Activistas

TriMet Family Update: Traveling with Kids

You may recall that we chatted - extensively - about our experiences, opinions, and hopes about riding TriMet with kids. As a result, we sat down in May with a bundle of staffers there and talked about the challenges of riding with little kids. 

They listened very respectfully and really seemed to understand where we were coming from, taking the time to explain the various rules that can be hard to find and keep straight. They also stressed the trade-offs we all face in sharing space with a wide variety of riders with specific needs. 

So, only a few months later, they've added a page to their web site to clarify its policies for us parents who choose to or must rely on public transit.

This is an excellent step in the right direction, mamas!  Now we know the policies, what help we can ask for, where and how we can use our strollers.  Not to get too effusive here, but I'm impressed.  Naturally, I'm still holding out hope for the European priority seating sticker (in this photo), which we shared with them when we met back in May.  Check out this piece about new priority seating for pregnant women and parents with lap children on the London Tube (where this lovely photo was taken) - I'm still holding out hope.  You?

Parking Close: Am I Asking Too Much??

What a great feeling to pull into one of those family parking spots at Ikea, right. by. the. door.  How I love those spots.  So how come I only get to love there there, at Ikea, way out by the airport? 

How I long to park close-in at the grocery store.  So my kids don't get hit in the parking lot, so I can return the cart to its rightful spot without my kids panicking because I'm wandering off or some 'concerned' bystander calling the county on me. So I can get the groceries, the kids, my bag, and me out to the car without blowing a gasket.  Yes, extra hands from the store staff is really nice, and these days I actually accept their offers. 

No doubt loads of non-parents will abhore this idea, but I love it anyway.  So much, in fact, that I just emailed New Seasons with this suggestion, because really mamas, if anyone's gonna do it they are.  They're opening a new store on SE Hawthorne (bless them) and asked for neighborhood input.  'Course I couldn't actually be there (could any parent?  isn't that the problem?), so I did what parents who can't make any important meetings do - I emailed them.  I emailed them this (quick, poorly written, but heartfelt) plea:

Portland at the center of a car-free future

I have a bike sticker from Car-free Portland. It says, "Live free or drive," and I keep remembering it as "Car-free or die," mashing up the New Hampshire license plate with the car-free sentiment in my head. While I wouldn't go so far as to start getting angry at people who do drive, I'm very proud every time I can make a choice other than a car.

Despite my subconscious battle cry, in a (hopefully) positive, affirming way, I'm seeking to spread my car-free gestalt by endlessly promoting my much-loved mamabikeorama. When I get on that bike with my boys and my groceries, I do feel so full of affirmation. Not only are there constant admiring looks, pointed fingers, whispered "wow!"s and a plethora of questions, but there's also this: I'm combining my exercise, my transportation, my family togetherness, and my general daily experience of beauty all in one. As I ride around the neighborhood or venture farther, I discover something new every day, finding magic, as my web site tag line says. I am being wholly myself, and thoroughly in the world, but in the most gentle, lovely way possible. As I said to someone the other day, how great is it that I get to do the thing that is an American symbol for fun -- riding bikes -- as part of my daily life?

I'm not the only one who thinks about biking and going car-free with such starry eyes. The next two weeks mark a number of bicycle events in the city, with the 'Toward Carfree Cities' conference as a highlight. June 17th is a free public day and you can register on the web site -- see the panel with urbanMamas Olivia Rebanal and Marion Rice at 10:45 a.m. I hope I'll be able to sneak out of work and see some of it!

Activistas Meet TriMet: Join Us to Work for Change

Last time we discussed Tri-Met, we asked if you think it's family-friendly.  Well, we got our answer from all of you riders out there: nope.  So, natch, we're working on it.  We're meeting with a whole slew of Tri-Met staff to move this forward in late May.  The goal of this first meeting is to share info: we tell them what isn't working for us, what we'd like to see change.  They tell us why it is the way it is, what their barriers are, and what types of change they are willing and able to make.  The beginning of a fruitful give-and-take, we hope, that results in some near and long-term improvements. 

The major issue driving this from the get-go has been the (often burdensome) requirement to fold strollers.  Yeah, the ones with the kids and the gear and the groceries in them.  No easy task on a moving bus, while holding all the contents - live and otherwise.  But we've got other ideas for improvements, too.

Help Us Make Change!  If you ride regularly with young kids and are interested in getting this dialog rolling with Tri-Met, get in touch. We plan to bring 5-7 parents of young children to the table to share real experiences and suggestions for improvement.  Do you commute downtown with kids (like me), across town to your child care, school or work, ride during non-commute hours to grocery shop, schlepp kids to classes, ball games, the doctor??  The Activistas-TriMet conversation is downtown on Thursday, 5.29.08 from 10:30 to Noon.  We'll also get together for a one-hour planning meeting someday between now and then.  Maybe coffee with the kids at Sydney's? 

Eco-Party: Some Change Will Do You Good

It's Earth Month, and like any good Portlander I'm doing my share to learn and try to put into practice the earth-friendly mantra of reducing, reusing and recycling.  I got an Energy Trust home review and attended an Eco-Party in an effort to become more environmentally aware.  I patted myself on the back smugly and thought, what a good steward of the earth I am. 

And then I got the Home Eco-Party Checklist with about 50 questions covering habits ranging from waste reduction and recycling, toxics reduction, and energy/water conservation.  As I filled out the checklist that smugness that I felt earlier lifted quickly and I wondered if I would leave the party wearing a scarlet letter.  That letter would be a reminder that every time I use a disposable diaper I was knowingly destroying the earth; and that everyone would know that my family doesn't buy all organic produce.  Who knew that those individual little boxes of raisins that my littlest one (see picture) loves so much would be now a guilt-inducing purchase?

Spread Your Enthusiasm for Alt Transportation

Do you feel passionately about walking, biking, and other alternatives to driving?  Do you want to use that passion to encourage others to drive less or make the roads safer for everyone?  If so, the City of Portland's Transportation Options Ambassador Program might be just the thing for you.  As an Ambassador you'll  work directly with the Transportation Options Staff to reach out to Portland residents by planning bike rides, walks, neighborhood and community fairs, and business transportation fairs.  Training is included, plus you get a free t-shirt (I'm in!) and a variety of walking, biking and transit incentives.

If you are or have been an Options Ambassador, how was it?  Worth the time?  Fun?  rewarding?  Do-able with kids?  We'd love to hear more about the program and what you did in your role as a city Ambassador.  What I wonder is whether these Ambassadors are doing outreach specifically to families that deal with the unique barriers families face to using alternative transit.  Could be a great way to add the family perspective to the mix with these folks.

Jump In: You can download an application or contact Janis McDonald at 503.823.5358 or janis.mcdonald@pdxtrans.org to apply or get more info. 

Take the Walk + Bike Challenge to Your School!

Want to walk and bike your kids to school more?  Need a little inspiration?  Well, you're in luck.  This just in:

Oregon Walk + Bike to School has an exciting event happening in May. For the first time ever, we are extending the spirit of Walk + Bike Day into an entire month! In the style of the BTA's successful Bike Commute Challenge, all over the Portland area elementary students will be challenged to walk or bike to school as much as they can over the month of May. Once a week, a school champion will gather student scorecards and find out who's walking and biking! 

This event can be as robust or as simple as suits your school. Oregon Walk + Bike provides: posters, small incentive items, student scorecards, and tips on making your event successful.  Every student that walks or bikes at each registered school is eligible for raffle prizes. The winning school will receive a free class of the BTA's Award-Winning Bicycle Safety Education curriculum in the fall of 2008 (up to 32 students).

Is Tri-Met Family-Friendly?

So we've griped a wee bit about Tri-Met before.  And raved.  They do a lot of great things, can't deny it.  But... are they family-friendly?  We're talking a lot these days about how family-friendly P-town is...or isn't.  So why not hone in on one critical aspect that has a lot to do with family-friendliness, not to mention global warming, socio-economic status, and traffic, for starters. Yes, mamas, I'm talking about transportation.  Rachele wrote us recently with a bus riding experience that sounds all too familiar:

I wanted to forward my email exchange with TriMet, because I am very concerned with their unwillingness to accommodate mamas (or anyone) with young children.  My husband and I car share - and gas prices are high and going higher, so I wanted to stop driving and take the bus everywhere - only to find that if I have to go grocery shopping and want to take my stroller, it will be nearly impossible to do this on the bus, when it shouldn't be a big deal, in the middle of the day, to just roll the stroller onto the bus with my groceries in the basket underneath the stroller - both would fit nicely in one of those fold up seat sections (reserved for people in wheelchairs - yes- but frequently empty most bus rides.) 

Gettin' a Crosswalk on NE Ainsworth

In case you weren't following the recent thread over on the uM schools forum about the quest for a crosswalk near Faubion Elementary School, it has fascinating tidbits, odd logic (IMHO), & inspiring examples of grassroots activism in action.  All in addition to excellent insight into that school's community for prospective parents.

Tidbit: If you request a crosswalk, it takes 16 weeks for the Portland Department of Transportation (P-DOT) to complete a study. I'm no transportation planner, but that's a lot of studying, or there's a ton of people requesting new crosswalks out there.

Odd logic: PDOT doesn't like to add a new crosswalk where there are no others because the pedestrians using it are more likely to be injured by a car whose driver ignores the crosswalk because it's, you got it, the lone, unexpected crosswalk.  So if you let a moose request one crosswalk...

Inspiring example of grassroots activism: There's partnering galore going on around this crosswalk thanks to uber-KMat, and they just might get this thing.  KMat has been b-u-s-y on this one and is asking readers to jump on the bandwagon and e-mail City Commissioner Sam Adams' office to support this new crosswalk.  Here's how: shoot an e-mail to Adams' staff person Cevero Gonzalez and the PDOT liaison Roland Chlapowski.

So hop on it, mamas.  Let's make Faubion Elementary a safer place for kids and parents to walk to school.  As KMat said, we can't stress enough the power of numbers - that's where YOU come in.  Mamas helping mamas.  Oh yeah.  And even better, a lotta mamas helping mamas. 

And in the always-learning-something-new cateogry, check out the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition.  Thye're sole reason for being is to promote a better pedestrian environment.  More partnering!

Mama, Where's the Bus?

Wish I knew!  My toes were ice blocks, my son's hands hurt, and the bus was STILL nowhere in sight.  I love Tri-Met, don't get me wrong.  I love how it gets us out of the insulated mini-world that is our car.  I love that I don't look or pay for parking, that it's free (lucky me my work subsidizes it), that we walk through our neighborhood to catch it. 

But this winter I got soft.  The dark, the cold, the rain, the two kids.  You get the picture.  And then the call of the warm car and the relatively cheap surface parking directly across from school - SO tempting.  But today the car was in the shop.  I was happy to be back in the bus groove, though even on a good day it takes a good bit more time to get from our house to school and then work on the bus (duh).