A city transportation board voted Wednesday, April 8, to bring Portland pedicabs—those flamboyant bicycle-driven taxis downtown—under city safety and training regulation. A dozen Portland pedicabbies turned out to protest the new rules, which pedicab business owner Ryan Hashagen, of Cascadia Cabs, fears will "effectively eliminate pedicabs from the city." Hashagen takes no issue with the proposed city-run training program and $50 pedicab license, but said that mandating insurance for pedicab drivers will drive him out of business at a cost of up to $2,200 per driver.

Casey Martell, owner of Rose Pedals Pedicab, says he supports the new regulations, which could go into effect next September. "It was bound to happen one day and it's cool that they're letting us get in there and have a say about it," says Martell. SM

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Rose Princess drama! The Rose Festival "has some serious 'splainin to do" according to a student-penned editorial in the April 14 edition of the Cleveland High School Clarion, which says the festival's new process for choosing Rose Princesses created "unnecessary fiascos" at the home of the Warriors. Rather than letting students from each school vote to select their princess, this year princesses were chosen by a six-person panel including teachers, students, and Rose Festival representatives. The stricter process resulted in the controversial elimination of one potential princess and the allegation that the winner's mother illicitly aided her daughter with flashcards. "The school supports [Rose Princess] Sylvie Dady, but people are mad that the Cleveland community doesn't have much of a say about who our own representatives are," says senior Will Arrowsmith. SM