The Burnside Blog
Sunday Parkways. What's the Verdict?
You’ve probably heard about it by now, maybe you attended it yourself, or maybe you simply had to drive a different route on Sunday to avoid closed streets. Yet despite a rah-rah Oregonian article on Monday and this rockin’ YouTube video from BikePortland.org, little else seems to have been written on how the first (and maybe only) Sunday Parkways event went. Both the Oregonian and the City of Portland have said that the event was a huge success. But what exactly does this mean? What did people do there? Did anyone reading this go? Do you think the City should do this again?
As Portland’s grand experiment in a whole whopping 6 hours of car free living (albeit a controlled and small one on close to 7 miles of roads in NoPo, I can’t help but wonder. Sure, it was based on similar events all over the globe from Bogota, Columbia to Australia, but do we really need it in Portland? In addition, at an estimated $150,000 cost in public money, the City has already stated that if it going to happen again, then private sponsorship will most probably need to occur. Perhaps that money could be used for something more permanent to help promote daily biking in Portland, not just a few hours in a small geographic radius.
A cynic might think it was merely a way for Portland to toot-its-own-horn to other cities as part of the international Towards Carfree Cities conference hosted here last week. Perhaps it was just a publicity stunt to push Portland as the first large American city to achieve Platinum Status from the League of American Bicyclists, whatever that means. Or maybe this is just some of the best international marketing Portland could do to continue to promote our already well respected city as a place that is green, healthy, community friendly and bike safe.
Yet in a city where bike riding is often less a stroll in the park and more like a thrill-seeking-death risk, a country where the auto absolutely rules the roads and where Americans are fat and getting fatter in part due to lack of exercise, and an era where gasoline might just break the $5 per gallon mark this summer, maybe getting folks prepped for a potential future of pedal power is a good thing.
What do you think?
By D.J. on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 03:59PM PDT
I believe you are wrong about the use of public money (at least local public money). All other news reports of the event have stated that the $150k was provided both by sponsors and grants.
So while sponsors would have to be found in order to keep this event going, due to the success of the event, and the ability of PDOT to find sponsors for the first event, finding sponsors shouldn’t be a difficult task.
By lizzy caston on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 06:15PM PDT
It is my understanding that this money was from an E.P.A. Grant. At least that’s what the Sunday Parkways webpage on Portlandonline states.
By Graham on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 06:32PM PDT
It was pretty glorious. I’m comfortable biking on your average road, but with a healthy sense of paranoia. It was nice to be able to let the guard down for a day and just ride.
Even better was getting to see all the little kids ride for all they were worth in what must have seemed to them like an infinite highway made just for them. I loved my bike when I was a kid, and seeing the little guys get to cut loose, free of the ever-present threat of death or injury us city cyclists live with, brought many smiles to my face. (And I’m not a naturally smiley guy :)
I attend a lot of bike events, and being that I occasionally drive, and being that I’m a pretty polite guy, I often have a pang of sympathy for the drivers who get inconvenienced when bikes take over the roads (even while I’m reveling in the takeover). So it was that at Sunday’s Parkways event, I glanced at every intersection to see how many cars were backed up: I never saw more than three. The police did a great job of moving traffic in both directions – while also engaging warmly with passing cyclists who were constantly thanking them – and I was stopped several times to let cars go through.
Just the cyclist/cop love-fest alone made this quite unlike most mass biking events I’ve attended. I’ve heard second-hand that police working the event were pretty happy with the whole deal.
People were giddy. If the Oregonian article seemed rah-rah, then I’d call it an accurate representation of the experience.
One point regarding the route: it was only a 6 mile circuit – not 70 miles as you say in your post – that was closed off. Bogota closes off 70 miles, maybe that’s where you got that number. We’re not quite there yet :). Also, it’s not like the people within the circuit were closed off from the outsider world – that’s what the crossings were about.
I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure even residents on the route itself were allowed to drive in and out of the closed streets. I don’t believe it was nearly as inconvenient as it’s been (inaccurately) portrayed to have been on some of the less, er, vigorously-fact-checked reports. It was less of an inconvenience than say, a parade or a road race, and for my money a hell of a lot more fun (and healthy, and community-building) than those other events.
I’m going to be there helping to get the next Parkways going, hopefully in my neighborhood this time.
By Mike Thelin on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 10:19AM PDT
Good points everyone. It was difficult to imagine what it was like without being there. It sounds like it is an event that Portland, and more importantly Portlanders can really get behind. Note that I am not against the event, just reiterating some of the buzz from different perspectives I’ve heard. EPA is public money, albeit yes, not local funding but I can understand how some people might not understand how City/Federal resources, time, staff time, etc. are allocated and paid for with funding like this. Finally, yes it should have been 6, not 70 miles. Thanks for pointing that out. I will correct that.
By pdx2m2 on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 10:21AM PDT
I think the idea is fantastic although way too timid. How about closing streets in the City to any through traffic and allowing only local traffic for residents and shops. Europe has hundreds of miles of such streets and there are fantastic safe neighborhoods, thriving business districts, and magnets for touism. There are no street crossing guards and other than the initial signage there is no cost what so ever. $150,000 could buy enough ‘limited auto access’ signs for create many small pockets of pedestrian/bike areas in the city.
By on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 10:37AM PDT
Here’s what I posted on the Sunday Parkways page:
My entire family had a wonderful day at Sunday Parkways. My husband was a volunteer in the morning shift. He was having so much fun, he stayed past closing. My neighbor and I each rode our bikes, with kids in trailers, and did the entire loop starting at 9:30 am. The drizzle kept the kids from being allowed out to play too much, but we did briefly stop at most of the parks and activites.
We finished our loop at Peninsula Park. By that time the weather had cleared and we let the kids play at the park. It was a madhouse (in a good way!). Then we went home and the kids got their own bikes, and we all rode about a mile worth of the loop. All in all we were out on the Parkways for about 4 – 5 hours.
So many things made this a really special day for us. I think my favorite was watching my kids giddily riding down the middle of the street, completely free from the risk of being hit by a car, and with dozens of smiling people streaming by who were all very careful and understanding when my kids would go careening off in a random direction (despite my best efforts to get them to stay right!). I think my number 2, is just seeing the smiles on not just the participants’ faces, but also on the faces of almost every volunteer and police officer we passed by. I’m still smiling when I think of that day.
Thank you to all of the organizers, volunteers and other supporters for making this happen!
And to answer the question of should the city do this again: Yes! Next month please!
By Andy on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:06PM PDT
From what I’ve been told - $150k was the total cost. $87k of that was the EPA grant. The rest was a mix of funds from various sources (including sponsors)
Residents were indeed allowed to go to/from their driveways, although obviously they were encouraged to limit that and/or park their car off-route to minimize interference. Those residents that did end up on the route would have been directed to the nearest intersection (to limit the distance they’re on-route) and escorted by a volunteer to help avoid collisions/conflict with others on the route. These were the instructions we received at volunteer training, anyway.
I assume that’s how things were handled, I didn’t know for sure since I was volunteering inside the park and didn’t see much of the route personally.
I think the Oregonian reported at one point the traffic backlog along Rosa Parks got as high as 20 cars – but then they were let through while around 10x that many waited on-route for the cars to pass. :)
By Rob on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 09:06PM PDT
Consider for the future: reduce the cost by hiring neighborhood citizens rather than police. Increase the neighborhood benefit with lemonade stands, bbq cafes, things riders Participants can connect with in the spirit of decoding gentrification tensions. Repeat in other neighborhoods, optimizing locally. Seek fill in funding from developers and real estate agents
By Andy on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 01:36PM PDT
The effect the Parkways “experiment” reached well beyond the small geographic radius that the route itself took. People from throughout the metro area, from Hillsboro to Vancouver, from Gresham to Tualatin, came to take part in what amounted to a gigantic block party. Alcohol free, the emphasis on families and community was unmistakable. People from all walks of life were encouraged to take part. From children on trikes, to strollers, scooters, wheelchairs, or their own two feet: all came out to ride, no matter the transport.
Sure, we could spend millions of dollars and uproot dozens of homes and businesses to build more parks and widen existing “dedicated” paths such as Esplanade and Springwater trail. But this makes use of routes and parks we already have. The only thing that costs is the manpower and cooperation to utilize certain roads for local traffic only for a few hours. Temporary? Sure. But it was temporarily like dropping Washington Park into the middle of the city, and when all the barricades have gone, the parks are still there. People only need the encouragement to try for themselves, so that next time they can visit the same parks along the same sidewalks, bike boulevards, and freeway crossings.
Seems a pretty cheap investment to better utilize the spaces we already have.