I just returned from five days in Washington D.C. and unlike the previous times I traveled there, I wasn’t toting around a big camera bag and a notebook. Between 2006 and 2017 I attended the League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit nine times. The trips were full of excitement as I joined other bicycling believers on a wave of optimism about the future of transportation in America that was so strong it felt inevitable.
Imagine for a moment what it was like on March 11th, 2010 when former President Barack Obama’s US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood walked into the final gathering party of Summit attendees in a large Senate ballroom, cleared a path to a large desk, then stepped on top of it and exclaimed, “All of the work all of you have been doing for so long has paid huge huge dividends. People get it! People want to live in livable communities. People want streetcars that are made in Portland, Oregon. People want walking paths, biking paths, and opportunities for families to really do the things they do best — which is to hang together and have fun. Thank you!”
While I loved working the Summit and I’ll always remember those moments and the sense of shared purpose with advocates from across Oregon and the nation, it was freeing to not have the physical and mental stress of it looming over me every minute on this trip. (When I worked the Summit it was three days of nonstop work — shooting photos, scribbling notes, listening, talking, writing, editing, then searching for wi-fi and posting everything in real time (which wasn’t common in the era before social media).)
This time around, I could just freely roam the National Mall and appreciate all its glorious art, ideas and artifacts; then soak up all the knowledge I could on Capitol Hill. In addition to spending time in the major museums, we toured the Capitol Building, sat in on a Senate debate, heard a lecture inside the Supreme Court chambers, stopped by Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley’s office, and toured the Library of Congress. I’ve always found that travel is the best teacher and throughout the past five days I’ve learned a lot about the history of America, our best and worst moments as a country, and the values our government and our people are supposed to stand for.
I sat in a chair inside Supreme Court chambers and thought about President Trump’s legal exploits while the phrase, “Equal Justice Under the Law” is scrawled across the pediment outside. I visited the Museum of African American History and Culture and thought about how we’ve treated Black people in this country while Trump has pardoned and allied with white supremacists. I walked through the Holocaust Memorial Museum and thought about the rise of fascism in Germany while Trump Advisor Elon Musk tried to turn his Nazi salute into a joke.
Suffice it to say, this trip strengthened my resolve to be an active member of our democracy and fight for what I believe is right.
I’m very concerned about what’s going on in DC right now and what the coming years might bring. But given what I’ve experienced and learned this past week, and with a deeper appreciation about what America has been through in our relatively recent past, I’m surprisingly more optimistic now than when I left Portland on Friday. Our country has written many difficult chapters. Each one required us to pay attention, get involved, and build strength with our communities so we could work on a better future with shared purpose. This time is no different.
I look forward to seeing some of you at Bike Happy Hour later today. We meet every Wednesday from 3:00 to 6:00 pm at Migration Brewing on N Williams Avenue. Free snacks at 4:00, open mic at 5:00. Everyone is welcome.
Thanks for reading.
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JM
This year’s League Summit is on March 11 to 13 in DC. It will be held at the MLK library east of the White House and Mall. The summit includes our Lobby Day. There are still spots and there are some scholarships to reduce the cost. https://bikeleague.org/events/summit/
The summit is an incredible inoculation into bike politics. Caron Whitaker the long time lobbyist for the league organizes participants to visit all of our senators and representatives. We make appts to meet transportation staff or the congressperson of each office. We generally will have 2 asks of the office and discuss the absolute importance of cycling safety, infrastructure needs, supporting pre bill gathering of support. One example from last year is requiring trucks to have lateral protective devices…they are essentially ‘skirts’ between the trailer wheels…not only do those protect both -peds/cyclists from the undertow of a turning truck but also allow a 5% fuel economy for long distance hauls. Still not a law! And of course this is required on all trucks in the UK. We also bring up direct issues of needs in OR. Last year we brought up the need for replacing the Eagle creek staircase barrier to the ADA standards of access.
Cycling in DC is one of the best urban showcases. Bike and pedestrian get the green light to cross first; then the vehicles. Bidirectional lanes allow gaggles of bikes to shrink and swell in Dble wide bike lanes during rush hours (none of this one bike/one lane infrastructure attitude). If you fly into Reagan (DCA), you can exit the baggage claim, make a right, go 1/4 of a mile and get on the Potomac R bike trail and have a beautiful evening ride across the Mall toward White House and north to a lot of hotels. I have done this for more than a decade. It is a great antidote to sitting on a plane for 4.5 hours
If i can help anyone who wants to accompany the 4 of us who will be there~ I am happy to assist. Ajz@zelada.com.
Sounds like a great trip, you did all the things we did with our son, a million years ago. Welcome back!
Did you ride on the center bike lane on Pennsylvania Avenue?
Thanks for a little sliver of optimism.
I think that when we are younger, we don’t have the judgment to know what is more important and what is less important, so we tend to think everything is equally important and we try to pour our youthful energy into everything.
When we’re older, we hope we’ve developed a sense of judgment about what is more important and less important, and we leave the less important things behind and focus on the more important things. Maybe that’s what you are doing now.
Advocacy without a sense of judgment is probably a recipe for frustration over time, so it’s important to calibrate your efforts and conserve your energy. Thanks for the report and glad you are back.
Hi Fred. Thanks for sharing that. Definitely feels right to me. Working smarter not harder perhaps.
Jonathan,
Glad you and your loved ones had a wonderful time and that you came back more optimistic.
We are living in such horrific times of war, fire, genocide, assault on all social and environmental programs, lies and rising fascism (a very partial list of atrocities) but hopefully also times of community, rebuilding and resistance.
It is easy to despair but I try to focus on all those that came before us that fought for what is right- from slaves rebelling against their masters to Suffragettes chaining themselves to Parliament to Wobblies unionizing in the Pacific Northwest. If they can do so, against untold oppression, then we too must never give up.
I am inspired by the many people in Portland and all over the country and the world that are fighting for a different world. These include the campaign to save Forest Park from PGE’s planned clearcutting of 20 acres and installing power lines in violation of the park’s management plan and with ensuing destruction.
Several groups are involved including The Coalition to Protect Forest Park and we will continue till what is best for the forest and her living beings wins over the profits of the few.
Four-legged family member Gino ‘Nugget’ Bartali who is nestled in my lap as I write is named for the Italian cycling champion and member of the anti-Fascist resistance who hid Jewish friends in his home and smuggled documents in his bicycle frame and seat, a reminder (without ignoring the great suffering, pain and sorrow and the broken homes, lives and hearts of many) of what is right, possible and necessary and the need to move towards creating the world rooted in justice and equality that we carry in our hearts.
Beautifully put! I’ve been thinking a lot on what “protest” in 2025 means. I don’t think loud, performative marches or social media blasts work. The pattern there seems to be massive amounts of energy expended, followed by burnout.
Rather, it is being open-minded to what “protest” can be.
For me, I see it as people tuning out the noise, showing up for their community, getting to know their neighbors and building resiliency, getting active in local government, joining a neighborhood association, simply showing up for others in a culture so atomized, looking at reality beyond one’s own personal bubble, the accumulation of simple acts of care, studying history and seeing the patterns that apply today – the act of not forgetting in a system that goads on a cultural amnesia.
Perhaps, most important, fully leaning into our collective ability to imagine and envision something better – because the ultimate attack against fascism is not “fascism bad,” it is to offer a truly positive (and pragmatic) alternative vision.