Today’s edition of Roll Call, a newspaper that has covered Capitol Hill for over half a century, makes it official; bikes are now on the radar of our nation’s lawmakers like never before.
In the “Heard on the Hill” column, the paper writes that,
“…after years of dogged dedication to the pro-bicycle cause, it appears the Oregon Democrat [Earl Blumenauer] can finally take a victory lap, because the movement has hit the political mainstream.”
The story comes out on the same day Blumenauer is holding a press event on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol to announce that attendees of the upcoming Republican and Democratic national conventions will have access to 1,000 free bikes. Along with the bikes — which will be supplied through a partnership with Humana Inc. and the non-profit group Bikes Belong — Blumenauer and several colleagues (from both sides of the aisle) have issued a “bike-sharing challenge” to convention goers.
(Photo courtesy Earl Blumenauer’s office.)
The challenge? Take 10,000 trips and ride 25,000 miles on the free bikes.
One person involved with the program told Roll Call that, “I think it goes back to whether you’re red or blue, you’re green.”