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Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Bikes Don't Bike on the Sidewalk, the Blue Man is Watching.
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 10:29 AM
This guy turned up to testify at city council this morning with a very important message: DON'T BIKE ON THE SIDEWALK DOWNTOWN. Or skate on it.
You could hit someone.
The Blue Guy is actually named Michael Krupp and, after giving his two cents to city council on how the city should do more to discourage people dangerously riding on the sidewalk, he described an epic incident where he saw someone on a bike tearing downhill sidewalk, nearly hitting a mounted patrol police officer and whizzing by so close that he spooked the horse. "We could be looking at a $10 million lawsuit!" he says.
I asked Krupp what's up with the blue.
"It's just how I do," he replied.
2
Maybe they could, like, institute a law that prohibits biking on the sidewalks downtown and impose stiff fines. Oh wait, they alrea
6
I don't have a problem with bikes on sidewalks. I have a problem with *douchebags* on bikes on sidewalks, who don't care that pedestrians have the right of way and are not just impediments to their douchebaggy entitlement.
8
People who live downtown and have dogs are more concerning to me than people biking downtown on the sidewalks.
11
Well yeah, Oregometry, poop. And leashes tripping folks up and the whole owner leash dog(s) unit taking up a lot of space on the sidewalk. And the dogs tending not to understand sidewalk etiquette. And the whole pissing on things.
And from an animal rights perspective the last thing a dog wants is some would-be hipster/fake greenie type living in their tiny fancy-pants condo with annoying windmillson top leaving the dog locked up in the condo all day while they go off to their tech job in Hillsboro. The dogs don't even get a nice green space to visit and run around when they do get their owner to come home and quit boozing it up and surfing the web long enough to take them outside.
Downtown bicyclists, on the other hand, at least are moving freely and will get out of the way soon enough. They may even be able to quickly travel out of downtown to a location where they can let their dogs into the yard or walk to the nearby fenced in dog run. The downtown dog just lives a life of concrete filled misery cause their owner secretly just wants to live in New York City.
But mainly the poop. Which I think was mentioned.
And from an animal rights perspective the last thing a dog wants is some would-be hipster/fake greenie type living in their tiny fancy-pants condo with annoying windmillson top leaving the dog locked up in the condo all day while they go off to their tech job in Hillsboro. The dogs don't even get a nice green space to visit and run around when they do get their owner to come home and quit boozing it up and surfing the web long enough to take them outside.
Downtown bicyclists, on the other hand, at least are moving freely and will get out of the way soon enough. They may even be able to quickly travel out of downtown to a location where they can let their dogs into the yard or walk to the nearby fenced in dog run. The downtown dog just lives a life of concrete filled misery cause their owner secretly just wants to live in New York City.
But mainly the poop. Which I think was mentioned.
12
Huh. If you are going to attack me, Number Six you might as well get your facts straight.
We work from home in our fancy windmill building. We walk the dogs four times a day and always to the park at least one of those times. We pick up the poop.
Do kindly fuck off with your judgey judgments please.
We work from home in our fancy windmill building. We walk the dogs four times a day and always to the park at least one of those times. We pick up the poop.
Do kindly fuck off with your judgey judgments please.
13
Wow, you actually live in the windmill building? Good guess for me! Judge not, lest ye guess correctly, I suppose. I just think of that as the epitome of annoying downtown living for trustifarians, unhappy hipsters and the Stuff White People like folks. Was I right on the tech job, web surfing and boozing?
Thanks for picking up your dogs' feces. Can you pick up the dogs' piss next time too?
Thanks for picking up your dogs' feces. Can you pick up the dogs' piss next time too?
14
@ Number Six
1) Dogs are fine in the city. It helps to have a breed that's most compatible with the lifestyle, but (and parents love hearing the comparison, I know) it's a lot like kids: the quality of the dog's lives isn't determined by the space they occupy, but by the time, care and love they get from their owners.
2) Poop obviously has to be picked up, and leashes kept short.
3) If there's one thing we can all agree on, it is that Kiala is a sushi-sucking limousine liberal who must be stopped at any cost.
1) Dogs are fine in the city. It helps to have a breed that's most compatible with the lifestyle, but (and parents love hearing the comparison, I know) it's a lot like kids: the quality of the dog's lives isn't determined by the space they occupy, but by the time, care and love they get from their owners.
2) Poop obviously has to be picked up, and leashes kept short.
3) If there's one thing we can all agree on, it is that Kiala is a sushi-sucking limousine liberal who must be stopped at any cost.
15
I lived Downtown for over five years with my dog whom I recently had to put down due to cancer. I always picked up the poop like the other 99% of dog owners. We went for monster walks in Forest Park or along the river, up to 23rd for a slice, or sometimes down to the Nordstrom Cafe on the square where we could wait in line together for coffee and a cookie. Yeah he was locked in the apartment sometimes (he went to the office maybe twice a week), but most suburban dogs suffer the same indignity. Some owners probably need to learn sidewalk etiquette, but some people with no dogs manage to take up just as much space. I think dogs add to the Downtown flavor more than all the crybaby bitches who think the actually existing Downtown should conform to their ideal of what Downtown should be.
16
@Colin,
Re #1: Point taken. I am stereotyping all dog owners unfairly. A small breed may enjoy life in the city if treated well. A child might also enjoy life downtown if treated well. I would, however, suggest that both would prefer to have a lawn and a tree.
Re #2: Agreed, though I am sure you will agree that rule is often not followed in many urban areas including at times, our fair city of Portland.
Re #3: Shhh! She's coming this way! Hide the white wine! Distract her with that copy of Dwell!
Re #1: Point taken. I am stereotyping all dog owners unfairly. A small breed may enjoy life in the city if treated well. A child might also enjoy life downtown if treated well. I would, however, suggest that both would prefer to have a lawn and a tree.
Re #2: Agreed, though I am sure you will agree that rule is often not followed in many urban areas including at times, our fair city of Portland.
Re #3: Shhh! She's coming this way! Hide the white wine! Distract her with that copy of Dwell!
18
The last time I was downtown and my shoes nearly became fecally acquainted, I'm sure it wasn't from a dog, and probably not from a bicyclist either.
I've also never heard of a dog that ran so fast that it ran into someone and killed them, so there's that. Unless there's a traumatic Clifford story from my childhood that I've since blocked out.
I've also never heard of a dog that ran so fast that it ran into someone and killed them, so there's that. Unless there's a traumatic Clifford story from my childhood that I've since blocked out.
19
@ Numer Six,
Today, I stepped in a squishy wad of chewed gum on a hot sidewalk. You think dog poop is a real problem?
You know nothing of pain.
Today, I stepped in a squishy wad of chewed gum on a hot sidewalk. You think dog poop is a real problem?
You know nothing of pain.
20
You could also hit someone going the wrong way on the SW Broadway bike lane, like a blue guy, did last Sunday. Not sure if it was the same guy.
21
I am going to agree with number six and say that dogs are unnecessary downtown. They are a selfish indulgence for small minded people who do not know how to cope with life by making friends.
There are no animals to herd or hunt downtown so what purpose does the dog serve? Only to assuage the selfish needs of the owner. Pets are slaves.
They have no choices. People claim that they do this or that for the sake of the pet but the reality of it is the pet has no choice. It does not get to apply to several homes and then chose the one that offers the benefits it wants. It cannot change its mind and chose to live somewhere else. It has no purpose except to entertain its owner.
It is cruel to own pets. If they are as smart as people think they are then it is cruel because they are never treated like an adult animal but as a child or as property and if they are just dumb animals then it is cruel because they are not in their natural environment of farming or hunting which is what they were bred to do.
There are no animals to herd or hunt downtown so what purpose does the dog serve? Only to assuage the selfish needs of the owner. Pets are slaves.
They have no choices. People claim that they do this or that for the sake of the pet but the reality of it is the pet has no choice. It does not get to apply to several homes and then chose the one that offers the benefits it wants. It cannot change its mind and chose to live somewhere else. It has no purpose except to entertain its owner.
It is cruel to own pets. If they are as smart as people think they are then it is cruel because they are never treated like an adult animal but as a child or as property and if they are just dumb animals then it is cruel because they are not in their natural environment of farming or hunting which is what they were bred to do.
22
@Anothervoice - Your argument applies equally to dogs in the suburbs, or anywhere else for that matter. You do not agree with number six, you are on your own. Also, are you saying you approve of hunting?
23
Thank God the horse didn't get spooked. The blue man is looking out for animals too, not just people on the sidewalk. The horse could have ran into the street and been killed or hurt. People like that riding bikes like assholes have to get out of their bubble and see whats around them. Jo
24
The blue man (Michael) is a great guy, looking out for both the animals and pedestrians. If the horse got spooked he could have ran into the street and got hit by a car. In NYC this is known to happen occasionally, and there is an inhumane situation with horses being warehoused at night and overworked in the oppressive heat. Their journey from Central Park to the "stables" takes them down very unsafe, trafficy streets. The conductors simply do not get penalties or tickets for using them up in the extreme heat. There is no law inforcement concerning this...
Back to Michael: we need more people like him, those that are not stuck in their own bubble, like those bikers that risk hurting others. Go "blue man"!
Oh. I am not a speller.
Back to Michael: we need more people like him, those that are not stuck in their own bubble, like those bikers that risk hurting others. Go "blue man"!
Oh. I am not a speller.
25
I live in downtown, and use a power-wheel chair to get around. I have a few close calls everyday with bikes (mostly speed demons on bmx bikes). Others use their bikes on the sidewalk reasonably and I suspect that when they ride in the same lane and same direction as the Max tracks it's a bigger hazard than riding slow on the sidewalks.
I've met and talked to "Blue Guy" Mike a few times and just waved to each other today. So I hope that when you are next downtown and see him you don't point at him, wave at him.
I've met and talked to "Blue Guy" Mike a few times and just waved to each other today. So I hope that when you are next downtown and see him you don't point at him, wave at him.
26
I love Blue Guy and just learned his name the other day. He's been blue for year or 2 now, has been a downtown character much longer. Always fun to watch him interacting with the yuppie ladies getting overpriced coffee from the nordstrom counter. He's my second favorite downtown PDX character after "Electric Guitar Man" (you know who I mean) due to the conviction with which he rocks the blueness and the fact that I've never seen him involved in a negative exchange with anyone.
I have no opinion about dogs or whatever you all are on about. But how annoying are those clipboarders, huh? What's that all about?
I have no opinion about dogs or whatever you all are on about. But how annoying are those clipboarders, huh? What's that all about?
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