(Images © J. Maus/BikePortland and the City of Copenhagen)
Tomorrow at this time I’ll be on a plane flying to Copenhagen. Today I punched “Copenhagen” into a search of all my Front Page stories and the earliest instance I found was over seven years ago. It was a post I published on April 5th, 2006 titled, Copenhagen video shows Portland’s dream.
It’s hard to remember, but way back then there was no such thing as the Cycle Chic Movement. There was no Copenhagenize.com. In fact, very little was known or seen of Copenhagen in U.S. bicycling and bike advocacy circles. At the time, I was interested in the video for how it aligned with Portland’s goal to become a “Platinum” Bicycle Friendly Community — an effort the city launched just a few months prior.
“If you’ve been wondering what the City of Portland means when they talk about “going Platinum”, look no further than this fascinating video,” I wrote in 2006. When I forwarded the video to PBOT Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller he said he found it “Inspiring, not only in what can be achieved, but in the manner in which it can be achieved: focus, time, priorities.”
Portland’s path to Copenhagen-like status has taken a lot of twists and turns in the past seven years, and we’ve even broken down a few times on the way. But as I leave for this trip — where I’ll visit the top three most bike-friendly cities in the world — I feel like Portland is finally finding its bicycle mojo again (more on that later).
Stay tuned for stories and photos from Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Utrecht. On that note, I want to give a big thanks to Portland-based Pro Photo Supply for providing me with an awesome camera and lenses.
While I’m away, our new News Editor Michael Andersen will be captain of the ship from time to time, so expect to see more from him until I return (I’ll be back in Portland June 10th).