Local election season is heating up. One welcome trend of the campaigns, that will be fun to keep an eye on, is how/if the candidates try to out bike-friendly one another.
The latest candidate to fluff their bikey feathers is Amanda Fritz. Yesterday she announced that 25 volunteers will use bicycles to help her deliver 100 yard signs this Sunday in Northeast Portland. Here’s a snip from her press release:
“Amanda believes that bicycling is a vital part of making Portland livable [and] sustainable. She is committed to providing basic services equitably to all the citizens of Portland, including safe streets for all.”
Safe, bike-friendly streets as “basic services”. I like the sound of that.
Fritz is vying for City Council seat #1 (being vacated by Sam Adams) and her main competition includes John Branam, Jeff Bissonnette, Charles Lewis, and the leading bike-friendly candidate Chris Smith.
Thus far, Chris Smith is winning the bike-friendly race by a long shot. He has been a prominent figure for bike advocacy long before announcing his candidacy. Back in January, he and Jeff Bissonnette shared an endorsement from Bike, Walk, Vote.
Lewis has made noise about potholes, but I am yet to hear anything bike-specific from his campaign.
I’ve got an interview pending with Amanda Fritz and I hope to bring you more coverage of this race in the weeks to come.