Plan Ride in July
(Photo: Jonathan Maus)
After much speculation, noted citizen activist and blogger Chris Smith has officially declared his run for a spot on Portland’s City Council.
He plans to make the news public at an event on Wednesday (9/26) morning at Skidmore Fountain (see below for event details).
Smith will run for the council seat currently occupied by Sam Adams. Adams hasn’t made his future plans known yet (although there is speculation he might give up his seat to run for Mayor). So far, Smith will run against Ethos Music founder Charles Lewis.
Smith, a Northwest Portland resident who Chairs the Portland Streetcar Citizens Advisory Committee, is also well-known and respected in bike circles for his volunteer efforts (he creates and hosts the KBOO Bike Show Podcast among other things) and his effective and intelligent voice on transportation issues.
His candidacy presents a promising prospect for the bike community.
before the CRC Task Force.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus)
Back in February, Smith spoke against building a $6 billion bridge over the Columbia River. In his testimony before the Columbia River Crossing Task Force he said they were being seduced into “building an icon” and he encouraged the 39 member task not focus on just one, five-mile project and instead spread the money around to smaller projects throughout the transportation network (an opinion I wholeheartedly agree with).
In an email distributed by Smith’s campaign he lists the BTA’s Interim Executive Director Scott Bricker as one of the two Directors of his “Citizen Smith for Portland City Council” committee.
Smith’s official campaign website, http://citizensmith.us, is set to launch tomorrow.
To learn more about Chris Smith, stay tuned to BikePortland.org and come out to his official campaign announcement event tomorrow at 9:00am at Skidmore Fountain in Ankeny Plaza (SW Ankeny St. between Naito and 1st).