Bike Bust

Portland bikers were peeved last Wednesday, May 10, following a police traffic division "bike sting" at the junction of SE 23rd and Salmon.

Bikers were given $242 tickets for rolling through the four-way stop at a quiet junction that has seen just one crash, between two cars, in the last decade. Police say they were responding to a neighborhood complaint that bikers ignore the stop sign.

Jessica Roberts at the Bicycle Transportation Alliance says while it's good the police are being responsive to the community, she'd like to see enforcement resources for cyclists focused on truly dangerous areas.

Jeremy Van Keuren, Mayor Tom Potter's public advocate, says he's had 25 complaints since the sting—mostly about the cost of the citation and the use of police resources. MATT DAVIS

Loft Revote?

The Monday, May 8, vote of neighborhood support for the Mississippi Avenue Lofts ["Lofty Proposal," May 11] might not be the final say: Two days later, Boise neighbor Gloria Morgan sent a letter to the neighborhood association, formally contesting the vote.

Citing "misinformation" about the developers' plan to narrow Mississippi Avenue (at the meeting, the developers said the city asked them to bump out the sidewalk to help calm traffic on Mississippi; some neighbors claim the move was the developers' idea, to maximize their property), Morgan—who lives behind the proposed Lofts, and crafted a petition against the project earlier this year—says "it seems clear to me that the information we received from the Loft development team that night was not true." AMY JENNIGES

The Burdick Spend-a-Thon

If our calculations prove correct, by the time you read this Ginny Burdick will already have suffered a stunning loss at the hands of city council incumbent Erik Sten. Even worse for Burdick, her campaign is still in the hole—as of press time—by $37,949.07. More specifically, she spent $212,801.38 and raised only $174,852.31 by May 15.

Throughout her campaign, Burdick accused Sten of spending the last 10 years wasting the city's money on things like Voter-Owned Elections (VOE). Funny thing: Her additional expenditures triggered matching funds to Sten from the city, further driving up the VOE price tag. SCOTT MOORE