Kenneth C. Martin Blogs: Want $500? Help us find the person throwing nails in the Interstate Avenue bike lanes

Friday, January 11, 2019

Want $500? Help us find the person throwing nails in the Interstate Avenue bike lanes

Let’s catch ’em.

Enough is enough. Someone is deliberately throwing nails in a popular Portland bike lane and we’re tired of waiting for it to stop.

So here’s the deal: BikePortland is offering a $500 cash reward for information that leads to an arrest in this case.

As we’ve reported, PBOT Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s office has reached out to the Portland Police Bureau for help. So far they don’t have any leads — and I hate to say it but I don’t expect them to this issue a high priority.

We need to treat this seriously. Intent to damage private property and hurt innocent people is a criminal act that we should not dismiss as a juvenile prank. If something like this targeted as users of a freeway, you can bet the response from official authorities (and the media) would be much different. There’d be a manhunt underway and we’d have major engagement from law enforcement.

We need to send a clear message that this is a serious crime and that it won’t be tolerated.

Someone in Oregon City is doing the same thing and police officers are offering a $1,000 reward for an arrest and prosecution in the case.

In Portland we have thousands of people using bike lanes every day and we have a long and proud legacy of respect for cycling. We should do at least as much about this as Oregon City. It’s time for our law enforcement agencies to step up. Crimestoppers of Oregon offers rewards for all types of crimes. We hope they’ll join us and work with the PPB to help raise the profile of these incidents until someone is caught.

Thanks to all of you who’ve pledged to make a financial contribution to BikePortland to help make this reward offer possible. We don’t have the funds to do this. My hope is that once someone’s caught, we can raise the necessary funds from the community. We’ll increase the reward amount if we raise more than $500.

When you find nails in bike lanes, please report it to PBOT maintenance dispatch (503-823-1700 or email pdxroads@portlandoregon.gov) and tag @BikePortland, @PBOTinfo and @ChloeEudalyPDX on Twitter. If you see someone spreading them, or have any evidence about the possible suspect, please come forward and call it in to either 911 (if it’s in progress) or the PPB’s non-emergency line at (503) 823-3333.

What else can we do to stop this from happening?

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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