I have fond, nostalgia-plated memories of growing up in Southern California, driving around my small hometown in the family minivan with my parents in December, looking at Christmas lights strung between palm trees and along the roofs of identical “California mission style” homes. NEVER AGAIN! As part of the Obama-youth-hope generation I will spend this […]
Bikes
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Eating Nutria for Fun and Tasty Pleasure
I went to local crafter Shaun Deller’s website to find out about the perfect bike hats he makes. Instead, I got a schooling in post-apocalyptic survival. We here at the Mercury take the apocalypse very seriously and Deller has some good tips. He recommends: 1. Possum wool clothes. Apparently these are already for sale. 2. […]
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Mercury News Team: We Would Never Block the Bike Lane With Our Giant Ass News Van
That’s right, the Mercury would never illegally park our giant ass news van in the westbound bike lane of the Burnside bridge, forcing all cyclists dangerously into speeding car traffic so we can film the first holiday lighting of the Made in Oregon reindeer from a competitive angle. UNLIKE THE FOX 12 NEWS TEAM. Fuck […]
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BREAKING: BTA Director Scott Bricker Fired
The Bicycle Transportation Alliance has fired its executive director, Scott Bricker. Here’s a great, somewhat mood-inappropriate photo of Bricker from last year: “He was let go,” says Mary Roberts, Board Chair for the organization.”The board decided, and it was a very difficult decision. We really thank Scott for all of his work, and we would […]
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Bicycle Master Plan on “Think Out Loud”
Sorry to get this up a little late, but the Bike Master Plan is up for discussion on OPB RIGHT NOW! Listen live here over the next half hour to Bicycle Master Plan writers explain what the plan is and how the hell the city should pay for it. It’s shaping up to be a […]
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BTA Calls Out Lack of $$$ for Bike Master Plan
No big surprise: City Council Planning Commission approved the city’s new Bicycle Master Plan 5-0 last night, layering praise on the ambitious plan to build 600 new miles of bikeways around Portland and get thousands more urbanites on bikes by 2030. That’s the good news. But earlier this week, a post on BikePortland pointed out […]
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Fatal Bike Crash in North Portland Last Night
A cyclist riding was struck and killed by two cars late last night at the intersection of N Willamette and Haven Road, right next to University of Portland. Victim Kipp Crawford From the police: This morning at 2:26 a.m., Portland Police responded to the area of North Willamette Blvd and North Haven Street on a […]
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Bike Master Plan: Great! Now Where’s the $$$?
Here’s how the authors of the new Bicycle Master Plan imagine Portland in 2030: Portlanders make twenty-five percent of trips in the city by bike, riding along 600 new or improved miles of bikeways, many of them comfy bike boulevards. Gateway and the Lloyd District are transformed into “Bicycle Districts” and NE Going and will […]
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Bicycle Master Plan Hearing Starts in an Hour!
Shit! I 100% meant to post this heads-up earlier today but got caught up reading blogs about black slaves in Disney’s Fantasia. The planning commission is holding a hearing tonight on the 2030 Bicycle Master Plan, the blueprint for the next two decades of bike projects in our fair city. You can download the plan […]
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Eugene Beats Portland on Bike Friendliness
A while ago, I directed Blogtownies to take the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s big survey of cyclists. Well, BTA communications coordinator Margaux Mennesson just released the results. The questions posed to roughly 2,000 bike riders (and a handful of non cyclists) in Oregon and SW Washington reveal some interesting stats. But it’s obvious that the survey […]
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Cops/BTA Work Together On Training Video
City Commissioner Dan Saltzman may not be too popular with mental health advocates at the moment, but he’s done the bicycling community a favor by fostering a collaboration between the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and the police bureau on a new training video this afternoon. “An apparently indifferent approach from the police bureau” greeted the death […]
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We Biked 832 Miles.
I don’t have much to say about the wrap up of September’s bike commute challenge at City Hall last night except: 1) It seems like every time I go to City Hall, someone offers me a free beer. If it’s not bike commuters, it’s Mexican Independence Day, an art party, celebration of diverse local cat […]