Last night I went to a panel discussion on Mt. Tabor, convened by the Parks Department, that was meant to address concerns about cyclist-pedestrian conflicts in the park. There were representatives from the neighborhood, PUMP, Friends of Mt. Tabor, dog-walkers, joggers, a skateboarder, and bicyclists (slow ones like myself and some fast looking ones).
You may remember the media flurry over this issue in April – the Portland Mercury blog, BikePortland.org, and even KGW covered the story. The story was that Mt. Tabor neighbors – or at least one of them, representing others – were fed up with speedy cyclists on the roadways of the park. Claims of frequent “near misses” (what bike lawyer Mark Ginsberg insists are actually “near hits”) and bikes buzzing pedestrians circulated.
I really expected last night’s meeting to attract angry folks on both sides of the issue – but it didn’t! Instead, about 20 highly reasonable and empathetic people talked for 90 minutes about whether there is a problem and if so how big it is, where it is, and how we can address it.
So is there a problem? Ginsberg asked for stories of conflict on the roadways from the group, and a few people told first- or second-hand accounts of conflicts with bicycles, but they seemed to suggest that the conflicts were rare. Conflicts on the trails were a little more frequent. The unofficial consensus last night seemed to be that if there is a problem it is mostly with the same group of unreasonable people (referred to variously as “jerks” or “don’t play well with others” or “untrainable”) who create conflict everywhere, plus the folks who are nice but oblivious – they just don’t realize they’re making pedestrians uncomfortable.
Where is the problem? The hottest topic – and by hot I mean slightly warm – was actually bikes in the Off Leash Area of the park. Bicyclists are supposed to walk their bikes through the section of trail that crosses the OLA, or to use the road above it, but they often don’t. This conflict will probably be addressed when Mt. Tabor’s Park Master Plan is updated next, though park rangers may also (I’m guessing at this) pay a little more attention to that issue. As for the roadways, nobody seemed very heated about problems there.
How to address the problem? Well, given that there doesn’t seem to be a big problem, there were still excellent suggestions from all for how to make sharing that space easier: signs asking bicyclists to ring their bells and pass with 3 feet of space, signs asking pedestrians to walk to the right, striping on the road that indicates where everyone should ride and walk, an outreach and education effort involving lemonade and leaflets and bells. The last suggestion – outreach and education – was the most popular, and signs and striping might be reserved for later, if they’re needed. No mention of enforcement.
I’m sure there are “near hit” stories out there that weren’t shared at this meetings, and folks who are very unhappy about one user groups or another at Mt. Tabor, but the overall feeling at this meeting is that sharing the space up there shouldn’t be very hard. The strategy going forward seems to be reaching those “nice but naive” folks who haven’t thought about passing distance, ringing bells, walking on the right, playing their iPods too loud, and so on. And even if the problem isn’t a big one, we all know bicycing is on the rise in this town, so we might as well be proactive and start working on Sharing the Path before there really is a problem!
Thanks to everyone for a really positive meeting last night. I look forward to more good relations among all users at one of our city’s great parks!
As a nearby resident, I have visited Mt. Tabor Park several hundred times in the past year. Usually I am on foot, walking my dog, but I often cycle up there too. It’s a great place to get back to nature, peaceful and calm. I have never sensed any conflict between bicyclists and pedestrians in all those trips, regardless of whether I was walking or pedaling.
I run, walk, or bike through Tabor 4 or 5 times a week, and frequently use the trails for running and walking the dog. I’ve not had any real problem or noticed a problem on asphalt anywhere in the park.
However, I would note that on the trails, bikers traveling too fast have given me several close calls, particularly around blind corners and on downhills. Of more concern to me personally are the illegal trails that have sprung up around the park, leading to erosion and destruction of the native vegitation. Some areas look more like a motorcross track than a park.
Thanks for chiming in O. At the meeting we focused on the roadways, but also talked about the trails and people reported more close calls and concerns there.
If you’d like to pass your thoughts on to Parks or find out what the next steps are, you can email Doug Brenner at pkdoug{at}ci{dot}portland{dot}or{dot}us.