Day 9: Portland Bike Tour, Street Art, and Data Collection
After a quick breakfast on the morning of October 4th, we took the bus into downtown Portland and arrived at Cycle Portland Bike Rental around 9:15 am. We all got situated with our own personal bikes and were unleashed on to the City of Portland. We made our way to an old warehouse at SE 2nd and SE Clay where we would meet Tiffany Conklin and Brett Peters of the Portland Street Art Alliance (PSAA). While we waited, Will gave his presentation on green commuting in Portland discussing a brief history on the large bike community in Portland and contribution to clean commuting.
After Will’s presentation we met Tiffany and Brett who took us into the old warehouse, which was covered with graffiti, to discuss the current issues with illegal street art and recent abatement laws affecting Portland and its residents. Graffiti in Portland was first documented in 1948 with the LoveJoy Columns created by Athanasios (Tom) Efthimiou Stefopoulos, a Greek immigrant who tired to imprint some of his homeland under the overpass where he worked. The columns have since been torn down but two are still preserved but not publicly displayed. Today, graffiti in Portland can be seen in different manifestation such as, tags, stickers, wheat pastes, stencils, throw ups, pieces, murals, etc. Tiffany and Brett told us that public perception of graffiti can be negative because its not easily understood and it can intimidate people. This being said graffiti abatement is very persistent in Portland and might explain why we mostly saw stickers and tags instead of big pieces on the streets. After the talk we explored the old ware hours for ourselves with a new appreciation for graffiti.
THE SPLIT
As this was our last day in Oregon, we split ways to collect final data and further immerse ourselves in the amazing culture of Portland. The first stop for many was food. At the Portland Saturday Market we were able to explore the arts and crafts. From the Delicious gyros, pizza, tacos, and specialty foods to t-shirts, wood carvings and jewelry. There was even a both were you could have a yard gnome sculpted of you! With live music and a bubbling fountain most of us were able to soak up the Saturday Market atmosphere and relax from the big week we had.
From here we all parted ways and set our sights on more adventures. Miles and Dakota biked to a fresh hops festival and asked brewers, as well as consumers about their hop research as well as sampled a few local brews. Will traveled back to the Rose Gardens and asked some research questions and of course admired the beautiful park as well as visiting the Japanese Garden in Washington Park. Nathan took the bus to the Gresham area to look for people who had been displaced from Williams Avenue but after asking around found that most people had moved to the neighboring community of Rockwood. Nathan was experienced himself the limitations of public transportation in the Gresham/Rockwood area and was told about the fewer services that aren't reaching these displaced communities. Some of us continued on the bike tour and explored gentrification in the Williams Ave, Vancouver Ave, and Alberta Street areas. Along this route were some great graffiti and street art occurrences that were mapped for Hannah's project. Alyssa was able to find a community home and found out that it was set up as an informal education facility with the students living upstairs. It was designed to help people find ways to better their community and live sustainably. Unfortunately it was being shut down due to zoning issues. Ali and Emily M. took an alternative biking venture to find various kinds of bike lanes where they discovered the bikability of each type. They were able to meet the Mayor of Portland and even discussed Ali's research topic of biking lanes. Some of us were able to meet up again and rest at the Tin Shed were cool drinks of Kombucha tea and ice cream were ordered, after all we had been biking for the majority of our day. After the refreshing stop the few of us who had gathered again decided to split. Ezra, Tim, and Mike toured Northeast Portland, and Hannah, Ali, Emily, Alyssa, and Jake journeyed to some downtown shops and Powell's Book Store.
COMING TOGETHER AGAIN
At the end of the day we all came together again for a delicious meal at Mi Mero Mole and discussed our adventures and research in Portland. Some of us noted how safe they felt on the bike lanes and at the same time admiring the amount of bikers we all saw in one day. We enjoyed a nice evening walk back to the hotel, taking in the city lights reflecting off the Columbia River one last time before we headed home the next morning and reflecting on our great Oregon experience.
After a quick breakfast on the morning of October 4th, we took the bus into downtown Portland and arrived at Cycle Portland Bike Rental around 9:15 am. We all got situated with our own personal bikes and were unleashed on to the City of Portland. We made our way to an old warehouse at SE 2nd and SE Clay where we would meet Tiffany Conklin and Brett Peters of the Portland Street Art Alliance (PSAA). While we waited, Will gave his presentation on green commuting in Portland discussing a brief history on the large bike community in Portland and contribution to clean commuting.
After Will’s presentation we met Tiffany and Brett who took us into the old warehouse, which was covered with graffiti, to discuss the current issues with illegal street art and recent abatement laws affecting Portland and its residents. Graffiti in Portland was first documented in 1948 with the LoveJoy Columns created by Athanasios (Tom) Efthimiou Stefopoulos, a Greek immigrant who tired to imprint some of his homeland under the overpass where he worked. The columns have since been torn down but two are still preserved but not publicly displayed. Today, graffiti in Portland can be seen in different manifestation such as, tags, stickers, wheat pastes, stencils, throw ups, pieces, murals, etc. Tiffany and Brett told us that public perception of graffiti can be negative because its not easily understood and it can intimidate people. This being said graffiti abatement is very persistent in Portland and might explain why we mostly saw stickers and tags instead of big pieces on the streets. After the talk we explored the old ware hours for ourselves with a new appreciation for graffiti.
THE SPLIT
As this was our last day in Oregon, we split ways to collect final data and further immerse ourselves in the amazing culture of Portland. The first stop for many was food. At the Portland Saturday Market we were able to explore the arts and crafts. From the Delicious gyros, pizza, tacos, and specialty foods to t-shirts, wood carvings and jewelry. There was even a both were you could have a yard gnome sculpted of you! With live music and a bubbling fountain most of us were able to soak up the Saturday Market atmosphere and relax from the big week we had.
From here we all parted ways and set our sights on more adventures. Miles and Dakota biked to a fresh hops festival and asked brewers, as well as consumers about their hop research as well as sampled a few local brews. Will traveled back to the Rose Gardens and asked some research questions and of course admired the beautiful park as well as visiting the Japanese Garden in Washington Park. Nathan took the bus to the Gresham area to look for people who had been displaced from Williams Avenue but after asking around found that most people had moved to the neighboring community of Rockwood. Nathan was experienced himself the limitations of public transportation in the Gresham/Rockwood area and was told about the fewer services that aren't reaching these displaced communities. Some of us continued on the bike tour and explored gentrification in the Williams Ave, Vancouver Ave, and Alberta Street areas. Along this route were some great graffiti and street art occurrences that were mapped for Hannah's project. Alyssa was able to find a community home and found out that it was set up as an informal education facility with the students living upstairs. It was designed to help people find ways to better their community and live sustainably. Unfortunately it was being shut down due to zoning issues. Ali and Emily M. took an alternative biking venture to find various kinds of bike lanes where they discovered the bikability of each type. They were able to meet the Mayor of Portland and even discussed Ali's research topic of biking lanes. Some of us were able to meet up again and rest at the Tin Shed were cool drinks of Kombucha tea and ice cream were ordered, after all we had been biking for the majority of our day. After the refreshing stop the few of us who had gathered again decided to split. Ezra, Tim, and Mike toured Northeast Portland, and Hannah, Ali, Emily, Alyssa, and Jake journeyed to some downtown shops and Powell's Book Store.
COMING TOGETHER AGAIN
At the end of the day we all came together again for a delicious meal at Mi Mero Mole and discussed our adventures and research in Portland. Some of us noted how safe they felt on the bike lanes and at the same time admiring the amount of bikers we all saw in one day. We enjoyed a nice evening walk back to the hotel, taking in the city lights reflecting off the Columbia River one last time before we headed home the next morning and reflecting on our great Oregon experience.