Selected Published Work

Any transportation investment that doesn’t start with the explicit intention to chip away at automobile use as the primary method to access jobs, education, and shopping has significant consequences for a planet with literal melting ice caps, a region with worsening congestion, and a city ostensibly committed to equity. Perpetuating the continued necessity of automobile ownership is especially unhelpful to the growing number of people in our region who are unable to own or operate a car due to age, (dis)ability, citizenship, or cost. 

Author, "Candidly, TriMet" BikePortland.org, March 2018 (Part Two available here)

These fatalities are a systemic result of irresponsible budgetary and policy priorities, and indeed represent a public health epidemic disproportionately hurting our most vulnerable residents. The promise of Portland’s lauded “livable neighborhoods” clearly has not been extended to every Portlander, and it’s the responsibility and moral obligation of Commissioner Novick, Mayor Hales and other leaders to work for policies and investments that make it safer to get around on foot.

Author, "Pedestrian deaths should be wake-up call for Portland leaders" The Oregonian, January 2014

How many neighbors, co-workers, members of family, or children are you willing to lose to traffic violence in your community?

Author, "No, traffic accidents aren't accidents. They're unacceptable and preventable." - BlueOregon,  May 2015

Our streets and sidewalks are where we walk to church, where we meet neighbors while picking up mail, where we play basketball with our kids. Until everyone lives in a neighborhood where you can cross the street without fear you won't get to the other side, we have not created a city that is truly livable for all residents.

Coauthor, "A progressive income tax for streets will reduce inequity, traffic violence" The Oregonian, November 2014

[Darlington] Nagbe was born in war-torn Liberia, and obtained American citizenship this year. On the ball, he glides past defenders like he's wearing speed skates. The first cracks are showing in his humility: He's got an ever-grateful grin of self-awareness that he's realizing his potential, and there's not a damn thing defenders can do to stop him short of fouling him (and they do). Nagbe logged his first minutes with the U.S. national team last month. He serves as a rejoinder to our nation's current vitriolic xenophobia.

Author, "The Improbable Run Of Darlington Nagbe And The Timbers Tells The Story Of a Changing Portland," Willamette Week, December 2015

And therein lies the cultural moment of the Timbers Army, circa 2013. While every city in America seems to be fighting for bigger, more global, more shiny, Portland indifferently shrugs and asks for better, preferably local and hand-crafted. If you want to sit out rainy winters penning songs that you and your friends can unveil at a minor-league match against the Utah Blitzz, well, go for it. There'€™s been plenty of existential soul-searching among Timbers fans about our identity as we grow up, a crisis intimately familiar to Portlanders skeptical about The New York Times'€™ preening attention. "I miss the USL-league Timbers€" is the new "€œI liked the original Tarkio album but can'€™t get into the Decemberists."€

Author, "Rip City vs. No Pity: Timbers" Willamette Week, December 2013

Ideally, in the twenty-first century, [Jane Jacobs'] name wouldn’t be used to sell a neoliberal exclusivity for urban development but rather an assertion of the needs to provide responsive, accessible, neighborhood-based governance that works to more successfully tackle affordability, demographic change, and the beauty of the ballet that plays out on our sidewalks everyday. She believed in a built form that put “eyes on the street,” because she invented that term herself. A built environment that encourages an ethic of care is increasingly relevant as we design our cities and prioritize investments, as more and more individuals live alone and in nontraditional family structures.

Author, "Bits and Pieces" Medium, May 2016

Selected Media, Featured and Earned