Category: Impact

What unstoppable partnerships look like 🤝

Posted on by Anouksha Gardner
Four people in brighlty colored jackets stand with bicycles in fornt of law office.

 

Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost has been working with The Street Trust to improve our region’s transportation network for three full decades. Ray Thomas gave the first bicycle and pedestrian legal clinicin 1992, and since then, TCNF’s bicycle and pedestrian lawyers have continued performing hundreds of clinics across the state. Today, attorneys Cynthia Newton and Chris Thomas present most clinics for the firm. Any interested organizations are invited to reach out to TST or TCNF to schedule a clinic free of charge for your team, community, or organization.      

 

 

On top of their unwavering support of pedestrian and bike clinics, TCNF has also been involved in The Street Trust’s legislative advocacy efforts over the years.  A recent example is Ray Thomas’s testimony in Salem in favor of legislation clarifying that bicycle lanes exist within intersections, even when painted markings are interrupted. Jim Coon has also recently helped draft proposed legislation updating Oregon’s bicycle bill, and spoke at last year’s Active Transportation Summit on that topic.

When asked why safe streets are so important to them, TCNF said, “As injury lawyers we have an intimate view of the impact traffic collisions can have on the lives of our clients, from the acute stages of treatment to the long-term mental and physical repercussions. Unfortunately, fear of another collision often discourages our clients from riding the way they did before, and we know many other would-be cyclists avoid riding out of concern for their safety. We need safer streets to welcome those who want to get around without a car, but don’t currently feel safe doing so.”

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. The Street Trust appreciates and values the relationship the organization has with Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost, working together for safe streets for us all. 

The Street Trust is always looking to partner with organizations and businesses. Become a business member/partner here. 

What does TST mean by “multimodal”?

Posted on by staff
Multimodal Transit Street

 

The Street Trust’s 2021-2023 Strategic Plan calls for “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.” It all sounds great, but what do we mean by multimodal?

 

For many people the concept and characteristics of a multimodal transportation system is new and sometimes unclear, which is why I, your new Street Trust Policy Transformation Manager, am here to offer some insight as to what we mean when The Strust Trust demands for a “multimodal” system and why we think it’s important. 

 

A multimodal transportation system is one that offers more than one way to move around. For example, in the Portland Metro region there’s already a diverse suite of modes people use to get around. People can drive, walk, ride the streetcar or bus, hop on a scooter or one of Biketown’s shared electric bikes. However, not everybody has equitable access to all these different modes, and the ease of use and efficiency of each mode is affected by a history of disproportionate investment in infrastructure centered on private automobiles. 

 

Having multiple modes at hand is only one small piece of the multimodal pie. Another critical (and historically underfunded) piece, is infrastructure that allows for convenient, safe and accessible use of other modes. The cost and impact of these investments vary tremendously from mode to mode, but in a complete multimodal system, a single investment or piece of infrastructure can have a positive impact on many modes. For example, look at mobility lanes, which benefit cyclists, skaters, scooterers, and people with limited mobility.

 

Street users deserve a robust and connected suite of transportation options that allow them to safely travel anywhere they need to go. After more than a century of dominating our streets we think it’s time for cars to make way for the future and share the road.

 

If you live in the Portland metro area and want to improve multimodal transportation in your neighborhood, become a member of The Street Trust or volunteer with us when we hit the streets to improve the road network.

 

Image Source: Wikipedia Commons

 

The Street Trust Brings a Parklet to Oregon City

Posted on by Henry Latourette Miller

 

The Street Trust won a $1,000 Park(ing) Day grant to install a temporary parklet on Oregon City’s Main Street on September 17th. To win the grant provided by SPIN Scooters and the Better Block Foundation, TST partnered with the Downtown Oregon City Association and Black Ink Coffee, a local cafe and bookstore that has become a popular pit stop for recreational cyclists.

 

A temporary parklet might not seem like much, but this project reflects the ambition of our 2021-23 Strategic Plan, which calls for working with and learning from diverse street users across the region. Over the next two years we will continue to build new partnerships beyond central Portland because we believe everyone wants to see an end to an inefficient, expensive, and deadly street system.

 

By bringing a parklet to a community often choked with car traffic despite its walk and rollable street grid, we are shifting the conversation around what it means to have a healthy Main Street in small town Oregon. By partnering with a business and a business association, we are creating new alliances with folks who can tell their community that a safe, healthy street isn’t just better for people: it’s good for business.

 

This competitive grant draws an international pool of applicants and we want to thank the folks at SPIN and the Better Block Foundation for entrusting us to carry out this important mission. We also want to celebrate fellow Oregon-based non-profit Better Eugene-Springfield Transportation (BEST) for winning the same grant and their plans to bring a parklet to Eugene in September.

 

Visit TST’s Oregon City Parklet on September 17th at 503 Main St., Oregon City. There will be games, coffee, shade, and bike parking. 

 

To volunteer, visit our website. 

 

Have questions? Email TST Events Coordinator Madi Carlson at [email protected].

 

The New Street Trust

Posted on by staff
The Street Trust staff

From the desk of Sarah Iannarone:

To the #Community,

When I joined The Street Trust this January, our member-elected board gave me a very specific task: lead a strategic planning process to clarify how we serve the community and how we can have the greatest influence transforming transportation across the Greater Portland Region. Today, I’m proud to show you what #TST has accomplished these last few months.

First up: the plan. Together, we accomplished more than a strategic plan – ours is a measurable action plan on a tight timeline to achieve four top priorities: intensifying our advocacy, building partnerships, growing our membership, and increasing our impact. It is full of concrete steps that #TST is committed to taking this year and next (many we’ve already started) that will set us up for success. The plan says that by the end of 2022, The Street Trust will train candidates, build new and more inclusive coalitions, involve more -and more diverse- members in our work, and serve as a resource for the kind of data and information that drives transformation. All while maintaining the programs and partnerships you already know us for. But that’s not all it says – take a look for yourself!

With a renewed vision, mission and values, we’re taking on advocacy for the streets of our future. To make our plan happen, we needed to create some new positions, and I’m so thrilled we got such an incredible pool of applicants from across the country and across Greater Portland. I hope you’ll join me in welcoming André, Anouksha, Henry, and Zeyaad to the team.

These four join an incredible staff already in place – our Education Director Lindsay, Events & Engagement Assistant Madi, and Clackamas County Safe Routes to School Coordinator Nicole are a force for the streets, plus they’re three incredible women I’d trust to lead me on a walk, bike, or transit ride anywhere in our region.

If you’re reading this, you’re seeing it on our brand new website. We’ve restructured to make it easier to find the information you’re looking for, and aligned the branding with the new Strategic Action Plan. You can learn a bit about the new and existing staff on this site as well. Look around, explore, and let us know if anything isn’t working by sending us an email to [email protected]

Along with the new website, we have new database, marketing, and payment systems, among others. This means we will be reaching out to many of you to confirm you want to stay on our email list, or to move your monthly donation to a platform that saves time and money and works better for our members and our future.

Finally, I want to make an announcement I’ve been keeping under my bike helmet for a little while: The Street Trust Board has invited me to stay on with the organization as the Executive Director and lead our organization in executing this plan. No more “Interim” uncertainty – I plan on leading with grit and determination, and using the platform this position provides to advance the vision laid out in the plan. I’ll steer the ship based on what our team hears from the members, partners, funders, decision-makers, and street users who make up our community.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of #TST, and we can’t do it without your support. Right now would be an excellent opportunity to show your support for our new direction: please ensure your membership is up to date and renew your commitment to the streets of the future with a generous sustaining gift.

Thank you for believing in the future with us!

 

See you in the streets,

Sarah's signature, with a large Cursive "S" connected to the "arah"

Sarah Iannarone

Executive Director, The Street Trust