It's a done deal, the only reason there will a staged vote, is to show the bike mafia how much they are loved. The actual bike roadway is already being implemented. North Concord St. now has stop signs making all the cross street traffic stop. This idiotic plan will turns N. Concord street which runs past Beach School a bike street, so I guess when parents drop their kids off at school they will need to drop them off on Interstate Ave. The funny part of this plan was, whom ever checked the traffic flow around Beach School placed the little black car counting hoses around the school at 4pm on Friday, and removed the gadgets Monday morning a 7.

Maybe the little darlings will have to walk if the parents get frustrated enough.

It won't matter - They told them that raising water rates 18% wasn't justified and that PWB was not managing money.

Like talking to an open window - CoP has found its new piggy bank.

I agree with Phil. I've biked and walked Portland for over 30 years, and don't see the need for this bike plan. It's frivolous. The cost of living represented in part by water and sewer bills is real though, and the current city hall regime doesn't help any but hurts in this regard.

I think it would be a good move to take the water and sewer bureau away from the city of Portland and into its own separate franchise so as to reduce if not eliminate city hall's access to water and sewer bills. Might be worth a look on my part to see how conceivable or inconceivable such an idea.

I'll sign that petition, Bob.

But really, you're going to have to threaten a lawsuit to get the city to pay attention to you on this or anything. Particularly on this issue, where as Steve points out they've discovered a new money pot and they're not going to pry their fingers off of it willingly.

P.S.: Anyone upset about this can send an email to the Mayor and the Commissioners today protesting this action. Their addresses are provided on the COP website. It will probably just be read by an aide who will put another tick mark in the "oppose" column of an issue tracking sheet. But it is important that your voice be heard, if not to forestall this vote (which looks to be a done deal) then to let the Council know they do not have full public support.

It should go without saying, but keep it civil.

Is it time for another suit against the City of Portland? Or if the City is deconstructing the streets then it's time for citizens to deconstruct City government. We just need basic services, efficiently delivered, thank you. Take Bob Clark's suggestion and move water and sewer out of City Government.

I also recommend contacting the councilors. I have. I've followed the news items on this at the Oregonian and the weeklies, and the comments are almost universally against (except at the Mercury - average readership age of 17).

If the council took the time to just go to Oregonlive and glance through the comments, they'd see that the wrongness of this action has been lost on very few people.

Leonard's/Shaff's hand-picked roaring mouse advisory board wants the bike money appropriation slot left open for less important PWB opportunities. Maybe more bloggers and Facebook pages.

Is it possible that tending to this other item of delayed business will result in a delay of the anticipated vote on the $20mill theft?:
http://blogs.wweek.com/news/2010/03/15/city-hall-saltzmans-defense-of-policefire-disability-fund-reforms/

Contacting the commissioners is certainly one way of reminding them that democracy is allegedly our form of governance. Whether anyone on the current panel bothers to listen remains questionable.

Listening has gone out the window and once they got by with some issues, the "non having to be accountable" got worse. They got an inch and then a yard and now they are miles ahead.

Sitting on their perches like kings and a queen is what we have.

According to some national blog comments, the people are out of the picture now, public just doesn't count, only the word market and similar words count now.

I for one do not want to "get used to it".
I so desperately want accountability.

Here's what Mayor Creepy sent out to all City Employees this afternoon at 4:30 p.m:

Dear Friends,
Bicycle Boulevards save lives. Bioswales protect our environment. Both make Portland’s neighborhoods safer, cleaner and greener. And today, Portland City Council will vote on making smart investments in both.

In 2007, I shepherded passage through the Portland City Council of the nationally recognized Green Street Plan. Green Streets reduce the amount of rain that goes into Portland’s sewer and storm water treatment system. These are planted bioswales that are built on neighborhood streets where they slow or divert traffic. Click here to watch the video of Portland's Green Streets work.

The upshot: Green Streets manage stormwater runoff, reducing the need for expensive sewer expansions. They help prevent sewer backups. And they provide the infrastructure needed to calm traffic on quiet streets that serve as low-stress "bicycle boulevards." Bicycle boulevards are not bike lanes. They are corridors that parallel high-traffic roads that encourage bikes to use them, leaving more space on busy arterials. Slower speeds on neighborhood streets mean safer streets for children and pedestrians.

Why combine funding for Green Streets with Bike Boulevards? Swales and extended curbs also known as "bubble curbs" are almost the same thing. It’s a smarter and more efficient use of taxpayer dollars to build these neighborhood improvements once for two purposes.

Over the past two years, actual contract costs for the City’s Bureau of Environmental Services projects have come in at $40 million below what was budgeted. My proposal is to leverage less than half these budgetary savings. These significant savings mean the City can make these Green Streets investments without impacting rate payers or Council-approved Capital Investment Plans.

Portland has emerged as a national leader on Green Streets efforts. By doing cutting-edge Green Streets projects like this, we build expertise that the rest of the world is already shopping for. The more we can successfully develop the skills and solutions to make our city more sustainable, the more we'll be able to sell those skills and solutions to other cities and regions, building our economy and our reputation.

Green Streets are long-term investments in our city’s water quality and sewer system. Active transportation infrastructure is a long-term investment in our people’s health, safety and mobility. Finding a way to make these things happen is the right move for Portland.

Sam Adams

What a crock. Funny that the bureaucrats in charge of sewers aren't chiming in in support of this. Perhaps they have integrity.

Adam writes on Green Streets "the more we'll be able to sell those skills and solution to other cities and regions".

There are many other cities practicing some form of "Green Streets. We aren't the only one. What is there to export that generates dollars to Portland's treasury. Why are we taking our few tax dollars and thinking we are a model-in so many endeavors? How does being a model have marketability that really fills the coffers?

A "street curb bubble" isn't a revolutionary thing that takes a scientist, a month long course, 250 pages of drawings to execute, and four days of seminars to execute. Give me one example, Sam, where you have sent out a bubble head into the big world and you can honestly show the dollars that came back into the general fund; and please no esoteric answer.

LW: Funny we just got back from MLB Spring Training in the Phoenix area. Except for Scottsdale, we never saw a bubble curb or a bioswale for an entire week. And that continued in our next stop in Las Vegas as well.

Dave A, Yes, they have them in Scottdale, and go down to Tucson, they have bubble curbs, bioswales and more bike paths than Portland per size of city. Plus, they have numerous retention ponds to manage storm water. It has been a rainy spring down there, and things worked pretty well. Portland isn't unique and all-knowing. Creativity doesn't have borders.