Category: Portland, Oregon Local News

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) released the city’s 2023 bicycle count data this week, revealing an uptick in bike ridership compared to the year prior. But among local bike advocates, the verdict is still out about how to interpret the new numbers. 

The initial findings from the 2023 report showed a nearly 5 percent increase in bike ridership numbers across Portland compared to last year. Counters tallied an average of 22,397 riders citywide— up from 21,278 in 2022, with even more prominent boosts in some parts of the city. Though some people have been quick to contextualize the new data in a historical context, minimizing the recent gains, reactions to the news have been mainly positive.

The contents of the 2022 bicycle count report, released last March, were significant enough to cause a citywide stir. According to the report, data from summer 2022 reflected a more than 40 percent drop in bicycle ridership since 2014, when Portland bike commuting was at its peak. The latest report shows the number of people biking in 2023 increased by nearly 5 percent compared to 2022— an upward trend, to be sure, but still a major decrease from a decade ago. 

Other ideas people had about why bike ridership declined so significantly included an increase in the perceived risks of cycling as traffic crash rates rose, a lack of safe, well-maintained bicycling infrastructure, unsanctioned campsites in bike lanes and paths, and more bike theft. 

With all the fervor inspired by last year’s report, what are people making of the 2023 results? 

Biking making a comeback?

PBOT’s 2023 bike count reflected a nearly 5 percent increase in riders citywide compared to 2022. But the results are more significant in some parts of the city: In Northwest, East, and South Portland, counters tallied increases of 14.9 percent, 12 percent, and 8.4 percent, respectively. Southeast, Northeast, North, and Southwest all saw an increase in ridership from the previous year, but the difference was by less than 5 percent. 

The count also demonstrated other trends, most notably that nearly 17 percent of the Portland cyclists tallied— 4936 people— were riding electric bikes in 2023. East Portland and the Central City both saw the highest shares of people riding electric scooters— around 10 percent of total ridership. 

At a Bicycling Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting on Tuesday, February 13, PBOT Transportation Planner Sean Doyle laid out some of the initial findings. 

“[The upward trend] is a good sign, but we also have a long way to go,” Doyle said. “I think this gives us a better sense of how far we’ve come since peak cycle. And we know at some point in the past that we were able to achieve this level of people biking, and that was with even less infrastructure than we have today.” 

Some BAC members questioned Doyle’s framing. 

“I’m struck by the story I’m receiving from this presentation…what I’m feeling is mourning over the losses since 2016,” BAC member Jim Middaugh said. “I urge you all to consider the story you want to tell with this data. I am much more enthusiastic and buoyed and think it’s far more powerful to focus on the 5 percent recovery that we’ve seen since the pandemic.” 

Middaugh said he thinks it’s important to ask “what we’re doing right to cause the recovery,” and “what we need to do more of to inspire people to get back on their bikes.”

“I’m getting doom and gloom here,” he said of Doyle’s presentation. “And I don’t think that’s the story you want to tell.” 

Nic Cota, chair of advocacy group BikeLoud PDX, told the Mercury he thinks the latest results are “really good news.” 

“It’s just nice to have a little gust of wind at the back of the sails once again,” Cota said. “It’s been almost a decade since Portland has seen some form of increase in ridership, so it’s long overdue.” 

But, Cota said, “there’s still a lot of work to be done.” 

“We must keep asking how we expand the tent on who has access to ride their bike for transportation in Portland,” Cota said. “We also just came out of one of the deadliest years for road fatalities ever recorded [locally]. A lot still needs to be done to make our roads safer.”

The initial 2023 bike count data is available here. PBOT plans to release a more in-depth report about last year’s ridership numbers in March. 

THE QUESTION

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

WHAT WE FOUND

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The mass shooting that unfolded amid throngs of people at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl celebration appeared to stem from a dispute between several people, authorities said Thursday.

Police Chief Stacey Graves said that the 22 people injured in the shooting ranged between the ages of 8 and 47 years old, half of whom were under the age of 16. A mother of two was also killed.

Three people were detained — including two juveniles — but no charges have been filed yet, Graves said. Police are calling for witnesses, people with cellphone footage and victims of the violence to call a dedicated hotline.

“We are working to determine the involvement of others. And it should be noted we have recovered several firearms. This incident is still a very active investigation,” Graves said at a news conference.

The shooting outside Union Station occurred despite the presence of more than 800 police officers who were in the building and area, including on top of nearby structures, said Mayor Quinton Lucas, who attended with his wife and mother and ran for safety when the shots rang out. But he doesn’t expect to cancel the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade.

“We have parades all the time. I don’t think they’ll end. Certainly we recognized the public safety challenges and issues that relate to them,” Lucas said.

Throngs had lined the parade route before the shooting, with fans climbing trees and street poles or standing on rooftops for a better view. Players rolled through the crowd on double-decker buses, as DJs and drummers heralded their arrival.

The police chief said the gun violence mostly unfolded on the west side of Union Station, addressing initial reports that shootings occurred in more than one location.

Graves said 1 million people likely attended the Chief’s Super Bowl parade, which occurred in a city with a population of about 470,000 people and a metropolitan area of about 2 million, but stressed that the violence was wrought by just a handful of people.

“The law enforcement response was exemplary. Those in attendance also responded,” Graves added. “They helped one another and even physically stop a person who was believed to be involved in the incident.”

Meanwhile, police are still asking witnesses to come forward. Many have described a sense of confusion that rippled through the crowd.

The rally had just ended and music was still blaring when the shots erupted. Many people initially thought they were hearing fireworks. But then chaos ensued. Some in the crowd hit the ground while others leapt over barriers and sprinted from the scene, some carrying children in their arms.

The crowd was so massive that normalcy returned quickly, with some fans unsure what had happened. But it became clear there was a shooting as ambulances arrived and officers rushed in with guns drawn. Some of the less seriously injured were driven away on golf carts.

The stunned crowd — some in tears — slowly gathered their belongings, trying to figure out how to get home. Strangers comforted each other as police put up crime scene tape in an area where moments early it had been a joyous celebration.

Ashley Coderre, a 36-year-old from Overland Park, Kansas, said she heard two or three shots after walking out of a Panera near Crown Center, a couple blocks from Union Station. She said people were running and yelling.

Then suddenly she said people were walking around like nothing had happened: “We were so confused.”

Social media users posted shocking video of police running through Wednesday’s crowded scene. One video showed someone apparently performing chest compressions on a victim as another person, seemingly writhing in pain, lay on the ground nearby. People screamed in the background.

Another video showed two people chase and tackle a person, holding them down until two police officers arrived. In an interview Thursday with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Trey Filter of Wichita, Kansas, said he saw someone being chased and took action.

“I couldn’t see much. I heard, ‘Get ’em!’ I saw a flash next to me. And I remember I jumped and remember thinking, ‘I hope this is the fool they were talking about,’” he said. “They started yelling that, ‘There’s a gun! There’s a gun!’”

Filter said he and another man kept the person pinned down until officers arrived. “I remember the officers pulling my feet off of him and at that point I was just looking for my wife and kids,” he said.

It was not immediately clear if the person he held down was involved in the shooting, but Filter’s wife, Casey, saw a gun nearby and picked it up.

The woman killed in the shooting was identified by radio station KKFI-FM as Lisa Lopez-Galvan, host of “Taste of Tejano.”

Lopez-Galvan, whose DJ name was “Lisa G,” was an extrovert and devoted mother from a prominent Latino family in the area, said Rosa Izurieta and Martha Ramirez, two childhood friends who worked with her at a staffing company.

“She’s the type of person who would jump in front of a bullet for anybody — that would be Lisa,” Izurieta said.

Kansas City has long struggled with gun violence, and in 2020 it was among nine cities targeted by the U.S. Justice Department in an effort to crack down on violent crime. In 2023, the city matched a record with 182 homicides, most of which involved guns.

Lucas has joined with mayors across the country in calling for new laws to reduce gun violence, including mandating universal background checks.

“We did everything to make this event as safe as possible,” Lucas, a Democrat, said in an interview on KMBC-TV Thursday. “But as long as we have fools who will commit these types of acts, as long as we have their access to firearms with this level of capacity, then we may see incidents like this one.”

University Health spokesperson Leslie Carto said two of the eight gunshot victims brought to the hospital are still in critical condition. One is in stable condition. The other five have been discharged. The hospital also treated four people from the rally who had nongunshot injuries. Three of those patients were discharged, Carto said.

Stephanie Meyer, chief nursing officer for Children’s Mercy Kansas City, said it was treating 12 patients from the rally, including 11 children between the ages of 6 and 15, nine of whom suffered gunshot wounds. All were expected to recover, she said.

When asked about the condition of the children, Meyer responded: “Fear. The one word I would use to describe what we saw and how they came to us was fear.”

St. Luke’s Hospital spokesperson Emily Hohenberg said one gunshot victim at the hospital remains in critical condition. Four people who suffered injuries while fleeing the aftermath of the shooting were treated and released.

___

Associated Press writers Scott McFetridge in Des Moines, Iowa; Jim Salter in St. Louis; Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska; Summer Ballentine in Columbia, Missouri; and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

TIGARD, Ore. — A man has been arrested in connection with at “least 50 but likely over a hundred” storage unit burglaries in Tigard, according to police. 

Timothy Counsil, 57, allegedly had been burglarizing several facilities in the city since 2022, the Tigard Police Department said. Storage units he had rented had been full of stolen items, including kitchen appliances, music and sporting equipment, power tools and more, with some items linked to previous burglaries.

With the help of Tualatin Police Department, he was arrested around 10 p.m. on Feb. 7. Counsil had been at a storage facility near the 7000 block of Southwest McEwan Road in Tualatin, police said. 

Counsil is charged with several counts of burglary and is at Washington County Jail. Police are still investigating. 

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We’re still reeling from one of the best half-time performances we’ve ever seen, starring Usher “DON’T-LEAVE-YOUR-GIRL-AROUND-ME-TRUE-PLAYER-FOR-REAL” Raymond IV—made even better with appearances from mega-stars, like Alicia Keys, Ludacris, Lil Jon, Will.i.am, H.E.R., and an ill-dressed Jermaine Dupri. If you have any brainspace that isn’t watching that damn Verizon commercial and listening to Beyoncé’s new country music singles, “Texas Hold ’Em” and “16 Carriages” on repeat, in addition to the Biamp Portland Jazz Fest, happening at various venues around town, here are a few locally relevant music updates to get into.

MUST SEE: 

Upcoming local event(s) featuring local artist(s).    

The Blacker the Berry: A Black History Month Event feat. Kingsley, Veana Baby and Olivia & Qiddist Ashé

There’s still a couple weeks more of Black History Month, so get out and support as many of those local events as possible. One show burning a hole in our calendar is the Blacker the Berry, at the Old Church next weekend. One-time Portlander and indie pop singer-songwriter Kingsley headlines the event, with special sets from soul singer Veana Baby, and DJ Ashé, & Qiddist Ashé, among other special guests. Last month Kingsley released a fresh single called “My Love,” so expect to hear fresh material, and pray she performs highlights from her 2021 sophomore album Crying On Holidays, like “I’m Fine,” and most importantly, the danceable and funky pop gem “All Me,” featuring Haley Johnsen. (The Old Church, 1422 SW 11th, Sat Feb 24, 7:30 pm, $23, Buy tickets here, all ages)

The sunshine-infused music video for Mal London’s single “Yikes,” made our list of Portland’s Best Music Videos of 2023., and we’re excited to have another from the local artist. Shot and edited by Mal London and Dante Ammon, the visual for the smooth, bass-driven single, “Time Will Tell,” stars Portland-based celebrity hairstylist Miko Gemechu. Known in the Black beauty community for slaying natural-looking wigs, weaves, and extensions—along with other natural styles, like braids and hairstyles for male stars from Carmelo Anthony to Aminé and more—Miko is also beautiful as a model, not to mention known for being one of the sweetest people to work with, should you be blessed enough to experience one of her hair care services. She appears in “Time Will Tell,” as the love interest to Mal London; it’s an instance of art imitating life, as the two have established themselves as a pair in real life for a while now. The song itself is rooted in sultry R&B with an infectious bass line and crisp beat providing runway for the multi-talented emcee’s seamless singing and rapping transitions.

ADDED TO THE QUEUE: 

Some upcoming music buzz to add to your radar.

“Burial Ground,” the Decemberists

On February 6, the Decemberists released a new song titled “Burial Ground,” marking their first new music in more than six years, since 2018’s Traveling On. Co-produced with Tucker Martine, and featuring the Shins’ James Mercer, the jangly guitars, swelling horns, sing-song lyrics, and peace-and-love vibes of the track remind us of late’60s, early ’70s pop-rock. In a release sent to the Mercury, frontman Colin Meloy expanded on inspiration behind the song: “‘Burial Ground’ is in that time-honored pop song tradition, a paean to hanging out in graveyards… the melody hook came to me in a dream, and I hummed it into my phone on waking.” A couple days after the release, the band announced its 2024 tour, which kicks off in April! The Peaceable Kingdom Tour will make at least two stops in Oregon—Bend on July 12 at Hayden Homes Amphitheater and the tour’s final date (at least of this leg) on August 3 at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdate. (The latter is my favorite summer-time outdoor venue.) Get your tickets soon before they sell out. (Mcmenamins Edgefield, 2126 SW Halsey, Sat Aug 3, 6:30 pm, $53.50-202.50, tickets here, all ages)

Multnomah County will open emergency warming shelters tonight, starting at 8 pm. With the possibility of snow in some areas of Portland, County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said a state of emergency will trigger the opening of four severe weather shelters and a “limited number of severe weather beds” at a year-round shelter already in operation.

The four shelters opening at 8 pm tonight are:

A limited number of severe weather beds are also opening at an existing year-round shelter:

The transit agency warns the public that its MAX system is currently undergoing renovations for the A Better Red MAX Extension and Reliability Improvements Project. That means the MAX Red Line isn’t running. Instead, shuttle buses are serving portions of the MAX Blue, Green and Red line routes through Northeast Portland. The Gateway Transit Center is the current shuttle bus hub. 

“TriMet is also preparing as though there will be snow tonight,” a news release from the agency states. “If we need to chain our buses, it will affect travel times. Chained buses are limited to 25 mph. Riders should be prepared for buses to operate behind schedule if they are chained.”

Severe weather shelters open when the forecasted temperature reaches 25 degrees or below, or 32 degrees with an inch or more of rain, or when the region expects an inch or more of snow over a 24-hour period. The county is now also empowered to open emergency shelters at the discretion of leaders, when other factors threaten public health during a weather event.

For more information on shelters and places to go to keep warm and dry, visit Multnomah County’s “Care for When It’s Cold” site.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military said Wednesday it used naval drones to sink a Russian landing ship in the Black Sea, a report that has not been confirmed by Russian authorities.

The Caesar Kunikov amphibious ship sank near Alupka, a city on the southern edge of the Crimean Peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014, Ukraine’s General Staff said. It said the ship can carry 87 crew members.

Sinking the vessel would be another embarrassing blow for the Russian Black Sea fleet and a significant success for Ukraine 10 days before the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the claim during a conference call with reporters Wednesday. He said questions should be addressed to the Russian military.

Several Russian military bloggers confirmed the attack on the ship but stopped short of confirming that it had been sunk.

Ukraine has moved onto the defensive in the war, hindered by low ammunition supplies and a shortage of personnel, but has kept up its strikes behind the largely static 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) front line.

It is the second time in two weeks that Ukrainian forces have said they sank a Russian vessel in the Black Sea. Last week, they published a video that they said showed naval drones assaulting the Russian missile-armed corvette Ivanovets.

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, known by its Ukrainian acronym GUR, said its special operations unit “Group 13” sank the Caesar Kunikov using Magura V5 sea drones on Wednesday. Explosions damaged the vessel on its left side, it said, though a heavily edited video it released was unclear. The same unit also struck on Feb. 1, according to officials.

The private intelligence firm Ambrey said the video showed that at least three drones conducted the attack and that the ship likely sank after listing heavily on its port side.

The Caesar Kunikov probably was part of the Russian fleet escorting merchant vessels that call at Crimean ports, Ambrey said.

The landing ship can carry tanks, troops and other cargo to support amphibious assaults, with doors in the bow that open onto land without the ship needing to dock.

Ukrainian attacks on Russian aircraft and ships in the Black Sea have helped push Moscow’s naval forces back from the coast, allowing Kyiv to increase crucial exports of grain and other goods through its southern ports.

A new generation of unmanned weapons systems has become a centerpiece of the war, both at sea and on land.

The Magura V5 drone, which looks like a sleek black speedboat, was unveiled last year. It reportedly has a top speed of 42 knots (80 kph, 50 mph) and a payload of 320 kilograms (700 pounds).

The Russian military did not immediately comment on the claimed sinking, saying only that it downed six Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea overnight.

Caesar Kunikov, for whom the Russian vessel was named, was a World War II hero of the Soviet Union for his exploits and died on Feb. 14, the same day as the Ukrainian drone strike, in 1943.

In other developments, an overnight Russian attack on the town of Selydove in the eastern Donetsk region struck a medical facility and a residential building, killing a child and a pregnant woman, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on social media. Three other children were wounded, he said.

Selydove is just 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the front line.

Nine Ukrainian civilians were killed and at least 25 people wounded by Russian shelling over the previous 24 hours, the president’s office said Wednesday.