Thanks to everyone who heeded our last-minute call on Friday to ride Broadway together!
After two weeks of drama where we faced losing the protected bike lane on Broadway, were then misled by city officials about it, and then rose up to make our voices heard and ultimately thwarted their misguided plans — it was time to come together and ride Broadway. And boy, did we ever!
About 50 or so wonderful folks met up on North Broadway and Wheeler. We did some quick speeches and rabble-rousing, then we rode into downtown to reflect on how important this protected bike lane is. It felt so good to ride as a community and know that we are stronger together after the past two weeks It was especially sweet to ride in front of the Benson hotel and wave and ring our bells at the valets who watched us roll by.
Special thanks to BikeLoud PDX for helping organize and spread the word about the ride. If you missed this, BikeLoud is doing a BikeBROADWAY Day event on Friday, October 13th.
Check out a short video and full photo gallery below…
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From 2007 to 2013 I commuted on Broadway from the bridge as far as PSU. That old doorzone bike lane was a constant circus of near calamities. Good riddance to that trash, and long live the protected bike lane!!!
Millicent Williams: “Thanks for your continued attention to this issue and for offering alternatives for consideration. After reviewing all of the information and consulting with the Commissioner, I would like to ask the team to do the following”…
Replace all the temporary plastic candlesticks and white paint with curbed barriersEncourage users of different races, ages, and income levels who may often ride $99 Walmart specials, rather than the usual nearly-all-white and well-to-do BP crowd on a symbolic evening ride on their fancy steeds
How dare they celebrate the success of their collective organizing to keep a piece of safety infrastructure in place in their city, their bikes are too nice! /s
Well done on getting this ride organized (whoever did it, or if it was collaborative)! Looks like it had a pretty good turnout! It’s a nice statement after the scandal that has been ongoing about this and other bike lanes.
neener, neener
exclamation US informal humorousUS /ˌniː.nɚ ˈniː.nɚ/ UK /ˌniː.nə ˈniː.nər/(also neener, neener, neener, neener)
used for intentionally annoying or upsetting someone, especially when something bad has happened to them or when you have been proven right about something :
“It was especially sweet to ride in front of the Benson hotel and wave and ring our bells at the valets who watched us roll by.”
Building consensus?
Just having some fun Gregg. Your attempt at making actions seem more aggressive then they actually are is silly. We literally just waved and smiled and rang our bells. And yes, it did feel especially sweet because I know for a fact that complaints from these valets are a big part of why we are here talking about this. Also, acting like the folks with less power need to be nice in order to be accepted and respected is a very classic move by those with power.
Yep the divisive nature of bike activism continues to undermine their own goals.
It’s time to reject the smug, self-righteous and largely insincere attitudes promoted by Bikeportland. It is harming our community. We need to forge our own road and leave the negative doom pedalers in the dust.
I’d love to spearhead a new bicycle movement in this city because the old one is rotten from the inside and more desperate by the hour.
Go for it Jelque! We need all the help we can get.
Really though, I don’t understand why some of you are so focused on pointing out “divisive nature of bike activism.” I think to some folks the mere act of riding a bicycle is divisive because they are so threatened by it. Also, the way media works is that I shine a light on what our community is doing. It’s interesting to me that when folks disagree with something they say BikePortland is “promoting” it. That’s not what I do here. I rarely “promote” anything and if I do it’ll be obviously an op-ed or some other context. This is a forum for debate where we share many different perspectives.
Also, if you think you can start an effective bike advocacy project/movement in this town by always being positive and nice and friendly to people who are happy to sacrifice your safety for their convenience or political narratives, then go right ahead! I’ll look forward to covering it.
The long history of mountain bike access in Portland is, unfortunately, proof positive to what Jonathan is writing.
exactly! Whenever there’s a clear power imbalance, those who have it love to tell those that don’t, essentially: “Be nice and don’t make us feel bad and make sure you do everything we ask of you and then, only then, will we even consider giving you the respect you deserve and/or making the changes you’d like to see.”
When the power imbalance is 95%-5%, the 5% do not get to make the rules… You can scream and yell all you want about it.
Cyclists need to play nice to move the needle.
Critical Mass was abandoned because it harmed more than helped, there is a reason it disappeared.
The most positive bike event and actions are the bike to school movement and things like that which do not in any way pit anyone against anyone.
The immediate aftermath of the George Floyd event was a positive mass protest which made good points and was supported by the general public and could have moved the needle.
You are the guy in the analogy that supports the 100 people that broke windows for 6 months and thinks it moves the needle…..
Hi. We have some major disagreements here. The way you frame this issue is totally incorrect IMO. People who like and appreciate cycling in Portland is waaaaay more than 5%. You can’t make something terrible to do and then say, “no one does it, so we shouldn’t value or respect it or spend more money on it.”
And cyclists don’t “have to play nice”. I disagree with that 100%! Do I behave nicely? Yes. Do I hope and pray that everyone plays nicely. Yeah. But give me a break with this “play nicely” stuff! You don’t know anything about why Critical Mass ended. It wasn’t because it did any harm. It’s because the PPB (and their political friends) felt threatened by it and they stamped it out… But moreso it ended because it ran its course and activists had cooler stuff to do.
And the George Floyd protests. Yes they were really fantastic at the start! We agree on that. Not sure why you assume I support the 100 people that wanted to break shit for six months. That’s tells me a lot about you though!
I stated “in the analogy” you were the supporter of the 100 window breakers…
You would think a guy who runs blog for a living could read and comprehend….
tells me a lot about you though!
Well, BB, I have to say I don’t understand your analogy, either. Supporting a protected bike lane is NOTHING like supporting people who inflict criminal damage.
I also disagree with your claim that 5% of people shouldn’t tell the other 95% what to do. That claim may be true for voluntary kinds of actions – like if 5% of the population likes cherry pie, we all have to eat cherry pie.
But transportation is a necessity, and if only 5% of people ride a bike for transportation, we all should absolutely support them in riding bikes. Not only that – we should all WANT to support cycling b/c it is climate action. The city even has a stated goal of 25% of trips made by bike. I’m personally at 90% of my Portland trips by bike, so it’s possible to do.
Your claim about the 5%-95% just doesn’t hold up in a democracy where we all agree that it’s important to protect minority rights. If your rule really held, we’d not prioritize access for disabled people b/c it would be seen as “telling the other 95% what to do.”
Lol, they rode their bikes on a piece of infrastructure made for riding bikes. You are losing your mind over cyclists being happy to have saved a piece of bicycling infrastructure and I think it shows you have lost your way. If you think being happy to have saved a piece of infrastructure is insincere, I don’t know what to tell you. Something is twisting your perspective and I don’t know what it is.
You are *really* overthinking this situation, John. I was not able to join the ride up SW Broadway, but I am sincerely glad that the group did it – just to show it can be done. And JM deserves *HUGE* kudos for covering the scandal and effectively saving the protected bike lane.
You must not ride a bike, cuz if you did you would know that cyclists *HAVE* to fight for every inch of riding room – and that inch is often the difference between life and death. It is completely appropriate for cyclists to celebrate any dedicated riding room we are able to conjure up.
I think you might be responding to another comment. Or maybe I wasn’t clear. Jelque and Gregg are characterizing this ride as somehow divisive, self righteous, smug, etc. Complete nonsense.
I’m saying they’re being weirdos, completely overreacting to a nice peaceful ride showing support for the bike lane.
And of course I ride, it would be extremely weird to be on here all the time commenting about bike stuff, reading the articles, asking for info about rides, etc. But I don’t expect you to know my full history. Just saying.
I get it, John. Sorry if I misread your posting.
See you on the street.
Distracted driving kills thousands of people per year. On the other hand, some sassy cyclists waved at a few hotel employees. These things are equally bad, to me.
But did people actually stoop to using “Neener, neener”? The video has no sound. The article only mentions waving and ringing bells.
Calling out people for saying “neener, neener” has got to be one of the lamest complaints ever lodged against a group celebrating or protesting anything. And what people actually did (based on the video and article) doesn’t even rise to that silly level.
But then I guess if you’d cited the definitions for “waving” and “ringing (bells)” your comment wouldn’t have the hard-hitting impact of citing the definition of “neener, neener”.
yes good point qqq. So much of this stuff is projection. People see bike stuff and they project so many of their own biases that it actually makes bike stuff look worse… but it’s a made-up reality based on the projections of haters. It’s so tiresome.