Bike and Build team rolls through Portland, changing lives all around

2016 Bike and Build riders Carmen Kuan and Kelsey Oesmann with local Habitat for Humanity worker Jake Antles at their work site in Cully Thursday.
(Photos: M.Andersen/BikePortland)

For the 15th year in a row, a crew of young adults on bikes pulled into Portland Wednesday almost ready to finish a cross-country bike trip designed to change the way they see their country.

Thursday’s time painting part of a new Habitat for Humanity house in the Cully neighborhood was one of 10 “build days” for the 24-person crew affiliated with the national organization Bike and Build. Part charity bike tour and part Americorps, Bike and Build’s mission is to “benefit affordable housing and empower young adults for a lifetime of service and civic engagement.”

Habitat for Humanity and similar home-building organizations rarely lack for volunteers. But as they finished up work near Northeast 60th and Killingsworth Thursday, Bike and Build participants said their person-hours aren’t really the point.

“A lot of it is about kind of opening up people’s eyes to what’s going on across the country,” said Kelsey Oesmann, 25, a Washington D.C. resident. “In some places the land cost is really high; in others it’s policy restrictions.”

Each participant raises $4,500 for their tour, much of which is donated to affordable housing organizations and other Bike and Build partners. Riders can self-direct $500 to any affordable-housing organization.

But why the bikes?

“I think when you tell somebody that you’re biking across the country, it gets their attention,” Oesmann said. “A road trip wouldn’t.”

Getting ready to head out in Yorktown, Virginia, in May.
(Photo: Bike and Build)

Carmen Kuan of Athens, Georgia, said the 4,000-mile bike trip helps participants “develop grit and stamina” and gives them a physical connection to the country.

“You hear the wind whistling through the trees, you hear the hum of the tires on the pavement,” said Kuan, 25, who’s on leave from a research assistant internship. “You become so much more in tune with the environment around you.”

Anne Davis.
(Photo: Bike and build)

The crew that headed west out of Portland Friday morning was on Day 76 of a trip that started May 21 in Yorktown, Virginia. On July 13, two of their teammates, Anne Davis and Laura Stark, were struck by a woman driving a car on U.S. Highway 26 outside Idaho Falls, Idaho. Davis was killed and Stark remains hospitalized. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

“Distracted driving is extremely dangerous to both yourself and to others,” said Kuan, speaking carefully after being asked about the incident. She described it as “a collision, not an accident.”

Bike and Build saw no rider fatalities from 2002 until 2010. Since 2010 there have been four.

More than 3,000 riders have participated over the years; each must complete 500 miles of personal training and a skills course before leaving. Many, including Kuan and Oesmann, are already bike commuters in their home towns.

There are 11 Bike and Build routes: eight cross-country and three shorter coastal ones. The Central United States route currently runs through Portland.

“They were great,” said Jake Antles, a construction crew leader for the Portland-area Habitat organization who helped supervise the build day Thursday. “Hard workers.”

Next week, the 24 active members of the team expect to finish their cross-country trip with a ceremonial front-wheel dip in the Pacific Ocean on Cannon Beach. Despite the long journey, the traumatic loss of a teammate and Thursday’s blistering heat, Oesmann said she isn’t eager for the trip to end.

“I’m not sure where my next steps will take me,” she said. “But this has definitely been a transformative experience.”

— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org

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Fish warns of auto congestion as Council passes ‘Livable Streets Strategy’

City’s rendering for the new Ankeny Plaza, a prototype of their new Livable Streets Strategy.

The City of Portland’s transportation bureau got past a key milestone on Wednesday when City Council voted to move forward with their Livable Streets Strategy.

Specifically, council supported the city’s $149,158 contract with consulting firm Nelson/Nygaard to come up with the framework of the strategy and set into motion what we’ve called “a new era of open streets.”

But during Wednesday’s otherwise uneventful council session we got a unexpected preview of the political debate that might lie ahead.

PBOT’s Livable Streets Strategy is an umbrella for several different new initiatives. It’s all about formalizing the inevitable (and long overdue) march toward Portland squeezing more potential out of its public right-of-way. Our streets are mostly dominated by cars — both in city policy and in daily reality. As Portland grows and non-car travel options become more popular and more necessary, we must transition away from the traditional, 1970s auto-centric planning paradigms. PBOT has already started this update process by reconfiguring roads to give more space to people to walk, bike and take transit and less space for private auto use.

But we have a very long way to go. And this work has taken on even more urgency with the launch of Biketown, our new bicycle transit system that already has over 7,000 riders.

Here’s a snip from the ordinance (PDF):

“Livable Streets Strategy will support innovation in the public right-of-way by opening Portland’s streets, parking spaces, plazas, and alleys to a range of events, programming, and physical infrastructure that reinforce the idea that public streets are public places to be enjoyed by all ages and abilities.”

A big part of the strategy will be to empower residents and business owners to propose and implement their own placemaking projects via community grants given out by the city.

After PBOT staff made a brief presentation about the program on Wednesday, Commissioner Nick Fish spoke up. He explained that he sees street management plans as fitting into two distinct camps: “streets and parking spaces,” and “plazas and alleys.” He’s worried about the “consequences” of the former and seems generally supportive of the latter.

Here are his comments in his own words (emphases mine), transcribed from the council meeting (you can also watch his comments in the video clip above):

“My sense is that the issues raised by livable streets as they apply to streets and parking spaces are different than the kind of issues that come up with plazas and alleys. In my own experience working with Commissioner Novick for example on the improvements along Division is that there’s a delicate balance between promoting the laudable goals of this program and also ensuring, for example, that business districts function.

We heard [in the Division conversation], for example, comments like ‘We’re really delighted to have these bioswales, but why did they have to be so big and take up two parking spaces? And why are they in a particular location and on and on.’

I just, as a commissioner, want to make sure that as we deal with the delicate issues of streets and parking spaces — which is a big flashpoint, and frankly, it’s increasingly difficult to get from point a to point b on our streets — that we use a broader lens than livable streets to make those decisions. And I have a different personal standard that I apply to alleys and plazas, because in some cases you’re activating orphan spaces.

The challenge with streets and parking places is we have competing demands. And I just want to put that on the record, a concern that we look at them differently. And frankly, while I now live in a rental apartment and walk to work and have ditched the car, when I am in a car and trying to get from point a to point b, there are huge consequences when we take a lane out of Naito or we close a street. And effectively what it means is that you just can’t get from here to there.

In my job there are times I have to travel by car. It’s just a necessity. So I want to just plant this flag that I’m going to have a different approach to this vis-a-vis streets and parking spaces, and want to know about the tradeoffs, then I would around plazas and alleys where I think there are some really big opportunities to create meaningful public places out of areas that are orphaned, or don’t serve a compelling transportation need. I want to put that on the record.”

By saying he wants to “put this on the record” and “plant this flag,” Fish is laying the rhetorical groundwork for future conversations and telegraphing to PBOT Commissioner Steve Novick and Mayor Charlie Hales that they’ll have to work hard for his vote.

“… I am committed to reducing congestion and unnecessary car idling.”
— Nick Fish, city commissioner

Fish’s comments also express clear concerns about Better Naito, PBOT’s partnership with Better Block to temporarily reconfigure the lanes on Naito Parkway. A successful three-month pilot project ends Sunday and Mayor Charlie Hales plans to ask Fish and the rest of council to use city money (an estimated $1.5 million) to make it permanent in the coming months.

Also notable in his comments: Fish appears fully supportive of new public plazas and innovative uses of our right-of-way, as long the spaces don’t impinge “compelling transportation needs.”

I followed up with the Commissioner after the meeting. When I asked what exactly he meant by “huge consequences” of Better Naito he said (via email), “What I have heard from my constituents is that it is important to balance the needs of all transportation modes. Improving circulation and safety, and expanding bike infrastructure, are not mutually exclusive goals.” And Fish, saying his opinion was informed by the city’s Climate Action Plan, wrote that, “I am committed to reducing congestion and unnecessary car idling.” 

It’s worth noting that Fish is the City Council liaison to Venture Portland, an organization that represents our 50 neighborhood business districts. As such, he wants to make sure business owners are at the table when PBOT considers making changes to the right-of-way (PBOT staff said they will be). Fish told PBOT staff that Portland’s neighborhood business owners are, “always struggling with that balance between getting customers in and out of the district and also wanting it to be a safe and welcoming place.”

When I asked what he meant by “ensuring that business districts function,” he said that he hears concerns from neighborhood business leaders about, “the cumulative impact of our decisions.”

“There is a cumulative impact of green street facilities, ROW temporary structures, parking removal and transportation mode additions,” he continued. “We want our business districts to be successful, and that means taking a holistic approach.”

Better Naito in action on Thursday evening.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

As for whether or not he’d support Better Naito if/when it comes to council in October, Fish said he’s looking forward to a briefing on traffic analysis and results of the pilot project and that he’d, “Keep an open mind.”

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

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Jungalow News and We’re Hiring!

Hello friends! We are launching our furniture line with Selamat this weekend at Las Vegas Market! Woohoo! I’d love to see you if you plan to be there! The collection is redic and I’m super proud of it. Also, I’m moderating a talk on West Coast design at the show called Best of The West hosted by Restyle Source. Here’s the info on that.

Other news? I am speaking on podcast hosted by Young House Love along with Emily Henderson and Nichole Balch. The podcast is all about sponsored posts and money matters. It’s definitely worth a listen if you’re interested in the business of blogging. It was my first time speaking with Sherry and John from Young House Love — and those two are super sweet,smart, and down-to-earth.

And lastly, we are hiring! Two part-time/contract positions have opened up for in our Los Angeles office! For both positions you need to be in Los Angeles (we are located in the Silverlake / Echo Park area), you need to have a car and a laptop computer. The jobs currently open are:

Operations Manager:
We are in search of an operations manager for our e-commerce site which will be launching soon. This is an ongoing position. We are looking for someone who understands the Jungalow brand and aesthetic, a self-starter who is super organized and who has a cheery, jungalicious disposition. We would prefer someone with e-commerce experience. We are a small business, so everyone here has their hands in a lot of projects, but the bulk of this job entails: 

• Product Sourcing
• Vendor relations
• Inventory Management
• Product listing Management
  
• Customer service 

Project Manager
We are looking for a highly organized project manager for a new top-secret Jungalow project! This is a project position that will be ongoing for the next 4 months, with the potential to stay on board after that if we love working together. The job includes:

• Scheduling
• Contributor relations
• Organizing photoshoots
• PA’ing on photoshoots

Both jobs are paid positions. If you are interested in applying, please send an email to hello (at) justinablakeney (dot) com — please put “Operations Manager” or “Projects Manager” in the subject-line. If you are interested in both positions, please put “Operations Manager and/or Projects Manager” in the subject line (yes, the right person could take on both jobs!). Send your resume along with a short paragraph about yourself and why you think you’d be the perfect fit for the position. Please attach three images of products that you think fit the Jungalow aesthetic, and include a bulleted list of three skills that you have that make you qualified for the job. Basically, we want you to brag about yourself. :)
Thanks friends and have a great weekend!!

 

 

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East Portland advocates say they won’t take no for an answer on Powell bikeway

SE Powell near 125th. The state’s current plan is to add sidewalks and a center turn lane but potentially no physical separation between bike and car traffic.
(Image: Google Street View)

East Portland’s most prominent advocacy group is unanimously opposed to the state’s current plan for outer Powell Boulevard, its top staffer said Thursday.

“Every one of our transportation advocates — from pedestrian to bicycle to transit to overall transportation — was in disagreement with their decision and they want a separated bike lane on Powell,” said Lore Wintergreen, advocate for the East Portland Action Plan.

“ODOT’s message to the community advisory group and to me was basically ‘It’s our way; it’s our highway.'”
— Lore Wintergreen, East Portland Action Plan

As we reported this morning, the Oregon Department of Transportation says it’s rejected raised bike lanes on outer Powell as inviable and plans to move ahead with what it called “buffered bike lanes,” which project managers said might or might not include some sort of vertical barriers.

Powell Boulevard is within Portland and Gresham city limits but controlled by the state government. It carries about 20,000 cars and trucks per day in the project area east of Interstate 205.

Wintergreen called BikePortland Thursday to say that EPAP volunteers had learned about ODOT’s decision only “a week and a half” ago themselves.

“ODOT’s message to the community advisory group and to me was basically ‘It’s our way; it’s our highway,'” Wintergreen said.

“They didn’t talk about it until the last meeting,” she continued. “They came to the last meeting basically saying ‘This is what we’re going to do and here’s why.’ … Their assumption was that they could kick the children out of the house if they could not get along with it. But these people are not children.”

A sidewalk-colored bike lane (described here as a “concrete shoulder”) set off by slightly raised striping is ODOT staff’s currently preferred alternative.
(Image: ODOT)

Wintergreen, who essentially functions as a staff community organizer paid by the City of Portland Office of Neighborhood Involvement to support the agenda of East Portland neighborhood advocates, said she and EPAP volunteers aren’t convinced that protected bike lanes are actually inviable on Powell.

“City engineers that I’ve spoken with think there are potentialities to make this safer, and they think they’re viable,” Wintergreen said.

She said that in the last week and a half, they’ve gotten signoff from multiple legislators and the office of Gov. Kate Brown to convene a meeting between city and state engineers and reconsider the possibilities on Powell.

The reconstruction of Powell between 122nd and 136th avenues is possible because Rep. Shemia Fagan, who represents the area in the state legislature, struck a legislative deal in 2013 to get $4.6 million for the street.

EPAP feels that some sort of vertical barrier is needed on Powell, Wintergreen said, because if it’s not there then people will drive into the bike lanes.

“People are very accustomed to passing on the right, because they feel they can do it,” she said. “There is a need to have a separated bike lane on Powell to keep people safe.”

One problem is that with more than 300 driveways and side streets in the project area, a protective curb would look like “Morse code,” as ODOT engineer Matt Freitag put it.

That’s part of why a raised bike lane has been seen as a reasonable option. (Raised bike lanes crossed by numerous driveways are common on lower-density bike-friendly commercial districts in the Netherlands, for example.)

Mike Mason, an ODOT project manager, said in an email Thursday that although he had on Wednesday suggested that anything more than a slightly raised stripe would be inviable, ODOT still sees a possibility for getting a physical barrier between bike and car traffic.

“The current plan is for the ODOT team to continue working with colleagues at the City of Portland to look at treatments in the buffer zone of the enhanced buffered bike facility that may provide some separation or protection to people bicycling,” Mason said.

Wintergreen said her understanding is that ODOT and city staff have already “agreed to disagree” about what’s possible on Powell.

“East Portland Action Plan members don’t agree to disagree,” Wintergreen said. “They feel that the safety of people is more important than relationships at this point.”

— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org

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Our city has memorialized Bowie and Prince in the most Portland way possible

Prince and David Bowie are the latest additions to Portland’s bike lanes.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Portland isn’t known for its rock music legacy, but we do have something no other city has: memorials to two modern-day rock titans that are made out of bike lane markings.

You might have heard about our huge Bowie vs Prince bike ride. Not to be outdone, maintenance crews from the City of Portland’s transportation bureau have lent their creative skills to bike lane symbols that honor both Prince and David Bowie — two artists who unexpectedly passed away this year.

The Prince bike lane character can be found on East Burnside at 9th. It features Prince’s iconic symbol on a purple cape and the rider is pedaling through a torrent of purple rain (of course) that’s falling from a cloud.

You can find the David Bowie bike lane on SW Broadway and Main. You’ll know it’s him by the guitar, the stars, the makeup and the hair.

These are just two of dozens of bike lane characters the City of Portland has created over the years. The practice started in 1999 by a city maintenance employee named Kirstin Byer. She would take pieces of leftover thermoplastic from bike lane symbol installations and lay them down in funny ways. The first designs were very simple: a cowboy, a glass in the rider’s hand, and so on. The designs usually relate to something nearby. There was a bike lane symbol with a bag of golf clubs on its back near a golf course and one reading a book next to a university, for instance.

Back in 2009 we shared images of many of the original markings that were collected by Portlander Jim Waigand.

Over the years the characters get paved over and they vanish. I think the ephemeral nature adds to the fun of spotting one.

The practice seemed to be on hiatus for many years but as of late 2014 it’s become something of a standard practice once again. PBOT tweets out photos of new characters once or twice a month.

The Oregonian’s transportation reporter Eliot Njus has just created a Google Map where anyone can add the location of a bike lane character. Make sure to add your favorites!

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

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Subscriber Post: First look at ODOT’s new Sunrise Corridor bikeway

Part of the new bikeway built by ODOT as part of their Sunrise Corridor project. It opened on July 1st.
(Photos: Adam Herstein)

This post was submitted by BikePortland subscriber Adam Herstein. These posts usually appear on our Subscriber Posts page but we like to share them here on the Front Page when appropriate. — Jonathan

ODOT has completed their Sunrise JTA Project which constructed a new 2.15 mile, four lane expressway at a cost of $130 million. As part of this project, bike improvements were constructed. I rode the new cycleway yesterday evening.

Here’s ODOT’s map of the new biking and walking paths:

The new 2-mile cycleway was constructed to current standards and features complete grade separation at crossings, a large clear zone from the expressway, as well as concrete barriers when it runs along the roadway.

The path is well connected to the existing I-205 path, south of Clackamas Transit Center. Overall, the path is designed for cycling in mind, and lacks any sharp turns, steep climbs, or utility poles blocking the path. The ride is pleasant and passes through some green areas, along small streams, and even has a nice view of Mount Hood. The path ends unceremoniously at the intersection of OR-212 and SE 122nd Ave, but will benefit people who work in the industrial areas surrounding the project and want to cycle to work. It also works well for those who augment their trip using the Green Line, saving a potential bus transfer.

Here are more of my photos:

Overall, it’s a well-designed cycleway from our state transportation agency.

— Adam Herstein, @AdamHerstein

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Boho Summer Style Roundup

It’s getting HOT in LA, so all the easy summery pieces in our closets are on full rotation now! From flowy sleeveless dresses like this midi length number that’s a collab between ASOS and a Kenyan company, to pastel toned bags with fun pom pom trim, and strappy clogs in a very jungalicious shade of green, we’re digging all these options to take on the heat of summer- boho style!

1. ASOS AFRICA x Chichia Extreme Swing Midi Dress in Grid Print

2. Interweave Pendant Necklace

3. ASOS Pretty Tassel Drop Earrings

4. Free People Anouk Mini Dress with Embroidery

5. ASOS Denim Super Wide leg Jeans with Tie Waist in Mid Wash Blue

6. Funkis Camilla Ankle Strap Clogs

7. Glamorous Bright Foldover Woven Clutch Bag With Pom Poms

8. Cerelia Jumpsuit

9. South Beach Woven Cross Body Bag

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