The "Oregon Stag" shirt at Greg's on Hawthorne. Photo by Daniel Ronan.

PDXppl is a series of profiles of Portlanders and area residents and what they do.

In any city, flashy marketing tends to take off more than in other localities. Take the "I ♥ NY" shirt or any sports team products as prime examples. Here in Oregon, we've come across one such example of a product as a part of a groundswell love for all things Oregon; the curiously designed "Oregon Stag" shirt with the state's boundaries. After a bit of research, I managed to contact the designer of the shirt and ask him a few questions (as you'll see below). Time will only tell the other products of OR love that will (literally) be in store, but I'm excited to see what the artists and dreamers of Portland and Oregon can come up with!

PDXme: Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Chris Stevens, I'm a graphic designer by trade but I make t-shirts for a living. My company's name is Northwest Shirts and I primarily make and print my own designs which I sell in stores and at fairs and festivals around the Northwest.

PDXme: What brings you to printmaking/ shirt making?

Well as I said I'm a graphic designer by trade which in Portland means that I was bartending and catering, whatever I could do to get by. I bought a bunch of equipment off of a friend a few years ago and taught myself how to print. It was something I always wanted to do and apparently I'm pretty good at it because it's five years later and I haven't slung a drink since.

PDXme: Your shirt design bears remarkable resemblance to the University of Oregon's proposed redesign of the Made in Oregon sign, is this just a coincidence? If so, how did you get the idea to make the "Oregon" shirt?

Well, this is a funny story, I'll tell you how the design came around and what's happened with it since. About 5 years ago or so my landlord came to me and wanted me to make some shirts for his friends that own the Florida Room in North Portland. He wanted me to put "Florida" inside of the Oregon stag sign, which I did but afterwards I thought, "why don't I just put Oregon inside of it and sell them?" I've been selling them for many years now, well before the U of O sign controversy. I even have a federal copyright on the image but after consulting with a copyright lawyer he said I wouldnt stand a chance of fighting the city on it, but I could probably stop other t-shirt people from doing it. I just didn't want anybody to shut me down from making them. I sent one to city commissioner Randy Leonard and I found a picture of him holding it up on the Mercury blog. So I don't think I'm in any danger of infringement or anything.

PDXme: Where can people buy this shirt in the Portland area?

You can get it Greg's on Hawthorne at 3707 SE Hawthorne, or if your outside of the city you can get them on my etsy page at: http://www.nwshirts.etsy.com

PDXme: Anything else you like us to know?

I originally started doing this because I hated working for other people, and pretty much working period. The funny thing is this is the hardest job I've ever had. If you want to make money being a craft vendor, my advice is to be adaptable and ready to roll with the punches. Some days are miserable and some days are awesome you've just got to be there for all of them. I thank everyone who's purchased and enjoyed one of my shirts.

Marshall McFarland

When I started the PDXpoesy of PDXme, I didn't how I would approach posting other people's poetry. How would I introduce it? What would be its subject matter? I would think Portland. But no less, a good friend of mine here at the University of Oregon, and a graduate of Lincoln High School, Marshall McFarland, has given me a taste of Portland as I live out my lazy summer days in Eugene. I leave it to Marshall, an avid photographer and poet to introduce himself:

Marshall: I've taken over 45,000 photos. My inspirations include Sally Mann, Diane Arbus, Salvador Dali, Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham, Louis Greenfield, Zebidiah Andrews (a contemporary Portland local) and many more. I enjoy all photography (portrait, nature, fashion, journalism, abstract, studio) but I feel more and more drawn to the life style of a fine art photographer - having work displayed in art galleries. My plan is to finish my BA, get a Masters of Education, and teach high school while pursuing a career in fine art. In my future also see working in 3rd world countries to build bridges, help build communities, play soccer with children, and see and share God's love.

Photo and poetry on the jump!

Street performers perform at "Last Thursday" on NE Alberta. Photo courtesy of Marshall McFarland.

The work you see here: I took this photograph on Alberta St. at 'Last Thursday' on June 25th. Last Thursday is a wonderful event where anyone can set up a plot on the street to sell their art. This may include anything from LCD lit skateboards to bundles of lavender to earrings made of recycled clothing (yes, recycled underwear included). The poetry is inspired by the photo's location in Portland.

Find me here.

Sips of Portland's Best Refreshment

Portland

Sailing on her spirit
Holding his umbrella
Bathing in the bubbler
Made in Oregon

Climbing cranes in the Pearl
The homeless are honest
Need money for beer
The donuts delightful
The magic is in the hole

Sylvan Salmon
Ainsworth Alberta
Broadway Burnside
23rd 6th

Roses.
Play.
Bridges.
Stay.

Breathing
Watching
Smiling softly through drunken lips
Light

Bike Corral at Mississippi & Beech

In an evening jaunt up North Mississippi Avenue in 2007, I came across this bike corral on North Beech.  I was able to take a good shot of it in spite of the drizzly weather.

So now that bike corrals are appearing in greater numbers (as seen on this map), why don't we expand this concept of efficiency by creating spaces for bikes that celebrate bicycling instead of placing them on the margins of roads? I would argue that taking bikes off of the side-walk is good for pedestrians, but it is at a relative cost to bicycles. Bicycles, like cars, have an air of freedom about them. When they are regulated by parking structures, they seem to lose a bit of their appeal. This is obvious if you drive a car. God knows how long you wait to get into and out of a parking garage in the Rose Quarter. With bikes, the appeal is similar, but there is something to say about finding a real gem of a vélo on display in a standard sidewalk lock-up. When we regulate people and things to certain rights of way, we sacrifice "something," and I think that lacking "something" is community.

A classy lady on N. Mississippi

A blue bike near N. Mississippi & Fremont

Communities in Portland are, in a word, resilient. We like our meetings. Our neighborhood association are among the most vibrant  in the nation with relatively high political influence. Why would their be a Facebook Application pertaining solely to which Portland neighborhood one should live in? As seen with the creation of City Repair, a non-profit dedicated to the creation of public gathering spaces, Portlanders like to shape their communities, each leaving his or her own mark on our city. In one project, community members came together to perform an "intersection repair." The community found its strengths among it, finding carpenters, painters, and good-willed neighbors willing to help. As a result, the community created a space for all to enjoy and changed city-wide policy for the use of public spaces. The reclaiming of "public" space is however, just the first step. Once we recreate an intersection, a vacant lot, it's important that we keep using the reclaimed space.

Now, you might be wondering, don't we want bike corrals? Of course. Walking along North Mississippi and seeing 10-20 bikes all in a row excites anyone crazy for bikes. (And that's a fair number of people here in River City.) Bike corrals are visible, but I'd like them so visible as to take up the underutilized space that cars could do away with at no expense to the driver. Case in point: traffic circles. What goes in the middle of a traffic circle? Usually plants. But often, this patch of green is left to members of the neighborhood to maintain. What if we could use traffic circles to their full potential, designating them as covered bike corrals? Only this time they would be accessible to bicyclists looking for bike parking from four directions, and visible to everyone. No longer will bikes, and the concerns of its bikers be left at the margin, but at the center of attention. Here is a sketch that I created with the help of my friend to give you a better idea of what I envision.

A Traffic Circle is made into a bike corral, a more efficient use of space.

Notice what you see (beyond horrible drawing skills). You see people. Bike corrals create people flow, the lifeblood of any livable community. But what we have in the middle of the intersection is a space that citizens hold dear, a place where bikers can leave their wheels. But why stop there? The space could be a covered meeting place for cyclists, or people waiting for a ride. Creating an "X" in order to access the space creates a uniqueness to the intersection that slows drivers down. Forcing pedestrians to walk through the space insures that watchful eyes maintain and keep an eye out for the space.

If one of these were to be placed on a corner with local restaurants or bookstores, I could imagine people waiting for the table in the middle of this neighborhood street, or kicking back with a book.

The engineering of such an intersection could be difficult. To make more space  in the center, there may need to be bowl cuts in the curves, as illustrated in the sketch. There is also the safety component. What about speeders? We could place speed bumps before the stop signs (which, I judged to hard to draw here) and additional reflectors around the gazebo-like bike corral. Steel posts around the structure are a must to protect people and bikes in the space. The fire department may have something to say about this, but lest we mention our prized statue of Joan d'Arc at NE 39th and Glisan? As long as this intersection an important emergency route, I couldn't see an issue.

Latin American countries often call a block the Spanish manzana, or apple. An intersection like this is at the edge of several blocks, or several apples. Sliced apple anyone? Perhaps some apple pie? These may be some names in the running for this proposed intersection. To my knowledge, I do not know if anything of  similar exists. Large scale roundabouts are, of course, commonplace in larger cities such as Columbus Circle in New York or the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Columbus Circle in New York

Arc de Triomph in Paris © Editions Hazan

I am excited at the prospect of bringing more bike corrals to Portland. As we work through this down economy, its important that we work to support our local economy, and bike corrals, as seen in the video above, do just that.

This proposed intersection works to engender community and, as my economic professor would say, "an efficient use of resources." I want to talk to my neighbors again, and I want to be a part of my own community, not a drone behind a piece of metal.

At the end of the day, I believe Portland has a choice. We have the ability to change our cityscape to reflect the purpose of where we live: as a space amenable to community and human needs, not of machines out of scale with their surroundings.

So on your next jaunt up Mississippi, remember, apple pie!

The interesting geometry of Fareless Square, according to Wikipedia, is due to various events. In the 1990s, the Square's boundaries were changed to accommodate stops at Union Station, to increase access to the new Amtrak Cascade trains.  The extension to the east side in 2001, incorporating the Lloyd Center Shopping Mall as well as the Oregon Convention Center, worked to encourage further use of public transportation, including the use of the newly opened Red Line, with service from the Beaverton Transit Center to the Portland Airport.

In 1986, there was an effort to do away with Fareless Square, but public support for the resource enabled it to survive until today. In 2007, talks of reforming the Square, from making it fareless only during certain hours or calling for its end surfaced as crime perpetrated by the homeless and youth began to rise. The call for reform escalated with incidents of knife fights which prompted extra vigilance from the TriMet Transit Police. The Oregonian has a cool map of crimes perpetrated 2005 and 2006. As a general trend, more violent crimes tended to take place in the suburbs, and, according to Wikipedia, this hampered efforts to do away with the Portland mainstay, located in the central city.

Fareless Square, compliments of TriMet.

This year, TriMet has a new plan to reform the Square. The down economy has prompted the public agency to tighten its belt, and accordingly TriMet has proposed that busses lose their fareless distinction, restricting "free" fare to the MAX and the streetcar. Below is an email alert I received on this recent update:

When MAX Green Line begins service downtown on the Portland Transit Mall in September, riders will be able to use MAX and Portland Streetcar for nearly all trips within Fareless Square. Changing the fare-free zone to rail-only would simplify the system for riders and improve efficiency of bus service, while maintaining frequent, free transit service in the City Center. We’d like your feedback on this proposal. Learn more and share your comments

You should click the link at the end to tell them what you think. (Also, you should sign up for their updates as well.) My initial reaction upon hearing these developments of the Square are mixed. To get downtown I take either the #44 or the #12 along 6th and from there, I tend to walk to my destination. Rarely do I use Fareless Square for free bus fare as in the end I will just have to buy another ticket home, out of the square. I do however, see the convenience in the fareless concept, especially for those who wish to take a quick trip to the other end of the mall. Unfortunately, the MAX is a bit slow downtown, and bus service tends to be faster.

That being said, we've yet to see the travel times for new MAX Green lines which will travel south and north on 5th and 6th Avenues. I could foresee the new MAX service as being incredibly popular, just as the Blue and Red lines have been as an east-west rail thoroughfare. But I would still am not convinced that MAX and streetcar service combined would enable the current scope of access to downtown as the current transit mall. Given, there has never been a MAX on the transit mall, so we shall see. In light of this economy, TriMet is also considering selectively cutting and fine-tuning frequent service bus routes. So perhaps getting around downtown would not be as fast on the bus. This via another TriMet email update:

Due to the weak economy, TriMet still faces a $3.5 million budget shortfall. Instead of cutting more routes or reducing hours of operation, we propose to cover this remaining budget gap by making small reductions in bus service frequency, effective in November. These minor changes would be made during midday, in the evening and on weekends, so most commuters would not be affected. As a result, on 27 bus lines (including most Frequent Service lines) the time between buses would increase by about 2 to 4 minutes. We’d like your feedback on this proposal. Learn more and share your comments

So assuming that the new MAX Green line would be faster and more reliable for downtown travel, we can work to make buses more efficient passing through Fareless Square as they make the way on their routes outside of the downtown.

Here's a thought: perhaps we could designate free shuttle buses from one end of downtown to the other. Two shuttles could perform this task, mirroring the north-south east-west routes of the MAX lines. These shuttles would stop at few locations (ideally 2 or 3) in the immediate city center, lightening the load for buses and trains bogged down with strictly downtown travelers. For example, I could get off at the #44's first stop downtown at 4th and Hall and then take a shuttle that would then stop in Old Town and then Lloyd Center. We could limit these shuttles to rush hour travel only or keeping them going all day, budget permitting.

The goal of light rail is to get people to use it. I agree whole heartily with this statement. But does depending on fareless light rail and streetcar for downtown travel allow for the most efficient movement of people? Yes, it would free and people would most certainly use it, but would this slow down MAX service if buses no longer offered free fare? (The Blue and Red lines serve as examples of moderately slow light rail service in the city center.) As a regional rail system, it's important that we connect people with downtown together with fast and efficient transportation. I would liked to be assured that if TriMet gets rid of fareless busses that, specifically, fast and efficient transportation via MAX will not be compromised.

In the end, I'd rather ride rail than a bus. And I'm sure a lot of people would prefer the same. However, additionally I believe that the more options we offer to passengers, the more ridership we will see and with that, a more livable Portland.

The pathway would constitute a strategic cycling route 4.3 miles long and would connect cyclists and pedestrians from the Springwater Corridor at Gateway to the Eastbank Esplanade on the Willamette River. A perceived “highway for cyclists,” the pathway has the potential of increasing ridership by reducing the encounters between people, bikes and automobiles.

The construction of the pathway is proposed to occur aside the MAX tracks, where large parcels of land sit unused, collecting trash as well as graffiti on backsides of buildings. The possibilities for the space are endless. Given the development potential of the space, opportunities for showcasing local art, with murals, statues, and other works abound. What better than to show travelers from the Airport MAX what Portland is all about: bikes and beauty!

Sullivan's Gulch with Portland's Blue Line Max. Complements of Portland Underground Photography.

Currently the project is in the planning and advocacy stages, pushed by Sullivan’s Gulch as well as Irvington Neighborhoods. The neighborhoods have formed a committee to push for a preliminary feasibility and engineering study. The study would include cost estimates and design work, an important step in leveraging support for the project.

METRO, the regional government, as well as Parks and Recreation and the Department of Transportation with the City, have included the proposed trail in many of their long-term plans. The the neighborhoods’ planning committee are currently in need of letters of support for the project from those that will benefit from the trail.

With the completion of such a trail, Portland will be on its way to a healthier lifestyle accompanied with a less car-dependent society. How many more trails can we blaze? Will our political will will be the deciding factor?

For more information on this project, you can contact Dan Lerch-Walters.

Supporting Links

Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood Association

Sullivan’s Gulch Trail

“Trail Blazers look to make history against the Nuggets…”