At annual meeting, BTA gets Mayor’s blessing and charts course for ’09

BTA Executive Director Scott
Bricker stands before his staff
at their annual meeting last night.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Oregon’s largest bicycle advocacy organization, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, held their annual meeting in Northwest Portland last night.

The event was attended by BTA board members and staff, along with a handful of dues-paying members. It also marked the first bike event attended by our new Mayor, Sam Adams.

The night also marked the 10th year as a BTA employee for their current leader, Executive Director Scott Bricker. Bricker started with the non-profit as the bike safety program manager and then became their lobbyist in Salem during the last four legislative sessions. Bricker said 2008, his first as ED, was a “banner year” for biking in Portland and cities throughout Oregon.

BTA staffers L to R: Scott Yelton (events), Scott Lieuallen (volunteers), and Gretchen Horton (development).

Adams thanked the BTA for their work.

Bricker told the crowd that this year the BTA surpassed 5,000 members statewide and that they’ve launched a new campaign to reach 10,000 members. 2009 will be a year for the BTA to “increase relevancy” outside of Portland and work to increase funding for bike projects, Bricker said.

Scott Bricker.

I asked BTA Board Chair Mary Roberts for more on their 2009 goals. She said among their main priorities will be an effort to expand BTA’s influence into other Oregon cities, work to pass legislation in Salem, and work to more clearly define their advocacy positions (on hot-button issues like bike licensing, helmet laws, stop signs, and so on).

Roberts said plans are already set for a BTA staffer or board member to meet with bike advocates in Bend, Salem and Eugene to see how they can more effectively support bike advocacy efforts in those areas.

Shoshanah Oppenheim (L) and former
BTA leader Catherine Ciarlo (R) are
Mayor Adams’ transportation policy advisors.

Portland’s newly elected Mayor Sam Adams and several of his transportation staffers were also in attendance. Adams took the stage to express his (and the City’s) gratitude for the BTA:

“No amount of research or charm or cajoling or arm-twisting would work without having a good, grassroots organization that’s as smart on policy, as smart on operational issues as the BTA… they are essential to getting stuff done.”

Then, after mentioning Portland’s “Platinum” designation, he cautioned against complacency:

“That was yesterday, that was in the past, and our work together in the future is going to be even more exhilarating and even more difficult because I want Portland to get to the levels of Amsterday and the bicycle utilization of European cities and we have the raw materials to do that and if we work together we can make it happen.”

After he promised to sign up his four colleagues on the City Council, Adams then mentioned his First 100 Days Plan (which is now back online in its final version after a draft was prematurely published on Friday). He re-iterated his promise a new cycletrack and expressed hope for his $25 million federal funding request to build 110 miles of bike boulevards in Portland.

Once the applause died down, he added, “but there’s a lot of competition for resources… so the BTA is key.” (Which is his way of saying he’ll need support from the BTA and their members to keep pushing bike projects.)

Volunteer Richard Marantz was
recognized for his work on
the Sellwood Bridge Project.

After Adams left the stage, the BTA took time to honor several volunteers. One of them was Richard Marantz. Marantz is a citizen advocate extraordinaire who has spent countless hours over the past two years a member of the Sellwood Bridge Project’s Citizens Task Force.

Marantz told me last night that his time on the project is coming to a close: The Citizen’s Task Force will give their final recommendation on the design of the bridge to the Policy Action Group on January 19th (unfortunately, it won’t be a separate bike/ped bridge — more on that story later).

Several people shared bike haikus on stage last night, and fittingly, Marantz shared one about the bridge project he knows so well:

In many ways, 2009 is shaping up to be another banner year for bikes. To reach their full potential in Portland (and Oregon), we need the BTA to have a banner year as well.