Employer Bike Summit May 15 will have a theme: ‘Reclaim the City Crown’

Employers Bike Summit

The 2013 summit drew dozens of workplace advocates.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

Portland’s annual Employer Bike Summit, a half-day gathering for people working to increase bike commuting in the area, is scaling up its vision a bit.

“Big bike projects are coming to Portland in the next year,” co-organizer Steve Hoyt-McBeth, a project manager for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, wrote in an email Monday. “If you want them to be the best they can, you need to be involved.”

The free Friday afternoon event sponsored by Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield usually draws about 50 workplace commuting and sustainability pros, workplace biking advocates and public employees. Created largely by members of Regence’s bike-commuting community, it’s intended to offer support and ideas to people known in their workplaces as the “bike person.” (You know who you are.)

The summit is 1 to 4 p.m. on Friday, May 15, with the entrance at Pettygrove City Park just south of the Regence headquarters, 100 SW Market Street. with refreshments following. Here’s the agenda:

Keynote: Central City Rising – Projects that will change Portland’s transportation future
Margi Bradway, Portland Active Transportation Division Manager

Portland is a leader in innovation and transportation, and arguably the bike capital of the nation. However, we must not rest on our laurels. As other cities strive to model Portland’s transportation system, Portland faces stagnation. We need your help in creating change to shape Portland’s future. The Portland of Bureau of Transportation is working on several projects in the near future that will shape the heart of the city.

Session 1 workshops – 1:45-2:40

Building a Workplace Culture around Bike Commuting & Peer-to-Peer Encouragement
Roll up your sleeves in this interactive workshop to strategize with peers on how to increase participation in the Bike Commute. Challenge and other workplace initiatives to increase bike commuting. We want your success stories and your challenges. You won’t be sitting back and listening to a panel, but you will be leaving with some new inspiration and tools to try through facilitated storytelling and problem-solving.

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New Bike & Walk Investments: Portland’s Central City Multi-Modal Safety Improvement Project
The Portland Bureau of Transportation will design and invest over $5 million in new bike and walk improvements in the next several years. Building on the City’s West Quadrant Plan, the project will consider several corridors for significant bicycle and pedestrian enhancements. What streets need the most help? Where do the greatest opportunities lie? Learn more, share your ideas, and find out ways to get involved.

Session 2 workshops – 2:50-3:45

Build It and They Will Come: Bike Facilities to Boost Employee Biking Commuting
The availability of secure, convenient, and high-quality bike parking when bike commuters arrive to the office is critical. It not only serves a practical purpose as a place to store bikes long-term but also as a message that employees arriving by bike are valued and respected. This workshop will provide information on best practices in planning and designing bike parking at worksites. Topics covered include tools to upgrade and expand existing bike parking, retrofitting parking into existing spaces, creative ways to meet bike parking demand, and additional bike parking amenities for commuters.

Advocacy 101 with the Bicycle Transportation Alliance
There’s no comfortable connection between the bridge path and your office building. You have coworkers who are afraid to bike because of all the downtown traffic. The problems are clear. You may even have a solution in mind, but how do you get others on board? How do you get the problem solved? The Bicycle Transportation Alliance has been advocating for better, safer streets since 1990. We’ll share some of the lessons we’ve learned about how to get your voice heard and how to get problems solved with a focus on business and commercial districts. Topics covered include messaging, defining success, power mapping, identifying allies, and pressure vs. persuasion.

Refreshments will follow at 4:30-6 p.m.

“Of the 20+events celebrating PDX Bike Month, Portland Employer Bike Summit is the biggest,” Hoyt-McBeth writes. “Channel your excitement and/or frustration into making better projects. … If you work in Portland, becoming your employer’s representative on transportation or bike projects can be a very effective way to create better bike projects.”

Participants are asked to register for free online.

Michael Andersen (Contributor)

Michael Andersen (Contributor)

Michael Andersen was news editor of BikePortland.org from 2013 to 2016 and still pops up occasionally.

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9watts
9watts
8 years ago

Is PBOT giving itself a talking to?

Adam Herstein
Adam Herstein
8 years ago

“Big bike projects are coming to Portland in the next year,” co-organizer Steve Hoyt-McBeth, a project manager for the Portland Bureau of Transportation, wrote in an email Monday.

This is news to me. Which “big projects” is he referring to?

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)
Admin
Reply to  Adam Herstein

Well if PBOT makes good on their word then we should expect to see a network of new protected bike lanes and bike share in 2016.

Adam Herstein
Adam Herstein
8 years ago

That would be great.

Huey Lewis
Huey Lewis
8 years ago

Is there something I can read that will concisely explain why bike share is some cycling holy grail that we keep looking for. Seriously, I don’t understand this.

WD
WD
8 years ago

“If you want them to be the best they can, you need to be involved.”

Interesting. I never hear anyone tell people who drive they’ll get sub-par streets unless they show up & get involved.

Dwaine Dibbly
Dwaine Dibbly
8 years ago

I feel sometimes like my relationship to PBOT and bike infrastructure in this town is like the Storm Large version of “Hopelessly Devoted to You”, and I’m the one duct-taped to a toilet.

Evan
Evan
8 years ago

I’d like to see the Bike Commute Challenge moved to May, national bike month. I think that having it in September ( just as the weather is starting to turn ) is silly. I tried suggesting it to the BTA without any success. It seems like we should be getting new commuters on their bikes just as the weather is getting better, not worse. Just a thought.

Jessica Roberts
Jessica Roberts
8 years ago
Reply to  Evan

As long as there has been the BCC, there has been this criticism. September is, at least historically, better weather in Portland, though…

rain waters
rain waters
8 years ago

Check out Bike snob NYC blog. A no bs sceptic turned believer.