New dream team YOUR ONLINE LOCAL A-maze-ing Rebuilt Blazers ready to DAILY NEWS Local farms and haunted win over fans in the Northwest houses scare up some fun www.portlandtribune.com Portland— See SPORTS, B8 Tribune— See LIFE, B1 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2012 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPER • WWW.PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COMLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED TTHURSDAY Expert: Cops’ crisis plan a start ■ Mental By PETER KORN cided to create a CIT program in sponse to a federal Justice Depart- Cochran says. Just as important is The Tribune 1995, Cochran served as a consul- ment report in September that the way those offi cers are trained health tant. criticized Portland police’s use of and who trains them. And in that community As far as Sam Cochran is con- When Police Chief Mike Reese force against people with mental ill- respect, the Memphis model is far wants offi cers cerned, a special Portland Police announced last week that the bu- ness, and threatened a federal law- different from the way CIT training COURTESY OF PORTLAND MERCURY Bureau squad won’t be enough. reau would create a squad of CIT suit unless the city and the bureau is handled in Portland. The death of James Chasse Jr. to avoid Cochran, who coordinated the offi cers to respond to calls involv- made changes. “If you haven’t done anything while in police custody in 2006 led confrontation country’s fi rst Crisis Intervention ing people with mental illness, he But simply selecting a number of other than point some people to to a change in philosophy in police in tense Team in Memphis, is considered was leaning on the model devel- police offi cers to serve as a special training and you haven’t added training that is coming under among the top national authorities oped in Memphis and initially in- tactical unit to deal with the men- buy-in as a community, you’re put- scrutiny with a new set of situations on police dealing with citizens with stalled in Portland in the mid-’90s. tally ill must only be the start of changes announced last week by mental illness. When Portland de- Reese’s announcement came in re- fundamental change in Portland, See COPS / Page 7 police chief Mike Reese. ■ City gives bike safety a green light, and that’s not always a good thing City sees big future for Lloyd District One idea: Put a lid on I-5 to create more space for buildings By STEVE LAW The Tribune The city is about to em- bark on a makeover of the Lloyd District, trying to fos- ter a downtown-style ambi- ance that’s inviting to pedes- trians and bicyclists and lures thousands of new resi- dents and jobs. The N/NE Quadrant Plan, which “We need comes up for a City Council to bring hearing people in Thursday, re- and create vives former Mayor Vera a robust Katz’s dream urban of putting a “lid” on a free- environ- way — only ment.” The bike box at Southwest Madison and Third is supposed to protect cyclists at one of the city’s most dangerous bike intersections. Yet many riders choose to ignore the boxes, this time it’s — Lloyd Lindley, and crashes at the site have increased since the box was installed. Interstate 5 urban designer north of the Rose Garden arena. The N/NE plan aims to spur a host of new offi ce and residen- RIDIN’ WITH MARY POPPINS tial towers throughout the Lloyd District, via zone changes and eased building height lim- few years ago, British psycholo- people discard helmets — to encourage a its. The city hopes new incen- gist Ian Walker used an ultra- little more Poppins-like attitude here. tives can be dangled before bil- sonic sensor connected to his bi- Portland is the city other U.S. cities look lionaire Paul Allen to leverage A cycle to measure how close cars to for traffi c safety improvements. During public access to the largely va- came as they passed him as he rode his the past 10 years, the city has put in more cant Willamette riverfront he bike. bike traffi c signals, bike lanes, cycle tracks owns on the eastside, between Walker discovered that drivers were and green intersection boxes than any- the grain silos and the Broad- more cautious when where in the country, all intended to im- way Bridge. they passed him when he prove bike safety and to encourage more Proponents say the N/NE Story by wasn’t wearing a helmet, people to become regular bike riders. plan could reshape the Lloyd Peter Korn giving an extra 8.5 centi- But a new Portland Bureau of Transpor- District much like past plans led meters of space. They tation report reveals a disturbing trend. At to the revitalization of down- Photos by gave even more room, an 11 intersections with a history auto-bike ac- town Portland, starting in the Christopher average 14 extra centi- cidents, engineers discovered that colli- 1970s. meters, when they sions have doubled since the bike boxes The Lloyd District’s “time is Onstott passed a bicyclist who were installed. coming,” says Lloyd Lindley, an appeared to be a woman Bike boxes, which allow cyclists at red urban designer with his own ar- (it was Walker wearing a wig). lights to pull in front of cars so they won’t chitectural fi rm who co-chaired What Walker measured has come to be get hit when the light turns green and driv- the stakeholder’s group work- called the Mary Poppins Effect, and since ers turn right, represent the most extensive ing on the N/NE Quadrant plan the release of a new study two weeks ago, A ghost bike and helmet mark the intersection at Southwest Madison attempt the city has made to make biking the past year and a half. traffi c engineers in Portland are wondering and Third where cyclist Kathryn Leah Rickson was crushed beneath a The N/NE project also aims what they can do — short of suggesting right-turning truck fi ve months ago. See BIKE / Page 2 See LLOYD/ Page 6 Despite sputters, many see spark in EV market bankruptcy after receiving a $249 mil- “More than any single failure, the PCC students, others lion federal grant to help build three larger lesson here is the eternal one manufacturing plants. about the folly of government indus- hope to drive future The Detroit News and Wall Street trial policy,” the Wall Street Journal Journal published pieces on the same opined. Portland of transportation day that practically called EVs a failed ReVolt Technology, a Swiss EV Community College experiment. They both said consum- manufacturer with a Portland plant, automotive By JIM REDDEN ers are reluctant to buy EVs because also declared bankruptcy after receiv- student Jason The Tribune of their higher prices and driving ing nearly $12 million in federal, state Miller checks out range limits between charges. and city funds, adding to the gloom. the inside of a Electric vehicles, those cars of “Despite high gas prices, estab- But things didn’t look nearly that Think City electric the future, have taken a beating in lished automakers and start-ups are bad on Oct. 19 at Portland Community car at the National the press in recent weeks. struggling to convince Americans to College’s Sylvania campus. For fi ve Alternative Fuel The recent failure of A123 Systems, buy the cars. In Washington, the po- hours, hundreds of people crowded Vehicle Day a Waltham, Mass., EV battery maker, litical consensus in favor of electric into PCC’s Automotive/Metals build- Odyssey at PCC. spurred a wave of critical articles and vehicles has evaporated,” the Detroit TRIBUNE PHOTO: columns. The company declared News reported on Oct. 18. See EV / Page 5 CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune Plan to bury ■ Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has a conceptual design to put the highway in a deliver balanced news that refl ects the tunnel and reclaim access around the Willamette riverfront on the east side. Search: I-5 stories of our communities. Thank you I-5 back on ” online Read it fi rst at portlandtribune.com for reading our newspapers. drawing board — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN, JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, October 25, 2012 Bike: Some safety efforts lead to new problems ■ might experience its own Mary From page 1 Poppins Effect. Fast young riders In that scenario, drivers and Still, that’s what Jonathan safer. They are intended to pre- cyclists become more accepting Maus says has to happen. In vent the precise type of right- of each other as equal partners, fact Maus, the outspoken bike turn accident that dominates and the entire city transporta- advocate and publisher of web- bike crashes and has led to tion culture could take on a site bikeportland.org, labels all three Portland deaths. more European feel. But, about the city’s bike safety attempts The bike boxes appear to be seven of 10 people biking on “woefully inadequate” and working as in- Portland streets says they represent more of a tended. Crashes are men. marketing attempt than a real after a change in “These are Mike Psaris, an- effort to keep cyclists safer. the traffic signal other bike com- “These are stopgap mea- have been re- stopgap muter, pulls up sures that they can do with duced since the measures that next to McCaffrey. very little money to try to ap- bike boxes were He’s been using pease a public who’s crying for installed.