Portland
Streetsblog Basics
Advocates on Both Coasts Call Bragdon a Smart Choice to Lead PlaNYC
In appointing David Bragdon, the president of the Portland-area Metro Council, to run the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability, Mayor Bloomberg turned to an established elected figure with a track record of progressive planning. What will he bring to New York City?
August 12, 2010
How Portland Sold Its Banks on Walkable Development
Gresham, Oregon used to look like your typical suburb. Lots of lawns and lots of parking. When Portland's MAX light-rail line expanded to Gresham, developers saw an opportunity to bring something different: walkable development. But a downturn in the local real estate market interceded. One developer trying to build a four-story condo project decided that he'd be better off with a video store surrounded by surface parking.
May 25, 2010
April Madness: Minneapolis Tops Portland in Bicycling Mag’s Rankings
Butler may have come up short against Duke last night, but there's a Cinderella story sending ripples through the livable streets blogosphere today.
April 6, 2010
Bill to Protect Pedestrians and Cyclists Will Resurface in Albany
Assembly Member Brian Kavanagh, speaking, with Daniel Squadron and Scott Stringer at last year’s rally for Hayley and Diego’s Law. To Squadron’s right are Wendy Cheung, Hayley Ng’s aunt, and Jon Adler, representative for the families of Ng and Diego Martinez. With the state legislative session underway, Albany will soon turn its attention to business … Continued
January 13, 2010
Streetfilms: The Case for Bicycle Boulevards in NYC
We've seen lots of new, innovative bikeway designs appear on New
York City streets over the past few years. But there’s one very
promising concept we haven't seen -- bicycle boulevards. Bicycle
boulevard design uses a variety of techniques to create low-traffic,
low-speed streets where cyclists mix comfortably with cars. They’re
very popular in Portland and Berkeley, two cities with high bicycle
mode-share. Here in New York, though, they don’t seem to be part of the
playbook yet. In this Streetfilm we ask: Why not?
December 3, 2009
On TV Tonight…
For those who are not tuning in to the American Idol season finale tonight (Kris is going to win, watch), here are two shows worth looking out for:
May 20, 2009
Americans, David Brooks, and “The Dutch Option”
Ben Fried got it exactly right about the errors that riddled Tuesday's David Brooks column. Brooks was so far off the mark, though, that it's worth another look at the ways he misled readers.
February 19, 2009
NYC Bike Counts Jump 35 Percent
The rumors were spot on. Yesterday DOT announced a 35 percent increase in commuter cycling. This year, an average of more than 12,500 cyclists were counted crossing DOT's screenline -- a set of checkpoints leading into the Manhattan CBD -- up from about 9,300 in 2007. It's the biggest jump in raw numbers since the count began and the largest percent increase since 2003, when the count went up 36 percent. Overall, cycling in the city has doubled in the past six years. (See the stat breakdown in this PDF -- the full version of the bar graph at right is on page 5.)
October 31, 2008
Study Confirms: Safer Bike Routes Get More People Riding
How effective are bike lanes at enticing people to ride? Portland State University professor Jennifer Dill has been looking into that question for more than a year, and her research is starting to get some attention. Using GPS trackers to map more than 1,700 bike trips, Dill found that about half of all bike travel occurs on dedicated infrastructure like bike lanes or bike boulevards, even though such routes comprise only eight percent of Portland's street network.
October 20, 2008