Yesterday I shared a (hastily written!) recap and video of the big celebration of cycling and Vision Zero at Portland City Hall. But what happened afterward at a meeting of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee was just as important. Advocates lined up and delivered one piece of powerful testimony after another — all as high-profile leaders of the transportation bureau and Public Works Service Area looked on.
I rewatched all the testimony and have pulled out just some of the highlights into the short video above. It features mic-drop worthy remarks from: bicycle advocate extraordinaire Joseph Perez, David Binnig with BikeLoud PDX, Abernethy Elementary School Bike Bus leader Lauren McCune, and Oregon Walks Executive Director Zachary Lauritzen.
Watch their remarks in the video above and read the text below:
Joseph Perez:
Portland City Council has not invested in safer roads, so PBOT has installed sold signs. I think signs and paint are like thoughts and prayers.
Previous mayor and council required PBOT to cut its budget. Is it any wonder Vision Zero appears to be stalled? It seems antithetical to a Vision Zero commitment if this city council were to tolerate or perpetuate any cuts to PBOT.
David Binnig
A lot of us have served on work groups and task forces and advisory committees — and then seen those recommendations not followed or not funded.
Lauren McCune
We always point to a lack of funding, but no amount of money is sufficient. Our car-centric transportation system has an insatiable demand for more more pavement, more speed, more fuel, more money, more lives.
When our Abernethy bike bus launched in 2022 it had a couple dozen riders. Fast forward to May of 2024 and we had hundreds. There is an incredible latent demand for bike riding, yet the consistent and widespread demand for better bike and transit infrastructure is deprioritized.
Our Vision Zero commitment must be paired with a commitment to reduce vehicle miles traveled. If not, we have to ride faster just to stand still.
So we ask that Portland’s renewed commitment to Vision Zero renews our vision to build a city where driving reflects its true cost to society, so our residents instead walk, bike, roll and take transit. We can’t do this with the status quo, and we can’t do this without each other. We’re ready to ride together.
Zachary Lauritzen:
This resolution won’t change anything. It’ll be actions that change something.
We built a transportation system that is intentionally made so vehicles can go far and fast, and so now we’re asking for the hard work of saying we’re going to change that, and that starts today.
There was a proposed budget to reduce Vision Zero by $277,000 and if we’re serious about this, we don’t cut Vision Zero. We just don’t.
We know why this is happening. We know the interventions that are needed. You have a staff at Pbot, the Vision Zero team that have a well of knowledge. They need the money and they need the political cover to do it.
These actions will make some people mad. Slowing down vehicles will make some people mad. Enforcement will make some people mad. But you’ve got to do it.
And so today is the beginning of a journey. And I hope you have the political courage to pass this, and then be ambassadors to your colleagues and really invest and make a change. This was the hand you were dealt. The question is, how do you play that hand?
