Roseway Heights school this morning.
(Photo: Anne Laufe)
Today is International Walk and Bike to School Day and 44 schools in Portland (and more than 150 throughout Oregon) will celebrate programs that encourage kids to get to school under their own power.
In Portland, the day’s festivities will be centered at Rosa Parks Elementary School. Rosa Parks is one of 25 schools in the Portland area that receive the comprehensive “Safer Routes to Schools” program (which is funded through City of Portland’s Community and Schools Traffic Safety Partnership (thanks to traffic fine revenues)).
At Rosa Parks, a select group of students are set to meet with various dignitaries (mayor-elect Sam Adams, Schools Superintendent Carole Smith, ODOT Regional Manager Jason Tell, etc…) to share their ideas and challenges about walking and biking to school.
Portland’s Safe Routes to School program is managed by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA).
In Eugene, the action will be at Roosevelt Middle School. Shane Rhodes, program manager for Eugene’s Safe Routes to Schools program, says their event will include, “bike blended smoothies, fire-juggling cyclists, music, and a special appearance by the Oregon Duck”. Rhodes add that more than 25 schools will be participating in Walk and Bike to School Day in Eugene this year (that’s up from 8 schools last year).
More information on Oregon’s Walk and Bike to School Day programs can be found at WalknBike.org.
For information on Portland’s Safe Routes to School programs, visit SafeRoutesPortland.org.
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So I live about 2 minutes walk from Rosa Parks. Sometimes, (when I have a cold or something,) I ride the bus to work, and so I walk down to the bus stop, (it takes about 5 minutes,) and wait for the bus. And many times I end up watching the guy that lives across the street from the bus stop, go out and start his car, go back inside and get his children, and drive them the 3 blocks that I just walked, to the school, and then come home and go back inside his house.
And maybe he is worried about the children walking/biking by themselves to school or something, but personally I’m more worried that if he went with them, he might have a heart attack from the effort or something…
This would explain the influx of children I saw this morning on my way to work.
We had a great turnout at Roseway Heights School this morning! Our unofficial guesstimate is that we had 175 students walking and biking. New Seasons donated apples and Z-Bars, plus we had coffee from Starbuck’s (for the adults only!) to make it a real celebration. Those bike-blended smoothies sure sound good – maybe next year!
I was stationed at Ardenwald Elementary in Milwaukie, and I would estimate about 100 kids walking, biking, or on scooters met at a nearby business and then ventured en masse to the school. It was a great turnout and the teachers, counselors, and principal were all super excited about the great participation. Because of the “kidical mass,” the car traffic on SE 32nd was taking notice and much calmer than it would normally be.
Today’s MLC Bike Bus ride was crazy!! Chapman school had at LEAST 20 riders going down Flint and over Broadway. We had 8. The line of bikes down Broadway was solid over the top of the bridge out of sight.
What an inspiring picture. I’ve got to figure out how to add photography to my list of multi-tasks on a downhill, trafficky, brake-run. It would have been a great shot!
BUT Still! That maroon SUV that charged through the Chapman bike bus and that silver hybrid funk that honked at the bike bus because it was in the way of it’s right turn onto Wheeler….GIVE ME A BREAK!!
These are kids doing the RIGHT thing!
Without any advertisement for today, there were about 32 bikes out of ~1600 students at Mountain View High School here in Vancouver. That’s about normal. When you’re talking high schoolers, 2% mode share seems pretty dismal when half of the population can’t even drive, yet our parking lot is full up.
Yehuda Moon has been running a story arc on just this subject.
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-10-07
and
http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-10-08
Yehuda (the character) is kind of a cross between Spike Bike and Gandhi.
Hmm, how about 725 students and 850 bicycle parking spaces such as in the Netherlands?
http://www.hembrow.eu/cycling/photos.html
(scroll down..)
I like to think we’ll get there.