Back in April, when the City Club of Portland announced they would embark on a “comprehensive” study of how bicycling fits into Portland’s transportation policy, we took notice. This is because the City Club is an old, respected and influential organization and their research is taken seriously by local leaders and policymakers in Portland.
Amid concerns that City Club might embark on their study with a bias against bicycling, some folks around the local bike activism table wondered how best to make sure they start off with the right facts. On that note, local citizen activist (and leader/policymaker himself) Chris Smith has stepped up to create a new information resource he plans to present to City Club this week.
Smith, a current City Planning Commissioner who also has a run at City Council under his belt, has served on several City Club research committees. He says the study process is “scrupulously set up to objectively question everything” and he feels the best thing the community can do is to arm committee members with as many studies and data points as possible.
Smith and several partners; including the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, us, Portland Afoot, Portland Transport, and Active Right of Way, have launched The Case for Cycling. We hope this new wiki becomes a centralized collection of research and data that makes it clear that not only do bicycles belong firmly placed in urban transportation systems, they deserve even more priority and respect in funding and policy conversations.
Smith calls the wiki a tool for “crowdsourcing the case for cycling” so that means we need your help and smarts to make it really have an impact.
Head over to TheCaseForCycling.com and check it out. If you have something to add, please create a sign-in name and have at it. While this resource was spurred by the City Club’s research project, we intend to keep this up and have it become something useful for all communities.