Democracy in action

Photo by Jonathan Maus / bikeportland.org

Today I went down to Portland City Hall to participate in a rally in support of the passage of the Portland Bicycle Plan for 2030 to build out a more comprehensive network of bike routes through the city.  The rally was followed by the City Council meeting to hear citizen testimony and vote on the plan.  It was the first time I had attended such a session, so kind of interesting.  Many of the initial speakers were clearly ‘insiders’ who had worked in various areas of city government and knew the players.  But there were plenty of neighborhood association representatives and others who mostly spoke in favor of the plan, with a few raising concerns and a few outright objecting to it.  Here’s more coverage from bikeportland.org.

Unfortunately because of the big turnout and the large number of speakers (probably 30+ got two minutes each), and followup questions from city commissioners, the vote was not held today and will be held next Thursday.  Democracy, not always pretty, but it’s hard to find better alternatives!

Update: A week later the City Council did approve the bike plan, and the next challenge is to find funding to ‘Build it!’