It's a SideWALK

After another day of walking into town and back, I'm once again aware that some people need a wake-up call regarding appropriate behavior in regards to who belongs on a public sidewalk.

It's a sideWALK. It's for pedestrians. It's not for bicyclists, skateboarders or Segway riders. The only exceptions should be:

- Disabled individuals on scooters or mobility devices
- Children accompanied by adults and riding tricycles or small bikes with training wheels at low speed
- Bicycles being walked to an apartment or a bike rack from the street

There's no excuse for an adult to be riding a bicycle on the sidewalk. A bicycle is - for all intents and purposes - a vehicle under Oregon law. We now have a plethora of bike lanes, bike boxes and bike routes. If you're going to ride a bicycle in town as an alternate form of transportation, learn to ride boldly and correctly. Riding on the sidewalk is hedging and it's a danger to pedestrians.

Another disturbing trend that makes streetcar riding a miserable crush involves bicyclists who somehow feel they must bring their bikes onto the streetcar. There's a good reason to bring bike on the MAX if one is commuting to Gresham or Hillsboro from downtown, for instance. And I'll be the first to agree that bicyclists get a raw deal on MAX because during rush hour, pedestrians will often stand in the areas where the bike hangers are located and refused to let bicyclists use the racks to hang their bikes. A bicyclist shouldn't have to wait for the next MAX any more than a disabled person should have to wait because an able-bodied pedestrian has decided to take the space allocated for them. However, I digress.

The streetcar routes are small loops of less than a couple of miles that a bicyclist can easily ride, and in doing so can get to his or her destination more quickly than they can on the streetcar. So why are they getting on the streetcar? I might understand it if a cyclist were caught by a cloudburst or if they found themselves with a flat or a broken chain and didn't happen to have the proper tools to fix what went wrong. But that never seems to be the case. And because it's become a lot more crowded recently because of the growing number of aging riders on Rascals and Hoverounds, walkers (which nobody ever folds up when they get on), and homeless people with shopping carts there is just no more room for something as large as a bicycle. And there are no bike hangers on the streetcar nor bike racks on the front or back, such as you would find on a bus. No bikes on the streetcar!

I may be the only person in town who says loudly, "Bikes off the sidewalk!" when some clueless biking idiot comes wheeling at speed right up the middle of the sidewalk and my attempts to shame bicyclists into taking to the street are probably doomed to failure because I have actually heard people justifying bikes on the sidewalk as though it's somehow alright.

It's not. And as bicycling continues to grow in Portland and more pedestrians get sideswiped, hit and flipped off because they might have had the temerity to complain, the sh*t is going to hit the freewheel.

Quality Clothing Is Not To Be Found at Target

Yeah, it's probably not fair to pick on Target. Include WalMart, Fred Meyer or any other store that flogs clothing made by starving people in third world countries chained to a bench and working 24/7 for pennies making cheap shit.

I can't afford to buy new clothing but it doesn't bother me. The stuff available at William Temple House, Goodwill and Value Village includes not only quality vintage clothing made of good material and by no-longer-in-business American manufacturers for less than what I'd pay for Chinese junk.

Again and again, while walking through my neighborhood, I am struck by the plain fact that most of what I see people wearing I would not buy if it were in a $1 . . . or even a "free" box . . . at a roadside garage sale. Yes, there are people tastefully and beautifully dressed but they are in the minority. I suspect that when they realize what a complete and total lack of taste the American public exhibits regarding dress and note its cluelessness regarding what is or is not appropriate, they probably move to Europe, toute de suite.

I see a lot of sagging pants, too-tight tights and leggings on supersized, corn-fed large bottoms and thighs, pajama pants, "Michelin Man" puffy jackets and dreadful cheap fashion boots.

I picture the garage sales of the future where these sad tight pants, ugly down-trodden boots with their useless ornamental buckles and stacked heels, low-rider jeans and the inevitable thongs that accompany them and ridiculous bulgy jackets take the place of Moon Boots, tube tops and Olivia Newton-John inspired leg warmers.

I remember when it was exciting to contemplate a "casual day" at work. Now every day - on every street - is casual day, whether it is appropriate or not.

It's got to the point where the occasional presence of the man who wears nothing but a blue blanket on the Portland Streetcar doesn't even raise an eyebrow.

Ouch.

Another reason I'm listening less to NPR lately

This afternoon NPR reported that arctic glaciers melting had a bright side. It meant that what was under the glaciers would be more readily accessible and various nations were already queuing up to take advantage of it. Yes, no points for guessing what this all-important "bright side" is. Yet again, it's OIL and NATURAL GAS.

So "chirpy-chirpy" it's OK that the glaciers are melting. It's OK that we've got global warming because, hey, we can now drill the hell out of yet another part of the planet and get more oil to satisfy our growing addiction. NPR pointed out another benefit. Melting ice means that the northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific would soon be open, meaning that China could save several thousand miles shipping its shit around the world.

This is the kind of twist that I used to expect of FOX, but -- sadly -- am hearing more and more of on NPR.