Portland Carfree Day
...multi-modal, public-space-reclaiming fun

Yesterday, a young woman named Tracey Sparling was crushed by a cement truck as she rode her bike to class in downtown Portland. A memorial procession is planned for tonight. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
The procession will include mourners on foot and on bicycle. It will start from the west approach of the Burnside Bridge (where the Burnside is closed to motor vehicles).

Meet at 6pm.
Ride at 6:30.

Candles, flowers, notes…bring whatever you think is appropriate.

The 2007 edition of the Towards Carfree Cities conference was held in Istanbul, Turkey this August/September. A delegation of four members of the Portland carfree conference planning team attended.

An informal slideshow presentation about our experiences in Istanbul is planned for Saturday, October 13th, 7pm at 705 N Alberta St (at Albina). This will be largely a travelogue — other opportunities to see our pictures, as well as more formal, shorter presentations focused on the conference itself will be announced here soon.

The slideshow on the 13th will be preceded by a conference planning meeting, at 5:30 — everyone interested in being involved is welcome to attend.

For a sneak peek of some of our pictures, check out these (and the other pages linked to at the bottom right).

To view the slides from some of the presentations we attended, and to find out more about the Istanbul conference, take a look here.

photo by Kirsty Hall

International Carfree Day was on September 22nd, and yes, we celebrated in a low-key way in Portland — at the Belmont Street Fair on the 8th and then again at the Alberta Street Fair on the 22nd. Bill Stites secured enough sod (thanks to the Portland Nursery for their donation!) to cover a parking spot, and cared for and watered it so that it stayed beautifully green all week. Sara Stout heroically stepped up to the plate to be the point person for both events, and Kirsty, Aaron, Jeff B., Daniel, Meghan, and other super-volunteers came out to haul things, set up, clean up, and generally pull it all together.

My favorite part was the twenty somethings who were so excited to be playing Candy Land on a grassy spot in the street outside their favorite bar that they called all their friends to let them know. We sold a ton of t-shirts, gave away a lot of stickers and conference information, and chilled out on the grass with friends and strangers.

(photos from the Belmont Street Fair Carfree “booth” by Kirsty Hall)

photo of Hangzhou traffic by David Buck

In most of the world, portions of particular cities are closed for Carfree Day. But China, the People’s Republic of China, is going one huge step better. China is banning car traffic in 108 cities(!) on Carfree Day, September 22.

China plans to ban cars from streets in 108 cities in its first “No Car Day” on Sept. 22, part of an effort to promote environmental protection and ease congestion in the world’s second-largest auto market.

Streets in areas of Beijing, Shanghai and other cities will be open only to pedestrians, bicycles, taxis and buses from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to the Ministry of Construction. Sept. 22 is World Carfree Day, a United Nations-backed global campaign.

More details at China Plans First ‘No Car Day’ on Sept. 22 to Reduce Pollution by Irene Shen at Bloomberg.com

Come enjoy an excellent, central location for car-free space - right on Belmont at 34th. It’ll be at the NW corner, adjacent the ‘Alternative/Green Transportation’ section.

You’ll recognize it because it’s sodded (thanks, Portland Nursery!) with a 10 x 15 lawn IN THE STREET!

This just in from the DC’s Mayor’s Newsletter: Car Free Day in DC is September 18

Please join Mayor Fenty, members of the Council of the District of Columbia, the DC Department of Transportation and others for DC Car Free Day September 18. Car Free Day is an opportunity to get to know the District’s neighborhoods by walking, biking or taking public transportation. Fewer vehicles in use means cleaner air and less carbon in the atmosphere.

Sounds good, right? They’ll have a Week-long CarFree Challenge, a day-long challenge, and an event on 17th St. NW on Saturday, September 22 to celebrate World Carfree Day. The event itself doesn’t seem to be the focus; interestingly, the focus is asking DC’s citizens to go carfree for a day or a week.

Perhaps the streets aren’t necessarily going to be closed to automobile traffic?

It just strikes me interesting as it is so different than Portland’s approach of closing streets to cars. But giving people the opportunity to go carfree could impact their future commuting and traveling, so I think it is very positive. Go DC! They have a nice looking website, too.

Greetings Carfree Portlanders,

The Belmont Street Fair (Sept. 8th) and the Alberta Street Fair (Sept 15th) are coming up soon and the exciting news = both events will be closing their streets to car-traffic for the day !

Sara and Bill have all the details to follow, but if you’d like to get involved, check out the rest of the story after the jump.
(more…)

Cars 3 - People 0
Driver killed in Clackamas County crash

Posted by The Oregonian August 05, 2007 16:31PM
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a crash that killed a female driver this morning in Oregon City. … Sheriff’s officers and medical personnel responded. The driver, whose name has not yet been released, died at the scene.

Driver eluding police crashes, dies

Posted by The Oregonian August 05, 2007 15:57PM
A man driving a stolen pickup died while trying to elude police today, according to Oregon State Police. Officials say the pickup crashed into a creek and caught fire, killing the driver. … Anyone with information regarding the identity of the deceased driver is asked to contact Detective Mike Tabor at 541-440-3334, Ext. 226.

Hit-run suspect’s return to Oregon delayed

Posted by The Oregonian August 03, 2007 11:24AM
Rocendo Rosales-Corona, 25, arrested last month in California in the hit-and-run death of a Dodson woman, 23-year-old Kimberly McDaniel, will not arrive in Oregon until late this month. … The arrest came one year to the day after McDaniel was struck as she jogged along a highway near Dodson in the Columbia River Gorge. She died the next day.

These were taken from today’s Oregonian Breaking News Blog. It covers stories from August 2-3. I am only including stories that talk about car, bike or pedestrian fatalities.

Police: Driver dies after plowing into cars stopped at construction zone

Posted by The Oregonian August 03, 2007 08:16AM
A Westport man, Timothy L. Vidos, 47, died this morning when he crashed into other cars stopped at a construction site on U.S. 30, about 3 miles west of Clatskanie, according to Oregon State Police.

Lebanon runner struck and killed by motorist

Posted by The Oregonian August 03, 2007 08:03AM
A Lebanon man died Thursday after being struck while running in a traffic lane on Oregon 20 near Weirich Road east of Lebanon.

Vance Anderson, 32, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Anderson was struck by a Ford pickup driven by Pedro A. Manibusan, 53, of Albany.

Vancouver woman charged in double-fatal crash in April

Posted by The Oregonian August 02, 2007 18:28PM
A Vancouver woman who had a record of traffic violations was charged today with two counts of vehicular homicide in an April 30 collision that killed two 21-year-old friends from Camas, Wash.

Theresa Nickelby, 38, also was charged in Clark County Superior Court with reckless driving and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Nickelby was driving a van west in the eastbound lanes of State Route 14 about 3 a.m. when the van collided with a car, killing Jessica Hannah Blanck and Kristyne Elizabeth Shaddix.

Man found dead, companion arrested in Woodland, Wash., traffic mishap

Posted by The Oregonian August 02, 2007 18:02PM
Cowlitz County authorities today identified a 30-year-old man whose body was discovered in the Woodland, Wash., area and arrested one of his companions on failure to report a death from a motor vehicle accident.

The dead man was identified as Erasto Casarroyias-Cortez of Woodland.

Today’s total: Cars - 5, People - 0