Scooters moving into our territory

Uh, excuse me, but is this allowed?

I'm all for scooters as an alternative to the car. HOWEVER: do they really need to take up room on the sidewalk as well as use up one of our scarce bike racks? Are thieves picking up scooters and carrying them off? Is that really a problem? Raise your hand if you have personally seen a team of gorillas back a truck up to a scooter in a well-trafficked area, lift it into the truck, and drive off.

Since a scooter, unlike a bicycle, has the right to occupy the parking spot of a car, can't they be satisfied with that?

If there's something here that I'm not getting, I'd appreciate educational comments. And I adore scooters, I really do. I'd own one myself if not for the fact that my excercise wouldn't happen.

And by the way, thanks everybody for your concern about Spiderhead and my hidey-hole. Now I can get back to the business at hand, which is what I need the hidey-hole for in the first place.

A pedal-boat for use on land

Get a load of this wild Italian-made vehicle I came across a couple of days ago outside Irvington athletic club. Max came out as I was taking photos of it and gave me a demo while waiting for the rest of his clan. His family piles on and they ride to the pool/tennis club together. Makes a lot more sense than driving a car to another location for the purpose of getting exercise -- which seems to be what most people do.
My. Portland is coming along, isn’t it?

Clean-car alternative to bike transports 6 x the load

Look what I came across while riding over to pick up a couple of burritos last night. A guy named Michael (I think) was touring this happy little mob around on a noiseless, gas-free vehicle -- otherwise known as a golf cart. The owner of the cart was a high school senior graduating that same night. This is what he's been using to get from home to school and back for the last couple of years.
Did they nab his cart the minute he left for graduation? I don't know. Maybe Michael will write in with the full story. Bet those kids know how lucky they are to have a fun guy like Uncle Mike in their lives.

You can see by their clothes that summer has come a month early to Portland this year -- it usually doesn't stop raining and warm up till July. So this was a "real" summer evening, like they've already been having in the rest of the country for at least a month.

We're only a couple weeks away from the longest day in the year. After June 16th, the days start getting chopped off at the ends again.

So don't forget to enjoy the light!

The bare essentials

The other day I was at the grocery store and I saw this “longbike” parked outside. This guy (?) sure isn’t worried about either tight corners, or excess weight. There were three cables, five padlocks, several steel tools, silverware, a chin-up bar, and a heavy-duty safety vest nailed onto the back for visibility. Plus who knows how much those bundles weigh? And I thought I was a schlep. I feel like Tinkerbell next to this.

Portland to host International Car-Free Conference!

Here is the EXCITING NEWS I promised last Tuesday that I would deliver Wednesday. I realize it is now Thursday. I want my blog to be the place to go for people who missed the news when it originally came out. It’s for people like me who are behind on everything. And who don’t care if they find out about something exactly when it happens as long as they find out about it eventually. Or not. People are busy. They have things to do, and reading the paper every minute isn’t always one of them. So if you missed this fabulous piece of news, here it is again, lifted right out of the Oregonian. Look at this! Was I not just telling you what a bike magnet Portland was becoming? And the next day, this turns up in the paper. See? When I’m not lagging behind, I’m way ahead of everybody.

City of Roses picked to host international "car-free" conference
Posted by Noelle Crombie February 27, 2007 06:28AM
This year, Istanbul. Next year, Portland.
The European-based World Carfree Network -- which, you guessed it, promotes alternatives to driving -- has picked Portland to host its first-ever conference in the United States, according to this local blog. Portland was chosen based on several key factors, including its support for alternative transportation and its ability to be a model for other cities around the United States and the world.
Past conference hosts include Prague, Berlin, Budapest and Bogota. This year, Istanbul will play host.
Last fall, Portland hosted a Carfree Days event. Read more about it here.Thanks to BikePortland.org for the heads-up.

Man Inadvertently Models Life According to Unknown Book

That guy Chris I blogged about yesterday? He wrote in. Read his comment below yesterday’s post. His story is the living example of that book I reviewed here last September called How to Live Well Without Owning a Car, by Chris Balish. He didn’t mention the book, so I don’t know if he’s read it, or he just learned it all from that amazing friend he mentions in his comment – who outdoes me by light years and whom I want to meet! I’m sending a link to this post to Chris Balish. He’ll be so thrilled that the idea is sprouting up all over, with him and without him. Soon after I wrote that review, the link to it was posted by an East coast commuter site and I got hundreds of hits through them. It makes my day to know that I helped spread the word about that book. So if you can, send someone you know the link to my blog for today, and maybe one more person on the planet will start weighing the alternatives. The book is excellent and fun to read. He covers it all, every obstacle you can think of that might impede your efforts to JUST SAY NO TO CARS.

PS: tomorrow I bring you fantastic news about Portland's bike status in the country.

We're not that far away

What’s going to happen to these hundreds of Portland cyclists during the next fifty years as our little legs get all used up? Are the city planners paying attention? Hellooo? Widen the bike lanes! We WILL NOT resort to cars!