Streetfilms Portland Week: Bicycle Boulevards

12:57 PM EST on October 31, 2006

Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson has been spending a lot of time in Portland learning about the politics, planning, engineering and culture behind that city's phenomenal bike network. Working closely with Greg Raisman from Portland's Dept. of Transportation Clarence produced a half hour documentary called "A Celebration of Portland Transportation." On Saturday, the film was shown on the big screen at Portland's Bagdad Theater.

While Portland is, in so many ways, completely different from New York City, these Streetfilms provide a ton of valuable information for anyone interested in improving New York City's bike network and public spaces. What I find most remarkable is the way in which Portland's transportation officials are really working with communities towards broader quality of life goals. The job of a DOT official in Portland is about so much more than just keeping traffic moving.

Clarence has broken down his documentary into a six, bite-size, Streetfilms. And every day this week we will feature one or two of them here on Streetsblog. If you're a glutton for Streetfilms you can watch them all right here.

Portland, Oregon's Bicycle Boulevards
Running time: 3:08
Download: 12.12 MB

Bicycle Boulevards in Portland are beautiful, safe and tranquil for bicycling. They are also wonderful streets to live on. Mia Birk, former manager of City of Portland's Bicycle Program (1993-99), and Mark Lear of the Portland Office of Transportation explain a few of the many strategies employed to keep thru-traffic off the boulevards and to make the riders using them safe.

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

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