Portland is comprised of five quadrants: Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast, and also North. While not a proper quadrant, East Portland also has its own identity, made up of anything east of 50th. Or anything east of 82nd, depending on who you ask. Needless to say, I find Portland’s boundaries a little confusing, but I consider myself a East Portlander who lives in the Southeast quadrant. We leave East Portland for a lot of stuff (like our neighborhood middle school), but many of our favorite places are out this way. Since we don’t live desirably “close in,” I feel pretty in tune with East Portland, far from the fanciest bike infrastructure and fancier non-bike stuff.
The eastpdx project has intrigued me since I first discovered it–it’s a Twitter account run by a different East Portlander each week who can tweet about whatever they want. The account has featured important people, like Jo Ann Hardesty then candidate/now electee for Portland City Council, but also some regular people which prompted me to apply to be a curator.
I thought it’d be fun to showcase family biking in East Portland for a week. I planned to use it as an excuse to bike to all our favorite places in East Portland and snap a bunch of photos as well as show off some of the better bike infrastructure closer in to show what we’re missing out this way. Curators can tweet as little or as much as they want and I had hoped to tweet a lot and bike a lot, but it turned out to be a lot more work than I realized! In retrospect I should have planned more in advance. I made notes of places I wanted to go ahead of time, but I should have also made notes on general things I wanted to tweet about–and I should have composed all those general-thing tweets ahead of time for convenient cutting and pasting. I’m not much of a retweeter to begin with, but this is the perfect sort of account to retweet all the articles I see and read via twitter each day. Also my kids were both sick here and there during the week so that put a damper on things and kept us from doing much of anything.
Perhaps I’ll become a bit better of a tweeter on my @familyride account now, but in the meantime I wholeheartedly appreciate the effort put forth by those with more robust accounts!
Below is my week of @eastpdx tweets for posterity:
I’m excited to pedal my way into the week of tweeting about East Portland (and a little bit beyond). I’d love to hear from you if you also bike in the area!
I love biking by Little Free Libraries! This cute @LtlFreeLibrary is right by Glenwood City Park. Sorry in advance if I pepper my week of tweets with funny idioms 😜
Do you enjoy street paintings/murals, too? Colorful and traffic calming! This one is in front of Kelly Elementary. Here’s more about it from @CityRepair : Kelly Elementary Community Painting
Adding to my list of things easy to notice, appreciate, and pause at by bike: bike-themed yard art. This garden penny farthing on SE Knight always catches my eye.
I’m familiar with the war memorials in Tom McCall Waterfront Park, but Veterans Day got me curious about any East Portland memorials. I discovered the Oregon Korean Veteran’s Memorial in Willamette National Cemetery.
How are you faring in the wind? At home I thought this was an odd all-directions wind, but after biking east to the cemetery I can verify this is the typical Portland east wind.
Portland has two winds: the dry east wind and the wet west wind. I have yet to decide if I dislike biking in wind or biking in rain more.
I should point out that my bike is BIG and weighs 75 pounds so I don’t really have to worry about getting buffeted by side gusts, making wind more of an annoyance than a safety hazard for me.
p.s. my bike is called a “longtail cargo bike” and designed to carry big loads, like up to 3 kids or furniture. It’s foot longer than a regular bike and very sturdy.
Currently reading (and enacting) our newly borrowed book on the bus. 30 idioms weren’t enough for the whole ride from downtown to Woodstock, but it helped make the trip fun!
We mostly bike everywhere, but for things too far or too late (about once a month) we use transit—like coming home from the train station tonight.
Do you know that saying, “There’s no bad weather, just bad clothing.” My nine-year old doesn’t subscribe to it, but at 38-feels-like-35 degrees I’m all bundled up and comfortable.
At 40-feels-like-38 degrees my 11-year old is dressed for the weather. Granted he bikes 4 miles/30 minutes to middle school while his little brother only bikes 1 mile/6 minutes to elementary school.
His chin was still cold so tomorrow he’ll wear his balaclava, too.
PRO TIP: call balaclavas “ninja masks” to encourage resistant cold kids to happily wear them.
PRO TIP: call balaclavas “ninja masks” to encourage resistant cold kids to happily wear them.
I mentioned we only ride transit once a month, but I love that we have easy access to the bus. Have you read former EastPDX curator @joann4portland‘s “One Portland, One Planet” page? I love her views on public transportation. https://joannforportland.com/climatejustice/
This @BikePortland story “Portland’s new commissioner-elect sees a carfree future with fareless and fast transit” about @joann4portland covers transit, bikes, walking, rideshare tax, and @pdxvisionzero. I have high hopes for the future!
Portland’s new commissioner-elect sees a carfree future with fareless and fast transit
Portland’s new commissioner-elect sees a carfree future with fareless and fast transit
My 4th grader missed lunch while at the dentist so I took him to his favorite, Primal Burger, before bringing him back.
I love dining with a view of our parked bikes.
Here’s an article by Portlander @ellyblue about the importance of bike parking: The Best Way to Promote City Riding? Bike Racks
I’m lucky my bike is so heavy (75 pounds, a regular bike is probably 30 pounds) so if there’s no bike rack I can “wheel lock” (lock frame to wheel so it can’t be rolled away) and rest assured it probably won’t get carried away. Not that I do this often bc better safe than sorry!
I hope never to give the impression you HAVE to have a special bike for family biking. The bike you already have is always the best bike! However, I sure love my bike—a longtail cargo bike can carry kids and their bikes at the same time (ate too much at lunch).
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Chris Smith
@chrissmithus · Nov 13
@chrissmithus · Nov 13
Madi, I hope you’ll draw attention to the new bike parking zoning code making its way to the Planning and Sustainability Commission in January: https://t.co/dTpsIrkQmJ More and better bike parking for new development (including larger spaces for bikes like yours)
Have you noticed the numerous street signs rotated 90 degrees?! It makes wayfinding difficult…I usually encounter them only when I really want to know where I am!
Do you know about bike-specific signal detectors? Put your front wheel on the bike-on-a-stick to trigger a green light. Useful if you don’t travel with a kid who likes to go push the button a gazillion times *bee-boop* *bee-boop* *bee-boop*
🎁 Heat packs, gloves, ponchos, socks! 🎁
This isn’t my favorite way to shop, but wish lists are great for involving kids—mine just perused the list and decided what to add to our cart to send to Street Roots.
This isn’t my favorite way to shop, but wish lists are great for involving kids—mine just perused the list and decided what to add to our cart to send to Street Roots.
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Silicon Florist
@siliconflorist · Nov 14
@siliconflorist · Nov 14
Did you know that our friends at @StreetRoots have an @amazonwishlist for things their vendors need? It’s a simple and straightforward way to support some of the most incredible entrepreneurs in our community Supporting our entire entrepreneurial community: Street Roots has an Amazon Wishlist
The four-mile bike ride to our neighborhood middle school is kinda far so thank goodness for the school bus when we can’t ride. We’ve only had to use it twice so far this year–once when I was sick and today with my littler kid home sick.
Did you read or hear about the woman injured by the tripwire on the I-205 path? I first read about it on http://BikePortland.org and was saddened by some of the comments. Here’s a just-published compassionate guest opinion.
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BikePortland
@BikePortland · Nov 14
@BikePortland · Nov 14
I ride the I-205 path with my kids, not daily but regularly. We don’t find the path scary and it fuels good discussions on houselessness in Portland.
From a comment on that opinion piece by a BikePortland reader named Nathan. Something I’ve definitely noticed, but never put into words before. We who bike for transportation come into contact with houseless neighbors more than those in cars.
My bike often serves as a conversation starter so I find it easier than some to talk with houseless neighbors.
The thing I don’t like about the I-205 path is that since it’s one of the few places people feel safe to live I’m sort of pushing my way through _their_ safe space, not the other way around.
When possible I avoid the path at night, not because I’ve felt unsafe, but because I worry about the few spots were people don’t have space to put their tents and stuff next to the path and are vulnerable upon part of the path.
HOWEVER, I do have one bad story about the I-205 path:
I’m not out at night much, but was a couple weeks ago. I spent some time figuring out a route that avoided the path. Heading home two guys in a car shadowed me for a couple blocks as I crossed a bridge over I-205…
I’m not out at night much, but was a couple weeks ago. I spent some time figuring out a route that avoided the path. Heading home two guys in a car shadowed me for a couple blocks as I crossed a bridge over I-205…
Naturally the path seemed safer so I left the street as soon as possible…and rode through a huge patch of broken glass that seemed intentionally placed. I didn’t place blame at the time, but now I wonder if it wasn’t the 3 men who set the tripwire. It was in the same exact spot
Rather than have my sixth grader take the school bus home I toted his bike, his sick little brother, and his dog to get him at the end of the day. Yay cargo bikes!
I love admiring murals from the saddle of my bike. We pedal past this “Twinkle” mural on the Phoenix Pharmacy Building every day. Here’s more about this @seuplift and @fosterpowellna Foster Window Project
Foggy this morning! We stick to quiet streets and travel slowly enough that the limited visibility doesn’t affect us other than create a pretty and eerie backdrop. Is fog a hinderance for you?
I stopped by one of my favorite @LtlFreeLibrary this morning: Reading is Magical!
I’ve been stopping by Little Free Libraries to leave books lately because I wasn’t organized enough to assemble a pile to donate during our schools’ Children’s Book Harvests ****BUT**** I just checked out @PDXbookbank and see I can donate directly!
More @PDXbookbank info. It’s just a 40-minute bike ride from home for me!
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Children’s Book Bank
@PDXbookbank · Nov 9
@PDXbookbank · Nov 9
Our annual Children’s Book Harvest is in full swing! This impressive donation (23 boxes!) came from Rieke Elementary. These books will be cleaned, repaired, and redistributed to students in our community. Many thanks from us (and Clifford😉)!
Have you heard of a “walking school bus?” (Or “WSB” if you’re into acronyms.)
A walking school bus is a group of children walking to school with one or more adults.
http://www.walkingschoolbus.org/ is a website maintained by @SafeRoutesNow and @USDOT with info on how to start a WSB and why you might want to.
Our elementary school counselor taught me something interesting: WSBs aren’t just fun, healthy, and good for the brain, they help with attendance!
Per @SafeRoutesNow: “Transportation is one of the key barriers to attendance that contributes to chronic absenteeism and tardiness.
Any one person can start a walking school bus and many start organically, but our school counselor is helping us coordinate a couple starting soon. Yay!
Since I’m the self-proclaimed “Bike to School Mom” at our school (and many students think I’m the Bike Fairy, though of course no one knows who the Bike Fairy is!) I’ve volunteered to lead one of the WSBs…even though it’ll mean a less simple morning for us.
I feel silly about this, but I have no idea how long it takes to walk to school–we’ve only ever biked! I was going to do a practice run yesterday, but my sick student got us off the hook.
So I can sort of relate to how tough it is to break the routine when that routine is driving to school and you’re tempted to switch to walking, biking, or busing to school.
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a movement that aims to make it safer and easier for students to walk and bike to school.
If you want to follow the local SRTS account, find it here: @SafeRoutesPNW
If you want to follow the local SRTS account, find it here: @SafeRoutesPNW
While I’m talking SRTS, we have some great free resources (i.e. FREE PRIZES) here in Portland. @PBOTinfo and @thestreettrust provided all schools who filled out the form with prizes for Walk to School Day last month. I wrote about it on @bikeportland: Family Biking: Time to plan for Walk and Roll to School Day
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SafeRoutes PNW
@SafeRoutesPNW · Nov 17
@SafeRoutesPNW · Nov 17
There are many SRTS programs in the greater Portland area – in Portland alone, great work is being done by @PBOTinfo @CommCyclingCtr @OregonWalks and @thestreettrust
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SafeRoutes PNW
@SafeRoutesPNW · Nov 17
@SafeRoutesPNW · Nov 17
There are also #SRTS programs at @multco and @CityofGresham pretty much covering all of east county and doing great work.
I’m looking forward to hearing more about this via the Foster-Powell Neighborhood Association!
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Did you hear that the building was recently sold to an LLC that includes Preservationist Developers?
Phoenix Pharmacy has been sold
Phoenix Pharmacy has been sold
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Wading back into transit issues, I wish @trimet would bring (back?) weekend service for the 10 Harold, to make it easier, particularly for teens, to get to Mt. Scott CC.
Much of Portland is made up of grids of quiet (and flat!) streets so most days I explore between home and my son’s middle school and discover neat stuff. Like most recently: these chickens! 🐔!
Since I bike with my kids a lot I’m pretty careful about choosing my routes. I wrote about my strategies on @BikePortland : Humans, bike maps, and of course, Google: How to choose family-friendly routes
You may have noticed I often have a dog in my bike basket. That’s Pixie! She and the Makery Flock liked each other 🐔❤️🐶. If you want to know more about Pixie and about biking with dogs in general, here’s my @BikePortland post on 🚲🐕: Biking with the family dog
Cute thing I biked by today: the house with the little horses. Fun fact: they’re all the same size as our dog! (I let her walk through their corral once 😜)
If you’re on Facebook there’s a fun group called “Hidden Portland for the Curious” that features things like this
That said, I like shining a light on Portland that’s not so “Portlandy.” I love that one of the questions for we curators is “How do you think your Portland matches up with the Portland you’ve seen in media?”
Click each of us on the main https://www.eastpdx.com page to read bios
Click each of us on the main https://www.eastpdx.com page to read bios
Here’s another @LtlFreeLibrary near us. It has everything quote-unquote Portlandy: doughnuts, hops, white stag, roses, Unipiper, PDX airport carpet, plastic horses attached to the metal rings.
Hooray for CCIM making transit, walking, and biking easier downtown, but can someone tell me what @ChloeEudalyPDX‘s “…the city is current ‘over-investing’ in east Portland” means? (In the third paragraph of the BikePortland post.) Thanks!
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BikePortland
@BikePortland · Nov 16
@BikePortland · Nov 16
ICYMI, #Portland #pdxbikes had a huge night last night. Central City in Motion plan sailed through council! Fully updated story with all the action from the meeting here
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I believe there are already millions of dollars allocated to planned and upcoming infrastructure projects in EPDX over the next few years.
How that’s considered “over-investment” after 4 decades of neglect, I’m not sure… but regardless, good things are coming to #EastPDX too!
Friday! We biked to Eastport Plaza where car parking looked hard to come by, but bike parking was easy as always. Dinner was sushi at Fujiyama—kids love the conveyor belt! 🚲🍣😁
Oops, missed a turn on the way home from Eastport Plaza, but that meant we cruised past both Portland Mercado and this fave Southeast Portland mural.
In my defense of missing my turn…Portland street signs: illegible habitats for moss or directional aids??
Let’s talk green spaces! Our family has only scratched the surface of the many great East Portland parks and gardens that are easily accessed by bike. Here’s an incomplete compilation of some not-the-norm playgrounds… (1/9)
Gateway Green: I like the easy singletrack mountain bike trails, the kids like the bike skills park. It’s *only* accessible by the I-205 Trail and is very close to the Gateway Transit Center. Nice for walking around, too!
@gatewaygreenpdx
Gateway Green (2/9)
@gatewaygreenpdx
Gateway Green (2/9)
The Belmont Goats: Are moving again, but they’re in Lents for one more week! (Closed today and tomorrow, though.) Have you visited them? My kids love brushing their coats or pausing to watch them from the I-205 Trail.
@thebelmontgoats
The Belmont Goats (3/9)
@thebelmontgoats
The Belmont Goats (3/9)
Johnson Creek Property: One the Springwater Corridor Trail, less than half a mile west of Cartlandia, we love these small wetlands with gravel trails and interpretive signs. Great image from Google street view. (4/9)
The PSU Learning Gardens Laboratory: One of those tucked-away places you might not notice–I didn’t notice it for a year of walking the dog right past it! Without a dog in tow (no dogs allowed), it’s pretty to walk through.
PSU Learning Gardens Laboratory (5/9)
PSU Learning Gardens Laboratory (5/9)
Powell Butte Nature Park: We haven’t explored here yet, but I know we’ll love it. The south side of the park abuts the Springwater Corridor Trail so it’s easy for us to bike to. It’s popular for hiking and mountain biking.
Powell Butte Nature Park (6/9)
Powell Butte Nature Park (6/9)
Leach Botanical Garden: Another on our to-do list. It’s close to the Springwater Corridor Trail, but the parts off the trail don’t seem like kid-friendly biking roads so I’ll do a solo test run. I suspect we’ll ride the sidewalk of 122nd south from the trail.
@LeachGarden (7/9)
@LeachGarden (7/9)
Leach Botanical Garden (continued): p.s. cool event at Leach Botanical Garden with Why There Are Words PDX @wtawpdx tomorrow:
Six acclaimed authors read on the theme “Migrate.” For details and readers’ bios: link
4pm, $10 suggested donation. (8/9)
Six acclaimed authors read on the theme “Migrate.” For details and readers’ bios: link
4pm, $10 suggested donation. (8/9)
/end. That wasn’t a very long list, do you have anything to add? I’ll retweet! (9/9)
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La Arepa PDX
@LaArepaPDX · Nov 9
@LaArepaPDX · Nov 9
La Arepa PDX Retweeted Portland Mercado
Oh yeah, this is our event: https://www.facebook.com/events/714018888965908/
Portland Mercado
@PortlandMercado · Nov 10
Portland Mercado
@PortlandMercado · Nov 10
We are thrilled to have La Arepa as part of the Portland Mercado Familia!!! Join us Saturday November 17th for their Gran Opening!!!
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That place is a real treasure!
Despite the nice weather, we played indoors today, at the Mt. Scott Community Center Roller Rink.
We’re also very fond of the swimming pool at Mt. Scott Community Center. Have you been?? During family/open swim there’s a big slide, a current with whirlpool, toddler fun stuff, rope swing, and for adults: lap swim and hot tub. (Pix from their website)
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Wading back into transit issues, I wish @trimet would bring (back?) weekend service for the 10 Harold, to make it easier, particularly for teens, to get to Mt. Scott CC.
Spotted while playing at the Mt. Scott Park: Native American Marketplace & Family Day next Saturday. Here’s the Facebook event: Native American Marketplace & Family Day
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The Teenforce program at Mt. Scott Community Center is pretty great, too. Our family currently has a teen who plays DnD there every weekend.
Recap day! I’m so honored to have been able to curate the account for a week. I hope you enjoyed the peek into the life of a family biker. -madi
I bike for transportation for all the reasons:
It’s fun!
It’s healthier for me than driving.
It puts me more in touch with my surroundings and community.
It’s non-polluting.
It’s cheaper than driving.
(I can’t rank them, it’s a five-way tie 😀 )
It’s fun!
It’s healthier for me than driving.
It puts me more in touch with my surroundings and community.
It’s non-polluting.
It’s cheaper than driving.
(I can’t rank them, it’s a five-way tie 😀 )
We (myself and two kids) bike everywhere, every day, with 10 years of practice under our belts.
But getting started even just replacing the occasional car trip with a bike trip is awesome!
But getting started even just replacing the occasional car trip with a bike trip is awesome!
I LOVE talking anything and everything bikes, with or without kids in tow, so please tweet at me at @familyride if you have any questions.
Choosing bikes and bike-related gear, finding safe routes, riding in various weather conditions, you name it!
Choosing bikes and bike-related gear, finding safe routes, riding in various weather conditions, you name it!
It’s easy to fall into bike advocacy as a bike commuter, especially as a bike commuting mom. Advocacy accounts I follow are @bikeloudpdx and @nomorefreeways
I read all the local bike news on @BikePortland (and I write a family biking column that posts each Tuesday).
Portland is one of the best cities in America for biking and even though East Portland doesn’t have a lot of the fancy infrastructure of close-in SE, we still have lots of intersecting quiet streets and useful multi-use paths–the Springwater Corridor Trail and I-205 Trail.
I’d hoped to bike to all my favorite places as well as some new spots this week, but juggling life and kids with stomach bugs put a bit of a damper on that. However, showcasing family biking with sick kids was useful, too, I hope! And again: thank goodness for the school bus.
So thanks again for following along and I look forward to reading tweets from the next curators. I <3 this project!! -madi @familyride
Family Ride 