Leftbank is conceived as point in the city where many of the great threads of Portland culture weave together… early on there was a sketchbook, and a scribbled list within whose first word was “bikes”. Many moons later there are stamped drawings of showers and locker rooms, and loads of space dedicated to long term parking… and plans for the framebuilder’s shop, and for the school where she learned to do her thing. Somehow connected to that came the so-called ‘big event’, too, which should probably have another posting on here somewhere. Our hope is to make a tangible contribution to the nascent conversation about what buildings and bikes have to do with each other.
The buildings that make up the Leftbank sit at the crossroads of two major bike routes: Williams/Vancouver for the North Portlanders (not to mention the Flint Ave. sneak), and Broadway/Weidler for East and Westbound movement. Not coincidentally, they also sit at the crossroads of these major streets and I-5. All of this conspires for a lot of vehicular movement, and way, way too many accidents. I think it was PDOT that did a survey last year and found Broadway/Flint as the most dangerous intersection in the city for cycling… and all of this could be looked at one of two ways-either “damn”, -or- “ok, there’s work to be done here”. I am happy to report that a lot of people in town seem to see things through the lens of the latter. We’ve participated in some really productive meetings with the PDC, PDOT, BTA, Rose Quarter people, Lloyd TMA, Streetcar folks, the Water Bureau (whose headquarters are nearby) and others all looking at the area with a similar dedication to improving the safety for bikes and peds. And while yes, things take time, it looks like the energy is right where it needs to be for some real, tangible improvements to happen in the near future.
Our involvement in this matter is central to what Leftbank is intended to be- both as a place for bikes (and people who use their feet), and as an advocate for just making things better. A building as advocate, you say? A good question…really, it all made sense in the sketchbook.
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