A TV station interviewed me about the bike tax. Here’s what I said – (Video)

Until last week, I probably expressed more of my thoughts about Oregon’s new bike tax on Twitter than I had here on the blog.

Sometimes when I have a lot to say about a complicated, or sensitive, or generally unwieldy issue, it’s hard for me to organize all my thoughts into coherent sentences (I know, a bad trait for a writer).

So when a KATU (local ABC affiliate) producer reached out last week and asked if I’d be on their Your Voice, Your Vote show, I was happy to oblige. I was on the Sunday morning news show five years ago and had a great experience. Back then the topic was a proposal to license bicycle riders. After both myself and the man proposing the idea had a chance to explain our views in a neutral setting, the proposal went away and was never heard about again (hmm, I wonder why?).

Then and now, I relished the opportunity to explain my views in a calm and professional format with an experienced broadcast journalist as moderator. It’s the opposite of arguing on the Internet.

Last Thursday I rode down to the KATU studio to have a conversation with Steve Dunn, a respected veteran of the news business who has covered Portland for 30 years. Using his notes from a pre-show interview I did with a KATU producer a few days earlier, Steve and I had a 15-minute chat about the bike tax. He asked good questions and I think the interview is a helpful addition to what I’m sure will be an ongoing discussion.

Watch it below (if the embed doesn’t work, you can watch it here):

As I say in the interview, this tax raises a lot of concerns. It’s important that Oregonians understand what it means beyond the $15 and it’s important for advocates to understand how we got here and what it means going forward.

If you have any questions about this issue you’d like to ask me feel free to do so in the comments and I’ll reply. For more on my views of the bike tax see this article in The Washington Post and listen to this episode of the Outspoken Cyclist Podcast.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned.

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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