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Thursday, August 6, 2009

Portland Dead Horse, Bike Zebras on Adams' Mind

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Thu, Aug 6, 2009 at 2:32 PM

Two interesting equine issues on Sam Adam's twitter today.

First off, he's curious what Portlanders think of PETA's demand that the city ban horse-drawn carriages after a horse pulling two newlyweds to the Crystal Ballroom collapsed and died outside the Central Library last weekend. PETA emailed out a letter to the City Council and news outlets all over town yesterday, saying Portland should ban horse-drawn carriages because, "While working in sweltering heat, horses must walk on hard pavement, inhale exhaust fumes, and dodge cars, buses, and streetcars—all of which can be terrifying to them."

Also, while the Bicycle Transportation Alliance is trying to gauge Portland cycling needs via survey, Adams tweeted agreement that we should get the city some of these:

Bike lane
  • Bike lane "zebra" dividers

They're probably cheaper than an actual separated cycletrack, at least.

 

Comments (10) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
1
How are these bumps different from the ones that places such as Clackamas County installed back in the 80's on shoulders (think River Road), and had to remove a couple of years later because they were the cause of a number of bicycle accidents, falls and flips, when bumped?

Will the spacing of these provide for legal and safe lane changes when needing to get to the other side of the street to reach your destination?
Posted by Bob R. on August 6, 2009 at 3:13 PM · Report
2
It's hopeless to point this out, but that should be "Sam Adams's twitter."
Posted by sgp on August 6, 2009 at 3:36 PM · Report
3
@sqp

For future nitpicking purposes, house style is actually "Adams' twitter."
Posted by Alison Hallett on August 6, 2009 at 3:50 PM · Report
4
yes, s's is extremely annoying, but perhaps you should focus more energy on teaching "house style" to your employees. Or at least teach them the mayor's name.
Posted by GLV on August 6, 2009 at 3:56 PM · Report
5
"While working in sweltering heat, downtown workers/people/bicyclists/homeless people/street vendors/mayors must walk on hard pavement, inhale exhaust fumes, and dodge cars, buses, and streetcars—all of which can be terrifying to them."
Posted by Number Six on August 6, 2009 at 4:38 PM · Report
6
It seems to me like the real solution to the horse problem is more horses and less cars on the streets, that way the horses won't be so lonely. In any case, why is PETA stopping at carriages, why not ban police horses and parade horses too?
Posted by Matthew D on August 6, 2009 at 4:49 PM · Report
7
And yes, what Bob said on the bumps. If they are going to put those in, they should be 3+ feet high so that people know that hitting them will be a problem. Those just look dangerous because people won't automatically know that if you hit one, you'll crash...
Posted by Matthew D on August 6, 2009 at 4:54 PM · Report
8
No, the city won't install those bumps. How else will they be able to tax the bicyclists $97 for leaving the bike lane?

Also, when is "sara mirk" moving out of Portland?
Posted by ()() on August 6, 2009 at 9:32 PM · Report
9
Bike boulevards all the way. We can't half-ass this.

Those bumps are unsightly, they do nothing for preventing cars from rolling over them, and they present a slight safety issue with actual bikes.
Posted by NIG GER on August 7, 2009 at 7:01 AM · Report
10
I don't feel they should ban the horse drawn carriages, as those excuses for why they should be banned are ridiculous. What they should do is check in with the stables/companies that use these horses and make sure they are getting the proper care they need, so they don't drop dead from fatigue/over work and lack of proper nutrition.
Posted by Killchylde on August 19, 2009 at 3:00 PM · Report

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