From South Africa to the Oval Office

Interesting bits from the Bike Summit this morning:

In his opening comments of the Bike Summit, Andy Clarke (Executive Director of the League of American Bicyclists) said that Portland is not really competing with Davis (CA) or Boulder (CO) for bike friendlines, but that we’re on an international level now. He then announced that Portland will receive a “Gold” award at the upcoming Velo Mondial conference taking place in Cape Town South Africa next week. Very cool.

He presented the award on stage to Mia Birk, who was filling in for City Commissioner Sam Adams. Adams was slated to speak on behalf of Portland, but didn’t show up due to an apparent bout with food poisoning.

Also, more details on Bike Belong’s visit to the Oval Office. Turns out they spent 35 minutes with the president and Tim Blumenthal (head of Bikes Belong) was “very encouraged” with how President Bush responded. He even went so far as to say that the President, “Cares more about bicycling than just about anything else.”…which of course got quite a chuckle from the crowd. In all seriousness, he seemed very sincere about how receptive the President was to the bike message.

There’s a lot of talk about bikes reaching a “tipping point” and “all the stars being aligned” for bikes in America this year.

The wi-fi here at the Ronald Reagan Building (just a stone’s throw from the White House!) is not free. Bummer.

I’m off to my next workshop.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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Austin
Austin
18 years ago

What? Live blogging from the D.C. Bike Summit? Portland is luck to have you Jonathan!

P.S. I think I heard somewhere that you can just connect to the White House Wi-Fi network. If it doesn’t work at first, just keep trying.

Janis
Janis
18 years ago

Thanks Jonathon for the updates. How fun to hear this news so quickly!

You ROCK!

andrew morton
18 years ago

it would be some kind of irony if there was free wifi at a building named for ronald “voodoo economics” regan.

Dan
18 years ago

“P.S. I think I heard somewhere that you can just connect to the White House Wi-Fi network. If it doesn’t work at first, just keep trying.”

Of course, they’ll record every keystroke you make…all in the name of keeping America safe from hoards of wild-eyed cyclists, don’t ‘cha know. 🙂

Brian
Brian
18 years ago

Security hint: when the prompt asks you to type password, type “password”.

Aaron
Aaron
18 years ago

What an amazing irony that Blumenthal is talking about the same man who has slashed the budget for every travel mode which is not extremely frivolous about fuel consumption. (Amtrak, Greyhound, various public transit, etc)
Politicians (even inept ones) must have this skill above all. To give the impression that they care about to contradicting causes. It’s how you get the votes.

organic brian
organic brian
18 years ago

Jonathan, please remember to use “President” Bush (using the quotes). Real Presidents get elected by popular vote.