(Photo: Jonathan Maus)
The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) says they are “shocked and stunned” by the news that a group will attempt to refer the Safe, Sound, and Green Streets funding proposal to the ballot.
Executive Director Scott Bricker says they have strongly supported the proposal — which includes over $25 million in bike safety improvements — from the outset and that the threat of it being stopped by “petroleum companies” is being taken very seriously and that the BTA will commit considerable resources to making sure the referral effort is stopped.
“We are shocked and stunned. We’re ready to make this a flagship effort,” he said in an interview today, “To me, this is a defining moment for our community…it’s not the sole issue we will work on in the coming weeks, but it’s one of those things we simply have to win.”
“This is a defining moment…we simply have to win.”
–Scott Bricker, Executive Director of the BTA
Bricker added that, “If a group of petroleum companies thinks they can come in and push around communities that are trying to make their streets safer, that would be a disturbing trend. We have to let them know that Portlanders care about safe streets and that we’re willing to stand up for them.”
Bricker, with support of the BTA’s 5,000 members across the state (most of them in Portland) says they will commit as many resources as they can to this issue. He said in the coming days they will look to spearhead a “community effort to stop the petitioners” that will include representatives from a broad range of interests.