(Check out the video above for the most important clips from the speeches and one-on-one chats with: Mayor Keith Wilson, city councilors Tiffany Koyama Lane, Olivia Clark, and Loretta Smith, and local bike bus leader Lauren McCune.)
It was a big morning at City Hall for transportation reformers as elected officials and advocates came together in the City Hall atrium to renew Portland’s dedication to being a city where folks on foot and on bikes can not just exist on our streets safely, but feel and spread joy while doing it.
Bike bus advocates waltzed in accompanied by a loud boombox, there were pothole donuts, city staff dressed up in uniforms including a traffic cone, people were making buttons and there were more high-fives than handshakes — it was a vibe I haven’t felt inside City Hall for at least a decade.
It was a three-fer: Bike bus advocates showed up (with a booming loudspeaker) to kick off Bike Bus Week, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson made an official proclamation that this is the start of Bike and Walk to School and Work Week, and City Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane formally proposed her Vision Zero resolution at a City Council meeting that directly followed the morning festivities. The mood was jovial and optimistic. That might be because cycling and bike bus advocates just tend to have that kind of energy, but it also might reflect that the political stakes were not that high. That’s because Koyama Lane’s resolution merely states intentions and forms a task force — it includes no dedicated funding or strong policies that might move the needle on getting more people to walk and bike.
When I put in the form of a question to Councilor and Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chair Olivia Clark, she said, “I think you need to watch what happens [at city council] on Wednesday.” Clark said that’s when budget amendments will be discussed. “So just hold on to your bike helmet,” Clark added, which I took as a pretty big clue that there will be funding for Vision Zero up for discussion eventually.
I also asked Councilor Koyama Lane to respond to folks who feel her resolution doesn’t go far enough. “I think those feelings are really understandable,” she said. “I think that skepticism makes sense, and we’re going to have to earn trust back.” But she didn’t stop there. Koyama Lane spoke with confidence that she and her team (working directly with advocacy groups and community leaders) are committed to “giving Vision Zero more visibility.” One concrete step she’s taking to achieve this is to put forward a budget amendment this week that will pull an existing Vision Zero program employee out of the Portland Bureau of Transportation and assign them to the Deputy City Administrator’s office.
Later in the council meeting, Koyama Lane said, “I’m ready to spend all my [political] capital on this.”
Koyama Lane has clearly been in contact with Portland’s amazing stable of road safety advocates, many of whom showed up to the event today.
Lauren McCune is a mom, the leader of the Abernethy Elementary School Bike Bus, and an organizer with Bike Bus PDX. In a moving speech, she talked about how the bike bus has a profound impact on kids and parents in her community. “Bike buses work for one reason,” McCune said. “Because people are awesome. When citizens have the tools and the environment to make better choices, we will make better choices; but our transportation system often pushes people to make choices that are actively harmful to our bodies, our communities, our kids and our planet.”
“If Portland is to walk the walk and once again, be the most livable and green city in the country, then all of us will be the ones leading the way. Now is the time to show up. Now is the time to ride together,” she continued.
After the rally and speeches in the atrium, Councilor Angelita Morillo also mentioned she plans to unveil Vision Zero-related amendments Wednesday. Morillo has three separate amendments that seek to reallocate additional police funding in the Mayor’s proposed budget to PBOT and target specific investments on Cesar E Chavez Blv that would total $800,000. “To me, traffic safety is public safety,” Morillo said, “and that when we talk about transforming our roads and our infrastructure in a way that keeps people safe as they are going about their community, that’s community safety too.”
That position might make for an interesting conversation with Mayor Wilson. In his remarks this morning, he reiterated strong support for biking and walking. Wilson said his administration is “absolutely focused” and that, “It is time for us to double down on making sure that every time you bike and walk to work we ensure that you get home every day to your family safe and well.”
Browse photos from the event below…
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Aside from the hype, did they actually implement any changes on the street?
During the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting that followed the rally, there was a great deal of testimony, and then Councilors on the Committee spoke about some of the specific amendments and changes they will be advancing to make real change. So did they implement anything at the rally? No — because that’s now how government works. But this is a potential point of inflection now that we have a more responsive and less competitive City Council structure, and it matters that bicycle/pedestrian advocates turned out both to celebrate and to indicate we will hold the electeds accountable. The leadership on the the Committee can shape what the City overall will do. Let’s keep on them to do that.
They used to do these types of (mostly empty gesture overly-hyped) events just after completing some minor project on a high-crash corridor street like 122nd or Barbur, invite the press, several city councilors, the PBOT director and several senior staff, local legislators and NA leadership, etc. – it’s nothing new, they do them in every city, both out in the field and at city hall, I’ve even attended a few – but usually they actually have something to celebrate other than record or near-record numbers of traffic deaths and fatalities.
“and it matters that bicycle/pedestrian advocates turned out both to celebrate and to indicate we will hold the electeds accountable.“
If nothing comes of this and folks keep getting killed at a stunning rate will you encourage others to vote the elected out?
What exactly do you mean by hold them to account?
I’m interested in learning more about why Councilor Morillo is specifically targeting Cesar E Chavez and not a more (and more consistently) deadly high crash corridor. I want Cesar Chavez to be 100% safe too, but it isn’t Portland’s most lethal street. Listening….
Every budget season each agency tries to paint a picture that they are the most hard-up for money, that they need more cash:
Police: property crime has gone through the roof, murders are up, pay officers more…
Fire Dept: Our city’s credit rating is based on call times, build new stations at…
Housing: We have an affordability crises and a severe housing crises, build more…
Parks: Homeless camps, garbage, drug crime, etc…
Transportation: Congestion, traffic crashes up, fatalities, etc…
…And so they have these crass rallies that in normal times might be considered in really bad taste, but the press absolutely loves.
Most of high-crash corridors in Portland are in District 1, we all know that, but 39th (what most people still call the street now officially called Chavez) is a lot easier to identify with, and yeah, it’s not actually all that bad compared to say 122nd, but most folks who drive don’t like any congestion at all and so the Councilors probably get more complaints about Chavez or 39th than they do about 122nd or any other really dangerous stroad, because historically, people who complain to councilors the most (the proverbial squeaky wheels we all hear about) tend to live in the richer parts of town, not in some bucolic edge of the city beyond 82nd.
Who is up for election in 2026? Are they campaigning yet? You bet they are!
Some low-/no-cost Vision Zero ideas:
• Place the VZ team at the top of the organizational chart at PBOT. They must be able to veto any project which doesn’t meet safety policies.
• Grant the VZ team the ability to close a street after a crash to investigate the cause. They should be able to keep the street closed until PBOT can remediate the determined cause. This can be done cheaply with wands, barrels, and paint as a first pass.
“They should be able to keep the street closed until PBOT can remediate the determined cause. ”
If it’s a drunk driving far to fast and killing themselves or others will you instigate to turn Portland dry before opening the street again?
Hi City Slicker – I agree with you on the first point. Vision Zero will only be effective when staff is empowered. They are not empowered at this time within PBOT. I agree to you to a point on your second point. I doubt there will be any new revelations in terms of a cause of crash. It would be better to implement systemic changes throughout the city or county, not on a street by street basis. More effective to be forward looking instead of addressing issues after a life has been lost.