Celebrating Pride on World Bicycle Day

Posted on June 8, 2022June 11, 2022 by Madi Carlson

Last Friday, The Street Trust kicked off Pride Month and celebrated World Bicycle Day at the same time by hosting a family-friendly, rolling parade withDowntown Portland and hosted by celebrated Portland drag queen Poison Waters.

Participants gathered in Shemanski Park, which is conveniently located near Biketown stations a block in either direction – in front of the Portland Art Museum and at Director Park. Several attendees checked out a Biketown bike for the parade, including celebrity guests the Gay Beards.

The parade was also joined by everyone’s favorite one-wheeled hero, the Unipiper, and the Multnomah County Library book trike. Our two-mile parade route bounced between points of interest from Portland’s LGBTQIA2S+ past and present, including the office and residence of famed 1900’s lesbian Doc Marie Equi; Vera Katz Park, named for former mayor and gay ally; and Pride Plaza, one of our new street plazas filled with street art, public seating, and community activities.

The Street Trust offers a special thanks to our ride ambassadors from BikePOC PNW, an organization that actively creates space for BIPOC folks to ride bikes, build community, forge life-long friendships, and challenge the status quo.

Ryan Hashagen and Cory Poole pushed the pedicab up hills

This ride would not have been possible without the generosity of Icicle Tricycles, who provided a pedicab in which we conveyed our host Poison Waters, not to mention the pedicab training sessions and assistive pushes uphill from Icicle Tricycle owner (and Better Block PDX Principal) Ryan Hashagen. Additional thanks to longboard skateboard advocate Cory Poole, who also pushed the pedicab and took many of the photos shared in this post.

We stopped for mini dance parties in three Portland Public Street Plazas and ended our parade with a big dance party at the Cart Blocks Food Cart Pod at Ankeny West, which featured a surprise appearance from Darcelle, the Guinness World Record holding “Oldest Working Drag Queen”. Umpqua Bank greeted our arrival with tricycles filled with ice cream and ice pops.

Bikes, trikes, unicycles, skateboards, and longboards– this year’s Pride parade had all manner of environmentally-friendly wheeled vehicles (we love our multimodal life) and The Street Trust can’t wait to do this again for next World Bicycle Day 2023!

TST staff Anouksha Gardner, Madi Carlson and Board member Jackie Yerby, with Darcelle

Clinics Support Inclusive Bikeshare

Posted on May 24, 2022May 25, 2022 by Madi Carlson

The Street Trust has developed robust e-bike and e-scooter training program in partnership with Forth Mobility with funding from Metro . Together we run workshops to put the training in action with Community Cycling Center and ABC or “Andando en Bicicletas y Caminando” (Riding your Bike and Walking Around). ABC is a group of community organizers who host bike rides, advocate for safe routes to school, and provide basic bicycle maintenance and training to friends and neighbors.

Recently, a group of ABC members with BIKETOWN for All memberships have been joining The Street Trust for e-bike and e-scooter clinics. Last weekend’s workshop was an e-bike clinic that went beyond the typical safety skills and group ride to include troubleshooting and problem-solving elements of Biketown that would allow participants to assist others interested in trying out Portland’s bike-share.

We did a lot of locking and unlocking Biketown bikes, located a lone bike to practice a mid-ride bike swap, flagged a bike as damaged, and identified the East Portland Super Hub Zone. We also intentionally experienced the power drop upon entering a slow zone in Kʰunamokwst Park (the best part was hearing the laughter when we left the park as the bike motors boosted back to full speed!)

ABC has a busy summer planned with the aim of getting more of their community onto bikes, and The Street Trust urges its followers to consider supporting them and attending the following events:

ABC will host several rides with BIKETOWN this summer- including at both Sunday Parkways– to get people signed up for BIKETOWN for All and guide them through the experience.
ABC will also host a Bike Fair at Rigler School on Sunday, June 12th, where they’ll teach community members how to ride, get them signed up for BIKETOWN for All, and take them on trial rides with BIKETOWN staff.
ABC will participate in three additional workshops with The Street Trust, Forth, Community Cycling Center, and BIKETOWN to build their knowledge of the system.

Beyond just learning to ride and use the BIKETOWN app, ABC’s collaboration with BIKETOWN addresses the very real issue of secure bike parking. PBOT installed bike lockers at Hacienda CDC, which the community appreciates and uses, but as more and more community members gain confidence on bikes, even more parking is needed. It’s a good problem to have, and using BIKETOWN solves the dilemma.

BIKETOWN for All provides Portland-area residents 16 and older living on low incomes with a reduced-cost BIKETOWN membership. Learn more here.

Love this? Volunteer with our clinics.

Photo courtesy Community Cycling Center

Expanding WeBike Into Washington County

Posted on May 16, 2022May 17, 2022 by Madi Carlson

WeBike is The Street Trust’s program to inspire more trans people of all genders, gender non-conforming people, Two Spirit, and women (both trans and cis) to incorporate a bike into their lives and use biking as a way to meet their transportation needs and personal goals. WeBike dismantles the barriers of cycling through rides, knowledge-sharing events, meet and greets, and mentorship.

Last weekend, WeBike’s May ride ventured into new territory: Beaverton! The 10-mile loop started at the Beaverton Farmers Market and utilized many quiet greenway-type streets, the Westside Trail, several bike-friendly cut-throughs (one gravel!), and creatively utilized a shopping center parking lot, an office park parking lot, and some sidewalk to avoid a couple not-so-bike-friendly roads. The ride passed many points of interested including two entrances to Tualatin Hills Nature Park, the Aloha Mall shopping center, and BG Food Cartel food cart pod.

In June, WeBike will have a meet-up to talk about bike camping! We are always looking for new participants- no experience necessary. Learn about all the ways you can carry camping gear by bike, what you need to bring, where to go, and get all your questions answered! Camp coffee and snacks provided. Read all the details on the Shift/Pedalpalooza calendar listing and RSVP here.

Find WeBike events on The Street Trust events calendar and shared to the WeBike Instagram and Twitter.

The WeBike-Portland private Facebook group is a resource, hub, and a way to connect with others riding in the area. If you have any questions about biking or great biking tips you want to share, post them there!

Ways allies can support WeBike: promote events on socials, print a poster, and donate to The Street Trust.

Join WeBike’s Next Ride!

Donate to support WeBike!

Ten Tips for Biking Through Winter

Posted on January 13, 2022 by Madi Carlson

A Pacific Northwest winter provides so many exciting bicycling environments: relentless rain, very cold temperatures, long hours of darkness, snow, and ice!

Here are 10 tips to help you bike in some of the conditions winter might present.

And if you’re a member of The Street Trust or Business for a Better Portland, join us for an hour-long virtual Winter Biking Clinic on January 24th to learn even more.

Fender up! Full-coverage fenders will keep that dirty, gritty water and slush on the ground from getting on you, but they also prevent it from making its way into your bike where it will slowly grind away at your drivetrain.
Clean your chain. Wiping your chain clean and applying lube more often throughout the winter will keep your bike running smoothly. Also wipe accumulated snow off your chain as it builds up.
Shield your glasses. Get a visor for your helmet to keep rain and snow off your glasses. Or you can make one: remove the button from the top of a baseball cap and it will fit nicely under a helmet.
Wool is warm! Wool keeps you warm even if it gets wet. There’s no great vegan alternative to wool so whether or not you’re wearing wool:
Layer up. Wear base layers under jeans, jeans under rain pants, two pairs of gloves, two pairs of socks.
Re-waterproof gear. Check your soggy rain gear’s tag or online to see howto reactivate it–many items just need a spray-on or wash-in coating andthey’re like new.
Bring extras. If you’ve got room to stow extra gloves, socks, or even shoes, do it! You’ll use these extras to replace wet items or to add as extra layers.
Avoid wet metal. Metal plates and grates can be slippery in the rain so go around them whenever you can.
Long stops. Give yourself extra stopping space when the ground is wet–especially if you have rim brakes rather than disc brakes.
Light up! You’re required to have a front light visible from 500 feet away, but a stronger light that illuminates potholes and other hazards is great for riding in the dark.

Join us with your lunch on Wednesday, January 26th to learn even more about biking in winter. Email [email protected] if you haven’t received your invite yet or to check the status of your membership. Not a member yet? Join for $5 a month or $40 a year here.

Winter Biking Clinic

Community Partnerships in Action: Teatro Milagro

Posted on December 15, 2021December 15, 2021 by Madi Carlson

Teatro Milagro Artistic Director Dañel Malán plays BIKETOWN bean bag toss

The Street Trust partners with a wide range of organizations from non-profit, labor, business, health, education, faith, and other sectors. These partnerships make our advocacy more powerful, by bridging communities across differences, issue areas and geographic focus.

We’re so happy to have forged a partnership with Teatro Milagro this year. What began with answering a request for a blender bike blossomed into five fun in-person events with more to come.

Milagro’s thirty-eighth season launched with a community art project, La Bici, an episodic video play that brought together ideas of bike safety and how it relates to art and the community. Naturally, The Street Trust was a perfect fit for supporting their vision by lending our experience and volunteer power to some of events!

The Street Trust staff led the Dia de Muertos ride while our volunteers helped keep everyone safe

We joined Milagro as bike safety escorts for two community rides–Día de la Madre in May and Día de Muertos in October. We also activated the street outside the theater on Sundays in August, creating “mini Sunday Parkways” to help fill the void so many of us are feeling with no formal Sunday Parkways events this year.

After a year of very little in-person contact, it was wonderful to create so many memories with our new friends at Milagro.

Do you want to be notified next time we’re looking for volunteers to help staff an event like the Día de Muertos ride? Fill out our volunteer form and join the fun!

Join The Street Trust volunteer list!

Upcoming Meeting: Burnside Bridge Community Conversation

Posted on December 1, 2021December 1, 2021 by Madi Carlson

We are a membership advocacy organization and couldn’t do our work without the support of our terrific members! We’ve recently brought back monthly meetings for our members–virtual for now, but returning to in person soon.

We’re especially excited about December’s meeting and hope you’ll join us:

Burnside Bridge Community Conversation + Q&A
Monday, December 6, 5:00–6:00pm

We’ll welcome special guests from Multnomah County who will brief us on the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project. Then members of the Human Access Project will share their Burnside Bridge Pedestrian Access Ramp concept. We’ll have plenty of time for Q&A for both groups after the presentations.

Registration is required so please find the invite in your Member Alert email. Missing the registration link or need to check the status of your membership? Email TST Membership Services at [email protected].

Not a member yet? Join us! Individual membership dues are $5 monthly, or a $40 one-time contribution.

2022 Oregon Active Transportation Summit RFP now open!

Posted on November 22, 2021January 12, 2022 by Madi Carlson

The Street Trust is now accepting proposals for workshops, presentations, panel discussions, mobile workshops, and study tours. To submit your proposal, complete the form by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, February 4th. The Summit Planning Committee will confirm proposals in February.

The Street Trust’s 2022 Active Transportation Summit will take place on
Monday, April 25th – Weds, April 27th, 2022

The guiding theme for the 2022 Summit is Our Transportation Future.

Content will be sorted across four tracks:

Justice & Equity
Resilience & Recovery
Accessibility & Safety
Technology & Innovation

About The Street Trust’s Active Transportation Summit :: Each year, hundreds of professionals and advocates from Oregon and SW Washington convene to discuss cutting-edge transportation issues. The Summit is the place to share your latest research, project triumph, and innovative idea among colleagues and friends. The 2022 Summit is a hybrid event: keynotes, plenaries, presentations, and panels will be primarily virtual while networking events, mobile workshops and a range of study tours (including on foot, by bike, transit and even multimodal) will take place in person.

Submit a proposal

The 2021 Alice Awards are Saturday, October 2nd

Posted on September 30, 2021October 1, 2021 by Madi Carlson

The Alice Awards are coming up fast! Our annual awards ceremony is this Saturday, October 2nd, from noon to 3:00 p.m. at the new Ankeny West Plaza in the Cart Blocks of Downtown Portland (770 W. Burnside). Celebrate community leaders over food, drinks, games, and live performances-Tickets are only $15!

Buy tickets!

This Year’s Winners

Metro Councilor Bob Stacey is the 2021 recipient of the Bud Clark Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes sustained work toward achieving The Street Trust’s vision of a complete, safe, low-carbon, multimodal transportation system that contributes to equity in access, opportunity, health, and prosperity for people and communities across the Portland Metro Region and beyond.

Councilor Stacey was the TriMet Executive Director for Policy and Planning during the construction of the Yellow Line MAX in the early 2000s and has always been a visionary, linking land use, transit, active transportation and community for urban sustainability. “Councilor Stacey’s impact on our transportation systems spans the lifetimes of some – such as myself! – who are current advocates for a more equitable, safe and just transportation and land use system,” says Vivian Satterfield, Strategic Partnerships Director at Verde. “He’s played a massive role in shaping our region, from fighting the freeway expansion of the Westside Bypass and in supporting the vision of our region’s first ever BRT system with the Division project. His style of leadership comes from a place of genuine curiosity in engaging the people around him as people first in order to find values and common ground.”

The 2021 Alice Award recipient is State Representative Khanh Pham (OR D-46). Rep. Pham has a long history of community building along 82nd Avenue and in The Jade District, where she has championed safety for people who live, work, shop, and play along the street and across East Portland.

Khanh was a founding leader of and spokesperson for the groundbreaking Portland Clean Energy Fund Initiative, which passed in 2018. As a newcomer to the legislature, she has tirelessly forged connections to bridge divides. “Rep. Pham has a deep commitment to environmental and climate justice. This year, she demonstrated decisive, visionary leadership in securing emergency and long-term funding for the transformation of 82nd Avenue and its transfer to the City of Portland from the Oregon Department of Transportation,” says Kimberlee Stafford, Chair of The Street Trust Community Fund’s Board of Directors. Prior to the legislature, Pham served as the Interim Alliance Director at the Oregon Just Transition Alliance and was Environmental Justice Manager at the Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon (APANO).

BikePOC PNW will receive the inaugural Elizabeth Jennings Graham Transportation Justice Award for their leadership in actively creating intentional space for bike riders of color in our region. BikePOC PNW co-founders Will Cortez, Silas Sanderson, and Sukho Viboolsittiseri formed the group in early 2021 to create a community for bike riders from Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color in our area and it has grown quickly. “We appreciate their investment in creating a new, vibrant, and inclusive community for BIPOC cyclists in the Portland metro area through organized rides such as the ‘Chingona’ and ‘Party Pace’ rides,” explains Thomas Ngo, Chair of The Street Trust Action Fund’s Board of Directors.

“The Street Trust is excited to recognize three amazing community members and organizations for their activism and commitment to equity. Their drive and determination are inspirational and lay the groundwork for a better transportation future,” says Sarah Iannarone, Executive Director of The Street Trust.

Live Entertainment

DJ ALoSo will kick off the block party at noon as well as play sets throughout the day, culminating in a dance party at the end.

DJ ALoSo is a passionate music curator who believes in community, diversity and inclusivity. His musical influences range in appreciation for eclectic, world inspired, tribal influenced genres that journey through the soundscapes of both light and dark aspects of sound, vibration and rhythm. His artistic Latin influence emerges through a primordial essence, and is expressed through the sharing of music–intended to bring people together through the energy of love and balance.

At 1:00 p.m., Son de Cuba will take to the stage. Son de Cuba is a quintet of musicians from Cuba, Chile, Mexico, and the US. They have roots in Latin, African, and jazz rhythms and blend their vast knowledge of different beats together in classic and modern Latin songs, exuding energy and happiness. Dancing is encouraged!

At 2:00 p.m., take in an exhilarating performance by White Lotus Dragon & Lion Dance. The largest dragon & lion dance team in all of Oregon, White Lotus brings a unique approach to a centuries long tradition, continuously exploring new and creative ideas.

About the Event

In line with a greater focus on equity and inclusion, The Street Trust has transformed this year’s Alice Awards from a high-ticket-price dinner to an outdoor, community-oriented block party at Friends of the Green Loop’s new Ankeny West plaza. Live performances will include DJ ALoSo, Son de Cuba, and White Lotus Dragon & Lion Dance. The party will also feature food trucks, a beer garden, a swag table, a raffle, and a dance party. Attendees will get an exclusive preview of The Street Trust’s #OurStreets Campaign, which launches this fall.

In addition to the awards ceremony and live entertainment, the event will feature a raffle, the food carts of the Cart Blocks, a beer garden, ring toss–to win bottles of local wines for adults and candy and/or comics for kids, a blender bike to pedal your own non-alcoholic piña colada, limited-edition t-shirts, and a photo booth!

Volunteer shifts are still available to help make this event the best it can be! Sign up here.

SAFETY DURING COVID-19

Based on the latest public health data and analyses, we are reasonably confident that it will be safe to gather with a limited size group in Multnomah County on October 2nd and are designing our outdoor location to maximize social distancing. However, it will only be safe if people who attend are fully vaccinated and wear a mask except when eating or drinking. We are requesting that people who are not vaccinated, unable or unwilling to wear a mask, or who have been in close contact with someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19, please refrain from joining in person and instead tune into our streams via social media and send a financial contribution to keep The Street Trust’s important work going.

Buy tickets!