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Friday, March 5, 2010

Bikes Bike Plan $20 Million Kickstart Will Delay Sewer Projects

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Fri, Mar 5, 2010 at 3:00 PM

Our next war: Bikes vs. Bioswales!
  • City of Portland
  • Our next war: Bikes vs. Bioswales!
When Mayor Sam Adams made his surprise announcement of $20 million in "kickstart" funds for the 2030 Bike Plan last month, critics were skeptical. The money was supposed to come from the contract savings in the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) budget, but the director of BES said, "He's the mayor, he can propose whatever he wants. But it's not like there's a bag of cash sitting around that those savings go into."

Well they found the cash! Yesterday the mayor's office drafted the ordinance directing BES to shift 20 million more dollars over the next three years into its Green Streets program, which will prioritize building bioswales, curb extensions and other waste-water collecting projects on streets slated to be bike boulevards. Starting 2014, the plan will allocate $2 million to bike projects annually, if City Council approves the ordinance next week.

"It’s a cost effective investment," says the Mayor's Transportation Director Catherine Ciarlo. "It’s more than cost-effective, it's smart. You’re treating storm water and in the process it will make streets calmer and more livable."

So what's getting cut from the BES budget to make room for bikes? Here's the list (pdf) of projects which will be delayed to shift that $20 million to bikeable green streets. Three million will come from the watershed investment fund, which preserves health of city watersheds, but the big chunk ($12 million) will come from delaying sewer projects that would have fixed old leaky pipes flooding basements city-wide.

Building bioswales for bikes instead of fixing leaky pipes? I think it's a smart move. But hey, you know my opinion when it comes to bikes.

 

Comments (8) RSS

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1
Big ups to you Sarah for admitting that you'd give $$$ to bike projects above other well-meaning projects. I appreciate the disclosure. Seriously.

Chances of hate crimes towards bikers increasing during the next rainy season?
Posted by CH on March 5, 2010 at 3:28 PM · Report
2
'Building bioswales for bikes instead of fixing leaky pipes? I think it's a smart move. But hey, you know my opinion when it comes to bikes.'

So the pipes can leak, thus destroying the streets. Really?!
Posted by D on March 5, 2010 at 3:49 PM · Report
3
D - the bioswales etc will reduce the amount of water in the sewers in the first place, so they will still help reduce leaks. Whether it's as effective at reducing problems as mending pipes is debatable, partly because it won't necessarily be the same streets that are most likely to have problems; but it's not a completely black-and-white split. My guess is that the leak reduction achieved this way will be around half of the reduction that could be achieved under the original plan, but there's not many hard facts to base that guess on.
Posted by Stu on March 5, 2010 at 4:11 PM · Report
4
Good to know Stu, thanks!
Posted by D on March 5, 2010 at 4:19 PM · Report
5
"My guess is that the leak reduction achieved this way will be around half of the reduction that could be achieved under the original plan"

What crevice of your ass did you pull that number from? You ought to be a city planner.

Ever wonder what it would look like if a bunch of well-meaning over-achievers with no common sense or money smarts were given control over a large billion dollar operation? Welcome to Portland.

"Building bioswales for bikes instead of fixing leaky pipes? I think it's a smart move."

That's brilliant. I think rather than fixing the leaky pipes in my house, I'll put a birdbath on the lawn.
Posted by Blabby on March 5, 2010 at 4:30 PM · Report
6
Don't shit where you eat my friend...
Posted by BOBSLoB on March 5, 2010 at 8:23 PM · Report
7
When raw sewage backs up into your basement, you can ride your bike to the store and pickup some Drano.......
Posted by Bankerman on March 7, 2010 at 7:28 PM · Report
8
This is a bike plan I can love. Sam nuanced it, it makes sense. If retarded shit fer brains have problems with the accounting, I sugest they visit Iraq.
Posted by dlcoupe on March 24, 2010 at 11:17 AM · Report

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