A conversation about bike storage at Hacienda
Last Thursday, a roomful of Hacienda CDC residents who form part of the recently renamed group called Andando en Bicicleta en Cully or ABC, (Riding Bikes in Cully) met with Ian Stude, Portland State University’s bike parking guru, to learn more about bike storage options at their housing site.
With support from the Community Cycling Center, the ABC group has been meeting since June 2010 to find ways to promote bicycling in their community. Last fall, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Kids Healthy Communities grant, the group conducted a Photo Voice project to document the barriers to physical activity in their neighborhood. From the 165 photos they captured, one of the biggest obstacles was the lack of adequate long term bike storage.
Yolanda Cabrera explains, “Since last year people are taking bicycles more into account. Before no one worried about bikes, if you have to look after them or not. It was only, you have to put them outside or put them inside, but since we began to organize, now others are going to take us into consideration and will listen to what we have to say about bike parking.”
Ian Stude, the Transportation Options Manager at Portland State University, gave the group a terrific overview of bike storage options including vertical racks, sheltered parking and secure structures with key entry. After the presentation the residents took Ian on a brief tour of their property to see the variety of spaces they have in mind to retrofit into bike parking.
Afterwards Ian shared his impressions of the groups’ project, “I was very encouraged by the thoughtfulness and dedication of the Bike Committee members. They have clearly taken the time to explore and document the current problems associated with insufficient bicycle parking. Better still, they appear energized to find a solution that will benefit their whole community.”
Tanya Wolfersperger, Hacienda’s Youth and Family Services Director who has been a key support for the group since the beginning, was encouraged. The presentation gave community members a much better picture of the bike storage options and the next steps they can take. Plus it connects them with some outside resources and experts that have experience with these kinds of projects. Hacienda is looking forward to working with residents to come up with a good solution that will make it easier and safer for kids and families to ride bicycles and stay active in their neighborhood. With the recently finished Cully Cycle Track and improvements slated to connect Hacienda’s housing to Harvey Scott school, bicycling is becoming a much more viable option for families in the Cully neighborhood.
For more information about the Healthy Kids Healthy Communities project check out
http://www.orphi.org/healthy-community-planning/healthy-eating-active-living-heal-and-housing