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