(July 23, 2014)  After 12 years of moving around the city to target specific neighborhoods, Portland’s residential SmartTrips program is taking a new approach for 2014.  SmartTrips, a program of the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s Active Transportation Division, is focusing on people who have recently moved.

Recent movers include new Portland residents - relocating from another city, state or country - and those who have recently changed residences within Portland. The thinking goes, when people move they must develop new patterns for everyday trips - shopping, library, school - and may be more open to making changes in how they get around.

Welcome SmartTrips sent out its first mailing to about 9000 residents on May 6 followed by a reminder postcard, a newsletter and an order form within a few weeks. Residents can order, either online or by mail, a variety of tools and resources for getting around Portland. Available resources include bike and walk maps, a digital pedometer, transit maps, information on carshare, schedules of guided walks and bike rides, travel safety tips and more. Water conservation tools and information are also offered.

To date, SmartTrips has received about 1500 orders for materials from new residents. Customized packets are delivered by bicycle to residents’ door steps within two weeks, and orders have come in from all reaches of the Portland area including Marine Drive, 184^th Avenue in east Portland and the Multnomah/Washington County line on the west side. Three staff members typically ride 20-25 miles per day but have ridden as much as 40 miles on one delivery pulling trailers full of customized packages for new residents.  

Funding for the SmartTrips program comes mostly from a Metro Regional Travel Options grant. These grants fund “projects to reduce the number of people driving alone, improve air quality and address community health issues.” Metro’s Regional Travel Options group is also focusing on new movers this year.

Over the ten years in existence, Portland’s Residential SmartTrips program has been able to effect an average 9 percent shift away from drive alone trips to more active modes – biking, walking, transit, etc. 

(July 22, 2014)  – The City of Portland Bureau of Transportation advises the traveling public that street improvements will require lane closures of N Rosa Parks Way from N Delaware Avenue to N Maryland Avenue from Tuesday, July 22, through Friday, August 8, 7 a.m. through 5 p.m. each weekday.

The lane closures will allow crews to grind and pave 2.69 lane miles.

Parking restriction barricades have been in place in the area in preparation for the start of work. Traffic restrictions will be in place from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Access will be maintained for businesses and residents.

The public is advised to expect delays while repairs are being made. We ask the public to travel cautiously, observe all lane closures and directions by flaggers, and use alternate routes if possible.

This work is weather-dependent and the schedule may change.

(July 21, 2014) - East Portland is enjoying 84 new bike parking spaces at 12 East Portland businesses and organizations after the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) recently completed the East Portland Bike and Shop project.  In partnership with community members and the East Portland Action Plan Municipal Partnership program, which provided funding to acquire and install the bike racks, PBOT brought much needed bike parking resources to a wide area of East Portland.

The project installed seven grouped bike cluster racks (typically called "corrals") and 21 individual bike racks to improve transportation choices for people traveling by bicycle and to provide increased customer access to dozens of East Portland businesses and organizations.

“I want to thank East Portland activists and the East Portland Action Plan for the hard work and partnership,” said City of Portland Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick. “This project demonstrates that in order to provide equal access we sometimes need to do things differently, including reevaluating our standard operating procedures to meet community goals. It’s an example of delivering on our promise to the people of East Portland to make it a safer and more convenient place to get around and to the businesses to improve connections to customers.”

East Portlanders had long flagged the lack of bicycle parking as one of the barriers to meeting daily needs by bike.  In meetings held over the last few years, community members noted that East Portland (along with SW Portland) face unique development patterns that preclude PBOT from providing the same quality and quantity of bike parking as other commercial corridors.

PBOT’s ubiquitous blue bike racks are public property. The racks are PBOT’s responsibility to maintain and are only installed in the public right of way – usually in the furnishing zone of the sidewalk adjacent to the businesses’ storefront.

Many of East Portland’s retail centers have large asphalt parking lots separating the sidewalk from the businesses’ front doors.  This separates a bike rack from a business’s front door by more than 100’, making bike parking inconvenient and inconspicuous to shoppers and clients. East Portland resident Jim Chasse wrote, “What most people don't know, or don't consider is, bike parking is so important to cyclists to protect their investment that we won't contribute to the economy if we don't have adequate facilities to lock our bikes to while we shop. This is a great start to encourage people to cycle more in East Portland!”

The project is a product of the East Portland in Motion plan, which called for installing bike parking on private property in approximately 10 locations.  Property owners assumed ownership and responsibility to maintain the racks. Previous City policy did not allow PBOT to donate bike racks to private businesses. In 2013, however, City Council gave the PBOT Director the right to provide such donations. East Portland community activists then helped identify potential locations and PBOT staff worked to secure business and property owner agreements.

 [photos by David Hampsten]

The project provided bike parking for a range of East Portland locations, including shopping plazas, social service and health care agencies, and individual businesses.  The full list of locations and bike parking facilities installed is included in the chart below.

(July 11, 2014) -- The Portland Bureau of Transportation has posted the rosters and schedules of upcoming meetings for the workgroups that will advise on the Our Streets PDX transportation funding community conversation. While the meetings are open to the public, public testimony will not be taken. Comments and questions can be submitted to TUF_Administrator@portlandoregon.gov

Full schedules and rosters are available at www.OurStreetsPDX.com

Non-Residential, Business Stakeholder Workgroup
Businesses stakeholders will advise Mayor Hales, Commissioner Novick and PBOT on how to refine the non-residential portion of the Transportation User Fee to minimize negative impacts to the business community. This group will be chaired by Fred Miller, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Portland.

First meeting: Monday, July 14, 3:30-5:00 p.m., Portland Building, Room C

Non-residential, Non-profit and Low-income Stakeholder Workgroup
Nonprofit and government partners will advise Mayor Hales, Commissioner Novick and PBOT on how to refine the non-residential portion of the Transportation User Fee (TUF) to minimize the impacts to non-profits and public institutions. This workgroup will also advise on how low-income discounts for the transportation funding proposal and discounts for existing water and sewer ratepayers can be more easily accessed by low-income Portlanders. This group will be chaired by Ruth Adkins, Board Member for Portland Public Schools and Policy Director for Oregon Opportunity Network.

First meeting: Tuesday, July 29, 3:30-5:00 p.m., Portland Building Room C

The City Council delayed a proposed Transportation User Fee on June 4, after five months of Our Streets PDX town halls, online surveys, advisory committee meetings and a five-hour public hearing May 29. Public outreach and community engagement will continue, leading up to a City Council vote, expected in November.

For more information about the Our Streets PDX funding conversation and the proposed Transportation User Fee, see the project web page: www.ourstreetspdx.com.

See updated information on the proposed fee the council amended on May 29:

-- Updated online calculator: PBOT has updated an online calculator that estimates the monthly fee for residential and non-residential ratepayers. PBOT has updated the web calculator from the proposed $11.56 fee to the 3-year phase-in starting at $6 a month for single-family properties.

-- Transportation User Fee rate details: Details on the way the fee is calculated, to help business owners find the right information.

-- Frequently Asked Questions: This series of questions and answers will help the public learn more about why the fee was proposed and what it would pay for.

-- Email us for more information at TUF_Administrator@portlandoregon.gov

-- Talk about it on twitter, using hashtag #ourstreetspdx or see @pbotinfo

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(July 17, 2014) — A new survey provides some additional information on Portlanders’ attitudes about transportation funding options for the citizen working groups the City has convened to advise the City about funding mechanisms to address its significant transportation needs. 

"Some business owners were concerned that the proposed non-residential fee, based on trip generation, didn't take into account the profitability of the business. So we tested people's attitudes toward increasing the tax on business profits," said City Commissioner Steve Novick. "The most common concern we heard about the residential fee was that it was regressive. So we tested new versions of a progressive income tax. We also tested a revised version of a sales tax, combined with a business profits tax," Novick said. 

The survey, conducted by DHM Research on June 19 through 22, tested separate sets of 300 voters on each of 4 funding options. It found that: 

• Portlanders were closely divided – 47% yes, 48% no - on the idea of raising the city tax on business profits to 4% from its current rate of 2.2%. (That option would raise the entire $53 million annual goal set by the Mayor and Commissioner Novick.) 

• They supported, by 50% to 45%, the idea of an income tax of one-quarter of one percent on incomes below $100,000; 1% on the amount of income between $100,000 and $250,000; 2% on the amount of income between $250,000 and $500,000; and 3% on income above $500,000.
•  And, Portlanders supported, by a margin of 60% to 37%, the idea of an income tax of 1% on incomes above $125,000, 2% on income above $250,000, and 3% on income above $500,000. 
• The survey also tested the concept of combining a smaller increase in the business profits tax (to 3.1%) with a sales tax of one-quarter of one percent that would exclude uncooked food and have a rebate for low-income people. Portlanders disapproved of that option by a margin of 59% to 36%. 

Mayor Hales and Commissioner Novick have set $53 million as a target for a new transportation funding mechanism. When we asked the State Legislative Revenue Office (LRO) for a rough estimate of the revenue that could be generated by these income tax options, LRO indicated that the “$125,000 and up” option would likely raise an amount in the $50-$55 million range and the option including an 0.25% rate on incomes under $100,000 would likely raise an amount in the $60-$65 million range. 

Mayor Hales and Commissioner Novick have called for a transportation funding mechanism that splits the responsibility for new revenue between businesses and residents.  Therefore, if the working group recommends and the City moves forward with one of the income tax options, the rates outlined above will likely be halved to yield the goal amount from residential payers. In that case, the first option above would be adjusted to become an income tax of 1/8 of 1% on incomes below $100,000, ½ of 1% on income between $100,000 and $250,000, 1% on income between $250,000 and $500,000, and 1.5% on income above $500,000. The second option would be adjusted to an income tax of ½ of 1% on income between $125,000 and $250,000, 1% on income between $250,000 and $500,000, and 1.5% on income above $500,000.

LRO used Oregon taxable income (not gross income) as the basis for its rough estimates. LRO said that a couple making $60,000 in gross income, with a typical amount of deductions, would likely pay about $50 a year – or slightly over $4 a month – under an income tax rate of 1/8 of 1%.

Novick said that he expected the working groups to take the information - as well as previous surveys - into account as they work to develop modifications or alternatives to the transportation user fee Mayor Hales and Novick had proposed. "One message I take from the survey is that a sales tax is unacceptable to such a large percentage of Portlanders that we can safely say that's off the table," Novick said.

SURVEY RESULTS AVAILABLE HERE