Diverter supporters plan to occupy intersection in show of support as removal looms – BikePortland

Portlanders who do not want to see traffic diverters currently installed on neighborhood greenways in northwest removed plan to occupy an intersection to prevent their removal.

As I’ve reported since Friday, an opaque government program that was created by former Mayor Ted Wheeler to address homelessness and related livability issues wants to remove traffic diverters at NW 20th and Everett and NW Johnson and 15th. They say the diverters get in the way of police patrols and that the absence of car drivers leads to an unsafe environment and increase in “nuisance behaviors.”

In the past 24 hours, we’ve seen an organized response to prevent the removal plan. Local advocacy groups including: Bike Bus PDX, Strong Towns, Bike Loud PDX, and Families for Safe Streets have all sent statements to Mayor Keith Wilson urging him to reject the plan or at least pause it until other solutions can be explored.

This morning I’ve confirmed that Public Environment Management Office (PEMO) Director Anne Hill will attend the August 12th Portland Bureau of Transportation Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting. According to the BAC agenda, Hill will, “present the agency’s reasons for the removal.” It might be an even more strained discussion if the diverters are already removed before the meeting begins. The most current information I’ve heard from Portland Solutions (the office PEMO lives under in the city’s organizational chart) is that the removals are set for sometime this week.

So far I am not aware of any public notice about the removal plan and the only public process that went into making the decision happened at a series of meetings that are invite-only and not easily accessed by the public. (PEMO’s Problem Solver meetings seem to violate several Oregon public meeting laws.)

Since my previous story yesterday, some concerned Portlanders who emailed Mayor Wilson and Portland Solutions Director Skyler Brocker-Knapp have received responses.

A staffer at Mayor Wilson’s office is sending this canned reply to everyone who contacts them:

“The City of Portland has implemented these temporary adjustments in response to serious public safety concerns brought forward by residents, local businesses, and public safety partners. These concerns include increased narcotic use and sales, reported instances of assault and harassment toward pedestrians and cyclists, and challenges faced by emergency responders navigating the area. 

The decision to assess and modify traffic flow in this corridor is an operational one, made in close coordination between multiple city bureaus. A City of Portland engineering team is overseeing the design and implementation with safety and access as top priorities.  In these two blocks, diverters are being re-positioned to allow for two-way vehicle traffic, while allowing for bike travel.” 

And Portland Solutions Director Skyler Brocker-Knapp replied to one BikePortland reader with this message:

“This decision was based on more than two years of community feedback, as this area is used as a corridor for chronic nuisance behavior. We worked on every other tool and solution before reaching this point with PBOT’s engineer and PPB’s traffic team. They determined the four way stop solution at Everett and the modification to Johnson. The bike lanes will be maintained in both locations. In the future, if the nuisance behavior is curbed, due to all of the other mitigating measures also taking place, I think the locations should be revisited and diverters could be returned.”

While the removals could happen at any time, questions remain about how the decision was made and what the community can expect going forward.

Below are the questions I asked Portland Solutions Wednesday morning.

• Since this issue is on the 8/12 agenda of the PBOT Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, why not wait until after that meeting to schedule the changes?
• The 8/1 email from Director Brocker-Knapp referred to diverters at NW 14th and Johnson. Was that a misstatement? Did you mean 15th? Or is 14th also being removed/changed? If so, why?
• Does PBOT support these changes? You say they were asked to identify solutions, which sounds more like an order to me. So I’m curious: How should I characterize PBOT’s position on this?
• When you say Portland Solutions added these concerns to the PBOT “tracker,” are you referring to their TrackIT system?
• What type of public notification of these changes has happened thus far/or will happen before changes are made?
• Why did plan on NW Johnson change from a sharrow marking (which is what was described on 8/1 email from Director Brocker-Knapp) to maintaining the bike lane (as per this 8/5 email)?
• Will these changes be temporary? If so, what will the metrics for success/failure be?
• Where did these community concerns about Johnson come from? Is there a way for me to verify that? Can you provide meeting minutes or PBOT TrackIT case numbers?
• So to be clear, based on your answer to my previous question, there was no public process to make this decision. Is that correct?

I have not yet received responses to these questions. I will post them here when/if I do.

I’m hearing folks will gather at the two locations today to erect signs of support and attempt to prevent PBOT crews from removing the diverters. Stay tuned.