Monday Mailing
Year 19 • Issue 42 15 July 2013 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
What Caused Portland’s Biking Boom? Cargo Bikes: The New Station Wagon National Park on Moon Proposed Online Tool Helps Find Opportunities for Bike/Pedestrian Project Funding Poll Finds Rural Voters Support Investment in Small Business, Education Genetically Modified Wheat: South Korea will Resume Purchases, Japan Still Leery of Oregon Wheat Deforestation Worse Than Climate Change for Coral Reefs Oregon Senate Oks Bill to Help Struggling Counties The Air Pollution Cuts Life Expectancy by 5.5 Years in China – Study 48 Senators in the Hall of Shame for Rejecting Student Loan Rollback Oregon State Park Land Exchange Would Bring New Coos County Golf Course, Grant County Park Funding Opportunities
1. What Caused Portland’s Biking Boom? When we talk about the amazing growth of bicycling in Portland, those are more or less the years we're talking about. Before 2002, to look at the behavior of Portland commuters, this was just another outdoorsy city on the West Coast; since 2008, it's been just one more midsize metro area with an increasingly lively central city.
Quote of the Week: “Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there.” ~John Ray Oregon Fast Fact #8: The world's oldest shoes, 9,000-year-old sandals made of sagebrush and bark, were found at Fort Rock Cave in central Oregon in 1938.
But something strange and wonderful happened in between. Over the last week, people around the country have been asking why, and we'd love to know what the BikePortland community thinks. Noted bicycle researcher John Pucher got the conversation going with an email that was discussed last week by Seattle Bike Blog. Pucher used Census data to show how, in 1990, Seattle was one of North America's leading bike cities. In fact, Pucher wrote, "Seattle had considerably more cycling than in Portland with 1.5% vs. 1.1% bike mode share." But by 2011 there had been a "a truly stunning reversal" with Portland bouncing up to 6.8% compared to Seattle's 3.7% (and all the other cities had similarly unimpressive growth). What happened? Why did Portland cycling rates increase so much more than other leading bike cities? To access the full story, click here. 2. Cargo Bikes: The New Station Wagon ON A RECENT SUNDAY, Brandon Jones, a 44-year-old fund manager at 9W Capital Management, traveled from his home in downtown Manhattan with his wife and two children to meet friends for brunch in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They were heading to Reynard, the popular restaurant in the neighborhood's fashionable Wythe Hotel, where Manhattan-bound Town Cars regularly idle on the street outside. Page 1 of 6
But Mr. Jones did not drive. Nor did he take the subway. Instead, he piloted his two children via the deck of his Yuba Mundo, a so-called "longtail" cargo bike. (His wife rode her own bike.) Picture a mountain bike, but with a stouter frame and smaller wheels, stretched out and lowered in the back. "We actually beat our friends who drove back to TriBeCa," Mr. Jones said. While Mr. Jones does garage a BMW SUV, his car rarely sees daylight within the city limits. Rather, for daily trips like the mile-and-a-half commute from TriBeCa to his children's school in Greenwich Village, he simply hops on another kind of SUV—one that actually includes a bit of sport. Mr. Jones's choice is becoming an increasingly popular one in the U.S. The country's biggest seller of the Yuba Mundo is Joe Bike, a Portland, Ore., store specializing in "high-performance urban, utility and touring bikes." The owner, Joe Doebele, said that when he began carrying cargo bikes—a catchall term covering a variety of bike styles built for functional hauling—five years ago, he thought they would be for just that, cargo. "But parents, mostly moms, were the ones who were buying them," he said. "It quickly became a family bike." To access the full story, click here. 3. National Park on Moon Proposed Yorktown. Independence Hall. The moon? The site of man's first lunar landing could join battlefields, presidential birthplaces and other major American historical sites on a roster of protected places if two Democrats have their way. U.S. Reps. Donna Edwards of Maryland and Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas have proposed legislation that would designate artifacts at the site of American moon landings as comprising a National Historical Park, citing potential commercial traffic on the moon that could damage the areas. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first to walk on the Lunar surface in July 1969. Subsequent moon flights landed in other areas and equipment from all of the space missions, which ended in 1973, remain on the moon's surface. These include the spidery bottom halves of lunar landers, flags and even a moon car. To access the full story, click here. 4. Online Tool Helps Find Opportunities for Bike/Pedestrian Project Funding A new tool from Advocacy Advance makes it easier to identify the federal transportation programs that could be used to pay for many types of walking and bicycling programs. The tool also provides helpful information about each type of federal transportation funding source available for biking and walking projects, including what it is, how much funding is available, and who to approach for more information. To access the tool, click here. 5. Poll Finds Rural Voters Support Investment in Small Business, Education Most Rural Americans strongly believe the rural and small-town way of life is worth fighting for and support government action to strengthen the rural economy and communities.
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Those findings come from a poll of rural voters in the Great Plains, Midwest, and Southeastern US by the nationally respected bipartisan polling team of Celinda Lake and Ed Goeas. You can see the full report here. Rural voters think for themselves and don’t neatly fit an ideological stereotype. Most agree that America’s future is weakened by a widening gap between the rich and families struggling to make ends meet. And nearly half say it’s time for government to play a stronger role in strengthening rural communities and making the economy work for the average person in rural and small-town America. But almost as many worry that “turning to big government to solve our problems will do more harm than good.” To access the full story, click here. 6. Genetically Modified Wheat: South Korea will Resume Purchases, Japan Still Leery of Oregon Wheat South Korean flour mills will resume buying soft white wheat from the Pacific Northwest, the first major break in frozen export sales since genetically modified wheat plants were found growing in an eastern Oregon field this spring. Korea will continue testing wheat shipments for the presence of transgenic material, but will not restrict purchases of wheat grown in Oregon, said Blake Rowe, chief executive of the Oregon Wheat Commission. Korea and Japan, the biggest buyers of Pacific Northwest wheat, suspended new purchases after the "Roundup Ready" wheat plants were confirmed in May. Both countries accepted deliveries of wheat purchased before the discovery, but implemented testing procedures and have sought assurances that genetically engineered wheat has not entered the commercial stream. To access the full story, click here. 7. Deforestation Worse Than Climate Change for Coral Reefs Better land use is the key to preventing further damage to the world’s coral reefs, according to an international team of marine researchers. Writing in the online science journal Nature Communications, the researchers say that preventing soil erosion and sediment pollution arising from human activities such as deforestation are crucial to reef survival. The study focused on the effects of future climate change on the hydroclimate of Madagascar’s reefs using different deforestation scenarios. Around the world, intense land use and past deforestation have transformed river catchments and are seen as a major threat to coral reefs in Madagascar, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and elsewhere. To access the full story, click here.
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8. Oregon Senate Oks Bill to Help Struggling Counties The Oregon Legislature on Wednesday passed a bill to help struggling timber counties conduct elections, collect taxes and handle veterans services. Without debate, the Senate voted unanimously to send the bill, HB2206B, to Gov. John Kitzhaber for his signature. The governor plans to sign it, pending an internal review, spokeswoman Amy Wojcicki said. The bill would allow financially struggling counties to ask the governor to declare an emergency, opening the way for state agencies to help with elections, collecting taxes and providing services to veterans. The Legislature has yet to act on a more significant bill, HB3453, which would allow the governor to declare a public safety emergency in counties that refuse to vote for enough tax revenue to finance their sheriff's departments and jails. The bill has hit a stumbling block over how to raise taxes without approval from voters. To access the full story, click here. 9. The Air Pollution Cuts Life Expectancy by 5.5 Years in China – Study Severe pollution has slashed an average of five and half years from life expectancy in northern China, as toxic air has led to higher rates of stroke, heart disease and cancer. These are the findings of a landmark study conducted by an international team of researchers, including academics from China's most prestigious universities, published this month in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers found that severe air pollution has cost the 500 million people living north of China's Huai River during the 1990s more than 2.5 billion years of aggregate life. To access the full story, click here. 10. 48 Senators in the Hall of Shame for Rejecting Student Loan Rollback Once again, Congress has failed our students. Today, the bill to roll back student loan interest rates to 3.4 percent proposed by Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) failed to get cloture, meaning it will not be able to move forward for full floor consideration and an up-or-down vote. Thus student loan rates will stay at 6.8 percent, where they have been since July 1, until Congress manages to pass a solution. The vote for cloture was 51-49, will 60 votes needed for the bill to more forward. (The 49 includes Majority Leader Harry Reid, who frequently votes against cloture only for procedural reasons.) No Republicans voted for it, and Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Angus King (I-Maine), voted against it as well since they are championing a bipartisan alternative bill. These 48 members are therefore in today’s Hall of Shame. To access the full story, click here.
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11. Oregon State Park Land Exchange Would Bring New Coos County Golf Course, Grant County Park Would a new 6,100-acre state park in Grant County in eastern Oregon be worth 280 acres along the Oregon coast in Coos County? The Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission is considering a land exchange with golf resort developer Mike Keiser, the commission's largest ever exchange. The proposal includes: The state would give up a portion of its 902-acre Bandon State Natural Area, between U.S. 101 and the Pacific shore just south of Bandon. The site is plagued by gorse, a noxious invasive plant that has cost $67,000 in the past two years to control. To access the full story, click here. 12. Funding Opportunities Native Asset Building Initiative - Application deadline: Jul 15, 2013 Funding to establish and operate a Native Asset Building Initiative which will provide an array of supports and services to enable low income individuals and families to become economically selfsufficient. Rural Youth Development Grants - Application deadline: Jul 15, 2013 Provides grants to 4-H, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Future Farmers of America programs to break down economic and physical barriers for youth living in rural areas to participate in programs that allow them to receive adequate care, services, or resources necessary for healthy development. Section 533 Rural Housing Preservation Grants - Application deadline: Aug 2, 2013 Grants to assist rural low-income homeowners and renters to repair and rehabilitate their homes. Libri Books for Children Program - Application deadline: Aug 15, 2013 Donates new, quality, hardcover children's books to small, rural public libraries in the United States. Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grants - Application deadline: Sep 10, 2013 Supports communities that have undergone a comprehensive local planning process and are ready to implement their “Transformation Plan� to redevelop the neighborhood. Economic Development Assistance Programs - Application deadline: Sep 13, 2013 Grants for rural and urban communities to support the implementation of regional economic development strategies. Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant Program (REDLG) - Application deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis. Offers loans and grants are to assist in the economic development of rural areas. Small Business Administration Microloan Program - Application deadline: Applications accepted on an ongoing basis. Offers loans to small businesses and nonprofit childcare centers to start up and expand. MacArthur Foundation Announces Open Call for Documentary Film Proposals - Eight to twelve projects will receive grants of up to $200,000 for the production and distribution of socialissue documentary films on important contemporary topics.... Deadline: July 31, 2013
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National Alliance for Accessible Golf Accepting Applications for Programs Serving Individuals With Disabilities - Grants support organizations that provide opportunities for individuals with disabilities to learn and enjoy the game of golf and its inherent values.... Deadline: Rolling National Science Teachers Association Accepting Entries for Shell Science Lab Challenge More than $93,000 in equipment, cash grants, and other resources will be awarded to middle and high school science teachers in the U.S. and Canada who have created replicable approaches to science lab instruction utilizing limited resources.... Deadline: December 20, 2013 Pollination Project Seeks Applications from Educators for School Social Change Projects Seed grants of $1,000 will be awarded to educators to launch or expand social change projects that support their students in making a positive difference in the world.... Deadline: September 22, 2013 Aetna Foundation Accepting Applications for Regional Nutrition and Physical Activity Programs - Grants of up to $40,000 will be awarded for programs that target communities where healthy food can be difficult to buy, and where social and environmental factors may limit people's ability to be physically active.... Deadline: September 15, 2013
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