City Asks for Ideas on Downtown Mobility Study

This past week the City began to shop the Central Salem Mobility Study and solicit key study locations. They took it to the Downtown Advisory Board and will bring it to the Vision 2020 Bike/Ped Group and a few other entities.

On paper the project looks promising, offering the prospect of distinct improvements.

It asks:

• What should the balance be between: Vehicular capacity, parking (on-street), bicycle, and pedestrian travel?
• How can downtown become a more appealing place to live, work, shop, and play while continuing to move people and goods?
• What would enhance circulation, mobility, and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users to and through downtown?

These are good questions, and we can only hope that the City asks with an open mind, seriously entertaining the possibility that the old answers strike a balance that is wrong, harmful, or no longer useful.

People travel in multiple ways, and want to feel they have a menu of choices for "how to get there." Hopefully the study will look at the whole system and honor the fact that people and their mobility choices are not monolithic, and that for downtown, it matters less how they get there and more that lots of people get there and find it easy to get there.

The existing system instead tends to enforce travel by drive-alone car trip - most people don't feel they really have a choice. If the Eugene downtown pedestrian mall was one kind of failed monoculture, the ways Salem's downtown is too much like an auto mall is another kind of failed monoculture.

The mobility study needs to be people-focused, not engine-focused, with a recognition that robust mobility choice is central for a lively, diverse downtown.

Legislative Update - Week 8 - Baseball is Back

I suppose we're in Giants territory a little here, but the Ms count, too. One of the great stories in spring training is Tom Wilhelmsen:

Now back in the game at age 27 and making a run at a bullpen spot for the Mariners, Wilhelmsen pedals to the club's training complex several miles each day on a bicycle.

"I ride whenever I can," the free-spirited reliever said. "Save the earth, save my body, save some money."

Lots of committee and lobby activity this week!

• Oregon Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets on Monday
• The Oregon Active Transportation Summit meets Tuesday and lobbies Wednesday
• The Oregon Scenic Bikeway Committee meets Thursday

What's new?

The personal car-sharing bill passed the House and a couple of hearings are scheduled for this week.

On the 14th, Salem City Council also referred HB 3150 back to the Legislative Committee (see minutes). Originally the Committee had opposed it. The reconsideration is welcome!

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. No change.

Senate Bill 415 would expand penalties for harming a vulnerable user of the road. Hearing and worksession scheduled for Wednesday, the 29th. It's an early one!

Tuesday-March 29
8:30 A.M.
Room: 343

Senate Bill 604 will be a gut-n-stuff. No change.

Senate Bill 660 would decrease the fines for stop sign violations on bike. No change.

Senate Bill 846 would regulate standards for bicycle trailers. Public hearing and possible worksession scheduled for Thursday, March 31st.

Thursday-March 31
3:00 P.M.
Room: HR B

City Council, March 28th - Lords of Dogtown and the 50+ Center

Apparently the Senior Center has a skateboarding problem, and that's the most transpo-relevant agenda item on this week's Council meeting.

Tony Hawk's still in his 40s, but the Lords of Dogtown and the Z-Boys would be eligible to use the 50+ Center. Ha!

Presumably, though, the problem is with the younger set.

It's not difficult to imagine that skating inside on the center grounds is inappropriate. Nobody needs a broken hip.

But would the proposed ordinance impact transportation in front of the Senior Center? And what message does it send about active transportation? Remember Octavio, who still bikes at 103?!

The ordinance language isn't obviously clear, but the staff report is less ambiguous:

4. Skateboarders also utilize the sidewalks along the front of the building and the surrounding handicapped parking spots. This places both seniors and disabled patrons at risk of being hit and injured by skateboarders.

This suggests that the ordinance might also prohibit skating on the sidewalks along the Senior Center.

If you skate or know someone who does, the ordinance and process might be worth poking into.

While it is certainly true that it may not be appropriate to skate in certain places, in general the solution should be to encourage more skating and more polite skating - not to marginalize it further.

When the City decides active transportation is inappropriate somewhere, it should give thought to encouraging it elsewhere - fair and balanced!

The "I love me" heart-logo, after all, looks a lot like a hand plant. Just sayin'...

(Image: Thrasher Magazine)

Breakfast on Bikes this Friday

B on B is back on! Last month we had a surprising freeze, but it's spring now, and weather for the moment anyway seems calmly normal.

We will be at 12th & Chemeketa on the Promenade just east of the railroad tracks on Friday, March 25th. We'll have free coffee, pastries, and fruit for people who bike between 7am and 9am.

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

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

With this B on B, we say good-bye to the Coffee House Cafe. As you have doubtless read, the cafe is closing this month. Salem will miss Lari and the crew badly, and we thank them for their support over three years of B on B!

With change we welcome the Governor's Cup on board as the new B on B coffee sponsor. The Cloyd family is devoted to Salem. They have have bike racers, the waffle cart, and the coffee shop in a little archipelago of Salem goodness. Thanks and welcome aboard!


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ODOT Announces TE Long-List with Three Local Projects

Last week ODOT released the long-list of finalists for the current round of Transportation Enhancement funding, and 3/4 of the local priority list made it. They are (order is the SKATS priority, not any ranking by ODOT):

1. Delaney Road in Turner
2. Hayesville Drive in unincorporated Marion County
4. Brush College Road in West Salem

According to ODOT

On April 4, 2011 the TE Commitee will meet to select projects and make a funding recommendation. Final approval by the Oregon Transportation Commission is expected in May 2011.

In December the SKATS Policy Committee had announced their priorities for the Transportation Enhancement candidate projects. The one project that didn't make the cut was the Wheatland Road improvements in Keizer

The other three, all unprioritized projects, also fell off the list:

• Railroad quiet zone improvements on Hines SE
• Brown Road NE north of Sunnyview NE in Salem
• Brooklake Road NE at Portland Road in Marion County

"I Love Me" Campaign is Opportunity for Marion County to Love Bicycling Too

On the Capitol steps tomorrow at 11:30am, Senator Jackie Winters' "I Love Me" campaign kicks off, according to the Statesman. The project coincides with the American Diabetes Association Alert Day, and ME = Move more, Eat right.

Dr. James Lace, a committee member in I Love Me, is a pediatrician with the Childhood Health Associates of Salem. During his 34-year career in Salem, he has seen the number of overweight and obese children increase, he said.

Sixty percent of children in Marion County are overweight and 30 percent are obese, Lace said.

Bicycling and other forms of active transportation are a perfect way to include regular, daily exercise into a healthy lifestyle.

Legislative Update - Week 7

What's new?

Things seems to be slowing down some, so not much to report: A couple of hearings and a "do-pass" recommendation.

The Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets next Monday - but that's not really related to the Legislative session.

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. No change.

Senate Bill 604 will be a gut-n-stuff. No change.