Press Release: Walk and Bike Challenge Kick-Off

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Walk + Bike Challenge Month Kicks Off May 3

April 28, 2008 – Oregon Walk + Bike to School will host a kickoff at Main Street Plaza along the Eastbank Esplanade from 9:30AM- 11AM for the first ever Walk + Bike to School Challenge Month. Featured speakers are Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s Advisor for Livable Communities, Meeky Blizzard, and Portland Police Officer Robert Pickett. Performing will be kid DJ’s Belinda Miller and Hova Najarian of the nationally syndicated radio show “Greasy Kid Stuff”, Portland State University cheerleaders, stilt-walking dinosaurs, and unusual 5-foot tall bikes from the North Portland Freak Collective. The event will conclude with a family bike ride and walk along the Willamette on the Eastbank Esplanade.

The May 3 event is a kickoff for Walk + Bike Challenge Month, in which Portland students will be challenged to walk or bike to school as many days possible in May. Over 5,000 Portland students representing over 30 Portland schools will participate in this friendly competition against participating elementary schools and against Portland State University students. Incentives and raffle prizes will be awarded throughout the month. The top prize, a class of the BTA’s award-winning Bicycle Safety Education, will be awarded at the final party on June 8th at the PSU Park Blocks. Also during May, the BTA will be holding weekly workshops on safe family commuting by bicycle and foot at four Portland locations including the North Portland Public Library, Clever Cycles, Bike Gallery on Division and the BTA office.

Meeky Blizzard, Advisor for Livable Communities in Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s Portland office, has been involved in transportation and land use issues in the Portland region since 1989. She has also gained an international perspective on transportation from having lived in New Zealand and having made presentations on Portland planning and transport issues in major Australian cities.

Officer Robert Pickett is a member of the Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee, a BTA Alice B. Toeclips Award nominee and a Portland Police Officer. He coordinates the Southeast Bike Patrol Unit and is a Neighborhood Response Team officer. The police bureau recently recognized Officer Pickett for his community policing efforts.

DJ’s Belinda Miller and Hova Najarian began broadcasting Greasy Kid Stuff in 1995. Over the years, Greasy Kid Stuff has gained a national reputation and widespread acclaim, having been described as “the best kid’s radio program of all time”, all the while refusing to draw a line between “kid” and “adult” music.

Walk + Bike Challenge is a family-focused spin-off of the BTA’s 12-year-old Bicycle Commute Challenge, an annual friendly competition in September for Oregon and SW Washington companies to see who can bike to work more.
www.bikecommutechallenge.com

Oregon Walk + Bike to School is a partnership between the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, the Oregon Walk to School Committee, and teachers, parents, community members and schools throughout Oregon. Walk + Bike to School Challenge is supported by Nutcase Helmets, Portland State University Bike Co-op, Urbanmamas.org, Clever Cycles and the Bike Gallery.

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance is a statewide non-profit organization that works to open minds and roads to bicycling. We represent bicyclists and the bicycle industry with over 5000 members in Oregon and SW Washington, and have seventeen years of experience in bicycle engineering, planning, education and advocacy.