Yesterday marked a return to class for students in Portland Public Schools, with other districts starting soon. This means Portland youth are walking, biking, rolling, and riding transit to get to and from school.  

Earlier this summer, Oregon Occupational Safety & Health (OSHA) finalized its permanent rule to help protect employees from the effects of unhealthy air (OAR 437-002-1081). Unhealthy air can be caused by wildfire smoke, industrial fires, stagnant smog, or inversion. Although Portland has not experienced the same level of unhealthy air quality this summer compared to the last two years, experts warn it’s only a matter of time. 

PBOT’s Safety team wants to ensure you’re all aware of the dangers from exposure to unhealthy air and have posted a required training for ALL PBOT employees to complete by Monday, Sept. 19. Here’s how: 

What data do we have available at PBOT? Who uses it? What is it used for? Who should you contact to access it? And how do you know if it is right for the work you’re doing? The PBOT Catalog can help answer these questions and more.   

We’ve added new functionality and content to the PBOT Catalog Version 3.0! You can now use it to find data and track progress for performance goals and objectives.  

Join our upcoming trainings to learn about this tool and how to use it. The Strategy, Data, and Performance section are hosting trainings weekly during September. The first training session is next Tuesday, Sept. 6, 10 – 10:50 a.m. via Teams. See this Friday’s Scoop for all four training options and calendar holds. You can also access the PBOT Catalog or see the PBOT Catalog User Guide to get started. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to Lauren Spear. 

Early Saturday, Aug. 20, PBOT Maintenance Operations crews began transforming SW Main Street between Third Avenue and Broadway, adding bike facilities that never existed before along this stretch where Main Street curves around the former (and future) home of the Thompson Elk Fountain. Before these changes, the bike lane ended at SW Third Avenue. Now, people biking have a much safer, dedicated lane between SW Third and Fourth avenues, separate from vehicular traffic, including buses (the bike lane weaves around the fountain to the north, and all vehicular traffic to the south).  

There is also a new shared bus and bike lane along SW Main Street between SW Fourth and Sixth avenues and a dedicated bike lane between Sixth and Broadway. 

Credit for this project goes to Scott Cohen, who pressed to get this connection and paid for it with “Missing Links”; Gabe Graff, who made all the right connections with the Elk contingency; and our stellar traffic engineers Andy Sullivan and Adam Moore who provided the design and analysis to ensure it worked.  

As always, a big shout-out to the amazing Maintenance Operations field crew: Jason Baggs, Mark Kodani, Dan Jones, Jim Brewer, Javier Corona-Lopez, and Rylan Bender. And a special thank you to Pennen Brelin and Jaclyn Rickard for creating and installing the elk bike lane art. Folks were up at 3 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday to complete the job and add their magic touches. 

This project is proving to be a favorite of both PBOT staff and the public. “I don’t know who exactly to thank for this, but I want to say that every day I come across the Hawthorne Bridge and bike past [where the elk was] is a better day,” wrote Catherine Ciarlo, Development, Permitting & Transit Acting Group Director. “The new street configuration feels so safe! So seamless! So simple and logical! Please pass along my congrats and gratitude to the folks who cut through the resistance and made this happen.”  

At press time, PBOT’s Instagram post about the bike lane changes had 244 likes, 15 comments, and was shared 42 times. In all, we reached 2,366 accounts, 13% of which do not currently follow us.  

Hey cool cats and Coffee Talkers, remember to get your last chats of this round in! We’re officially closing out our current round this week. Keep an eye out for the Coffee Talk Experience Survey in this week’s edition of the Scoop. We appreciate the time you take to fill it out, as it lets us know what change is needed to ensure the program continues to serve participants.  

Miss out on the last round? Don’t fret! Signups for the October, November, December round will open soon.  

If you have other questions or feedback for the organizer directly, reach out to Kailyn Lamb anytime.  

Copy got you down? PBOT’s next Lunch and Learon will feature a fun, interactive writing workshop with PBOT Content Producer, author, and overall word nerd Stacy Brewster. Using real PBOT examples, Stacy will walk through ways to improve your writing and public communication skills, tricks to transform bureau jargon into plain language, and tips for using the PBOT writing guides and glossary. 

Join us virtually at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 21!  

Last week, PBOT crews responded to a large gas spill on NE 12th Avenue between Davis and Flanders streets. Mark Bartholomew had crews onsite to close the street while they waited on the cleanup crew. The first email notifying folks of the spill came through at 1:35 p.m. Within two hours, the hazmat contractor finished their work and we reopened the road at 3:40 p.m.  

If you look closely, you can see James Petit with his yellow vest on, in the photo below: 

By Lisa Strader, PBOT’s ADA Coordinator and Ramps by Request Program Manager 

For the last eight years, my professional world has focused on increasing accessibility in our transportation system, especially for people with disabilities. Despite this focus, I recognize how little I understood about the depth and range of ableism in our culture.  

Casual and commonplace ableism 

Recently, I heard a community member complaining about the cost and unsightliness of our standard ADA-compliant curb ramps with truncated domes. “The old ones work just fine for people with disabilities and if they aren’t on every corner, people can just use a driveway,” they said. Another thing I’ve heard multiple times arguing against these same ramps: “someone will help them get what they need.” 

These are common examples of ableism. Like other forms of discrimination, ableist actions or beliefs discriminate against people with disabilities, diminishing them.  

Medical ableism   

The medical community writ large, historically, has been a major contributor to ableism, seeing disability as something wrong with a body, a defect within the individual rather than one of many characteristics. Although forced institutionalization or sterilization might be relics of the past, these prejudices persist, with an overreliance on a medical model of disability rather than a social or human rights model.  

For example, some medical professionals still tell parents of a child born with Down syndrome that they may never walk, talk, or be able to sit up (I’ve heard this from more than one parent). Some in the medical community believe disabilities are exaggerated, refusing to authorize equipment, medication, or surgeries that may improve someone’s life, simply because it won’t “fix” the person. They under-prescribe birth control under the belief that people with disabilities can’t or shouldn’t be sexually active.  

During the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, some took comfort in the fact that those dying from Covid-19 tended to have preexisting conditions, which includes a wide swath of the disability community. The message to people with disabilities here is rather dark, saying that such deaths were less of a loss than that of a so-called “able-bodied” person. All of these views are, at their core, ableist.  

Ableism in media 

A lot of ableism comes from years of media messaging of the needs and limitations of people with disabilities, portraying otherwise typical athletic, social, or intellectual activities as extraordinary. A local news story heralding a wheelchair user completing a marathon, for instance, or a TV show portraying someone with an intellectual disability graduating from college as remarkable, these are common tropes of ableism in our culture. It’s sometimes referred to as “inspiration porn.” If you are in the mood to laugh, check out Stella Young’s TED Talk “I'm not your inspiration, thank you very much.”   

Worse are media tropes which center non-disabled people as heroic for including or helping a disabled person, e.g, the football player asking a girl in a wheelchair to the prom, or the baseball team whose ball boy has Down syndrome. The issue here isn’t necessarily the action of the players or team but the way the media reports the story, minimizing the worthiness of the person with the disability.  

These trends may be reversing slightly now, but actors with disabilities are typically overlooked for parts in favor of non-disabled talent, even when the role has the same disability. Actors with disabilities are routinely undercast as well, given non-speaking roles, child-like roles, or being the object of someone else’s saving.  

Combating ableism 

Sometimes the good intentions of good people are ableist: asking a paraplegic hiker if they are looking for their group; telling a wheelchair user loading groceries in their car, “good for you getting out on your own”; or grabbing the arm of someone using a white cane to help them cross the street. A blind woman I know can't stand it when her family visits and they won't let her carry her own plate to the table. Each of these may come from a place of wanting to support someone but, to a person with a disability, they feel like they are seen as incapable. 

Given the public we serve and that 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. (26%) have some type of disability, it’s important to keep these issues forefront in our minds: 

By Abby Hauth  

Editor’s note: If you or a PBOTer you know is retiring, please reach out to Kailyn Lamb so the Street Cred team can put together a farewell article. 

Today marks the end of an era for the Parking Operations division and for PBOT as a whole: Chris Armes officially retires after 30 years of service! She leaves a legacy of successful projects that have improved Portland streets and systems. We wanted to share some of Chris’ story, her many accomplishments, and hear a bit from colleagues about the far-reaching impact of her work.  

Getting started at PBOT

Chris grew up in Milwaukie, Oregon but her PBOT story begins in 1992 as a Community Service Aide (CSA). Chris moved to the Neighborhood Traffic Management program as an Associate Planner after that, then to the Pedestrian program as a Program Coordinator. 

Chris notes a couple projects she was proud of that led to big changes in Portland’s streetscape. These include the demolition of the Lovejoy viaduct which made room for a new Streetcar in Northwest, and the E Burnside/Couch Street couplet which turned a section of E Burnside Street one-way going east and NW Couch Street one-way west. Both projects laid the groundwork for significant development of the Pearl and Central Eastside districts.  

Wendy Cawley remembers working on the couplet with Chris. “Chris was a great project manager,” Wendy says. “I so enjoyed our time working together on the project, especially during construction. We had an interesting contractor and some classic property owners and constituents that made for funny stories and memories, most of which I can't mention here! But I will always remember Chris as one of the best project managers at PBOT, able to lead her team and bring in projects on time and on budget.” 

To pay homage to the many projects Chris worked on at PBOT, and the huge impact Chris has had on Portland, her team at Parking Operations commissioned this beautiful map from artist Arial Piazza (whose work can be found on Etsy):  

Home at Parking Operations 

In 2014 Chris needed a change of pace and pivoted her work to the Parking Operations division where she worked her way up from Capital Project Manager to Division Manager in just four years. Early on at Parking Operations, Chris helped implement the Northwest and Central Eastside Parking Management plans. Under her guidance and leadership, PBOT more than doubled the number of parking pay stations in Portland, bringing more than 800 new ones online.  

Most notable in Parking Operations, Chris and consultants Parachute Strategies conceptualized the well-known Parking Kitty logo, modeled after her late cat Coconut (RIP) who Chris describes as a “fat and sassy girl.”  

Chris also worked with Scott Cohen on the Transportation Wallet program and developed the Parking Management Manual.  

“Chris has been so supportive of her staff in Parking Operations,” says Colleen Mosser who works on Chris’s team as a Parking Operations analyst. “She is always promoting self-growth, trusting us to get the job done and understanding when things go awry. She brings years of insight to the political aspect of our jobs and is great at team coordination between work groups through difficult tasks. Overall, she's just a good person,” Colleen adds. “She is funny and witty, but also direct and professional. She always reminds us there's no such thing as a parking emergency.” 

Chris leaves behind a staff of 31, the kind of people that have always made her excited to stay at the bureau over her long tenure. As a public employee, she has always valued this camaraderie alongside the common goal of working to build things and change policy to improve the lives of Portlanders, especially during the city’s growth.  

In her parting words to her team and to PBOT, Chris says: “When people are mad at you, remember to not take it personally. Being in the public eye, we hear from people who are so angry about our projects, but they just want to vent. Our job is to implement the policy.”  

Parking & Regulatory Services Group Director Dave Benson mirrors this idea, saying “I will remember and use the lessons Chris taught us that will keep our team strong, always learning and delivering the service the community needs.” 

Although this is Chris’ official last day, she has already moved to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. She looks forward to this next chapter of life, exploring the Olympic Peninsula, enrolling in a Master Gardener program through Washington State, golfing, kayaking, and some possible dabbling in macramé cat hammocks! 

PBOT wishes Chris the best although Colleen perhaps sums it up perfectly: “Although I'm happy Chris is moving on to the next stage in her life, I am still very sad that she is leaving. On both a professional level and a personal level, the days just aren't going to be as good without her.”  

You can continue to stay in touch with Chris by contacting her via her personal email at Armes068@gmail.com. 

By Noah Hanser-Young 

The Congressman Earl Blumenauer Bicycle & Pedestrian Bridge opened to the public with a massive celebration July 31. Thousands came out to bike on the new bridge, hear Congressman Blumenauer and other public officials speak, and engage with community vendors. The celebration spanned the Lloyd and Central Eastside neighborhoods, from the Go Lloyd organized event at the Hassalo Plaza, to the main bridge celebrations run by PBOT, to the Depave event in the central eastside that ran until 10 p.m. The celebration's success was not just the culmination of three months of event planning—it was the culmination of years of planning and construction on the bridge itself. 

The bridge is already having a huge, positive impact on pedestrians and people biking. But what you may miss about it’s gorgeous design is one hidden feature: seismic resiliency. While other Portland bridges could be damaged or collapse in a major earthquake, the Blumenauer—like the new Ned Flanders Crossing—can withstand a major quake. In the event of such a catastrophe, these bridges would become emergency routes to get people, supplies, or emergency equipment across the highway. 

Origins 

Before it received its distinctive name, the Blumenauer Bridge was originally conceived in the 1990s when PBOT planners began to look for ways to connect central city neighborhoods east of the river divided by I-84, making them more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists. The idea for the bridge gained support from cyclists and community organizations like The Street Trust and Friends of the Green Loop. By 2015, PBOT secured core funding for the project. 

A complicated project 

The Blumenauer Bridge faced a few unique challenges during the construction phase. The first concerned land ownership. I-84 and much of the surrounding land is owned by the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). To the west of I-84, near the north landing of the bridge, is a set of railroad tracks owned by Union Pacific Railroad. When building the bridge, Capital Project Manager Dan Layden had to plan with the construction team how the contact points of the bridge would land on PBOT property. They also had to account for construction taking place on railroad and ODOT land which created unique working conditions. For instance, the portion of the bridge over the railroad had to be worked on in 2-hour chunks to avoid scheduled trains. With some tasks requiring uninterrupted work, this meant a lot of strict time pressure. 

Another construction challenge was building over I-84. Any construction of the bridge directly over the highway required shutting down at least some of the highway. “The only way we can build this thing is to close the freeway.” Dan recalled. “We either close it for a long time, closing lane by lane, or we close the entire highway for one night.” The team opted for the latter.  

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, amongst other hurdles, slowed construction, so the bridge’s completion this summer was a huge cause for celebration. 

Opening day celebration 

PBOT’s Blumenauer Bridge celebration was the largest in the bureau’s recent memory. PBOT worked with many community organizations including the Central Eastside Industrial Council, Go Lloyd, Milagro Theater, The Street Trust, and Depave to put on the daylong celebration, including block parties at multiple sites.  

Getting to opening day 

For the PBOT planning teams, one challenge was finding a way for these separate community celebrations to integrate organically with the opening.  

Active Transportation & Safety Programs Section Manager Renata Tirta outlined the importance of this process. “This is the day the bridge becomes a public asset,” Renata said. “People will do with it what they want. They will bring their own sense of fun and utility to it.” Integrating community celebrations, in other words, was a key part of handing the bridge over to the public.  

Planning for the opening began in early May, with a ton of coordination and time from Renata and the Active Transportation & Safety Programs team alongside PBOT Communications.  

From Portland’s own Karma Rivera’s hip-hop performance to local donuts to Congressman Blumenauer's speech itself, every bit of planning was worth it. Over 8,000 people took part in the day’s activities, a celebration that continues today as people use the bridge. 

A symbol for the ages 

Since its opening, the Blumenauer Bridge has provided an incredible new connection for pedestrians and people biking between the Lloyd and Central Eastside neighborhoods. Based on PBOT’s electronic bike counter, the bridge now averages roughly 1,500 bike crossings a day.  

The bridge stays busy. People use it to meet friends and take in the view. Crews are on hand to plant trees and other final touches for the plazas. But no matter who is using it or enjoying it at any moment, the bridge stands as a mighty symbol for active transportation, lowering emissions, and bringing communities together.  

A farewell and thank you