Portland Green Streets

Warm, well-lit bus on a cold winter night

Happy New Year from Portland Green Streets!  We plan to be more effective than ever this year in changing folks’ transportation behavior.  There are all kinds of ways to decrease the number of our solo car trips and travel more on foot, by bike, using public transit, carpooling, and telecommuting – so you can count on us to keep in touch!

And as always, please sign in now here if you plan to use one of those alternate modes to get around this Green Streets Day – Friday, January 28th!

As always, please sign in now here if you plan to walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, and/or telecommute this New Year’s Green Streets Day – Friday, December 31st!

Also – just to make clear – even though this Green Streets Day is also during a holiday weekend for some of us, you don’t have to be headed anywhere to qualify (just not getting into a car by yourself that day).

So please travel and celebrate the New Year safely – and just like the Friday after Thanksgiving, a little walking (or biking) will burn those extra calories right off…

Green Streeter Nan Cumming on her daily walk to work

As always, please sign in now here if you plan to walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, and/or telecommute this Green Streets Day – Friday, November 26th.

Also – just to make clear – even though this Green Streets Day is also during Thanksgiving weekend, you don’t have to be headed anywhere to qualify (just not getting into a car by yourself that day).

We’re grateful for all you do to get around a little differently and share the experience with others – whether this week or any day(s) during the year!  So traveling mercies and lovely Thanksgivings to you all – and a little walking and biking will burn those extra calories right off…

Green Streeter Ian Riddell, Halloween 2008

Special congratulations to Denise Brautigam, Nan Cumming, Emma Holder, and Rebecca Minnick for participating in both World Car Free Day and Green Streets Day last month – and winning new PGS t-shirts!

So this month come on out for Halloween on Green Streets Day (this Friday, October 29th)!

Throw on a crazy outfit, a mask, or that costume you’ve been toying with wearing but haven’t had the gumption – as you walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, and/or stay/work from home on Green Streets Day.  Please send us a photo if you do so – special credit!

And costume or no, if you get around green this Friday, please take  30 seconds to  sign in here.

For extra fun on a bicycle – for all ages and abilities – decorations encouraged but certainly not mandatory – check out this sweet video below of Portland Slow Riders bike parade ride every First Friday Art Walk (last one of the season is Nov. 5th – “Hunting Season” – leaving 7pm from Monument Square (bring lights!) – see Facebook group “Portland Slow Riders” for more information.)

This week we get to celebrate both World Carfree Day (this Wed., Sept. 22) and Green Streets Day (this Friday, Sept 24)!  Think of them as two days to inspire you (or someone you want to encourage) to find a different way to get around than the single-occupancy vehicle.  Let World Carfree Day and Green Streets Days be a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without tons of cars…365 days a year.

If you plan to walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, and/or stay/work from home on World Car Free Day and/or Green Streets Day please take  30 seconds to  sign in here.    Let us know you’re commuting green on both days (in the comment section at the end) and you’ll be entered to win one of 5 home-grown new versions of the Portland Green Streets T-shirt!

For special treats for Green Streets Day participants, visit our Green Streets Freebies & Discounts page for offers of free food and drink and various area discounts that day.

Hello Green Streeters,

I am writing to say farewell as Portland Green Street’s 2010 Intern.  As the summer is coming to a close, the internship is wrapping up this month.  I’d like to share with you some the changes that you will soon see in the current Incentive Program.   We have assessed how the program is working, gotten feedback from our business sponsors, taken a participation count, and done a lot of brainstorming.  We are very excited about the changes that are being made, and believe they’ll make being a Green Streeter easier, more convenient and more fun.  Here’s a preview of what you’ll be seeing soon:

1.  Green Streets membership cards – you’ll be able to access incentives all over the Greater Portland area by using your new membership card.  Incentives will no longer be available only on Green Streets Days on the last Friday of the month, but every day of the year.  You may redeem each business’ incentive once a year. Challenge yourself to as visit as many of our sponsor as you can in a year!

2.  You will see “This is a Green Streets Business” decals in the windows of our business sponsors.  This will heighten our visibility and let you know that the business offers an incentive to Green Streeters using sustainable transportation.

Be sure to sign up for a membership card when they become available, and keep an eye out for new incentives!

I’ve had a great time working for Portland Green Streets this summer, and hope I continue seeing everyone out on the streets on Green Streets Days and beyond!

-Michelle Boisvert, PGS Summer 2010 Intern

[Editor's Note:  We've had a great time working with Michelle this summer and will miss her presence and hard work - and we wish her the best in the community and environmental planning work she's seeking.  For those out there looking for the right person for the job: don't waste your chance to hire this woman!  Michelle is a fun, warm, and thoughtful team player - very smart, great at looking at the big picture, and a suit-up and show-up hard worker.  We've been blessed to have her with us.]

Back to School with METRO

We’re living the last golden days of a glorious summer.  Before you – or the kids – head back to school, take advantage of one day to try a different mode to get your usual destination(s)!

And please take 30 seconds to  Sign in Here for Green Streets Day – Friday, August 27th.  Sign in now (and every month!) if you plan to walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, and/or telecommute this Green Streets Day.

For special treats for Green Streets Day participants, visit our Green Streets Freebies & Discounts page for offers of free food and drink and various area discounts that day.

Green Streets on the Streets

This in from Summer 2010 Green Streets intern, Michelle Boisvert:

“Munjfest [the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood festival that this year celebrated the bicycle] was a blast! Green Streets, the Portland Bike Commuter Meetup, and the Bicycle Coalition of Maine (BCM) teamed up to offer alternative transportation and bicycling advice, free bike tune ups, Green Street T-shirt stenciling, and a plethora of information about what each group is up to. Thanks to Jim Tasse from BCM, who brought a bike stand and equipment to provide the tune-ups – they were in high demand! Thanks, too, to Green Streets volunteers Maryann Welsch, Kevin Donoghue, and Jake Hoffman for helping out at the table! We met a lot of great people and printed a lot of Green Streets shirts. They’ll look great out on the street this Friday. One Green Streeter said she planned to wear her Green Street shirt on the days that she walks to her elementary school.”

Please take 30 seconds to  Sign in Here for Green Streets Day – Friday, July 30th.  Sign in now (and every month!) if you plan to walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, and/or telecommute this Green Streets Day.

For special treats for Green Streets Day participants, visit our Green Streets Freebies & Discounts page for offers of free food and drink and various area discounts that day.

Good day, Green Streeters!

As I mentioned in last month’s newsletter, I’ve been hired by Portland Green Streets to make improvements to the Green Streets incentives program (the freebies and discounts offered to folks who participate in Green Streets Day).  This project has been funded by a Community Putting Prevention to Work grant through Healthy Portland.  Our goal is to develop improvements to the incentive program to make being a Green Streeter easier, more convenient, and more attractive to more people.  We’re aiming to see a 15% increase in participation as a result of the incentive program improvements.  Here are some of the things we’ve been up to:

First, we are working with our local business sponsors to document usage of the incentives program and Green Streets participation.  Thank you to all of our business sponsors who are helping out to make this project possible.  We couldn’t do this without their generous support!

Another way we will be guiding the incentive program is through feedback from our business sponsors.  We have distributed a survey to assess what works and what doesn’t.  This will guide the actions we take to make the incentive program work better for both our business sponsors and you, their Green Streeting customers.  Again, a HUGE thank you goes out to the fabulous businesses in the Greater Portland area who’ve contributed their valuable feedback.

We’ll also soon be surveying Green Street participants for your feedback on the incentive program.  We want to understand if the incentive program works for you, what you love about it, what could improve, and what other kind of incentives motivate you to try new modes of transportation.  Your feedback will inform how we move forward in improvements to Portland Green Streets.

Some of the improvements we’re currently working to implement include:

• production and distribution of a “This is a Green Street business” decal to boost visibility for Green Streets Day and the support of our business sponsors.  The decals will be placed in the windows of businesses that provide incentives to Green Streeters.
• production and distribution of a Green Streets membership card for participants to present on Green Streets Day — to make accessing incentives a more convenient experience for both participants and business staff.
• featuring “Green Streets Business Profiles” in our monthly newsletter and on our website — these would feature pictures and descriptions of supporting businesses and would advertise the incentives they offer on Green Streets Days.

Don’t forget to be on the lookout for our Green Street participants’ survey!  And I’ll see you this Friday on the streets for Green Streets Day!

Michelle

The days are looooonnnngggg – enjoy getting around green this month!

Please take 30 seconds to  Sign in Here for Green Streets Day – Friday, June 25th.  Sign in now (and every month!) if you plan to walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, and/or telecommute this Green Streets Day.

For special treats for Green Streets Day participants, visit our Green Streets Freebies & Discounts page for offers of free food and drink and various area discounts that day.