Rebel Metropolis | Monthly Archives: May 2014

Portland’s Gentrification by the Numbers

The dreaded G-word has been tossed around much lately, from San Francisco’s Google bus blockades to Spike Lee’s whip-smart knowledge dropping at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Gentrification is sweeping the nation, stirring up a hornet’s nest of rationalizing and resistance alike. Coast to coast, we’ve got a problem on our hands. This is especially true here in Rip City.

Despite what the “smart growth” urbanists and developers appearing on NPR will tell you, there is no benefit to gentrification. Those who argue there’s a good side are likely deliberately to trying confuse revitalization with gentrification. To be clear, the term gentrification is derived from the word ‘gentry’, which literally translates as ‘upper class’. Improving a neighborhood for those who live there is not gentrification. Improving a neighborhood solely for a wealthier class who will replace the existing residents is what we’re talking about here, and it is not some unintentional byproduct. Claiming that a gentrified neighborhood has ridden itself of crime or poverty is absurd. You’ve only moved the poverty somewhere else while ignoring the economic causation of crime.

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Portland: Welcome to America’s Parking Capital?

This has been a lousy year so far for America’s Cycling Capital. Last month, a bunch of businesses along a major bike corridor co-signed a letter whining that if the city replaces spaces for free car parking with better, safer, sexier bike lanes, they might lose business to drivers, and so fire off their NIMBY missile they did. PBOT promptly dropped their plans for a smooth bike route up NE 28th avenue. Likely, these businesses just shot themselves in their collective foot, as now existing bike traffic will be diverted off this commercial drag to residential NE 30th. Whoops. Bye, bye bike business!

Then, this month, a cherished mural (that was technically an ad, but whatever) got buffed because apparently the city has a stupid code about the size of letters painted on certain historic buildings (but not others) the details of which are boring and nobody really cares that much. The point is this mural inspired a lot of people. It made them proud. It made them feel recognized for riding their bike via a 100 foot declaration of Portland being the fucking best at something.

Thursday, May 8th, 2014 – final days.

Some naysayers were quick to criticize Portland as undeserving of this title since we’ve stagnated at a 6% bike mode share for the last several years, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t still the best. Quality, not quantity, right? Even if we weren’t ‘The Best’, you don’t stop cheering for your team when they don’t win the finals, amiright, Rip City?

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What’s More Problematic: Bike Helmets, or Arguing About Bike Helmets?

Having written about bicycle rebellion, tactical urbanism, and the Right to the City movement here on Rebel Metropolis for almost a year now, the one issue I’ve shied away from has been bicycle helmets. If you’re a regular reader here, you know I’m not reluctant to question prevailing logic concerning the burgeoning urban cycling movement. But the helmet thing can be such a distraction, can off-put so many, that delving into this snake-pit here at Rebel-M seemed perhaps ill-suited, at least via print. Some have rightfully moved past the helmet debate, others righteously continue entering the fray.

To summarize the questions most often asked about bike helmets: Are helmets good for you? Sometimes, perhaps. Are bike helmets bad for you? Maybe. Are bike helmets a good defense against collisions with cars? Hell nope. Are helmets bad for cycling as a movement? Hell yes.

Without spending vast volumes of words explaining my answers to these questions, (as you’re likely already familiar with some of them), it’s worth noting my POV on this scarcely matters. People can feel totally different about this and they’ll argue for hours and nobody budges. We can certainly agree that perpetuating the myth that “cycling is dangerous” scares would-be riders away from ditching the car and embracing the bike.

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