Sorry to hear about your bike. I read the stolen bike listings every day on bikeportland.org and it's terribly discouraging. I'm just waiting for it to happen to me, although my bike is old enough to not be desirable. Question: as Transport commissioner, can Sam get the police to tell us more about these obviously organized bike theft rings? The thieving scum have to be selling the stolen goods somewhere -- are those places being investigated? What happens when we file a stolen bike report?

I know the cops are overworked sending sexy emails to subordinates and fighting violent crimes, but if Portland is serious about increasing bike commuting and reducing auto gridlock, could bike theft be made a higher priority for enforcement resources?

Maybe if one or two of these rings could be cracked, it would save a lot more Portlanders from suffering losses like yours. If nothing else, it might be helpful to have the police testify in public hearing about the extent of the problem, what's being done about it and what more could be done by the police.

I'm new to town so apologies if the questions I'm raising are common knowledge already.