Mayor Adams headed to Brussels for Velo-city Conference

Out of curiosity, what other American cities will be at the conference signing that charter?

3-Speeder: From what I understand, Portland will be the only US city to sign.

The real news is that we are paying to send a liar on a vacation. Sam lies that he wants to help bikes. If he wanted to help bikes he would not be building a $4 billion bridge that is managed by ODOT and has a fake, non binding, “mobility council” what a frekin joke.

I hope taxpayers are not also sending the Dupe of Earl Blumenauer to this European Vacation. He supports Sam and the other local leaders on the bridge to bankruptcy. Earl will not speak out against the madness.

Let’s wake up and stop loving the people who abuse us just because they wear a pin, bowtie and bring us flowers in the form of a few bike lanes or a occasional streetcar.

We can do better. We can elect people who get us the streetcar without the $4 billion dollar bridge.

I just hope Sam doesn’t flake like he has on other important speaking gigs (cough – National Bike Summit – cough).

Wow. These threads get cranky in a hurry these days. I don’t think a stated goal of 15% mode share by 2020 is necessarily greenwashing. Sounds like a fine idea to me. We currently have no place in the US to use as a role model for that kind of split so we look to Europe. And if only one US city is signing this thing, it durn well ought to be us.

I concur with Brad. We should repave on of the roads up the west hills with cobbles. Can we have a “Muur of Portland”?

Every time Sam gets publicity for something like this without being confronted by his idiotically stupid CRC position, he wins. And the city of Portland loses. This is the time to put pressure on this man. He needs to be publicly challenged for his hypocrisy in front of the kind of people he so wants to impress with his “greenness.”

Jessica,

Dont forget Rail Volition in Miami. A no show also…

I am excited for Portland’s future. There are some major steps being taken to make the city friendlier and more accessible to bicyclists. Interesting how something that should be seen as a huge plus for cyclists can get such a negative spin. My hats off to Sam, Tom and Greg. I look forward to seeing feedback from the trip.

Greg, I know your heart and mind is in the right place, and I appreciate your efforts.

Unfortunately, your boss is just using this as an opportunity to appear green while doing the minimal amount necessary to retain some credibility (bike-wise) among those who aren’t paying close attention.

Peejay is right: We need to start asking questions like why “America’s greenest city” STILL has not implemented a plan to combat global warming. When you look closely, the emperor has no clothes.

Greg,

Thank you for working so hard on this. And paying your own way! Somebody buy this guy a beer!!!

I am excited to read about your experiences over there. THIS is why I love this town.

It’s encouraging that Adams is going. That shows there’s at least a receptivity on his part to learn about ideas from others that could improve road infrastructure for people traveling by bike in the city.

Remembering that he still has some dirty laundry to clean up, he needs to be doing things that demonstrate he can conduct himself with the intelligence and decorum of someone people of Portland would have as their mayor.

There’s still time for people to change or modify positions on the CRC. That thing is far from a done-deal.

DJ Hurricane (#1) – I think that’s an unfair characterization. Nothing gets done without planning. Conferences like Velo-City have 2 important functions: they allow everyone to see what each others’ cities are up to, and they provide important networking opportunities for the mayors and transportation staff. A lot of work gets done at these meetings, and the results turn into real public policies that make the roads safer for cyclists and put more of them on the road.

Conferences like this reduce the need for meetings rather than increasing it. The Oregon Bike Summit and Car-Free Cities last year were very valuable in getting a number of things accomplished – not only at the event itself, but the meetings over drinks outside the event, and the communal rides to and from the event – we got a lot accomplished that would have taken a half-dozen meetings otherwise. I’d much rather see Adams and Raisman at a conference rather than having to schedule 5 meetings to talk to the same people on their schedules – these events act as a way to get all the decision-makers in the same place at the same time.

Joe Rowe (#6) – So are you saying Sam Adams shouldn’t do anything? If you don’t like him, get behind the recall effort, but until and unless he is recalled, he still has a job to do. Hold the man accountable, sure, but let the man work. There are things that need to be done in government and even if you recall Sam and replace him with someone else, all of those things still need to be done in the meantime. The city can’t stay on-hold because people don’t like the mayor’s campaign tactics or personal life.

We’re paying to send Adams to an international conference on transportation issues – whether you agree with him or not, that’s what we’re doing. If it were Sho going to this conference, we’d all be happy that he was showing any interest in bike issues whatsoever. Put the mission before the man.

Suzanne (#9) – So, how many things does Adams have to do for the bike community before he’s not a “sell-out”? Does support for the CRC mean we discount everything else his office does?

I’m not satisfied with CRC either, but if all we ever do is complain about what Sam’s office does, sooner or later they’re going to ask why they keep busting their collective asses to help bikers when all they get is grief.

Hold them accountable, yes. Fight the CRC – HELL YES! But give them credit for what they’re doing right. $500,000 a year dedicated for bikes is AWESOME. Sharing ideas with European cities about how to make biking better, and learning what works and doesn’t work in Europe – AWESOME. Yes, I want to see more money for bikes – 5% of the transportation budget is a worthy goal, and justifiable. I’d love to see the mayor take that kind of leadership. The City of Portland should also HOST an international conference for transportation and get some of the mayors here. We need to take a leadership role in the US on alternative transportation. Keep the momentum going – we’re going in the right direction.

Kris (#12) – wet cobbles = not fun. That said, I like cobbles too.

peejay (#14) “he wins” – uh… why? How does any of that hurt Portland? If we destroy all the goodwill cycling advocates have with city planners simply to stop the CRC, then WE lose. All cyclists. It means no more signage, no chance of traffic engineering favoring cyling over cars, no more multi-use paths.

The time to bring up CRC is not during unrelated items like this – do that, and the people who say “Oh, God, not those anti-CRC nuts again” will tune out and miss the message about working with european cities to make cities more pleasant to live and travel in.

CRC is a hugely important issue – but it’s not the only one, and a single-minded focus on CRC can cost us in the long run – maybe even worse than if CRC is actually built.

JE (#17) – An enormous amount of business can happen from meeting face-to-face. Frequently the trip is worth the cost.

BTW, the Internet has a gigantic carbon footprint as well.

Joe Rowe (#25) – Then respectfully Joe, you’re as big a problem as anyone else.

Let’s say people succeefully recall Sam, have another election, and put someone else in office. How long does that take? 6 months? 9 months? Meanwhile the CRC gets that much further along towards approval and completion, there is no leadership at the top, and all of the other transportation issues out there are not being addressed. Decisions are being made every day by people in the city that affect planning, maintenance, funding, and priorities. Have you considered the impact that will have?

The only way we will stop CRC is if someone takes it to the people. Someone needs to convince the neighborhood associations that CRC is bad. Someone needs to convince the business associations that CRC is bad. The mayor’s office will respond if enough of his key constituent groups say they don’t want the CRC.

Matt (#26), PBOT and this Mayor have had more than ample planning time in the form of conferences, trips, meetings and many other activities. They do not need to attend yet another conference to give them ideas about what to do to improve biking in Portland — or, if they do, they haven’t been paying attention for the last 5 years.

And I’d be interested to know, what are the “number of things” that were accomplished at Oregon Bike Summit and Car-Free Cities meetings?

Sam was planning on taking his pick-up truck but it’s in the shop. j/k

I am glad this trip is happening and it’s one of the little things that could help save Sam’s career.

BUT in order to do that, Sam needs to sack-up and unplug from the big boondoggles of the CRC, Stadiums, and convention hotel. Powerful people and vested interests have his ear and it’s our responsibility to be louder and give him the cover to do the right thing.

I had hoped that through the scandal Sam Adams would throw caution to the wind and dream big for Portland and it’s people.

By my calendar, Sam has about a month to start doing that.

P.S. Greg, Thank you for your dedication. When you are on the airplane, your and Sam’s drinks are on me. Just tell Sam we want to love him but he’s making it really, super, difficult.

Well Matt (#33), we’ll have to agree to disagree. This is just a PR opportunity for Scam Adams.

And I read your list of your projects. I don’t see anything on there that constituted a concrete action by the City getting anything done for bicyclists as a result of those two meetings you mentioned. The Airport Way Interchange or Clinton Bike Blvd projects are possible exceptions, but you don’t make clear whether or how those projects came out of those meetings.

DJ – I never said those meetings helped the city, I said they helped *me*. You’d have to ask the city officials who attended those meetings what that led to for them.

As far as practical things that benefited the bike community that came from meetings I was involved in – one I can directly speak to would be the Clackamas County Bike Map. Another would be additional bike parking in Milwaukie, and soon, wayfinding signage.

I could probably figure out some on the city side, but I’m out of time for right now. Maybe Michelle or others will list some of the things that came from meetings and conferences that benefit bikers, like the Rose Quarter cut-through or other projects.

Booooooondoggle!

so a part of the world whose habits i wish ours more closely resemble thinks we are doing something right, and invites our leader to talk about how we are doing it at their own expense. while he’s there building a little bit of street cred for america not being a nation of consume-until-we-die, some of what they’re up to will rub off on him, and we benefit too. here’s to innovation in coming years’ nonmotorized transport budgets!

what’s not to like?

Suzanne (#41) I wish it were Amanda also, and maybe the message
*is* wasted on the mayor – all I’m saying is that we can cheer the good things while still holding their feet to the fire on the CRC. If all we do is send negative messages back on everything the city does, those people working in the trenches for us like Greg Raisman, Roger Geller, Jeff Smith, Linda Ginenthal, Rob Burchfield, et. al. who have been our champions are going to get sick of us and start asking why they do all this hard work.

I agree, don’t whitewash (or greenwash) the problems – point ’em out! Just give a little positive feedback on the good stuff.

Thanks Greg for your dedication and hard work. I’m excited this is happening. Lets keep acting like the greenest, bike-friendliest US city that we are and represent.

Sam is a lame duck, and is waiting our money.

Hi there! As a participant at velo-city conference from Germany I have to state that your mayor really did a good job in Brussels. From Europe most people get the impression that cycling in the US wouldn’t be possible and there are even guys who warn about the high risk when cycling cities in the US. I was very pleased to hear that you in Portland also have a “cycling culture”!