Your Vote Matters
In our special election edition, we have a candidate questionnaire that we’ve sent to all city council candidates. Please read on to find out their answers to our questions! We are also recruiting new board members for 2025, have recaps on a city led study for People Streets and the Joint Commission on Transportation Roadshow stop from earlier this month, and an opportunity to give feedback on Greenwood Avenue.
And with all that going on, don’t forget to see our upcoming events section for Second Sunday Spokes and Bikes & Pints!
City Council Candidate Questionnaire
There are four seats up for election for City Council this November. We sent out a questionnaire to each city council candidate to ask their opinions on the Hawthorne Bridge, transportation project planning, and our current city street standards. Find out how they answered!
Joint Committee on Transportation Roadshow Stop Recap
On September 12 the Joint Commission on Transportation made a stop in Bend during their roadshow circuit of the state. The day started with members of the Joint Commission on Transportation and some local officials touring some areas of the Central Oregon area to see roads that might benefit from more funding from the State legislatureâs transportation package in 2025. After that tour, there was a roundtable discussion where Bend Bikes Board President, Elisa Cheng, was an invited member. The discussion included questions on what was âtop of mindâ when it comes to transportation and ways to develop sustainable funding for ODOT. The biggest stand out comment for top of mind transportation thoughts was safety. Safety was mentioned over and over in regards to people on bikes and drivers. Secondarily, maintenance was brought up repeatedly as an issue that needs more funding in the state. As for sustainable funding sources several ideas were discussed including charges for electric vehicles, a vehicle miles traveled fee, road user fees, increasing the gas tax, and indexing the gas tax to inflation.
After the roundtable discussion, there was a public testimony section where members of the public could give oral comments to the committee. (Thank you to the Bend Bikes volunteers that were able to make it to this!) Here is a breakdown of the 39 comments that were given during this section of the roadshow stop:
- Need for better public transportation options and funding –Â 13 comments
- Safety for people biking, walking, rolling, and driving including having to cross highways –Â 12 comments
- Climate change concerns addressed by building multi-modal infrastructure –Â 4 comments
- Need for sustainable funding sources –Â 3 comments
- Funding for road maintenance –Â 2 comments
- Consistency of infrastructure to benefit people with disabilities like visual impairments –Â 1 comment
- Funding for programs for people that don’t drive like the elderly, kids, and people with disabilities –Â 1 comment
- Move the the railroad switchyard outside of the Bend city limits –Â 1 comment
- Funding for wildlife crossings –Â 1 comment
- Funding to benefit rural and lower income Oregonians –Â 1 comment
The City of Bend’s Study on People Streets
The City of Bend recently received a grant to study the planning of âPeople Streets.â Bend Bikes was invited to participate in the Planning for People Streets Steering Committee to help shape what People Streets in Bend might look like. Why is the city doing this study? Their purpose is to create vibrant, people-first streets and spaces in Bend. These streets will support people safely walking, biking, rolling, using transit, and driving as well as create public places that are inviting and activated. Additionally they will support climate goals by reducing vehicle miles traveled. Another factor in this is that creating âlow car districtsâ is mandated by the state in their new Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities rules. The first meeting took place on September 19. Many ideas were discussed on what would make âPeople Streetsâ inviting places for all. This included creating areas where nature and landscaping were present, multilingual signs, and accessible infrastructure for transit stops and people on bikes. And importantly, cars were slowed down, not present, and deprioritized.
If you have ideas that youâd like represented in the next meeting, please contact us with your comments.
Greenwood Avenue Feedback
The City of Bend has implemented the Greenwood Avenue quickbuild project on Greenwood in between NW Wall Street and NE 2nd Street. This test project reduced the number of lanes from four to three and created buffered bike lanes on both sides of the street. Members of Bend Bikes road this section of the street with some city officials to test it out and found the improvements to be much more comfortable and easy to ride. We have also heard reports that it feels better for drivers as well! City Council would love to hear your thoughts on the improvements so we encourage you to write in comments with your feedback. During the test phase of this project, it’s important that we express elements of the project that we like to make sure they are made permanent!
Please email [email protected] with your thoughts (you can also CC us at [email protected] if you’d like).
We are Looking for Board Members!
As 2024 is rolling to a close, we are looking for more folks to join the Bend Bikes Board of Directors!
- Do you love to ride your bicycle to work or for errands?
- Do you wish there were more opportunities to safely get around Bend by walking, biking, or rolling?
- Do you want to roll your sleeves up and help advocate for the safety of people who bike, walk, and roll in Bend?
- Does an overnight bike tour board retreat sound like your kind of fun?
We are a grassroots, all volunteer, nonprofit organization that advocates for the safety of people who ride bikes and for a comprehensive network of bike-friendly routes in Bend. The full Board meets every other month and board members typically work on other projects as their schedules allow.
We are searching for people of all ages and backgrounds who are passionate about getting more people on bicycles in Bend. Interested? Please complete our application by November 15th and weâll be in touch shortly after! We plan on doing interviews in November/December with new board members starting in January.
Our Favorite Bike Routes
Board member Jim Elliott describes the route he takes from the Southwest of Bend to Bear Creek Elementary where he volunteers as a school crossing guard. This route utilizes the Coyner Trail and is just in time for the start of school this month! If you live in this section of town, consider biking with your kiddos to school while this nice weather lasts!
Influence Changes to NE Neff Road
The City of Bend is holding a PRE-DESIGN OPEN HOUSE!
Monday, October 21, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Deschutes Childrenâs Foundation, East Bend Campus
2125 NE Daggett Lane
Online option will be available starting October 21 on this webpage
This will be a valuable opportunity to get feedback to the city on what you’d like to see improved in this pedestrian and bike safety project. Meet the project team and get feedback in on what your safety concerns are before the project design begins!