Sunday, May 29, 2011

Legislative Update - Week 16 - Fallout from a Narrow Session

With another deadline passing we've got a pretty good sense for what might pass in this session. There aren't very many, and they're all pretty narrow.

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. Still waiting the Governor's signature.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Market Bike Valet on Hiatus in 2011

Shoot, here's disappointing news.

You will recall that the last two years after Memorial Day, the Bike Valet at the Market started up. Friends of Salem Saturday Market offered secure, monitored bike parking so you could enjoy the outdoors and didn't need to drive.

They served over 500 people on bike trips over the two years. It was a great service.

It was also volunteer-intensive, and this year because of staffing issues, the Friends aren't able to offer it again. (The Friends may be able to restore some or all of it with more volunteers. If you are interested, let them know!)

Hopefully the Market and Friends can find a sustainable solution. Since they use the State lot and there are other players involved, it may not be simple or direct. It's not, for example, directly possible to install a bunch of bike racks.

If you have ideas on scalable, repeatable, and less volunteer-intensive solutions, also let 'em know!

The Market's a gem, and it should be a gateway for people who would like to be less auto-dependent!


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Visit Wine Country by Bike this Weekend

This weekend is the 21st annual Memorial Weekend in the Wine Country.

Most wineries are open and there's no better way to visit than by bike! (Most of the wineries do have a tasting fee, but often refund it with a wine purchase.)

The south end of the Eola Hills are picturesque and offer a good number of wineries.

There's also a bunch of wineries in the Waldo Hills and out south towards Ankeny. For a short-hop, Willamette Valley Vineyards is probably the closest to downtown Salem.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Breakfast on Bikes This Friday

It's almost the last Friday, and that means Breakfast on Bikes!

Friday, May 27th, we'll be on the Union Street Railroad Bridge from 7am to 9am with free coffee, pastries, and fruit for you.

Please support our generous sponsors!
Cascade Baking Company
Governor's Cup Coffee Roasters
LifeSource Natural Foods
Salem Bicycle Club
Willamette University.

Mechanics from Santiam Bicycle will also be available for quick check derailleur adjustment, lube, and tire inflation!

We'll also have information on the second Introduction to Smart Cycling Clinic of the season and Bike Safety Education Community Rides.


View Larger Map

Monday, May 23, 2011

City Council, May 23rd - Where to put New Housing?

Between 2012 and 2032, the population inside the Salem-Keizer urban growth boundary is supposed to grow by 28%, from 239,760 to 307,543.

So where will they live? And how close will they be to jobs and groceries? Will the new neighborhoods be walkable or auto-dependent?

Almost buried as a 5:30pm work session before the May 9th Council meeting was a presentation on the Salem-Keizer Housing Needs Analysis (187pp, 4mb here).

This Monday the City wishes to decide how to go out to the public for further comment and advice on next steps.

The Needs Analysis claims that Salem has a large surplus of land for new single-family homes, but a significant deficit of land zoned for multi-family housing. Keizer, it claims, has a deficit in every category.

The method, though, driven informally by convention and formally by the Comprehensive Plan, still focuses on building "out" on vacant land rather than building "up" on redeveloped land. That is, it has a suburban focus. Transportation costs in distance, time, and fuel are not a large factor in analysis.*

So perhaps it is not surprising that the preferred option for outreach on the Needs Analysis also doesn't appear to factor transportation as a significant input in housing decisions.
The Staff has identified potential stakeholders who could be included in the review committee:
a. Marion and Polk Counties Homebuilders Association
b. Salem Association of Realtors
c. A neighborhood association chair or land use chair
d. Salem-Keizer Community Development Corporation
e. Social Services Agencies involved with community housing needs
There is evidence that the costs of transportation may be increasingly important. A Coldwell Banker survey of agents recently concluded
The high cost of gasoline is not just emptying wallets; it is also impacting where consumers choose to buy a home. According to a new Coldwell Banker survey among its network of real estate professionals, 75 percent said that the recent spike in gas prices has influenced their clients’ decisions on where to live, and 93 percent said if gas prices continue to rise, more home buyers will choose to live somewhere that allows for a closer commute to their work.
Suburban areas without nearby employment centers are increasingly at a disadvantage because of increasing transportation costs. Equally, inner city areas that have retained employment centers and walkable neighborhoods with clusters of essential commerce are increasingly attractive.

Coincidentally, also at Council there is an informational report on a new development on the very southern edge of the city and urban growth boundary.

The development would be south of Davis between Liberty and Skyline. The locator map here (not part of the Council report) is based on the draft bicycle plan for south Salem. The permit calls for a road built to current standards to align with Mildred - a three lane collector with bike lanes and sidewalks. It also calls for linking streets, hopefully to avoid the disconnected loop-and-lollipop streets characteristic of the development immediately to the north of Davis. North-south movement through this part of town appears to be problematic by design. This makes the proposed bikeway at Red Leaf even more important.

As fuel and carbon become increasingly costly, residential development on the periphery may no longer be preferred, however. Instead of centrifugal development it seems likely we will see a return to centripetal patterns.

The housing analysis should also take this into account.

Other matters

Also on the docket is an update on the Central Salem Mobility Study and a first reading for a proposed ban on smoking in parks.

* There is a discussion of 2008 census data and the relationship of jobs to homes. The data is a little coarse, using the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is the whole of Marion and Polk counties. City-level would be more useful here. The amount of out-of-region movement is large. About 1/3 of those who live in Marion and Polk counties work outside the counties; equally, about 1/3 of those who work in Marion or Polk county live outside of either county. This may merit another discussion.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Sustainable Cities Celebration full of Possibility

At Friday's Sustainable Cities End of Year Celebration, the parlor-game of choice was to guess which projects would get done. After the deserved celebration and huzzahs, what would be the next steps?

Some projects were clearly more conceptual, visionary, or far-out than others. Other projects seemed they might directly inform actual policy-making and decisions.

In several cases, the connections were obvious, and with yesterday' piece by Beth Casper in the SJ was the schedule of City Council work sessions to discuss the projects. Two projects are on Monday's City Council agenda, in fact.

At the celebration penultimate drafts of several final reports were out on a table, available for browsing. Once the reports go through final review, they will be published and available for closer reading.

The Downtown Salem Circulation Study will be of particular interest once it's released! Even on the cover you can see a bike focus - wouldn't that be great to keep? But it might not be surprising to see in the final version a different set of images. Regardless of the cover, several of its component analyses inside are reappearing in the Central Salem Mobility Study. (More here.)

Another study that has clear and direct links is the street light project.

One group of students identified the different needs and lighting zones for people on foot, on bike, and in car.

This design for a proposed light fixture looks like a bike helmet! But it's called the Viper.

As part of the study, the City is looking to identify a different revenue stream for street lights.
Streetlighting is paid 100% with gas tax funds. The City’s electric bill for street lights is currently covered by $1.2M of gas tax revenues. Public Works wants to move this funding off of gas tax to another revenue stream. If the source of funding was different, gas tax revenues could be freed up for other projects and less General Fund money would be needed to support street maintenance.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to spend more on maintaining existing capacity and using it more wisely - wouldn't that be more sustainable! - than expanding capacity?

There were also plenty of other posters to look at around the room. This one represented a GIS project to map Salem's bikeway system for different skill and interest levels. The three snapshots showed clearly the ways the existing system, constructed mainly out of bike lanes on busy roads, had limited appeal.

In June and July, at Council work sessions the City will discuss the projects:
  • June 13: Redevelopment opportunities
  • June 27: Parks and transportation projects
  • July 11: Economic Development and Civic Engagement projects
  • July 25: Transportation Projects/Stormwater
The spring term bike class will also present on June 10th.

How far the City actually goes to implement any of the recommendations is another question, and current policies do not always make it easy to see the line from talk to walk.

But in important ways the past doesn't matter. Council will implement as much of the recommendations and projects as they think they public wants. So if you want things done sustainably, let 'em know!

Legislative Update - Week 15 - Committee Action

Lots of committee activity coming up, with several work sessions next week. Full committee schedules are here.

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. The Senate concurred with the House amendments, so it's formally on to the Governor for signing.

Friday, May 20, 2011

National Bike to Work Day

It's National Bike to Work Day!

And the weather is glorious!

Be on the lookout for people new to biking and help 'em if you can!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

A Rapturous Ride for Beard

Here's a whimsical one!

In something of the spirit of a Broadway musical that just got 14 Tony award nominations comes the Beer'd Ride.
You know you've seen the billboards and street corner prophets championing the coming Rapture on May 21, 2011. In honor of such a momentous occasion, we thought tipping back a few frothy pints snuggled deep within the verdant Willamette Valley on a nice spring day would be a fitting vantage for us to watch the tide break over the world...or not.

Either way, we won't have wasted any time, so join us for the Beer'd Ride, Saturday May 21st to honor the beer and the beard, both of which seem to frame most true wisdom throughout the centuries. We will be meeting at Santiam Bicycle at 10am and riding from there, so bring your skinny tires.
(Beards are Awesome from Lunchbox Brain)


Justin Much also reports that the new Buena Vista Ferry passed through Salem last Friday and that the reopening of the ferry appears to be running ahead of schedule.

Turner wins Transportation Enhancement Grant for Delaney Road

ODOT announced yesterday that of seven area Transportation Enhancement grant applications, the greater Salem area won one, an award for the Delaney Road project in Turner. ODOT awarded no project within Salem proper.

From the ODOT release:
SALEM – The Oregon Transportation Commission approved $15.9 million in Transpor­tation Enhancement funding for 14 new projects throughout Oregon. The projects, selected from 100 applications requesting almost $107 million, will become part of Oregon’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program and will be scheduled for construction in 2013 and 2014. The Commission also approved four projects for the reserve list. These projects remain eligible for funding, subject to Commission approval and available funds.
The total Delaney project cost is $1,092,000 and the grant was for $905,000. It will build sidewalks, and 5-foot bikelanes, and widen the traffic lanes to 12 feet on Delaney between 3rd and 7th streets. Existing conditions are a 2 foot shoulder and 11 foot traffic lane.

For more on the previous rounds, see here and here.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Three Summer Rides to Tempt You

It seems like an increasing number of rides are offering shorter rides for people who don't necessarily want to do centuries, whether metric or imperial. Here are three local rides that look like fun and offer shorter distances.

Petal Pedal

On Saturday, June 18th is the Petal Pedal.
The Oregon Garden is an 80-acre botanical showplace, Oregon's premier public garden with thousands of plants set in 20 specialty gardens. The ride starts and finishes on the Garden grounds for a delightful breakfast start and a gourmet dinner at the finish line featuring Hopworks beer and live music.

The routes take you along Oregon's quiet rural roads, past Willamette Valley wineries, to Silver Falls, through vibrant blooming fields of flowers and on a journey that will make you fall in love with Oregon.


Boys and Girls Club Cycle Challenge

The Key Bank New York Life Boys and Girls Club Cycle Challenge is on Saturday, June 25th.
Join us for a fully-supported tour of the Willamette Valley, beginning at Willamette Mission State Park. Choose from a 31-mile route, 62-mile route or the family fun ride and walk. Proceeds benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Salem, Marion and Polk Counties.


Eola Hills Winery August Bike Tours

Eola Hills is offering a special early-bird deal for the August wine country bike trips.

"Bike Oregon Wine Country" is a fully supported ride that takes cyclist through the scenic Eola Hills and Mid-Willamette Valley Wine Country. Surrounded by lush vineyards and picturesque countryside, the various routes offer both short and long loops, which range between 45 to 70 miles. Day rides leave every Sunday in August.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

New Drive-Throughs in Downtown Historic District?

Is a drive-up window appropriate for an historic district? That's the question the Planning Commission will moot tonight.

The corner of State and Commercial is an important one in Salem. Ladd & Bush bank is there, and kitty-corner is the Pioneer Trust bank. Historically there's a center of gravity there for banking.

A third bank is interested in the gravel lot on the southwest corner of the intersection. Because the lot is in an historic district, the bank would like a special exemption to put in a drive-through teller window.

State street is also an important gateway to the Carousel and to Riverfront Park. The Downtown Advisory Board Strategic Action Plan has identified State street as an important east-west connection (the park-to-park link to the Capitol in purple).

Tonight the Planning Commission will hold a hearing on the question, and decide whether to recommend that City Council look at an ordinance to permit new drive-up windows in the downtown historic district.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Salem Bike Map Points to Lost Garden

The great thing about bikes is that they lead to adventure! Going by bike is a great way to explore new parts of town and new places. But sometimes bikes lead to armchair adventures.

How closely do you look at your maps?

Like many maps, the Salem Bike Map has some crazy vestigial information still on it and in its antecedent files.

North of the Fairgrounds, south of the Kroc Center, and on the edge of the Northgate neighborhood is a cryptic note: "(Rose Gardens) / Public Street"

Have you ever noticed this?* Did Salem have a fabulous rose garden in the north??? So many questions demanded answers!

Legislative Update - Week 14 - Horse-trading!

Word is that rural Legislators would like to trade provisions for a 75mph rural highway speed limit for the urban 20mph greenway speed limit.

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. Passed the House, 58-2. Rep. Weidner (R - Yamhill) carried the bill, and Rep. Schauffler (D - Happy Valley) perhaps unsurprisingly voted against it. So on to the Governor now. It's hard to imagine it getting vetoed.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Ride of Silence Rolls on Wednesday, May 18th

It's hard to talk about bike safety sometimes.

On the one hand, Friday's story about a truck crashing into and dragging a person on a bike was an unhappy reminder that cars are sometimes dangerous for people on bike.

On the other hand, as we advocate for bicycling, we shouldn't get carried away by a myth that bicycling's dangerous. Biking is a safe, healthy choice for most people. And, in fact, the more people who bike, the safer and healthier we would be in aggregate as a society.

In fact, historically to normalize car driving, we have significantly understated the risks of driving and overstated the risks of bicycling.

We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that it's the cars that are dangerous, principally to other users of cars. It was true in 1937 (hot type on paper) and it's true in 2011 (in a tweet): driving a car is dangerous.

Consistently, though, as users society accepts the risks of driving, with roadway casualties nearly reckoned the acceptable "cost of business," and flinches from those of bicycling. Getting in the car is no big deal - even though it kills 40,000 people a year. It's more often people inside of cars who get hurt.

Nevertheless, as yesterday's story about a truck crash and drag illustrated, once a collision occurs, a person on a bike is significantly more vulnerable. Roadway engineering, traffic laws, and car body design together bias outcomes in favor of the car and its driver.

Maybe going to City Council's not your style, politics not your game. Here's a different way to show that bicycling and safety for the people who bike are important to you. If hundreds of people showed up, that would get some attention!

On Wednesday, May 18th, the Salem 2011 Ride of Silence will be at 6pm. John Henry Maurice and Joanne Heilinger of the Salem Bicycle Club will lead the ride, which departs from the "red lot" downtown. Since 2003 "the mission of the world wide Ride of Silence is to honor bicyclists killed by motorists, promote sharing the road, and provide awareness of bicycling safety."

Hopefully Doug will post some thoughts on the ride. His discussion of the Red Pickup driver is interesting, especially the information on the number of people convicted of driving with a suspended or revoked license. In a world of facts, that alone would put to rest several myths!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Crash on Silverton Road Shows Distance from Goal

A couple of days ago Statesman Executive Editor Bill Church asked if Salem would become more bike friendly.

Today's paper gives a clear answer.

Notice that there's no bike lane in the photo. Because Silverton Road has inadequate bike facilities, it's not surprising that people will bike on the sidewalk. (And even with a bike lane, auto speed and traffic volume make bike travel on arterial roads uncomfortable for most people - Lancaster Drive and those who bike on the sidewalk there demonstrate this.)

But then Oregon law and law enforcement has a catch-22 that sometimes acts to punish people for biking on the sidewalk when there is no good alternative.

According to Ray Thomas' legal guide Pedal Power, Oregon law (ORS 814.410) defines
Unsafe operation of bicycle on sidewalk; penalty.
(1) A person commits the offense of unsafe operation of a bicycle on a sidewalk if the person does any of the following:
(a) Operates the bicycle so as to suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and move into the path of a vehicle that is so close as to constitute an immediate hazard....[or]
(d) Operates the bicycle at a speed greater than an ordinary walk when approaching or entering a crosswalk, approaching or crossing a driveway or crossing a curb cut or pedestrian ramp and a motor vehicle is approaching the crosswalk, driveway, curb cut or pedestrian ramp.
According to the article, the person on bike "was cited for unsafe operation of a bicycle on a sidewalk." We don't know exactly what happened and speculation should not get too far out in front of the facts.

But it's important to remember that in some parts of town people bike on the sidewalk because the road is a bad place to bike.

The crash also highlights uncomfortable questions about class, status, and ethnicity.

At the very least, in the absence of adequate bike facilities, it is profoundly unfair that a person on bike who is dragged 150 feet and likely injured should also be cited. The big truck has all the advantages.

In any event, until the Salem area invests in a good network of bike facilities that gives people compelling and safe alternatives to biking on the sidewalk, people will bike on the sidewalk and we will have preventable crashes like this.

Whether they are on bad roadway facilities or are forced onto the sidewalk, people on bike too often feel second-class.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Thanks to the Breakfast Sponsors!

Without the support from our sponsors who care about sustainable transportation, each month's Breakfast on Bikes wouldn't be possible.

This weekend is the LifeSource Natural Foods Spring Food Fair, so take a moment to shop with businesses who care about Salem!

Remember the Governor's Cup Coffee Roasters


And Cascade Baking Company

The Bike Plan: Plans on a Shelf or Vibrant Road Map?

At last month's Bike and Walk Salem meeting, Rory Renfro talked about the draft bike plan. Tonight the advisory committee will meet again to start refining and prioritizing the plan.

But even once it's passed, the work will be far from over.

Just last month, City Council adopted a design for Second Street NW that was plainly inconsistent with the Edgewater/Second Street Action Plan. The plan was helpless in the face of contrary opinion.

Plans by themselves are not enough.

Writing on BikePortland, Portland Planning Commissioner and Streetcar advocate Chris Smith writes about this very thing. In fact, Jonathan Maus writes in even stronger terms:
We are in a situation with these Lloyd projects (and to some extent the Williams project), where the lofty rhetoric and goals adopted in our much-heralded Bicycle Plan for 2030 are at risk of becoming irrelevant.
If Portland struggles with its Bike Plan, how much more will Salem struggle? And as little as Salem wants to "be like Portland," surely there are some lessons here.

If you're interested in making sure that Salem makes progress, be sure to read the two pieces.

In happier news, Bike Safety Education Instructor Robert Fox reported that spring classes started on Monday and that they taught a student to ride a bike! The student fell several times, but was a trooper and persevered! Now she's bragging about the bruises!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

SCI Bike Tour Discovers Brand New Bike Parking at South High


Several students from the Sustainable Cities Initiative came to town over the weekend to gather information for Salem area bicycling projects.

A few from Salem joined the group and we all biked around West Salem, downtown, and inner South Salem looking at problems and potential. Jeff brought mini-posters of the draft concept maps from the bike plan update.

Going down Church Street we found the new bike racks at South Salem High School. Teacher and bike commuter Dottie Knecht says they were brand new, and installed on Friday. She wanted to thank Santiam Bicycle for a grant that enabled them to complete the concrete pad and installation!

Students in the Environment Club, Bike Club, and Woods Class have been working at least since February and students look forward in the fall to finishing up the landscaping with native plants that don't need lots of water.

Later on the group biked down Edgewater and found this RV effectively blocking the bike lane. The Edgewater bikelanes are striped so close to the door zone that any vehicle of greater than normal width will force people on bike into the auto travel lane. (They even have bikes on back!)

The ride was a good mix of the good and the bad and the potential.

It'll be great to see all the concepts and completed projects in a few weeks.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Legislative Update - Week 14

Three votes this past week sent bills over to the other chamber.

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. Amended and sent to House floor with a "do pass" recommendation.

Senate Bill 415 would expand penalties for harming a vulnerable user of the road. Amended and passed Senate with 28 votes and none opposed. On to the House.

Senate Bill 846 calls for an informational sticker on bicycle trailers. Passed Senate 19-11; now in House General Government and Consumer Protection committee.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

City Council, May 9th - Maps!

As if on cue for Emily in the SJ and DSS, Monday night at Council brings a mapping project!

For people on bike and on foot, maps aren't merely a plot of locations. They are also a set of relations. Distances distend and flex, the grid of space warps and bends. Hills lengthen or shrink perceived distance, depending on direction and steepness of slope. They affect more than merely the dimension of time. ("Are we there yet?" is a question with many dimensions!) Even without particular landmarks, historic districts and nature both stimulate and provide interest. Car traffic, exhaust, parking lots and bad architecture annoy and even numb. We do not experience space neutrally!*

Back to the matter at hand, there don't seem to be any items of core interest for bicycling or even ground transportation, however, so mostly bullet points for the moment.

Did you know the word orthophotography? Me neither. But apparently the City has a regular orthophotography habit:
Staff recommends that the City Council authorize the City Manager to execute a cooperative agreementwith the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to receive funds to help offset the cost of acquisition of high-resolution digital imagery....This cooperative agreement (Attachment 1**) allows for a federal assistance payment up to $55,000 to be made to the City of Salem by the USGS in exchange for high-resolution orthophotography of the Salem area (see letter of commitment, Attachment 2). The City periodically updates these images (every three to five years) by contracting with a company that performs this fly-over data acquisition.
The level of detail is spy-level nuts:
Ground Resolution (pixel size) shall be 6 inches for the Salem Urban Area and 1 foot for the expanded boundary. The natural color source photography needs to be of sufficient quality and resolution to support production of digital orthorectified images to this specification.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Weekend Fun: Education and Advocacy with Sustainable Cities and Smart Cycling

Spring term is underway and that means the final round of SCI projects. One of the classes is on bicycle planning and students have arranged a tour of Salem to see sites where they might design projects to improve bicycle connectivity.

If you're not busy on Sunday morning, feel free to join the group!

The tour will meet at 10:15am on Sunday, May 8th at the covered picnic pavilion. We'll tour parts of West Salem, the downtown core, and close-in neighborhoods. Time permitting we'll venture farther out.

Smart Cycling Clinic

On Saturday May 7th is the first Smart Cycling Clinic.

Tell your friends about this introduction to city bicycling, ideal for the skills and confidence to support bike commuting and running short errands!

Meet at 9:30am at the Wall of Water fountain on the south end of the Capitol Mall. The cherry tress provide pleasant shade for the outdoor class! The clinic will take about two hours, including instruction and riding time. For more information see the Salemites note!

Update - Here's pdf for a poster too! Perfect for the lunchroom or breakroom!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Silverton Road Race needs Help!


The Drift Creek basin and Victor Point road offer some of the prettiest biking around.

On the 14th and 15th Capitol Velo hosts the OBRA road race championships - and they need help! Medics especially are needed. Are you an EMT or nurse or physician? Want to help out? Email Jim Allen.

And if you just want to watch, the ride out to Victor Point School is quite lovely!

(Race Image: Pat Malach, Oregon Cycling Action)

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Newsbits for National Bike Month

What are you doing for National Bike Month?

Here's a smattering of variously relevant newsbits from around the city and state...

One big newsitem in Oregon is that Sisters was just announced as a Silver-rated Bicycle Friendly Community.

On Thursday, Bike League President Andy Clark will be in Eugene to honor the University of Oregon's recent designation as a Silver-rated Bicycle Friendly University.

Got the gift of gab? Salem needs a Bike Show on KMUZ!

Supporters will be at City Hall on Wednesday night for the Budget Meeting to ask for support from the City.

If you value community radio, and especially if you'd like to host a bike show (see the KBOO version!), think about showing your support.

On Saturday, May 7th, here in Salem, Gary Obery will lead the season's first Intro to Smart Cycling Clinic. (Look for more later in the week!)

On May 20th in Portland, people will celebrate the ways bicycling is good for business and the economy.

This is especially interesting, because we in Salem haven't always done as good a job as we might in talking about the benefits of bicycling for business.

It's not too late to organize or announce events here in town! Do you know of anything else going on? Does your business have a Bike to Work Day event planned?

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

You've seen the Drafts, Now Take the Survey!

The City has another way for you to comment on the draft bike plans.

Even if you haven't seen the draft memos and maps, you can still take the survey - you should take the survey! The survey questions show most of the maps. And The more people who take it, the more sure of representing the community's values the final plan will be.

Take the survey here. If you want to skip sections, it's easy to do, and the very first screen is a list of the sections so you can suss out your skip plan. Of course, if you want to take the whole thing, please do!

The survey will be open until May 9th.