Happy Halloween

Here’s to hoping everyone had a safe & fantastic PUMPKIN DAY today!!!
Lots of tricks & lots of treats. Happy Halloween everybody!!!

from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery https://ift.tt/2qna9dF

A man was arrested today for purposely driving his car into protestors downtown

Mark Dickerson.

Family and supporters of Patrick Kimmons, a 27-year-old black man shot by Portland Police last month, protested outside the Multnomah County Courthouse today. They were responding to a grand jury’s decision to not indict the officers who shot him.

The protest took place on SW 4th Avenue and, according to the Portland Police Bureau, responding officers urged people to get onto the sidewalk. As they addressed the scene, a 55-year-old man purposely drove into them. Here’s the police statement:

“The officers contacted the demonstrators and requested they move off the roadway and onto the sidewalk; however, the group remained on the roadway, blocking vehicle traffic. As officers developed a plan to divert traffic, officers continued to request the protestors move to the sidewalk. While officers continued to communicate with the crowd and direct them to the sidewalk, the driver of a dark blue Chevrolet 2500 pick-up traveled north on Southwest 4th Avenue into the crowd of people and struck a protester. The protester did not require medical treatment.

Officers located and stopped the Chevrolet truck and driver near the intersection of Southwest 3rd Avenue and Southwest Madison Street. The driver was taken into custody without incident.”

The driver, Mark Dickerson, was put in jail and faces charges of Assault in the Fourth Degree, Reckless Endangering, and Reckless Driving.

I’m not close to the Patrick Kimmons case; but I approach this from a transportation/safe streets journalism and advocacy perspective. What happened today should not be seen as separate from the growing rhetoric around protestors and their use of the streets.

Earlier this month the story about protestors who yelled at and damaged the car of a man who tried to drive around them went viral. The story became fodder for the national narrative of divisiveness and became a provocative example of “Antifa mobs” that had “taken over Portland streets.” This type of rhetoric plays into peoples’ existing political biases and their frustrations about not being able to freely drive wherever they want, whenever they want.

When you are in control of multi-ton steel vehicle with enough power to easily hurt or kill another person, it’s very easy for charged rhetoric to spill over into action.

Last week we reported on two local business owners who made public statements that running people over with cars was an acceptable behavior. When Portlander Mark Holzmann shared his story on his Facebook page about a bike rider who allegedly slashed his tires after a road rage incident, at least one of Holzmann’s friends replied in a comment that the bicycle rider was part of the “Antifa mob.”

This stuff is dangerous. In today’s emotional political climate where protests are common, older white men feel victimized by a rapidly changing society, and hate toward others feels like it’s at an all-time high, we can’t allow our streets to become even more dangerous because people think it’s justifiable to mow protestors down with their cars.

When I put a spotlight on the comments of those two business owners, some people said I should “relax” and “lighten up” and that it was “just a joke.”

As someone who attends street protests and uses our roads without the protection of a large steel box around me, I don’t think it’s funny at all.

I hope today’s incident doesn’t result in a crackdown on street protests and even more heavy-handed tactics from the PPB. The right for the public to assemble and air grievances should have a higher priority than the privilege of driving a large motorized vehicle through our streets.

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

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Dramatic Contrast

Might be a smidge harder to glaze “in the dark”…
but the dramatic task lighting I’ve set up sure does make for some nice contrasts
when the mugs start lining up!

from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery https://ift.tt/2OilK7o

Glaze On… Glaze Off.

Painting & filling the stamped impressions with a dark tenmoku glaze, and then wiping off the high surfaces to reveal a great contrast for the stamped design. I kinda feel like The Karate Kid… glaze on, glaze off… glaze on, glaze off.

from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery https://ift.tt/2OYSGqN

Resident on street with new protected bike lane: “Cut us some slack!”

This is amazing on many levels.
(Photo sent in by reader)

Reader M.N. sent us this photo. It shows the front window of a house on North Willamette Blvd near Wabash where the resident has a message for bike lane users:

“Citizens. Cut us some slack while we access our driveways! Bike lanes are for everyone. It’s the law.”

The sign also includes the text from Oregon Revised Statute 811.440: “When motor vehicles may operate on bicycle lane”.

This is clearly a response to the relatively new bike lanes installed on the street outside this house (which is just south of the Wabash intersection). It’s been just less than a year since the Portland Bureau of Transportation re-striped Willamette to include a curbside protected lane for low-impact travelers. This new configuration has caused residents to have to adjust their behavior. They can no longer park on the street outside their house. And now there’s less wiggle room for them to access their driveways because the lack of on-street parking means the entire street is used as a travel lane. They no longer have the breathing room afforded by the space where cars used to be parked.

Without talking to them (I plan to knock on their door next time I go by there), it’s hard to know what exactly spurred their sign. But my guess would be that bicycle riders have vocally informed them they should not block the lane.

As PBOT makes significant changes to our roads, it’s interesting to see how people react. I’ve noticed several people along this corridor that have begun parking on their front lawns or in parking median strips between the sidewalk and the street (despite having a driveway).

And let’s not forget how people in nearby neighborhoods have responded to slower speed limits. Just a few blocks away from this sign on Willamette is where someone defaced and destroyed dozens of “20 is Plenty” signs. And then there was the person who tried to start a campaign against the “impossibly low speed limit” on NE Ainsworth Street.

The man who sent us this photo says while some people might not like losing the ability to park in front of their house, he appreciates the new lane. “As someone who rides with a child in a bike trailer, I like what has been done around here. Now we just need police to enforce the speed limits on Willamette.”

I wonder if the cops will cut them some slack.

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

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Glazing By Braille ???

Still no working ceiling light fixture in my studio…
so glazing “in the dark” tonight ought to be interesting, huh?!!!

from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery https://ift.tt/2SA2VQr

The Springwater Corridor is now open!

Hello Springwater Corridor! So nice to have you back!
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

After a four month closure, the City of Portland removed the final barricades that were blocking access on the Springwater Corridor path near Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge.

A Portland Bureau of Environmental Services project to enlarge a culvert between the refuge and the Willamette River led to the path being closed since July.

There was significant consternation prior to the closure that the alternative route — which directed bicycle users considerably out of direction onto much more dangerous surface streets — would not be adequate. The detour was certainly not as nice as having the Springwater, but I was pleasantly surprised to have not heard many complaints from the community. Of course this could be simply because many people decided not to bike. It’s hard to know what, if any, impact the peak-season closure had on cycling rates.

What’s not hard to know is that the project will have a very positive impact on the life of all types of fish, birds, and other wildlife. I look forward to checking it out next time I’m out there.

Have you ridden the new path today? Are you relieved it’s reopened?

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

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Food cart advocates eye transformation of 9th Avenue for ‘Culinary Corridor’

Culinary Corridor concept drawing as presented at City Council today.
(Graphics by Hennebery Eddy Architects)

Repurposing Portland streets for something other than driving or parking cars.
Bollards that go up during certain parts of the day to keep drivers out.
Entire city blocks where people have priority over auto use.

Is this the latest gambit by Better Block PDX or perhaps a demonstration by Bike Loud PDX?

Nope.

At the Portland City Council meeting this morning two prominent food culture advocates and one food cart owner testified in front of Mayor Ted Wheeler and his colleagues that what we need downtown isn’t more room for driving, but more room for eating.

“This is tactical urbanism at its best.”
— Randy Gragg, Portland Monthly Magazine contributor and architecture critic

Facing an existential crisis and intense pressure from real estate developers poised to erect towers on surface lots that currently house some of the most famous food cart pods in the world, FoodCartsPortland.com founder Brett Burmeister, Churros Locos owner Daniel Huerta, and Portland Monthly Magazine contributor and local writer and urban design/architecture critic Randy Gragg unveiled their “Culinary Corridor” vision — an idea that would place food carts in spaces currently use for auto parking.

Their testimony sounded like it was taken right out of an urbanists’ playbook.

“Food brings people together, we create community space,” Burmeister shared with council. He estimated that blocks lined with food carts get an average of 10,000 to 12,000 people walking by them each day during the peak season — compared to 5,000 people on other blocks. In Burmeister’s view, food carts are worth saving because they’re, “As integral to the culture and fabric of our city as Saturday Marking, Washington Park, the Rose Festival, or Pioneer Square.”

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Note the “timed bollards”.

Writer Randy Gragg said food carts are an “urban regenerator” and he credits them with, “Turning places like O’Bryant Square into a nice place to have lunch.” If something isn’t done soon, Gragg warned, new high-rises will displace more than one-third of Portland’s existing carts by as early as next fall. “Inevitably, carts will become an endangered species.”

“This is a very exciting concept.”
— Ted Wheeler, Mayor of Portland

The Culinary Corridor idea — which Gragg thinks will not just save food carts, but create more of them — focuses on the 55 carts centered around the block of SW Alder Street between 9th and 10th avenues.

Calling it “tactical urbanism at its best,” Gragg explained the idea as a, “Corridor of food carts along the midtown Park Blocks between Director Park and O’Bryant Square” that could be created by, “Simply repurposing a few parking spots.” To make it happen, Gragg and his supporters want to create a “Fast track task force” that would do a feasibility study of using 9th as the alignment. A pilot program could be run on one block anywhere along the corridor.

For an example of how food carts can create public space in the street, look no further than the SoMa Parklet Project that was endorsed by the City of Portland in 2014.

If all goes according to plan, the Culinary Corridor would be a “lively urban trail” that would connect the carts, the park blocks and major retail destinations in the West End.

The idea could also dovetail with the City of Portland’s vision for the Green Loop which also aims to connect the north and south Park Blocks with a multimodal urban greenway.

At the conclusion of this trio’s testimony, Mayor Wheeler said, “This is a very exciting concept,” and then asked Gragg for a copy of his presentation (I have too and will post it here when I get it).

Unfortunately Transportation Commissioner Chloe Eudaly wasn’t at council this morning. If this vision is to move forward, PBOT would play a large role.

For obvious reasons, culinary and transportation advocates should join forces on this project. On November 14th, PBOT will bring their Central City in Motion plan to City Council. One of the projects (#16) would create a protected bike lane adjacent to the North Park Blocks and would connect directly to O’Bryant Square.

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

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Clean Cuts. Sharp Edges.

Last night in class we discussed some surface decoration techniques… stamping, colored slip, slip trialing, sgraffito, sprigs, more colored slip and carving. I shared my love of Diamond Core Tools with my class… and let them all give them a try. They too loved how sharp they are and how they create such clean & sharp edges!

from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery https://ift.tt/2yJVAWf

Sweet Pumpkins

I have the “sweetest” students… especially when they make sweet sugar cookies for class!!!
And the fact that there were Halloween pumpkins made them even SWEETER!!!

Thanks Dan for sharing the sugar!!!

from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery https://ift.tt/2OgDksh

Goodies In Bags… Thus The Term… Goodie Bags!!!

Last night in my pottery class we had a bit of pre-Halloween fun with trick-or-treat goodie bags that I made up for my students. Filled with candy, toys, trinkets, pottery tools.. and one special bag had a Pumpkin from the GHOULS COLLECTION!!! Congrats to Catherine for picking that lucky bag!!!

from Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery https://ift.tt/2yHi5eC

PBOT expands ‘engagement with black community’ to hear concerns around greenway project

After extending the public outreach phase for their Lloyd to Woodlawn Neighborhood Greenway project last month, the Portland Bureau of Transportation says more listening is necessary to learn, “if and how the project can work for the Black community.”

Who’s weighing in on the project.

As we reported in September, the project was called out in an article in The Skanner newspaper that reported outreach was, “slow to reach households of color.”

This project aims to create a low-stress, family-friendly bikeway that connects I-84 in the Lloyd to the north Portland neighborhood of Woodlawn. PBOT has shared two basic options — either using 7th or 9th avenue as the north-south route. Since the designs were first unveiled in July, a large majority of strong and enthusiastic support has emerged for the 7th Avenue alignment.

So far, all of PBOT outreach has shown that the NE 7th Avenue alignment is the overwhelming favorite. But that’s only if you measure by quantity of respondents. And as we’ve experienced in the past, it’s not just how many people speak up, it’s who speaks up.

The project includes major changes to 7th Avenue — including the expansion of a park that would create a cul-de-sac for drivers.

PBOT’s latest stance on this project was explained in a letter from Senior Transportation Planner Nick Falbo that was published with a summary report of project feedback. This issue deserves clarity, so instead of explaining or paraphrasing PBOT’s letter, I’ve decided to share all of it below:

In July 2018, PBOT introduced two design concepts for a new neighborhood greenway street in Northeast Portland connecting the Lloyd and Woodlawn neighborhoods with route options primarily on either NE 7th Ave or NE 9th Ave. From July to September 2018, PBOT conducted outreach in the community to help make an informed and community-supported decision about where and how to build the new neighborhood greenway. After engaging with dozens of businesses and community organizations and hundreds of community members, the PBOT project team prepared the attached summary report to capture the themes, preferences and concerns raised about the project proposals to date.

The data misses what some community members – specifically the Black community – have told us about their concerns for this project.

At the August 1st Open House event, project staff heard from many Black community members who expressed strong concerns about the NE 7th Ave route option and raised larger concerns about how the benefits and burdens of the proposal for a new neighborhood greenway are distributed across Portlanders based on race, income and geography. There was high attendance of Black Portlanders that lived in the neighborhood and/or frequented neighborhood destinations (including schools, churches, social services and family homes) regularly. They engaged project staff to understand project goals and proposals and to express concerns about the NE 7th Ave route option. Many expressed that the street provided connectivity and accessibility and that prioritization of 7th for a neighborhood greenway would impact their travel patterns, but would not increase their travel options – which is also a central goal of the project. PBOT staff also heard concerns about how Black families have been burdened by transportation and other City investments for the “greater good” and that there was little confidence that their input could actually influence the future of this and other transportation projects.

The dialogue that occurred between and amongst PBOT staff and Black/ African American Portlanders was powerful, significant and has generated internal discussions about the City’s outreach strategies and planning processes. This moment has led to increased efforts to better understand the unique perspectives and priorities of Black Portlanders with connections to the Historic Albina community. Participants shared frustration about how information about the project had been previously disseminated and expressed concerns about the direction the project seemed to be going. Many community members view NE 7th Avenue as an arterial street for driving and as a crucial way to get around in a community they feel is less and less theirs; we heard concerns that making transformative changes to NE 7th Avenue will continue the decades-long trend of the City making changes for groups other than their own. Community members expressed the fear these changes could contribute to continued displacement of long-time community members from Northeast Portland.

We felt it was important to elevate this information because when the feedback from the in-person forum is combined with the responses from the Online Open House, some of the potency of messages we heard from this population can become diminished in this summarized format. While the summary report accurately describes the combined content heard in both in-person and online outreach efforts, we want to make it clear that the lessons learned at the in-person open house and the urgent need to better understand the perspectives of Black Portlanders will not be overlooked.

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In response to these comments, PBOT extended the feedback period for the project design concepts from mid-August until the end of September 2018 to invite more participation. Since then, PBOT has broadened its engagement approach for this and other projects in North and Northeast Portland; PBOT has initiated a number of conversations and focus groups with Black/African American community members and organizations in the project area around what they feel the important transportation issues are in their communities. The intent of this expanded phase of engagement is to understand if and how the Lloyd to Woodlawn Neighborhood Greenway project can work for the Black community. No final decision will be made about the project route and design until after continued engagement with Black community members and organizations has occurred.

PBOT is making this decision in the context of neighborhoods that are the center of Portland’s black community (and historically even more so). Today 14 to 22 percent of the residents in the project corridor identify as black. Compare that to the percentage of respondents to PBOT’s online open house for this project. Of those 253 people, just four percent were black and 81 percent were white.

Five of the six letters PBOT included in their summary of comments publication voiced strong support for the 7th Avenue alignment. Those organizations include: Sabin Community Association, Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods, the Eliot Neighborhood Association, and the Lloyd Community Association. PBOT’s own Bicycle Advisory Committee stated in an August 14th letter PBAC letter that, “The 7th Avenue Greenway alignment outperforms 9th Avenue in every measure that correlates to successful greenway design: safety, simplicity, intuitiveness, and cost efficiency.”

Feedback thus far has clearly favored 7th Avenue.

The one letter that opposed 7th Avenue came from the Soul District Business Association (formerly known as the Alberta Business Association). In their letter dated August 6th, Chair John Washington wrote, “We are concerned about the sincerity of PBOT to listen to our opposition to using NE 7th Avenue as a Greenway. We feel that the impact on our community of using 7th Avenue as a Greenway would perpetuate the negative effects of institutionalized racism and social engineering that has occurred in our African American neighborhoods and business community.”

Washington said they would rather see the greenway on 9th Avenue in part because, “We are deeply concerned that dramatically changing the NE 7th Avenue street pattern will continue the “whitewash” of the neighborhood resulting in more gentrification, as exemplified with the radical changes on Interstate Blvd., North Williams, and North Vancouver Avenues,” and that 9th will have, “Less impact to the street pattern, street use and street historical context, thus less gentrification.”

These concerns about how the project might change the neighborhood were echoed in comments left by some attendees of the open house and respondents to the online survey:

“I’ve spent my whole life in Woodlawn and every time y’all come in and change something it 1. raises the prices and forces my longstanding neighbors, friends, and family out and 2. makes the area more and more welcoming to the area’s new residents at the direct cost of the longstanding community. Please leave Woodlawn alone until you learn how to work with longstanding community members to address the actual set of problems we face. As things stand now, your projects are a barrage of neocolonial ‘development’ that — regardless of rhetoric or intent — pushes us out and destroys our community.”

“Again, getting into what, through my lifetime, has been a rich and white neighborhood and that is who these projects cater to and who they make comfortable so I’m sure they’ll love this minus a few NIMBYs who would be against you doing just about anything. NOTE: Prior to this if you were thinking this was from a NIMBY pov you would be wrong — I’m all for development that is wanted by the longstanding community that addresses historical inequalities and fixes or helps with structural problems that we face. What I don’t like is a bunch of neocolonial projects that, by design, destroy my community and our comfort in our home.”

“I want PBOT to prioritize and elevate feedback from the African American community on this decision. This community has been impacted by neighborhood improvements that have caused significant gentrification and displacement. I think that should be considered as a major factor in how feedback from different communities is weighed for the final design. I understand that there are significant concerns about the 7th Ave. option negatively impacting parents, caregivers and operations of the Albina Head Start program – these should be listened to and weighted in any greenway design decision.”

Projects that improve bicycling are no stranger to conversations about racism. How these concerns impact this specific greenway proposal remain to be seen. PBOT spokesperson Dylan Rivera said today that, “We are fully expecting to deliver a safety improvement project in this corridor.”

If you want to understand more about this topic, Dr. Adonia Lugo — author of Bicycle / Race — will be in Portland for a reading and discussion this Thursday (11/1).

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

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Family Biking: Beat winter blahs with a plan to pedal more

Setting goals and plans might keep you riding more this winter.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

It’s that time of year.

Our Family Biking column is sponsored by Clever Cycles.

➤ Read past entries here.

We stayed in all day Monday. The kids were out of school due to a Portland Public Schools planning day. My one bike-related chore was digging dozens of pieces of glass out of my tires while fixing a flat (more on that in a future post), but that was the closest I got to riding my bike.

The planning day got me thinking about planning something — anything — for the upcoming months to help keep the winter blahs at bay.

I’m don’t own a car. I use my bike just about every day; but I tend to ride a lot less in winter as weather turns nasty and daylight disappears. I shy away from faraway errands and combine or delay necessary trips. And I scowl out the window at the sky a lot. I’m at an advantage this year as the two-school commute has me biking 18 miles every weekday versus just four last year, but considering how grumpy I felt through the winter last year, I want to make some sort of little plan to keep me pedaling and peppy.

Since I’m indecisive and can’t narrow it down to one little goal, I’m going to do all my ideas. I’ll need some inspiration, so I’d love for you to share your winter riding goals — past, present, or future — in the comments.

Here are mine:

➤ Coffeeneuring Challenge
I love online challenges and while I haven’t felt organized enough to participate in the Chasing Mailboxes Coffeeneuring Challenge in years, I’m going to do it again this year, starting this weekend. According to the website, you just bike at least two miles to a different local coffee shop (or no purchase necessary: make your own coffee or other drink outside in a different park/campground) once per weekend day, seven times through November 25th.

➤ Attend a group ride
Online challenges that encourage biking are awesome, but so is connecting with real people in person! The BikePortland post Portland’s network of bike clubs for women is thriving turned me on to a bunch of groups and I recently joined the Ride Like A Girl Meetup group and have gone on a few of their rides. I’ll do at least one more ride with them this winter.

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➤ Start using the Ride app
I just installed Ride Report’s Ride app to earn fun trophies as it automatically tracks all my rides. I think it might be just the push I need to run rainy errands I’d otherwise delay. And bonus! It’s a Portland-based company (hi William!).

➤ Write a Ride Report on RideWithGPS.com
Another local company, Ride with GPS, has a feature called Ride Reports for creating pretty webpages with your recorded data (using the Ride with GPS app), photos, and words. I’ve only created two Ride Reports since the tool launched a year and a half ago, but committing to doing another one will inspire me to do something a bit bigger and more exciting than normal for the sake of reporting.

➤ Supply gathering

It’s flat-fixing weather.
(Photos: Madi Carlson)

This one errand gets its own heading since it’s bike related: I want to stock up on patch kits, spare tubes for each of our bikes, and even get a second pump so I can keep one on my cargo bike at all times while the other travels in my pannier or computer bag with my regular bike (you get one guess if I had my pump and a spare tube on me when I got the flat tire mentioned at the top of the page).

➤ Route testing
No time like the near present to bike to all those places I didn’t visit when the time was right and the weather was better, like Fazio Farms, which I learned about in the comments of my bike-to-pumpkins post. This is the only item on my route testing list so far, but I will add more places to hit this winter.

Bike to holiday lights (and then to hot chocolate).

➤ Winter family bucket list
The above items on the list aren’t kid-specific so I have a family-oriented collection of ideas, too. So far I have two items: Explore the Powell Butte Nature Park mountain bike trails, and bike to the top of Mount Tabor.

There are some great winter events coming up that I’m not putting on our bucket list because I want to keep things easy and daytime-y, but others should consider attending Winter Wonderland’s “Bike the Lights” Night on Tuesday, November 27th and Peacock Lane on a pedestrian-only night December 15th, 16th, or 17th.

➤ Start a bike train
Personal goals are all well and good, but what about goals that include others? Our elementary school counselor has been working on starting up several walking school buses, one of which I’ll lead once a week. It’ll be even easier to turn what we’re already doing into an official bike train.

➤ Plan a winter bike to school event
We hosted a fabulous Walk and Roll to School Day on October 10th and I’ll use our leftover prizes and snacks to celebrate active transportation at least once in the winter. If you haven’t yet requested Walk+Roll incentives (stickers, temporary tattoos, pencils) for your school, you can still do so through October 31st — hurry! — here’s an order form via The Street Trust (PBOT’s prize order form requires a log-in).

Care to set a goal? We’ll check in after January 18th when the school quarter ends and see how we all did and how we’re coping with winter. Please share any insights in the comments! Thanks for reading.

— Madi Carlson, @familyride on Instagram and Twitter

Browse past Family Biking posts here.

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Bisque Kiln : Layer-By-Layer

Another quick bisque kiln… not my tightest packed kiln, but I’m racing towards my next soda kiln! Trying to crank out enough work to fill the kiln to get ready for my Holiday Home Show which is coming up in just over two short weeks!!! Always the weekend BEFORE Thanksgiving!!!

Kiln Layer 1 – bowls & mugs

Kiln Layer 2 – bowls, mugs & oval vases

Kiln Layer 3 – oil lamps, & mugs

Kiln Layer 4 – oil lamps & oval vases

Fire fast… cuz’ I gotta get some glazing on!!!

Save

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Rally planned outside PBOT open house for 122nd Ave project

122nd outside Midland Library.

Advocacy groups will join forces for a rally on November 7th at the location where a man and young child were critically injured by a driver while they crossed the street earlier this month.

The collision happened on October 2nd in a marked crosswalk on SE 122nd Avenue just outside Midland Library. That location also happens to be where the Portland Bureau of Transportation has an open house scheduled on November 7th for their 122nd Ave Plan: Safety, Access and Transit project. As we reported back in July, PBOT has partnered with TriMet for a suite of updates on the High Crash Corridor. The idea is to bring 122nd Avenue up to a higher level of safety from Marine Drive to Foster Road so TriMet can boost transit service without worrying that their customers will be in harm’s way.

Some elements of the project have already been completed and at a press conference last month PBOT Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said she’d like to use the street as a model of “transportation done right.”

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But as we saw on October 2nd, there’s a lot of work to be done. It’s also not assured that the plan itself will be robust enough to tame traffic in the corridor.

The Street Trust, Oregon Walks and Rosewood Initiative want to create more urgency around the project and remind PBOT and TriMet that the community will hold them accountable.

Here’s the description of the event:

122nd Avenue is a high-crash corridor. The incidence of pedestrian crashes on 122nd is about 50% higher than the citywide average. The Portland Bureau of Transportation is re-designing 122nd, but it has not clearly stated that the protection of vulnerable road users is paramount. To achieve Vision Zero (the end of traffic fatalities and serious injuries), we need road designs that protect people. Come rally at an open house for the 122nd Avenue redesign on Wednesday, November 7, 5:30 pm at Midway Library, 805 SE 122nd Avenue.

Check out the Facebook event page for more details.

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

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