Two more Portlanders will add their voices to League of American Bicyclists Board

Alison Hill Graves (Photo © J. Maus)

Steve Durrant (Photo: Alta Planning)

National bike advocacy organization the League of American Bicyclists, now counts three Portlanders on its 15-member board of directors. Steve Durrant, a principal at Southeast Portland based Alta Planning and Design; and Alison Hill Graves, executive director of the Community Cycling Center in the Alberta neighborhood are set to begin their first three-year term on the League Board in March. Hill Graves and Durrant join Bicycle Transportation Alliance Executive Director Rob Sadowsky, who was elected in 2009 prior to his move to Portland.

According to League Executive Director Andy Clarke, this is the first board in the League’s history whose members do not represent specific regions. “That made it easier to identify the characteristics the board was looking for in new members and and candidates,” he said via email yesterday. As for the fact that 20% of his board resides in Portland, Clarke added that, “It’s interesting, totally coincidental and entirely appropriate that we have three board members in Portland.”

Alison Hill Graves says she applied for the job because she wants to bring a voice for ethnic diversity and equity into the national discussion of bicycling. “That’s one of the key reasons that I chose to apply,” she shared with me via email today, “we need to broaden the movement.” For Hill Graves, learning from the work of organizations like hers will be key to the bike movement’s — and the League’s — success.

“We need to be more inclusive, more equitable, and more culturally competent in order to be relevant and accessible to a wider range of people and perspectives.”

Steve Durrant is a senior landscape architect at Alta and is also an expert on bike-sharing. He told me today that he sees the League as “the cycling community’s primary voice for funding, policy, education and innovation.” Durrant sees his role as a new board member to, “help the League continue to refine its view of cycling and cyclists and what it means to be our leading advocacy voice.”

When asked how he feels about two Portlanders join him and that 20% of the League Board is now from Portland, BTA leader Rob Sadowsky said, “For me, it’s less about a Northwest cabal and more about serious talent. They bring skills and background that we need.”

The League will officially announce their newly elected board members on Monday.