In the coming days and weeks PBOT plans to place signs and barricades at 100 locations citywide. Before we embark on this exciting traffic calming and open streets experiment, I want to share a few thoughts about what we can do to make sure it’s a success. […] People who are discriminated against and who don’t have built-in social or economic privileges and who are struggling under the weight of a system that has always been tilted against them should have their needs and concerns elevated first and foremost. Leaders need to be clear about what that means and how it will influence plans and actions. PBOT needs to clarify who they’ve talked to in deciding how and where to make these changes. […] Everyone at PBOT and Commissioner Chloe Eudaly’s office needs to erase “close” from their vocabulary for the next few weeks. There are myriad ways to talk about this effort without using that word and setting people off who are afraid something is being taken away from them. Portland isn’t closing anything, we are simply reducing access for drivers and creating more space for all other road users. The streets are open to drivers who live on them, US Mail trucks, first-responders, and so on. […] Because the initial batch of these temporary diverters are only going on streets in the existing neighborhood greenway network, people that live in places without them are mad. Most notably, there are no greenways in southwest Portland or in the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood in southeast. It’s also clear that with only 100 locations announced, there’s no way to cover all the places that need traffic calming. PBOT needs to make it clear that they’re aware of these gaps and share a method for closing them. They should be transparent with the criteria they’re using to choose locations and let the public know how to influence them and suggest more locations. […] It’s time to tap into that asset and recruit neighborhood residents to become greenway superheroes who are trained and accountable for making sure barricades are where they should be. […] The barricades and signs won’t work if they’re too far off to the side. It will be tempting for PBOT to place them in the shoulder and shadow of parked cars or too close to corners. That would be a big mistake. If people ignore these diverters, it will endanger street users and it will open PBOT up to criticism that the program isn’t working. Let’s learn from Bend. They initially placed signage too far off the side. Advocates spoke up and got them to re-orient them into the middle of the roadway. Essential drivers and other road users can still go around them, but they have to slow down and take account.

As much as the coronavirus scares me, the long-term implications for transportation frighten me more. --- A survey by Transit App, shows that in the US the flight from public transit has been disproportionately white, male, and affluent. Of those left riding transit 92% are essential workers, 70% make less than $50,000 per year, and 85% do not have a car at home and do not have access to one. […] While transit agencies make painful cuts and struggle with infection control, automakers are likely hard at work developing ad campaigns that cling onto some peoples’ feeling that cars are the safest way to travel. According to a recent survey by Cars.com, 20% of people searching for a car said they don’t own one and had been using public transit or ride hailing. To combat the marketing onslaught, people will need good and safe options. TriMet will need to invest heavily and publicly in infection control like accelerating installation of protective barriers for drivers, reprogramming rear doors to open for boarding, and eliminating fare inspections. New strategies like temperature checks or voluntary location tracing apps to aid contact tracers might become necessary to prevent a new surge of cases as some industries head back to work this summer.

Despite coronavirus outbreaks at shelters in other cities, Multnomah County isn’t changing its practices, citing measures in place to separate people. --- But barriers have not been added between beds at the Oregon Convention Center shelter or between beds at other shelters in the county’s system that did not already have them. Originally, placing barriers between beds was among the county’s COVID-19 guidelines for shelters, but that recommendation has since been removed. Toevs has said the guidelines were written when it was expected that sick and well people would be housed together. However, because the virus often presents as asymptomatic and testing hasn’t been conducted at shelters, it’s unknown whether Multnomah County has effectively separated those with COVID-19 from those who are well.

Due to the need for social distancing to help slow the spread of COVID-19 Critical Resistance PDX is transitioning our prison correspondence program online. This requires new tools and techniques for both those participating in and those maintaining the program, so thank you in advance for your patience and collaboration in creating systems that work for our needs. We receive anywhere from 20-40 letters a month and we offer political education, resource information, and books and articles Folks can help out by writing letters to people in OR/WA prisons, typing notes or archiving correspondence, as well as other things that help our chapter running.

Right now we need city leaders who can unite people around a vision of what the post-coronavirus city looks like. Listen to your most visionary planners at PBOT and ask advocates to help the city engage and build that vision. Could we roll out a temporary version of the complete 2030 Bike Plan this summer? Can we transform PBOT to do the work of Better Block on a citywide scale? Right now we need government to work better than it ever has. We need to try big, bold, new ideas and not be afraid to adapt them as conditions change. We need to work closely with the most vulnerable people in our communities and make sure changes elevate and fulfill their needs. Most importantly, we need the government and our elected leaders to act.

When our best impulses seem at odds with necessity. --- Thursday is shaping up to be a decent night. A bit slow, but decent numbers considering WHO has officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. My sous chef informs me that El Gaucho Steakhouse downtown has closed and laid everyone off. This strikes me as a wildly premature move, although given that they’re so dependent on tourists and client lunches, they wouldn’t have much business now anyhow. Nostrana, my restaurant, is in Southeast Portland, a world away from downtown. Our people are locals, families, regulars.

Forty-five tents are slated for each of the campsites which should begin opening early next week — one in Old Town and two campsite in the Central Eastside. A minimum of 135 people will have access to these shelter-in-place camps. Partners who already share tents could increase that total. Since the city began to shut down over COVID-19, unhoused people wandered a suddenly quiet city of shuttered services and boarded-up doors. Gone are the libraries where people would spend days, the Starbucks where some unhoused people would splurge on coffee and use the restroom. Drop-in spaces limit the number of people who come in. At Street Roots, people wait on duct-tape lines spaced 6 feet apart to access mail, income, and sinks with soap.

Many Portland bike riders are already wearing masks. (Photos by Jonathan Maus/BikePortland) The Age of Masks is upon us. The deeper we get into this pandemic, the more apparent it becomes that we need a much more radical approach to cycling outside than simply saying “ride alone”.

Compiled and updated by Thursday Bram.

Restaurants and bars that closed or switched to takeout-only service in the Portland area over concerns from the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

Multnomah County has at least 4,000 people living in shelters, cars and on the street on any given night. Health officials say they are among the most vulnerable in a pandemic like the one sweeping through Oregon.