(Photos © J. Maus)
The Portland Business Journal reports that the Rose Garden Arena (home of the Portland Trail Blazers) has been awarded a “Gold” level LEED certification. Among the reasons is the large percentage of attendees get there by something else besides a car.
Here’s the blurb about their transportation green-ness:
More than 30 percent of Rose Garden attendees use public or alternative transportation, such as bicycle commuting. The team subsidizes transit passes for staff and uses bikes and electric vehicles for on-site operations.
On recent trips to the Rose Garden (go Blazers!), it’s been exciting to see how crowded the bike parking is. The main bike racks (behind the box office) usually have about 30-40 bikes in them. I realize that’s not a lot in an arena that seats around 20,000, but it’s a start. The bulk of the 30% come by MAX light rail and bus, which drop off right in front of the arena.
near the Rose Garden.
We’ve been working with some folks in the Blazers organization to try and do more to promote bikes, but it’s been slow going (not anyone’s fault, it just hasn’t progressed much). They’ve made it clear that they want to be known as the most “green” team in the NBA; and this is Bike City USA, so it’s a great fit.
Back in June, I pointed out how bikes and Blazers “go great together”, but it will take more than one eager advocate to make a lot of noise for bikes at the Rose Garden. The messages inside the arena during games are dominated by cars. A remote-controlled, Ford SUV blimp floats around during timeouts (seriously) and players can be seen on the jumbotron touting Chevy trucks.
I know it’s all business and those companies are paying honest dollars for that exposure, but it would be great to have some bike-related messages up on that big screen. Or better yet, show a player or two enjoying a bike ride.
Back in October, team leader Brandon Roy made headlines for biking to practice — and it wasn’t even a one-time deal. In July 2008, he told The Oregonian that “biking is my funnest time of the day”. If more of the Blazer faithful heard that from their hardcourt hero, maybe a few more of them would consider riding to the arena.
Congrats to the Rose Garden for getting Gold.
On a related note, Mayor Sam Adams’ office will be hosting a big presentation for all the concept proposals on the Rose Quarter Redevelopment Project. The Blazers will be there with their “Jumptown” proposal. More details at RQDev.org.
(Stay tuned for details and an announcement of our Bike to Blazers event. It’s coming up on April 14th!)