Welcome to the week.
These are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past 7 days…
Safe streets for whom?: An excellent article that summarizes the sometimes narrow view of Vision Zero and cycling advocacy and how those approaches often fail to embrace safety justice for all road users.
Big Boost for Black Girls: USA Cycling has announced a major partnership with Black Girls Do Bike (a national org with a chapter in Portland) that includes a racing team, free memberships for members, a coaching program, and more.
Outside isn’t “free” for everyone: Must-read from Bitch Media about the “Twisted racial politics of going outside“.
Whose land are your riding on? A new app and website allows you to enter any zipcode in the world and find out which native people lived on the land. You can also text a city/state to (907) 312-5085 to receive the information.
Air quality argument: Vox argues that the expansive health benefits of cleaner air alone would help pay for a transition away from burning fossil fuels.
We choose to die: We have the tools to dramatically increase the safety of motor vehicles and stop thousands of U.S. traffic deaths every year, but “It turns out that reckless driving presents more of a political challenge than a technical one.”
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The planner’s case for VP Harris: Streetsblog California has the story of how U.S. Senator and VP candidate Kamala Harris took a political risk to prevent a highway-centric planning effort from taking root in San Diego.
Time for the Third Lane: The CEO of micromobility firm Bird says it’s time to embrace a major shift in how we allocate road space by having less car parking and more room for scooter and bike share users.
E-bikes are taking over: A story from Denver about how electric bike sales are skyrocketing could be written about so many cities across the country right now. E-bikes are revolutionary machines!
“Good luck finding one”: The bike boom wouldn’t have crimped product availability nearly as much if it weren’t for the terrible timing of Trump’s China tariffs.
Bikewashing: Bikes are icons of the climate change fight, but professional cycling (and all the miles people drive to ride) has a massive carbon footprint and is largely sponsored/subsidized by automakers.
Ride it like you stole it: A Japanese man stole a bike and rode it over 600 miles to visit Tokyo before police caught up with him.
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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