Comments on: Anti 12-lane CRC rally: Slideshow and open thread http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782 Portland Oregon bicycle news, events, culture, travel and opinion. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:22:35 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: bike militia http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1210423 bike militia Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:41:42 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1210423 I thought this was a terrific rally given the circumstances. Apathy is at an all-time high in this country right now - been to an anti-war rally lately? Very nice job getting all those groups and viewpoints together in such a short period of time Joe. Had this thing been promoted a little more (and if your average Portlander cared a little more about his city and less about his facebook rep and shoes) we could have easily seen 1000 people. After listening to Robert Liberty (in particular), I don't see how any sane individual could possibly support this project. Trashing a perfectly good $1,000,000,000 pair of bridges is just a ludicrous idea. About the bridge overpasses on I-5 in nopo: great idea, but we should be careful with the message. I'm thinking less along the lines of "Carpool you morons", and more like "Please won't you be my neighbor?" Flyering at bike commuting spots ("CALL YOUR REP WHEN YOU GET TO WORK!") could also be very effective. Back to the rally though. That last lady was hi-larious! Where did you find her? It was great to at least hear the NEPA process mentioned, since it will be critical to stopping the project, but I wish we could of learned about from someone who hadn't just stepped off of a spaceship. Hopefully there can be a slightly more concise speaker on NEPA and Environmental Impact Statements later. Thanks again MC I thought this was a terrific rally given the circumstances. Apathy is at an all-time high in this country right now - been to an anti-war rally lately?

Very nice job getting all those groups and viewpoints together in such a short period of time Joe. Had this thing been promoted a little more (and if your average Portlander cared a little more about his city and less about his facebook rep and shoes) we could have easily seen 1000 people.

After listening to Robert Liberty (in particular), I don't see how any sane individual could possibly support this project. Trashing a perfectly good $1,000,000,000 pair of bridges is just a ludicrous idea.

About the bridge overpasses on I-5 in nopo: great idea, but we should be careful with the message. I'm thinking less along the lines of "Carpool you morons", and more like "Please won't you be my neighbor?"

Flyering at bike commuting spots ("CALL YOUR REP WHEN YOU GET TO WORK!") could also be very effective.

Back to the rally though. That last lady was hi-larious! Where did you find her? It was great to at least hear the NEPA process mentioned, since it will be critical to stopping the project, but I wish we could of learned about from someone who hadn't just stepped off of a spaceship. Hopefully there can be a slightly more concise speaker on NEPA and Environmental Impact Statements later.

Thanks again MC

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]]> By: 007 http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1210071 007 Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:55:32 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1210071 I was at the rally and thought there was a good turnout considering the short amount of time after the Metal Cowboy first brought up the idea. Yeah, Rep. Jefferson Smith practically had to be dragged onstage, but his talk was cool. He definitely has charisma (sp). Robert Liberty, next mayor of Portland, was also cool. Amanda was fun. Benton only seemed to care about his constituents' pocketbooks, whining about tolls and how Clark County folks don't deserve them, but he's a Republican so that's to be expected. I thought Joe's comment while holding his third son, "I'm not Catholic, just careless." was funny but unfortunately spoken in front of the little tyke. My favorite sign was "Why don't we just pave the Columbia? And the sign I wanted to but didn't have time to make: "Stop Vehicular Proliferation" IMHO "The End of Suburbia" is nigh (see the film) and the CRC, if it were ever approved, would be antiquated by the time it could be completed. Can't wait for the next call to action. I was at the rally and thought there was a good turnout considering the short amount of time after the Metal Cowboy first brought up the idea.

Yeah, Rep. Jefferson Smith practically had to be dragged onstage, but his talk was cool. He definitely has charisma (sp).

Robert Liberty, next mayor of Portland, was also cool. Amanda was fun. Benton only seemed to care about his constituents' pocketbooks, whining about tolls and how Clark County folks don't deserve them, but he's a Republican so that's to be expected.

I thought Joe's comment while holding his third son, "I'm not Catholic, just careless." was funny but unfortunately spoken in front of the little tyke.

My favorite sign was "Why don't we just pave the Columbia? And the sign I wanted to but didn't have time to make: "Stop Vehicular Proliferation"

IMHO "The End of Suburbia" is nigh (see the film) and the CRC, if it were ever approved, would be antiquated by the time it could be completed.

Can't wait for the next call to action.

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]]> By: Joe Adamski http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1209930 Joe Adamski Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:07:00 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1209930 http://pdxsucks.com/ tab down to the april 5th CRC special coverage. Wait till the kids are out of the room if you dont care to hear the f-bomb dropped repeatedly. Can't agree with everything he says,but but he gets it in so many ways. http://pdxsucks.com/

tab down to the april 5th CRC special coverage. Wait till the kids are out of the room if you dont care to hear the f-bomb dropped repeatedly. Can't agree with everything he says,but but he gets it in so many ways.

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]]> By: Suzanne http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1208395 Suzanne Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:29:21 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1208395 :-) Good point! That is pretty hilarious. :-) Good point! That is pretty hilarious.

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]]> By: Spencer Boomhower http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1208328 Spencer Boomhower Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:04:48 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1208328 Suzanne, there's also humor to be found in those comments. Like the fact that the very first comment on the OregonLive story, posted on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday afternoon, and posted a mere NINE MINUTES after the story went live, begins with: "Don't these people have anything better to do?" Irony! Suzanne, there's also humor to be found in those comments. Like the fact that the very first comment on the OregonLive story, posted on a beautiful, sunny, Sunday afternoon, and posted a mere NINE MINUTES after the story went live, begins with: "Don't these people have anything better to do?" Irony!

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]]> By: Suzanne http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1208273 Suzanne Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:37:21 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1208273 MC, Thanks for the encouraging words. I certainly know that Sen. Benton ( and others) is not a hippy, I was just shocked by the utter hostility, even though I shouldn't be. I know the rally was a huge success in terms of elected officials and visibility. I won't let the crazies get me down! -S MC,
Thanks for the encouraging words. I certainly know that Sen. Benton ( and others) is not a hippy, I was just shocked by the utter hostility, even though I shouldn't be. I know the rally was a huge success in terms of elected officials and visibility. I won't let the crazies get me down!

-S

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]]> By: Dan Kaufman http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1208216 Dan Kaufman Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:56:23 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1208216 video highlights here: http://www.crankmychain.com/2009/04/citizens-opposition-and-alternatives-to.html video highlights here:

http://www.crankmychain.com/2009/04/citizens-opposition-and-alternatives-to.html

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]]> By: metal cowboy http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1208151 metal cowboy Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:17:16 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1208151 S, Don't let the right wing bloggers that hang out at the Oregonian's blogs influence you - if society had done that on a national level during the presidential campaign you would have thought Obama didn't have a prayer. The fact that this issue/ the opposition to it and the alternatives are actually being written about is headway. I can only take responsibility for my actions and encourage others who share some of my values to act if they so choose. One final thought on measuring the success of the event - we had a number of elected officals show up, speak and others send letters to be read on their behalf by elected officals and phoned in statements. To get any elected officals to show up on a weekend to a controversial topic event is big. This thing will live or die by the funding/money from salem and olympia. People who make these decisions are listening and looking. whether you attended the rally or not please call, email and write our reps to voice your feelings of opposition and alternatives. And S, not one of those speakers at the rally could be compartmentalized as a hippie - If Benton, Liberty, Cortright, Kahl Fritz, Jefferson Smith etc are hippies then I've been smoking something that has thoroughly blurred my vision ;-) S,
Don't let the right wing bloggers that hang out at the Oregonian's blogs influence you - if society had done that on a national level during the presidential campaign you would have thought Obama didn't have a prayer. The fact that this issue/ the opposition to it and the alternatives are actually being written about is headway. I can only take responsibility for my actions and encourage others who share some of my values to act if they so choose.

One final thought on measuring the success of the event - we had a number of elected officals show up, speak and others send letters to be read on their behalf by elected officals and phoned in statements. To get any elected officals to show up on a weekend to a controversial topic event is big. This thing will live or die by the funding/money from salem and olympia. People who make these decisions are listening and looking. whether you attended the rally or not please call, email and write our reps to voice your feelings of opposition and alternatives.

And S, not one of those speakers at the rally could be compartmentalized as a hippie - If Benton, Liberty, Cortright, Kahl Fritz, Jefferson Smith etc are hippies then I've been smoking something that has thoroughly blurred my vision ;-)

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]]> By: Suzanne http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1208123 Suzanne Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:59:06 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1208123 Everyone did an awesome job, especially Joe for the amazing organization and all the volunteers and people who lent their time. However, I also was a bit disappointed by the turnout, and I agree with Sue. C'mon people, who the hell cares if your lawn needs mowing or your house needs cleaning. If you oppose this thing you need to show up and say so!!! The Mt Hood Freeway did not get shut down by people hanging out doing chores. I'm also really disappointed by the responses to the news articles that have been posted online. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but nonetheless I am a bit taken aback by the nastiness directed at all us treehugging-nontaxpaying-potsmoking- unemployed-longhaired-idiotic bicyclists. It is really hard not to get discouraged . In order for us to kill this thing we are going to have to figure out how to take this past bikes vs cars. My favorite comment was the one guy who suggested we all go committ suicide and stop using HIS resources. That was pretty sweet. Everyone did an awesome job, especially Joe for the amazing organization and all the volunteers and people who lent their time. However, I also was a bit disappointed by the turnout, and I agree with Sue. C'mon people, who the hell cares if your lawn needs mowing or your house needs cleaning. If you oppose this thing you need to show up and say so!!! The Mt Hood Freeway did not get shut down by people hanging out doing chores.
I'm also really disappointed by the responses to the news articles that have been posted online. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but nonetheless I am a bit taken aback by the nastiness directed at all us treehugging-nontaxpaying-potsmoking-
unemployed-longhaired-idiotic bicyclists.
It is really hard not to get discouraged .
In order for us to kill this thing we are going to have to figure out how to take this past bikes vs cars. My favorite comment was the one guy who suggested we all go committ suicide and stop using HIS resources. That was pretty sweet.

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]]> By: metal cowboy http://bikeportland.org/2009/04/05/crc-rally-slideshow-and-open-thread-16782#comment-1208119 metal cowboy Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:54:32 +0000 http://bikeportland.org/?p=16782#comment-1208119 REgarding the crowd and the number of official attendees. What you have is about 100-150 people standing along the sides and behind the stage and along the waterfront - it was actually pretty hot on the grass and so we had a wide spread out crowd. But to put it in perspective amanda Fritz mentioned that this was a much larger rally than for the soccer stadium. We went throught he crowd at the END of the rally passing out the report card forms and ran out of 300 with people asking for more. so that should dispel anyone's eye balling the grass area and deciding that it was 100 folks. We also have nearlng 500 folks who filled out postcards or lists to be transposted onto postcards ( we ran out of 400 postcards - also an indication of how many folks showed up. the weather may have been a mixed blessing - it was so nice that folks - families with limited time and folks with spring projects outside were hard pressed to choose to attend. Truth is i've been organizing community events for decades now - and when you have tough issues that don't really fall into bike fun, it's a project to get any folks to show up. Memorial events touch folks and bring out the crowds a lot faster than a difficult issue regarding livability. It like trying to get folks to carpool more, vbike, take mass transit. These things many folks agree are better for the society but someone else can do them. I say all this b/c I was very pleased with the turn out. And please remember that this was the opening kick off to a sustained campaign - with events and actions coming down the pipe. If you wanted to be at the rally but didn't make it, we'll be offering you more opportunities to engage in the process. and Joe Adamski. We hel the rally to oppose a mega bridge option. We also saw this as something of an open house to show a spectrum of alternative. I personally and publiclly side with robert Liberty's vision. That this is a serviable bridge that we should toll now, retrofit and upgrade the rampos, focus on a hov lane for freight and look at lightrail and bike/ped. But no increase in lanes 8 or 10 or 12. I think this is a 4 billion dollar momument to bad decsion making and something that will open up widening i-5. we should not go forward with the crc - but we should look at cheaper, less carbon impacting solutions. REgarding the crowd and the number of official attendees. What you have is about 100-150 people standing along the sides and behind the stage and along the waterfront - it was actually pretty hot on the grass and so we had a wide spread out crowd. But to put it in perspective amanda Fritz mentioned that this was a much larger rally than for the soccer stadium. We went throught he crowd at the END of the rally passing out the report card forms and ran out of 300 with people asking for more. so that should dispel anyone's eye balling the grass area and deciding that it was 100 folks. We also have nearlng 500 folks who filled out postcards or lists to be transposted onto postcards ( we ran out of 400 postcards - also an indication of how many folks showed up. the weather may have been a mixed blessing - it was so nice that folks - families with limited time and folks with spring projects outside were hard pressed to choose to attend. Truth is i've been organizing community events for decades now - and when you have tough issues that don't really fall into bike fun, it's a project to get any folks to show up. Memorial events touch folks and bring out the crowds a lot faster than a difficult issue regarding livability. It like trying to get folks to carpool more, vbike, take mass transit. These things many folks agree are better for the society but someone else can do them. I say all this b/c I was very pleased with the turn out. And please remember that this was the opening kick off to a sustained campaign - with events and actions coming down the pipe. If you wanted to be at the rally but didn't make it, we'll be offering you more opportunities to engage in the process.

and Joe Adamski. We hel the rally to oppose a mega bridge option. We also saw this as something of an open house to show a spectrum of alternative. I personally and publiclly side with robert Liberty's vision. That this is a serviable bridge that we should toll now, retrofit and upgrade the rampos, focus on a hov lane for freight and look at lightrail and bike/ped. But no increase in lanes 8 or 10 or 12. I think this is a 4 billion dollar momument to bad decsion making and something that will open up widening i-5. we should not go forward with the crc - but we should look at cheaper, less carbon impacting solutions.

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