Next Up at City Council, 1/2/08 – 1/3/08

Around the corner and into the New Year!

This first Portland City Council Agenda of 2008 has a number of interesting items. As the slim pickings recently in postings on this blog indicate, however, I don’t have much capacity for the detailed reviews of the Council calendar I’ve provided for the past year.

Yes, this blog just passed its one year anniversary! I’ve learned a lot through writing it and reading comments, and I thank everyone who has contributed.

So, for the next five months at least, my plan is to post the link to the upcoming week’s Agenda here each weekend, and highlight just one item on it that I find interesting. It won’t be the comprehensive coverage regular readers are used to, but that strategy will at least provide an easy way for you to view the topics, and a forum for discussion if readers notice other issues that citizens should be aware of.

This week:

THURSDAY, 2:00 PM, JANUARY 3, 2008

TIME CERTAIN: 2:00 PM – Accept report Improving Bicycle Safety in Portland outlining initial City policy improvements and engineering enhancements undertaken to increase bicycle safety in response to recent tragic bicyclist fatalities (Previous Agenda 1519; Resolution introduced by Commissioner Adams)

This item was previously scheduled for a Wednesday evening hearing in December, but was postponed because one of the Councilmen was sick and two absent, so there wasn’t a quorum. It’s unfortunate something so important to citizens has been re-assigned to a hearing during the work day, when many concerned Portlanders cannot participate. The City Code currently allows evening meetings only on the third Wednesday. I would like to see it amended to allow or even require an evening hearing every week.

The Report (pdf) is linked to the Agenda. Easy access to the information under discussion is another good step forward since the Auditor’s Office began providing links to ordinance and resolution language earlier this year – partly in response to requests from bloggers, including me. This 26-page report notes that the incidence of bicycle crashes overall has decreased, even as six fatalities were suffered in 2007 and while over 14,000 cyclists cross the four main bicycle bridges downtown each weekday. Lots more interesting information in easy-to-read format with graphs and other illustrations, in the report.