October IO, 2012
iri!1 ^ a r tla n b (ObscrUrr
Page II
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
Alberta
North. Portland
photo by
C ari H achmann /T he P ortland O bserver
We All Can Ride community leader Michelle Hanna and her son Dominic show off the new Bike Repair Hub on North Woolsey and Trenton in the New Columbia neigh
borhood. The community resource, an outgrowth of the Community Cycling Center of northeast Portland, opens this month for two days each week to bring healthy
exercise and safer riding to biking residents.
Repairing a Broken Chain
Bike Repair Hub at
New Columbia opens
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
While Portland may be recognized as one of the most bike-
friendly cities in the country, this reality does not accurately
represent all residents, particularly communities of color and
people living on low-incomes.
Three years ago, Alberta Street’s Community Cycling
Center set about trying to understand why more people in
some north and northeast neighborhoods don’t ride bikes.
In the non-profit’s recent community assessment, “Un
We believe all Portlanders deserve access to healthy choices
fo r active living and transportation, regardless o f their income,
education, ethnic background, or street address.
— Alison Graves, executive director of the cycling center
derstanding Barriers to Bicycling Project,” the cycling
center’s staff found that complex and interrelated barriers like
cost, safety, education and gentrification puts bicycling out
of reach for many low-income people.
In its continued effort to remove such barriers and im
prove access to bicycling, the Community Cycling Center
built a new Bike Repair Hub in north Portland’s New Colum
bia neighborhood for all walks of cyclists to benefit.
>
We believe all Portlanders deserve access to healthy
choices for active living and transportation, regardless of
their income, education, ethnic background, or street ad
dress,” said Alison Graves, executive director of the cycling
center.
Sitting on 82 acres, New Columbia is home to a historically
continued
on page 19