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.

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!

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)

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?

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.

Legislative Update - Week 13 - Trailers and Stickers

Some action! The bill on bike trailers got amended and the one for a 20mph neighborhood speed limit will have a hearing. A couple of other bills have moved out of committee to the floor of the chamber.

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. Two hearings and work sessions last week meant the House committee had several questions - but the bill's still on track. BikePortland has more.

Senate Bill 415 would expand penalties for harming a vulnerable user of the road. No change

Senate Bill 846 would regulate standards for bicycle trailers. The bill has been amended and no longer regulates standards; instead, it calls for an informational sticker that would disclose whether the trailer meets existing ASTM standards. This looks like useful transparency - any dissent out there? It now has a "do pass" recommendation and got a second reading last week.

Monster Cookie Riders Enjoy Fabulous Weather and Waffles

Salem's wheeling season got underway yesterday with the Monster Cookie Metric Century. The weather couldn't have been better. And with waffles to start, and cookies to end, the carbo-possibilities were first-rate.

While Maestro Larry organized the set up crew, the sun hadn't cleared the tops of state offices that ring the mall. Bob raises one of the pop-up tents here. Later he rode out with the Flow Riders.

All morning there wasn't a cloud in the sky! Here packets await pre-registered riders.

Within the hour, the plaza was full of people and their bikes.

James brought the waffle cart and served 'em up free to riders. Nutella was the overwhelming favorite topping.

This family rode a tandem and pulled the kids in the trailer. Everybody wins!

Mariah and Sumi from CH2M Hill brought Bike and Walk Salem posters and draft plans. Here a woman from Eugene compares notes with Mariah. Eugene is updating their bike plan, too, and they are a few months ahead of Salem's process.

After most riders had got on the course, Mariah and Sumi left for Lancaster Mall. Saturday they tabled at the Salem Saturday Market.