is organizing a bike convergence
ride to his campaign kickoff
event Saturday.
(Photos © J. Maus)
Two events this Saturday speak to how bikes are a part of politics here in Portland.
Two Oregon state representatives — House rep Michael Dembrow and Senator Jackie Dingfelder — will lead a bike tour of their Northeast Portland districts in their third annual “Bike Town Hall” event. Also on Saturday, candidate for Portland mayor Charlie Hales is organizing a massive “convergence” bike ride to his “Party in the Park” campaign kick-off party.
For Rep. Dembrow, his bike town hall is a “chance to encourage folks to utilize the great bike infrastructure that we have in Portland.” The tour will include stops at the newly completed Cully Blvd. green street project and its state-of-the-art cycle track, various Safe Routes to Schools projects, and “an example of the latest pedestrian and bicycle-friendly intersections.”
State Sen. Jackie Dingfelder
|
State Rep. Michael Dembrow
|
The bike town hall meets at 10:00 am at Wilshire Park (NE 33rd and Skidmore). No RSVP is necessary.
Charlie Hales is a former Portland politician who’s looking to move back in to City Hall. So far, none of Hales’ competition in the Mayor’s race has come out as the bike-friendly candidate (although it’s somewhat clear that Eileen Brady, Max Brumm and Jefferson Smith are all supportive of bicycling in general).
Hales was out in force on his bike at the recent Sunday Parkways in Southeast Portland and a picture of him from that event is in prominent rotation on his campaign website.
On Saturday, Hales is organizing a kickoff party and there’s a Bike Convergence with five meeting points throughout the city to get there. They’ve even published a handy map.*
[*UPDATE: Please note that Hales has just announced that this event is cancelled due to a death in his wife’s family and a new date is TBD.]
I’m planning on sitting down with each mayoral candidate in the coming days and weeks. Because as we all know, it takes much more than just photo ops and fun rides to determine whether or not someone really “gets it” when it comes to moving bicycling forward.
Get out and chat with your elected officials, and get to know potential future ones, this Saturday and stay tuned for more coverage of local politics.