As promised, last week I sat down with KATU News anchor Steve Dunn and local business owner Bob Huckaby to discuss his plans to seek a ballot measure that would mandate license plates for all bicycles in Oregon and would require people to have a bicycle operators license.
Dunn moderated a discussion between Huckaby and I for their Your Voice/Your Vote program. It ran on Sunday morning at 9:00 am; but in case you missed it, it’s now available for viewing online.
I think the show went quite well. Both Huckaby and I got our perspectives across and Dunn did a great job of not over-sensationalizing or showing a bias on either side of the issue. (Note: I say that about Dunn on a relative basis, given the crazy-biased stuff we’ve seen from KATU and other local TV stations in recent years).
In the comment section last week, some of you expressed concern with the way I’ve handled this issue so far. Many of you seem to want me to blast Huckaby’s proposal and not give this issue any further coverage. Instead, some of you would rather I just ignore it and hope it all goes away. I’ve thought a lot about this issue and my handling of it. My hunch is that ignoring it, or rejecting it outright, won’t make it go away (that hasn’t worked yet). Instead, I think perhaps Huckaby’s effort is a chance for us to engage people who share his feelings and respectfully encourage them to see a different perspective while learning more about the larger issues it raises.
Watch the video and let me know what you think.