportation Committee is an influential body that oversees all major transportation legislation. This is the group that debated and molded the state’s current $5.6 billion transportation funding bill, HB 2017. The I-5 Bridge Joint Committee will play a crucial role in the resurrection of the Columbia River Crossing megaproject, which is now known as the I-5 Bridge Replacement Program.
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The Portland region’s metropolitan planning organization has poked more holes in the I-5 Rose Quarter project. Big ones.
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Speakers at the event included (clockwise): Former Street Roots Editor Israel Bayer, Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, Speaker of the Oregon House Tina Kotek, and House Rep. Karin Power.
(Photos by mitchwilson.co)

There’s a new voice for businesses in Portland and they are focused on two issues that could make or break the future of cycling in our city. As we just reported with the City of Portland’s proposal to lower its bike mode share goals due what their analysis tells them is a lack homes in proximity to jobs, the issues of affordable housing and cycling are closely intertwined.

A business lobby group could help bend this trend in a different direction; but only if it wants a future with housing for everyone and more people on bikes.
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Plans for downtown Milwaukie’s bike network.
(Image: Milwaukie)

One year after Milwaukie voters elected two vocally bike-friendly politicians to their city council, Milwaukie is lining up some significant investments.

The biggest new one in the works, a crosstown neighborhood greenway on Monroe Street, will get its first public meeting at city council on Nov. 3.

“We have consensus on council to make this a top priority,” Milwaukie City Councilor Karin Power said in an interview Wednesday about the city’s work on an “all-inclusive bike-, pedestrian- and street-safety program.”

Milwaukie doesn’t have a citizen biking or pedestrian advisory committee. But public support for biking and walking improvements has led to something interesting: the city’s public safety committee has broadened its focus and is now taking a lead role on infrastructure planning.

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