They’ve taken away an on-street parking space in downtown Bend to put in a rack for 12 bicycles. The politically correct response would be to jump up and down and cheer, but pardon me if I don’t join in.
The multi-bike rack, called a “bike corral,” was installed in a parking space in front of Thump Coffee on Minnesota Avenue. It cost about $3,500, according to The Bulletin’s account, and was paid for by the Downtown Bend Business Association and individual contributors.
Kent Chapple, co-owner of Thump, said the corral was a solution to bike congestion near his shop. “It was really apparent that there just wasn’t enough capacity for all the bikes that wanted to be in this area,” he said. “If we can serve 12 people with one parking spot, that’s 11 more people down here we can serve than with that one [vehicle] parking spot.”
Thump appears to be a sort of haven for bikies. (That’s a new word I made up to identify bike enthusiasts, like “foodies” for food enthusiasts.) Chapple ride a bike to work, as do almost all of Thump’s 10 employees, according to The Bulletin.
This bike corral took away only one parking space out of about 2,000 in the downtown area. But don’t bet that it will be the last one. The Minnesota Avenue corral “could become a prototype for future bike parking structures downtown,” according to The Bulletin’s account.
Is there a legitimate need for even one on-street bike corral, let alone a bunch of them? True, many people ride bikes downtown, and more power to them. But a bike can be parked almost anywhere – chained to a tree, a signpost or a light fixture as well as a bike rack.
In 25 years of visiting Bend’s downtown I’ve never had trouble finding a parking space for a bike. Obviously I can’t say the same about a car.
The downtowners have plans to install 28 more hitching posts for bikes on the sidewalks, and I’m cool with that; it falls into the category of encouraging bicycle use. But when you take away parking spaces for cars and give them to bicycles, that’s an attempt to discourage car use – and that’s too much like trying to dictate other people’s lifestyle for me to feel comfortable with it.
It’s not hard to figure out what the bikies’ agenda is, beyond the ostensible motive of relieving alleged bicycle congestion. “We just want to promote Bend’s bike friendliness,” Chapple told The Bulletin. “We wanted to send a signal that Bend was a bike-friendly community.”
Sending such a signal is okay. But by taking away a parking space they’re also sending a signal – intentionally or not – that Bend, or at least the downtown part of it, is a car-unfriendly community.
This article appears in Sep 2-8, 2010.
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I say: Go for it!! Yet another fire today on yet another rig in the gulf off the coast of Louisiana. If this contributes to the removal of one–ONE!!–barrel of oil in this fossil-fueled economy, it’s worth it.
” But a bike can be parked almost anywhere – chained to a tree, a signpost or a light fixture as well as a bike rack. In 25 years of visiting Bend's downtown I've never had trouble finding a parking space for a bike.”
Well, yes and no. As in, it depends. Spare trees, signposts, and light fixtures are not always within a reasonable distance. I ride a bike downtown very frequently and while I can usually find a spot to chain up my bike, it ain’t always so. In front of the Bend Brewing Company, there’s only one spot unless one fancies affixing his bike to the chain link fence, blocking pedestrian traffic.
Some hot spots, like Thump, which shares bike parking with the popular Lone Pine Coffee Roasters and Top Leaf Maté are worse. Before the corral went in, there were only three or so places one could chain up a bike without interfering with traffic. Most cyclists elected to just lean their bikes against the storefronts, which is in violation of city code and caused Kent no end of headaches trying to mitigate.
He’s just responding to the needs of the market. Why do you hate the free market?
I’m sure to many motorists it makes no sense to put parking for twelve in a space that a single car could park in. After all, cars are important and bikies are dirty hippies and supercilious hipsters.
But no worries — the corral is designed to be unbolted from the ground during winter when only those bikies hardened to the core will ride a bike downtown. And motorists will be able to breath a sigh of relief to see the signs of encroaching socialism removed, if only temporarily.
Wait a second. Pardon me for being from a big city, but if I am going to sit down somewhere for an extended period of time… I want to be able to see my bike parked outside of the window. Chaining my bike up a block or two away just isn’t going to cut it.
Also, I’ve been downtown maybe twice, ever, when the parking garage has been completely full. If you can’t walk to the elevator (or, god forbid, the stairs) from your car, maybe you should get on a bike – it sounds like you need the exercise. This isn’t a way to encourage people not to drive – it’s a way to encourage cyclists to continue to save energy, get some exercise, and just get outside when they head for downtown.
Dear HBM:
You’ve obviously never been much of a bike commuter. If you had, then you would realize how ridiculous your statement about how the removal of one downtown parking space sends a “car-unfriendly community” message.
Cars are such an ingrained part of our culture that everything from the way our cities are designed to pubic transportation to the way we educate the next generation of commuters (what high school kid doesn’t get their driver’s license?) revolves around the almighty auto. It would take something much more dramatic to send a car-unfriendly message; something along the lines of restricting cars downtown and creating a pedestrian only downtown core.
Those of us who choose bicycles as our main method of transportation can better grasp how our society and transportation are biased in favor of automobiles. Bike parking congestion downtown does exist in the warmer months, as you can only lock up 4 bikes to a hitching post. And trees and signs are not always available or good options for securing a bike.
Instead of condemning the bike corral and complaining about how the loss of one parking space downtown sends the wrong message, why not experience the influence of car culture at its finest–from the seat of a soft-bodied vehicle with two wheels and a human-powered motor? Give it a couple of months and I think you’ll have a different idea about which form of transportation gets the warmer welcome in this town.
“If this contributes to the removal of one–ONE!!–barrel of oil in this fossil-fueled economy, it’s worth it.”
It won’t.
“He’s just responding to the needs of the market. Why do you hate the free market?”
‘Cause I’m a communist, of course! Look at my picture!
“I want to be able to see my bike parked outside of the window.”
Suppose I said I want to be able to see my car parked outside the window? (I don’t, but let’s just suppose.) Why do you have a god-given right to park your vehicle directly in front of the restaurant or coffee shop or whatever?
“You’ve obviously never been much of a bike commuter.”
True enough.
Am I the only one thinking you are the kind of person that hops in their car when you need to go from Thump to your accountants office 2 blocks away?….
The only agenda I see playing out with a move like this is a 6ft by 12ft (approx) glimmer of hope for a healthy future in our beautiful misguided city.
I say a big “Thank You” to the city and everyone involved in this project.
I’ve seen that block without one place left on the sidewalk to park a bike without forcing pedestrians into the street. Mr. Negative once again sees the negative in something overwhelmingly positive for that neighborhood I call hipster hollow. Can’t Bruce Miller just be like 1% hip for once?
Wow,
This sounds so much like the libertarian drivel coming from Vancouver, Washington, regarding Portland’s bicycle efforts. Cars are not people. Yes, bicycles are coming, and cars will have to learn to safely share space. Even if it’s 20 parking spaces, that’s still less than .01% of total parking there. Are you really that worried that someday your car will be forever trapped in your driveway? Well, that’s how it’s been for cyclists for decades. I’m pretty sure, that is you drive around enough, you’ll find the required space to put your two tons of steel.
This is one you really missed. Missed badly. Until you ride in the shoes of a “bikie” you will simply not “get it”. Besides, if only half of the folks who use the Thump bike corral would have driven their car downtown instead there would be about six less parking spaces downtown. If you really wanted to enhance your ability to find a car parking spot downtown you’d be doing all you could to encourage every downtown visitor to become a bikie.
I applaud Kent and everyone else involved in this project. HBM mentions that this discourages car use. Interesting point. I overheard 4 different people in the 2 days that this rack has been installed saying that they plan on riding their bike down to Thump for their next visit. If having decent bike parking is enough to convince people to ride bikes, that frees up more parking for folks who choose to drive…Unfortunately HBM is perpetuating an us vs. them mentality that is all too common in Bend.
I moved from Bend to Tiller (where the hell is that?)nearly two years ago. I can’t imagine bike parking has gotten any easier. It is not always easy to find a tree, sign post, light fixture, bike rack downtown. Where there are bikes parked, it does disrupt pedestrian traffic (as a cumulative effect with outdoor sidewalk sales and tables, etc.). Which, I suggest, affects walk-in traffic much more than the loss of one or several parking spaces for the kind of inflated pig vehicles I was used to seeing in Bend. Seems to me there was a hugely ugly edifice known as the parking garage nearby that shut down streets and hampered all sorts of traffic while being built a couple of years ago. Wouldn’t drivers want to protect the wax job on their precious off-road vehicles under a secure, weather-resistant environment? Get real(and defensive, if you must),H.Bruce.
the sidewalks are cluttered with parked bikes. i think the bike corral is a good idea. BTW…bikies: WALK your bikes on downtown sidewalks and get off the pavers in drake park when you are passing my family. do not whiz by one inch from my kids or dog.
As a manager of a downtown business, I must agree with Mr. Miller. Many of the posters here are forgetting that it is not only the residents of Bend who come downtown and spend money here. Riding your bike in from Pronghorn, Redmond, Prineville and beyond is simply not reasonable. I would make no reservations estimating that less than 5% of my clients live within a reasonable distance for bike use. In that same vein, I constantly hear what a challenge it is to find parking in this area. Between the lack of spaces and the nazi-like parking enforcement (held to NO standard of decency), it makes this veteran business of downtown want to pack up shop and move.
To those of you who might say, “Good Riddance” to a business moving, I encourage you to realize that downtown is for everyone’s use: tourists, locals, not-quite-so-locals and beyond. Sidewalks are perfectly acceptable locations for bike racks. You want to see your bike from a window? Well, I’d rather not have one of my (many) elderly customers have to carry a 30lb product two blocks to their car.
“Am I the only one thinking you are the kind of person that hops in their car when you need to go from Thump to your accountants office 2 blocks away?”
You’re probably not the only one thinking that, but you’re wrong.
“Can’t Bruce Miller just be like 1% hip for once?”
I was hip before you knew what “hip” was, youngster. What I am not is politically correct.
BTW, it’s funny how the good progressives never show up to lend a bit of support when the right-wingers are attacking me (well, except for Cramer and Elliott) but let me say one thing they disagree with and they all pile on.
It’s just human nature, I guess. But it’s still annoying.
$3000 for a bike rack?????? Come on, surely just a regular one would be sufficient and the money saved could be put to good use on something that is more urgently needed.
I get it HBM. Good job. Just like the guy that wanted to make divorce illegal in CA to show the obsurdity of Prop 8, you have shown the obsurdity of getting your knickers in a twist over downtown loosing ONE parking spot. You have generated more possitive reasons why parking corals are so needed downtown. Hats off to you! Or should I say, “helmet” off to you?
Thanks and keep it coming.
Great Article HBM. Too bad all these Bikies don’t understand reality. Keep removing parking stalls for bikes, and you will see that coffee drinking Bikies don’t contribute a whole bunch to your economy. THen again we could just make downtown a car free zone, where everyone play’s disc golf and drinks a chi tea or non-fat, half caf latte’s while singing we are the world, and recycling. Damn that fossil fuel!
Oh yea, Cramer…… Get real
“I would make no reservations estimating that less than 5% of my clients live within a reasonable distance for bike use.”
Thank you for making that point. Not everyone who shops (or works) downtown lives on the Westside of Bend, although I bet almost all of the bikies do.
HB
Com on, you knew what was going to happen when you blogged this. Same thing that happens when you write about the Second Amendment or the Tea Party. SOS. Different crowd. Hey, atleast critic and jegglie aren’t calling you a Socialist out to take over and destroy our freedoms. I guess for that you have to move to Colorado.
“BTW, it’s funny how the good progressives never show up to lend a bit of support when the right-wingers are attacking me (well, except for Cramer and Elliott) but let me say one thing they disagree with and they all pile on.”
Yeah — so just watch your P’s and Q’s there, Miller. We’ll support you when you’re with us, but go agin us and we’ll dump you faster than a politician can say “family values.”
“THen again we could just make downtown a car free zone, where everyone play’s disc golf and drinks a chi tea or non-fat, half caf latte’s while singing we are the world, and recycling.”
No need to get nasty. But, damn, that IS a funny image.
“Com on, you knew what was going to happen when you blogged this.”
Well, yes, I do like to stir the pot occasionally.
I just thought of an interesting hypothetical case: Suppose there was a biker bar downtown and they took away an on-street parking space to put in a special rack to accommodate six Harleys. What do you all think the reaction from the local liberal/progressive community would be?
“‘Cause I’m a communist, of course! Look at my picture!”
James Garfield? Darwin? Jasper Beardly? Dusty Hill?
“…Suppose there was a biker bar downtown and they took away an on-street parking space to put in a special rack to accommodate six Harleys. What do you all think the reaction from the local liberal/progressive community would be?”
Though I’d prefer a gay biker bar, if for no other reason than adding to local color, I say that if you muffle the f#@kers this Participatory Socialist would be fine with it.
‘Oh yea, Cramer…… Get real’
Yeah, I know, but for a second frustration coupled with an acid flashback took over and I couldn’t help myself.
Just wait, someday ‘we’ll all be drinkin’ that free Bubble Up, and eatin’ that rainbow stew.’
Oops, Jack Daniels flashback.
“…Suppose there was a biker bar downtown and they took away an on-street parking space to put in a special rack to accommodate six Harleys. What do you all think the reaction from the local liberal/progressive community would be?”
Last year there were at least a few spots that were motorcycle only parking. One was in front of Starbucks and another in front of Nomad and I don’t recall there being an uproar about it from anyone. I’m pretty sure the one in front of Nomad is no longer motorcycle only, and I don’t know about in front of Starbucks.
I would have to say, taking a single parking spot to accommodate 6 harleys in front of a bar that is frequented by a lot of bikers would be an incredibly efficient use of space. I would also imagine people driving cars would appreciate the extra spaces created by keeping them contained to one(or even two) spots.
tj, the Starbucks one is still there.
It’s an outrage! Something must be done!
“Suppose there was a biker bar downtown and they took away an on-street parking space to put in a special rack to accommodate six Harleys. What do you all think the reaction from the local liberal/progressive community would be?”
How would you feel if each Harley took an entire parking spot? Or would you prefer that all 6 of them drove cars instead and took 1 spot each?
I would think that anyone concerned about limited parking would want to encourage others to ride. That’s just one less person competing for a fixed number of parking spots.
Oh, and there are several hundred vacant spots in the parking garage every day. We’ve already proven ourselves as “car friendly” by building that multi-million dollar monstrosity.
Seriously, let’s say that the biking community in bend is 1% of the population. I’d like to see 1% of the cost of the parking garage go towards bike parking.. that would be fair.
I bet it will get a lot of use when there is 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. Seems like a whole lot of money, regardless of the car vs bike issue.
“I bet it will get a lot of use when there is 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. Seems like a whole lot of money, regardless of the car vs bike issue.”
Money raised by the community. Not tax dollars.
“I bet it will get a lot of use when there is 4-5 inches of snow on the ground.”
It unplugs from the pavement so it can be removed during winter.
Before this thread dies down, I just want to add that I commute downtown a lot and frequent Thump and the shops right around it. During busy times, it’s not at all unusual to find that there is no place to tie up a bike, either along that street or down Tin Pan Alley. The city keeps a lot of pressure on Thump et al to keep the sidewalk clear — I think I heard d a 6-foot lane for pedestrians? — so it makes sense that this location was first in line for this treatment. So why don’t we cyclists just park around the corner? It’s not that we feel we have a god-given right to be able to watch our bikes, it’s mainly because a bike is more vulnerable to vandalism and theft than a car. Bike locks don’t work, this has been documented over and over. Any lock can be removed. Even if it takes power tools to remove a bike lock: there is footage online of guys, posing as bike thieves, cutting through locks with portable angle-grinders on busy pedestrian streets with no interference from passersby; in some cases, we see strangers offering the “thief” suggestions. This is not to say that cars are never at risk, just that bikes are a little more exposed. Besides, if a car gets stolen, the cops pay attention. A bicycle? Not so much.
My Dodge Cummins 4×4 dually is difficult to park downtown and so is my old Cadillac. How ’bout extending the space next to the bike corral about 8 feet to accomodate ME. Remarking a line would be a hell of a lot less expensive.
Good. They should close downtown entirely to cars, like many European cities. Let it all just be bikes and pedestrians. I own a bike and a car, but the entire time of living in Bend I have never needed my car unless I left town to go to Portland. When it was too snowy to ride my bike I’ve walked. You can walk from Newport Market to the Old Mill in one hour. You can walk from Newport Market to Pilot Butte in one hour. You can walk from the Old Mill to what used to be the Bend River Mall in one hour. It’s not hard, but in a nation where 1 in 50 is morbidly obese…?
But after being hit by bad drivers of cars not once but four times while on my bike (none of those times was I at fault), and with the BP oil spill finally bringing to light how many oil spills there actually are all of the time, and how oil has polluted this planet…you could probably say I am car-unfriendly.
Heh. One lost parking place isn’t much in the scale of things, but it sure makes a hook for an opinion piece.
FWIW, I’m fine with losing one, or two, or three, parking places at the margin for bike use. As a multi-mode person, I prefer a bike-friendly downtown to the alternatives.
That’s an interesting point. If just ONE of people using the 12 available spaces in the new bike space, is a person who otherwise would have driven, then the net effect is no car parking lost, and 11 bike spaces gained.
I’m not suggesting that it will always be the case that it works out that way, but if Daniel heard 4 people say that in 2 days, maybe it’s not so far fetched.
Weekly Reader, while it would be nice to create oversized parking spots for oversized vehicles, it’s a slippery slope. Next thing you know, people with 40-foot RVs would agitate to have spots for those beasts. It’s just common sense to avoid using absurdly-large vehicles in a small downtown. Toss a bike into your truck, park nearby, ride into town, and enjoy the new parking corral. There are bike racks for Cadillacs, too.
Isn’t there a giant F#*!ing parking garage for all the terrorist supporting oil addicts???????
What is your argument? Bend needs more car parking or Bend needs less bike riders? Neither argument appears tenable.
When you post I would consider your constituency and what is in their best interests. “Stirring the pot” is not always the best method for producing interest.
Don’t you think this sound childish? “the good progressives never show up to lend a bit of support when the right-wingers are attacking me “
Ok, I’ve read nearly every comment in reply to Mr. Miller’s rant on the “bike corral”, & nearly every one of them is obviously in favor of the idea. Count me in as well. Yes, you could chain up every bikies rig to a tree or a light post, but when you’re walking down the sidewalk on a busy afternoon, and just another obstacle to trip over. The corral keeps it organized and together, let’s the bikies keep an eye on the bikes and what is wrong with ONE LESS LONG BED DODGE TRUCK THAT STICKS SO FAR OUT INTO ANY OF OUR DOWNTOWN STREETS THAT YOU HAVE TO CHANGE LANES IN ORDER TO GET AROUND IT!! THAT TYPE OF RIG SHOULDN”T EVEN BE ALLOWED TO PARK DOWNTOWN. The Bike Corral is a great idea and we need more of them!
I’m not sure I’d call Miller’s post a “rant.” A “blither,” maybe. A swing and a miss. He’s gonna have to wear a fright wig and false beard whenever he walks past the bike corral for the next few weeks, that’s for sure.
As for them long-bed trucks. Really. As you say, one has to change lanes to avoid damaging one’s car. But try riding a bike down either Bond or Wall where the parking is diagonal. I try to be a good boy and ride near the backs of the cars (keeping an eye out for the flare of backup lights) so as not to impede traffic. But when encountering one of those long trucks, one has to merge over into traffic to avoid being mashed against a tailgate.
We can all count our blessings that there are no Ford F650s downtown.
http://www.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2006/12/f650.jpg
“what is wrong with ONE LESS LONG BED DODGE TRUCK THAT STICKS SO FAR OUT INTO ANY OF OUR DOWNTOWN STREETS THAT YOU HAVE TO CHANGE LANES IN ORDER TO GET AROUND IT!! THAT TYPE OF RIG SHOULDN”T EVEN BE ALLOWED TO PARK DOWNTOWN.”
Agreed! (Though I’m not sure why Dodges should be singled out.)
I’ve always wondered how many people who own those monstrosities have any real need for them (because they’re farmer or ranchers, in the construction business, etc.) and how many are just trying to make the statement: “I drive a big tough truck and that makes me a big tough man!”
Further tidbits on the Thump Bike Corral can be found @ Bike Around Bend.
“Yeehaw! Bend's First Bike Corral”
http://www.bikearoundbend.com/2010/09/yeehaw-bends-first-bike-corral