Bike friendly starts in St. Helens

[Dogbait]

So says the headline of a front page article in the COLUMBIA COUNTY NEWS/ADVERTISER, June 27, 2007. The City Councilors have adopted resolution #1446, a 10 step plan for bicycle friendly designation.

I won't copy the whole resolution here but I was most impressed with points 5, 6 and 7:

5. Ensure all City policies, plans, codes and programs are updated and implemented to take advantage of every opportunity to create a more bicycle friendly community.

6. Educate all road users to share the road and interact safely. Road design and education programs should combine to increase the confidence of bicyclists.

7. Enforce traffic laws to improve the safety and comfort of all road users, with a particular focus on behaviors and attitudes that cause motor/bicycle crashes.

This resolution is, primarily, the work of Councilor Philip Barlow. He serves as council liaison to the Planning Commission and the Community Development Department. He also serves on the Columbia County Crown Zellerbach Trail (a private logging road being converted to a MUP) Advisory and Steering Committee. He works in the family bike shop with his parents and brother.

[donnamb]

This is nice to hear. One of my employees lives in St. Helens and is going to be getting a bike soon and taking short trips around town for errands and such. Perhaps you could PM me more specific information that I could pass along to her.

[Feldman]

Good; Columbia County is a beautiful riding area that still has a pretty sparse population. Maybe a few merchants have been counting their tills the weekend that Seattle to Portland goes through town, too.
Anecdote: About 15 years ago on a long training ride for same, stopped at the Deer Island store, bought a big enough snack to get me home to Vancouver, clerk looks me up and down and asks if I'm riding STP in a couple weeks. When I say yes, she says something like "Great, you folks paid for our vacation last year."

[Dogbait]

Good; Columbia County is a beautiful riding area that still has a pretty sparse population. Maybe a few merchants have been counting their tills the weekend that Seattle to Portland goes through town, too.
Anecdote: About 15 years ago on a long training ride for same, stopped at the Deer Island store, bought a big enough snack to get me home to Vancouver, clerk looks me up and down and asks if I'm riding STP in a couple weeks. When I say yes, she says something like "Great, you folks paid for our vacation last year."


Cyclists' appetites are a source of amazement to stores and coffee shops along the STP route. As a comparison to population density of Columbia County, last year, STP riders outnumbered the residents of St. Helens, the largest city in the county.