-Watch it below-
Since many of us in Portland’s bike advocacy sphere are wondering who will take the reins of our state’s largest bike advocacy organization, I thought I’d share a short video (which I found via Intersection 911) featuring the leader of New York’s Transportation Alternatives, Paul Steely White.
The video was created as part of TA’s excellent Biking Rules PSA competition. In the simple video, White makes a clear, concise and compelling case for bicycling in cities. His tone and framing of the issues are what we need more of in this country. Here are a few examples…
… on the (over)use of cars:
“The ideal city is a city in which private automobile use is minimized. For one person to travel in a car, you can accomodate a whole bus full of people or many dozens of cyclists. So, to make more room for livable cities, more parks, more greenways, it’s imperative that we minimize car use, and one great way to do that of course is with the bicycle and by making bicycling an attractive and safe option for everyone, not just the intrepid.”
He also nicely works in a plug for separated, center-median oriented bikeways (as opposed to traditional bike lanes on the right adjacent to parked cars), saying, “Riding in this lane is really the riding experience that should be possible on all New York streets.” The same could be said for cycle tracks in Portland.
And finally, a positive and inspirational message:
“I don’t think there’s another world-changing thing that anyone can do that has such a strong impact on your daily life but also has major reverberations throughout the world.”
This is how we need to be making the case here in Portland. This type of message needs to be heard loudly and regularly by our entire metro region, and it needs to be delivered from a trusted citizen advocate/activist, not from our Mayor or a city employee.
Watch the video below: