YOU KNOW what phrase I’m really sick of hearing? “Sewer money for bike lanes.” This persistent grumbling has been all over public meetings and TV news recently, and since we’re heading into bike season, the grumble is only going to get louder.

The whole debacle started when Mayor Sam Adams announced in March that he would kick-start the 2030 Portland Bike Plan with $20 million the city saved during Big Pipe construction. That money would be spent on a different sewer project, said Adams: building bioswales, the stormwater-sucking curb bumpouts that also happen to make cars drive slower and streets safer for bikes.

The plan is not the problem. The plan is a smart budget two-fer, in my opinion.

The problem is that Mayor Adams has done a completely shit job of selling the plan to the public—which is confusing because the mayor is a whiz at getting public support for plenty of bad ideas (repeatedly uttering the phrase “eco-district” with a straight face, for example). But when his office actually pulls together a good idea—an idea that saves the government money while simultaneously offering tasty bones to cyclists and environmentalists—he totally drops the ball!

“One of the challenges is the way that the issue was oversimplified at the front end: taking sewer lines and paying for bike lanes,” admits Adams’ spokesman Roy Kauffmann. “We’re going to have to spend a lot of time repairing that damage. But we haven’t been backing away from it.”

Transportation staffers are obviously not versed in the bioswale bullet points: Two weeks ago, I witnessed an experienced staffer go mum when a citizen irately mentioned “sewer money” during a bike projects presentation in East Portland. Amid an angry swirl of news articles about the idea, Adams’ blog has only two posts on the issue: an impenetrably wonky one from the day before council approved the plan, and another that lazily re-posts BlueOregon blogger Evan Manvel’s concise defense of the idea.

Where IS the fearsome Adams Messaging Squad these days?

Oh, right. They’re over at the police department.

Let us also enter the Sewers for Bikes Screwup of 2010 into the canon of Adams’ trademark political tactics: Push hard for big issues Portlanders like and when the going gets tough, the mayor will get, uh, gone. Don’t worry, sometime soon I’m sure he’ll reemerge unscathed at an electric bike demo near you.

Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.

6 replies on “Hall Monitor”

  1. At the end of the day, this isn’t an issue of “bike funding.” Rather, it’s about much bigger, broader and more universally relevant issues — life safety, livable neighborhoods, public health, and smart and multi-beneficial uses of public resources. These are topics that are hard to discuss in soundbites or quick-takes.

    Whether it’s by video [http://vimeo.com/10272405], editorial [http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ss…], or blog post [http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.…], the mayor has fought and will continue fighting to invest in sustainable approaches to stormwater management and urban transportation, now and for as long as it takes.

    Roy Kaufmann
    Communications Director
    Office of Mayor Sam Adams

  3. Properly disposing of human waste should be THE priority of the current mayor. Properly disposing of waste IS the relevant issue. It affects — life safety, livable neighborhoods, public health, and smart and multi-beneficial uses of public resources (thanks Roy).

    If we revive the infrastructure of the city we attract investment and growth. Growth promotes increased tax revenues. Increased tax revenues allow for surpluses that can be used for the aesthetics of the city.

    Stop painting bike lanes on a cesspool and calling it “green”.

  4. You left out the 18% increase for even higher water and sewer fees that start July 1. How about a story of what was aded to the fee that has nothing to do with water or sewer? Also let all the readers out of work or working,know that if your monthly income for one person is below $1,758.00 you can get a bill discount of $99.45 per quarter, if you have more than one person with incme add $101. 00 per person to the $1,758.00 monthly income, if you are under $2,299 for two you can still be eligibe, It is good for two years.

  5. Sarah, you’re overlooking the fact that in a year when sewer rates are being increased significantly, there are no “savings” in their budget. If there is so much slack in their budget this year, they wouldn’t need rate increases.

    Essentially, you’re being dishonest with your readers. You would support ANY funding plan for bikes because you really really really like bikes. So don’t go into all these details like you give a shit. They could be taking money from orphans for bikes and you’d still support it.

  6. ” Any mayor with an eye to the whole town’s best interests is fated to make enemies. Stay in office long enough and the sum of enemies inevitably grows to 51 percent. “
    Tracy Kidder

    Mayor Adams is still doing what most citizens of Portland agree with.
    That really really really burns some people’s britches I guess.

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